Dems: Get off our lawn!

Politico

6 days ago

Presented by
DRIVING THE DAY — President Donald Trump threatened late Monday night to punish California after a transgender student competed in the state high school track and field championship over the weekend. Trump's threat of fines came despite Gov. Gavin Newsom's support for last-minute rule changes by the California Interscholastic Federation that allowed any female athlete who finished behind the trans student to share the same medal. 'Large scale fines will be imposed!!!' Trump posted on Truth Social.
Meanwhile, a U.S. District Court judge on Monday dismissed California's lawsuit over Trump's tariffs. But Newsom's office said late Monday that the state had already appealed the decision — separate from two rulings that struck down Trump's tariffs last week. Read more here
NO SPRING CHICKENS — Party activists trying to force California Democrats to consider age limits for elected officials went to their statewide convention with high hopes the issue would gain traction — or at least spark a conversation.
Instead, the state party's establishment told the activists, effectively, to get off their lawn.
A resolution, sponsored by the San Francisco County Democratic Party, that called for potential age limits on state and local elected officials was shelved before it could be debated at the convention. Party officials said the resolution was 'postponed' and would be heard later, likely at the party Executive Board's meeting in August.
But SF party officials behind the measure, as well as some activists with the young Democrats, said the tenor of talks on the convention floor wasn't favorable to them.
'There's a lot of deference to older office holders,' said San Francisco Democratic Party Chair Nancy Tung, a moderate who co-authored the resolution. 'The party doesn't want to have a lot of conversations.'
The disconnect between party activists in SF, long a bastion of Democratic power, and the party's statewide leaders comes as Democrats — as well as Republicans — struggle to navigate a national conversation about age and the rigors of public office. It's a reckoning that hit a fever pitch on the left in recent weeks amid questions about former President Joe Biden's mental acuity throughout the last two years of his presidency.
SF party officials said Biden was just one example that inspired their resolution, also citing the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who died while still serving at ages 87 and 90, respectively. And then there's Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell, 83, who suffered several health challenges and announced in February that he would not seek reelection next year.
State Party Chair Rusty Hicks declined an interview request on Monday. At the convention, he appeared to bristle at the resolution, which he said had not been properly submitted because it would have directed the party to take a specific action rather than to express general agreement on a matter of principle. Still, he said it would be debated another time.
'At the end of the day, whether you're 25 or 75, the question is, are you delivering for those that voted for you?' Hicks told reporters at the convention in Anaheim.
Eric Kingsbury, an SF party official who co-wrote the proposal, said state party brass never told him that the resolution had not been properly submitted. He said he suspects they were hesitant to take up the issue given the state has a larger number of older officeholders.
'I didn't see a lot of introspection at the convention,' said Kingsbury, a veteran campaign consultant who joined the party's SF County Central Committee this year. 'It felt tired and not inspired, just a lot of 'we're going to drive forward doing what we did before.''
While the resolution explicitly spoke to a retirement cap on state and local electeds, it sparked a fiery debate in San Francisco, home of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. At 85, Pelosi hasn't said if she plans to run for another term in 2026. But she's leading an effort by Democrats to defend federal health care programs and help Democrats flip the House in the midterms.
Pelosi's campaign declined to comment on the resolution or her plans for 2026, though her proxy to the SF county party voted against the proposal. Pelosi wasn't at the convention.
Kingsbury and Tung have insisted their resolution has nothing to do with Pelosi. Tung added, 'People want to draw their own conclusions about it. This was not written with Nancy Pelosi in mind.'
GOOD MORNING. Happy Tuesday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook.
You can text us at ‪916-562-0685‬‪ — save it as 'CA Playbook' in your contacts. Or drop us a line at [e-mail] and [e-mail], or on X — @DustinGardiner and @jonesblakej.
WHERE'S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.
ON THE AIRWAVES
FIRST IN POLITICO: HITTING CLOSE TO HOME — Unions representing in-home caregivers are cranking up the heat on legislative leaders and Newsom by running broadcast and digital ads railing against cuts in the governor's May budget proposal.
A new video spot, airing in the Sacramento market, blasts a proposal to cap overtime hours at 50 for in-home support service workers, who provide personal care including meal prep and house work for people who are over 65 or have disabilities. That change, combined with smaller cuts to the program, account for more than $1 billion of the reductions Newsom forwarded last month to address the state's $12 billion shortfall.
Before launching the home care ad, SEIU California started running a broader spot urging generally against spending cuts.
'The May Revise budget proposal reads like a corporate CEO's wishlist instead of a defense of California's working class, who are already under attack from the Trump Administration and don't need the State of California to pile on,' Arnulfo De La Cruz, president of SEIU Local 2015 and an executive board member of SEIU California, said in a statement.
Leaders of SEIU 2015 and UDW/AFSCME Local 393 issued similar calls at a rally attended by state lawmakers outside the California Democratic Party convention on Saturday. They pushed the governor and legislative leaders to reject the cuts during the final stages of inter-house budget negotiations, advocated for increasing taxes on large corporations (without specifics) and pushed a bill from Assemblymember Matt Haney that would allow IHSS workers to engage in statewide bargaining.
Attendees included Assemblymembers Haney, Damon Connolly, Sade Elhawary, Joaquin Arambula, Ash Kalra, Patrick Ahrens, Mike Fong, Tina McKinnor, José Solache and Sens. Josh Becker, Lena Gonzalez, María Elena Durazo, Sasha Renée Pérez, Lola Smallwood-Cuevas and likely others Playbook missed.
RELATED SPOTTED: BUDGET HUDDLE? — Senate Pro Tem Mike McGuire and Budget Chair Scott Wiener entering Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas' office for a meeting Monday evening amid late-state spending negotiations. Six pizzas arrived shortly after. (h/t Rachel Bluth)
STATE CAPITOL
ICE MELT — Gonzalez, who is chair of the Latino Caucus and Senate majority leader, got her bill to limit federal immigration agents' access to schools through the Senate before Friday's House of Origin deadline. SB 48 seeks to stop schools from giving federal authorities access to private areas in school sites to the extent they're able. In a statement, Gonzalez called the proposal's advancement a 'powerful signal of hope and reassurance.'
CLIMATE AND ENERGY
THE OTHER CLIMATE LAW — New York lawmakers are looking for alternatives after Republicans voted to kill California's — and by extension their — electric vehicle mandate. Read last night's California Climate to see what controversial California climate program Albany Democrats are considering instead.
TOP TALKERS
SAVED BY THE BILL — Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy Trevor Kirk, who was convicted in February of using excessive force in 2023, was sentenced to four months in prison Monday after a judge granted prosecutors' request to dismiss his felony charge.
Newly appointed U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli took credit for the reduction in his charges: 'Law enforcement officers are not above the law and should be held accountable for their actions, but given the facts of the incident and the deputy's actions as recorded on a contemporaneous video, I determined that Deputy Kirk's actions do not rise to the level of a felony,' he wrote on X.
CHOPPY WATERS — Rep. Maxine Waters' congressional campaign agreed to pay a $68,000 fine after a FEC investigation found it violated campaign finance laws, Dave Levinthal writes at OpenSecrets. Waters' 2020 campaign committee understated contributions and expenditures by hundreds of thousands of dollars, per the FEC's findings.
AROUND THE STATE
— Fresno County's next sheriff and district attorney will be elected in 2028 instead of 2026 after a judge ruled that their elections must be on the same year as a presidential primary. (GV Wire)
— Newsom will decide whether to reverse the decision to grant parole for Manson family member Patricia Krenwinkel. (Los Angeles Times)
— CalTrans says that it will not finish upgrading Highway 50 until summer 2026 because of crashes and weather delays. (KCRA)
PLAYBOOKERS
WEDDING BELLS — Maryam Ahmed, an Adam Schiff for Senate alum who now works at Edelman, and Jacob Burman, senior adviser to LA city council member Traci Park, wed last weekend in San Clemente. The couple met on Pete Buttigieg's 2020 presidential campaign.
PEOPLE MOVES — Bruce Kelson has joined Buchalter as shareholder in their San Francisco office. He was previously a partner at Duane Morris.
— Deepa Sharma was elected as the first vice chair of the California Democratic Party at the convention over the weekend.
BIRTHDAYS — Sen. Dave Cortese (favorite cake: coconut) … Rabbi Steve Leder … Eric Schmeltzer … Lauren Mekhael … Marty Wilson
WANT A SHOUT-OUT FEATURED? — Send us a birthday, career move or another special occasion to include in POLITICO's California Playbook. You can now submit a shout-out using this Google form.