Anthony Rendon enters superintendent's race

Politico

28-07-2025

RENDON'S RETURN — Anthony Rendon, a labor-connected Democrat with deep ties to Sacramento and its early childhood education sphere, is running for state schools superintendent.
Playbook first reported in March that the former Assembly speaker was considering folding his state treasurer account into the race for California's top education office. In an interview, Rendon said he was motivated to run by the chance to implement the state's universal transitional kindergarten program, rejoin California's public college boards and improve schools for his daughter, who will enroll in public kindergarten this fall.
The Trump administration's attempted siege on California education funding also played into Rendon's calculus, he said.
'In the same way that I helped lead the state's efforts against Trump in 2016, I want to make sure I'm in those trenches and doing it again,' Rendon said.
Trans athletes: Trump's most direct threat to California education funding was over its laws permitting trans women and girls to compete on sports teams matching their gender identity. The California Department of Education rebuffed the Trump administration's calls to stop those athletes from competing; Rendon said he approved of that decision (though CDE, which he would run as superintendent, doesn't have authority over the issue).
'Rather than using them as pawns in an ideological game,' Rendon said of trans athletes, 'we need to respect them, and we need to be supportive of them, so I'm supportive of trans students competing in sports in the genders in which they identify.'
Lately: Term limits forced Rendon out of the Legislature last year following a messy succession fight, in which now-Speaker Robert Rivas ousted him from leadership. Rendon has been living in Southern California, holding fundraisers, ironing out a divorce and meeting with education groups in anticipation of his campaign launch.
He held the most powerful political office of anyone in the state superintendent's field and argued in the interview that his experience negotiating state budgets with Govs. Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom could help him break through in a field teeming with Democratic elected officials. Before entering office, Rendon ran Plaza de la Raza Child Development Services and was interim director of the California League of Conservation Voters.
The sprawling field: Assembly Education Chair Al Muratsuchi and former Senate Education Chair Josh Newman are also running, and Assemblymember Mia Bonta has explored jumping in the field. Local officials have also entered the race, including San Diego Unified board member Richard Barrera and Los Angeles Community College District Trustees Nichelle Henderson and Andra Hoffman.
Hard-line Republican Chino Valley school board member Sonja Shaw has largely consolidated GOP support.
Campaign stockpile: Rendon will start the race with close to $900,000 on hand. The JSQ Group is managing his campaign, Democratic consultant Kevin Liao is heading communications and Lisa Cassinis is his fundraiser.
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WHERE'S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.
BAY AREA
THROWING SHADE — Hundreds of documents show how climate researchers failed to notify officials in California about a test of technology to block the sun's rays — while they planned a much huger geoengineering sequel to try to counter the effects of global warming.
As Corbin Hiar reported for POLITICO's E&E News, the experiment in the San Francisco Bay last year is part of a secretive billionaire-backed initiative to study how salt water-spraying equipment could eventually be used to create clouds and dim sunlight. But the demonstration, intended to run for months, lasted about 20 minutes before being shut down by Alameda city officials who objected that nobody had told them about it beforehand.
The aborted initial experiment in the Bay Area shows how the researchers appear to have kept their plans from the public and lawmakers until the testing was underway. 'Alameda was a stepping stone to something much larger, and there wasn't any engagement with local communities,' said Sikina Jinnah, an environmental studies professor at the University of California in Santa Cruz. 'That's a serious misstep.'
CAMPAIGN YEAR(S)
FRIENDLY ADVICE — Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown isn't exactly sold on a potential Kamala Harris run for governor.
'I do think people running for public office really ought to fit eventually where they are trying to land,' Brown said on an episode of State of Gold hosted by Jon Slavet. 'And I really do hope, frankly, that she comes to that reality. She may not want to run the governor of the state of California. That may not be where she should be going.'
Brown, whom Harris dated in the 1990s, shared that he discouraged Harris from accepting a VP pick from Joe Biden because he thought she might be better suited for attorney general.
'I think she stopped speaking to me as a result of that,' he said.
Brown, now 91, said the state has plenty of other people who could serve as the state's top executive, including former state Controller Betty Yee and real estate mogul turned failed LA mayoral candidate Rick Caruso.
'That is a really talented guy,' the former Assembly speaker said of Caruso. 'He's got great executive potential. And I think in this day and age when the public is looking for somebody that represents not yesterday, but somebody who is fresh and relatively new for the 39 million people, he is exactly that.' — Nicole Norman
STATE CAPITOL
NOT BRINGING THE BACON — New USDA data revealed that California's landmark animal welfare law drove up pork prices for consumers and disproportionately affected small farmers, a finding that gives Republicans ammunition in upcoming farm bill negotiations.
As POLITICO's Grace Yarrow reported for subscribers, the data shows that 27 percent of U.S. pork producers have made or are working to make investments to comply with California's Proposition 12, which created confinement requirements for any hogs that are sold or raised in the state. Meanwhile, retail pork prices in California increased by nearly 19 percent in June compared with the same month last year, and low-income households are buying less pork.
CLIMATE AND ENERGY
ICYMI: GREENER GRID — Gov. Gavin Newsom penned an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, touting how 'more than two-thirds of California's electricity now comes from clean sources such as solar, wind and geothermal.' Newsom said that clean energy has fully powered the state's electrical grid for an average of seven hours per day this year.
TOP TALKERS
COUNTER OFFENSIVE — Democratic leaders in California, New York and Maryland are still scrambling to their response to the GOP's redistricting maneuver that is threatening to upend the midterms landscape.
As Texas Republicans press forward with a redistricting blitz designed to increase the number of red seats in the state, Newsom's administration talked to state election officials about the logistics and timing of a special election to overturn its nonpartisan redistricting commission. California likely offers Democrats' best shot at redrawing a map, as our POLITICO colleagues reported.
Newsom hosted Texas Democrats at the governor's mansion in Sacramento on Friday, doing his part to project a united national front against Republicans, and told reporters he was weighing several options to expand Democrats' margins beyond their current, disproportionate hold on 43 of 52 House seats. But the legal obstacles are steep.
'The question I imagine many folks are asking here in California is: what do the politics of Texas have to do with the politics here in California?' Newsom told reporters on Friday, flanked by Texas lawmakers. 'The answer is everything.'
AROUND THE STATE
— ICE agents raided one of the state's largest licensed cannabis operators, sending shock waves through the industry. One worker died after he fell three stories while trying to escape. (Los Angeles Times)
— California's largest solar farm is expected to be constructed in western Fresno County, on 9,500 acres of fallow farmland. The facility plans call for about 3.1 million solar panels and a large battery storage system. (The Fresno Bee)
— Unionized Safeway employees have reached a tentative agreement with the grocery company, averting a potential strike that would have involved thousands of workers in Northern California. (KQED)
— The San Diego LGBT Community Center is preparing to possibly lay off dozens of workers amid federal funding cuts to grants that support its community health programs. (The San Diego Union-Tribune)
PLAYBOOKERS
STORK ALERT — Overland Strategies co-founders Derek and Anna Humphrey welcomed a son, Dalton Brown Humphrey, on July 20.
PEOPLE MOVES — Joe Goldman is now the regional director for Southern California at New Israel Fund, which supports the ecosystem of Israeli pro-democracy and human rights organizations. He previously served as the community engagement director for the Western Region of HIAS.
— Tony Ball has been named incoming CEO at Entrust (global provider of identity-centric security solutions) and will replace current CEO Todd Wilkinson, who plans to retire in March 2026. Ball is currently the company's president of payments & identity.
— Rachel Chiu has joined the government relations team for the LA28 Olympic & Paralympic Games. She previously served as special assistant to the president and chief of staff of the Office of Political Strategy & Outreach in the Biden White House, and is a Harris campaign alum.
BIRTHDAYS — Voleck Taing at the Silicon Valley Leadership Group … 23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki … Josh Curtis … real-estate developer Izek Shomof
BELATED B-DAY WISHES — (was Sunday): Elliot Schrage … Jean 'Gigi' Pritzker … Berin Szóka … Gaurav Parikh … Jacquelynn Burke … Saumitra Thakur … Michael M. Baden …
(was Saturday): Robert Gonzalez at the Teamsters Local 1932 … Lesli Linka Glatter … Sam Schabacker … Lia Seremetis … actor Jeremy Piven … Barry Munitz … (was Friday): Peter Suschitzky … producer Darren Star …
(was Thursday): pollster John Nienstedt … Alex Zucco … (was Wednesday): David Dewit … (was July 21): Laura Bennett at California Advisors, LLC … lobbyist Nick Romo … Peter Prengaman … Katherine Schneider … consultant Bob Shrum … Ritika Robertson at Meta … Roberta Achtenberg … Breanna Pitcher … Jon Lovitz …
(was July 20): Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove … Susannah Delano at Close the Gap California … Elle Hoxworth in the office of Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel … Don Seymour at Meta … former FCC Chair Dick Wiley … Julia Pyper … Lila Mirrashidi, the governor's chief deputy cabinet secretary …
(was July 19:) former Rep. John Campbell … Graham Knaus at the California State Association of Counties … Jacob Kirn at the Department of Finance … Maria Giannopoulos … Stephanie Valencia … Peter Obregon
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