Incumbents under duress

Politico

3 days ago

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LEADING THE DAY — California's plan to match a GOP gerrymandering effort in Texas congressional districts has evolved from theoretical exercise to a fast-moving train.
Today, the powerhouse labor union SEIU California is coming out in favor of the still-forming plan in an endorsement first shared with Playbook.
'We whole-heartedly support Governor Newsom and legislative leaders who are committed to ensuring California voters have the chance to save our democracy,' said David Huerta, the group's president, in a statement. 'We will not sit by silently while extremists manipulate elections, disenfranchise the majority of voters, and destroy our checks and balances. Our democracy is at stake, and SEIU members stand ready to defend it.'
As POLITICO's Melanie Mason and Jeremy B. White reported Monday, Democrats at the state Capitol are coalescing around a plan to draw a half-dozen Republican incumbents out of a job. One hypothetical map could result in as many as five new blue seats and Democrats holding all but four of California's 52 congressional districts, according to a slide presented to members of Congress.
Gov. Gavin Newsom has already said he plans to call a special election, likely in November, for voters to approve a map. The state's Democratic delegation in Congress linked arms Monday around the plan while battleground Republicans, including Kevin Kiley and Ken Calvert, are angling to block it. Even former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signaled he was ready to campaign against the map — which could once again land the 'governator' in a starring role.
Against that already dramatic backdrop, Republicans in the Texas Legislature threatened Monday to arrest Democratic lawmakers who've stalled a vote on their map by breaking quorum and fleeing the state.
INCUMBENT INTERRUPTED — The devastating Palisades wildfire has ignited a new push for generational change in a deep-blue Los Angeles congressional district.
Jake Levine, a veteran of the Biden and Obama administrations, is the latest Democrat to mount an intraparty challenge against Rep. Brad Sherman, a 15-term incumbent.
The January blazes, in which his mother and other close relatives lost their homes, were to Levine a microcosm of how people in the city have been feeling under siege and looking for change.
'For me and anyone like my family in the Palisades, it was a city that burned down and a home that we lost. But all across Los Angeles, all across California, for a lot of people, it's the cost of living. It's the terror of the Trump administration,' Levine told Playbook in an interview exclusively sharing his campaign launch. 'People are coming to terms with the reality that the status quo is just not working.'
Levine, 41, is the second millennial to jump into the race against Sherman. Jake Rakov (yes, another Jake), a former Sherman aide, entered the race in April, blasting his former boss for not being attentive enough to the fire-scorched Palisades.
Rakov raised a healthy $582,000 for his campaign last quarter, but the vast majority was self-financed through a half-million dollar loan. Sherman raised roughly $477,000 last quarter and is sitting on more than $4 million cash on hand — the benefits of a longtime incumbent who has not faced a serious challenge since his raucous Democrat-on-Democrat race against fellow Rep. Howard Berman in 2012.
Levine was less overtly critical about the district's longtime representative than Rakov.
'It's really not about Brad Sherman,' Levine said. 'We're in a moment today where we need generational change.'
Levine, the son of former Democratic Rep. Mel Levine, pitches himself largely on his experience. He has been active in climate change policy — he helped shepherd California climate legislation while working for then-Sen. Fran Pavley and served as senior director for climate and energy on former President Joe Biden's National Security Council — and has been working with the wildfire recovery nonprofit Department of Angels.
With California Democrats actively contemplating redrawing district lines, it's an unconventional moment to be launching a congressional campaign. Still, Levine was unequivocal in supporting the state leaders' response to the threat of a partisan gerrymander in Texas.
'This is an emergency situation, and California needs to respond,' he said. 'In as much as that may have a bearing on this race, we'll take that as it comes to us.'
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WHERE'S GAVIN? Nothing official announced.
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CAMPAIGN YEAR(S)
FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: CLOOBECK'S BIG SPLASH — Gubernatorial candidate Stephen Cloobeck, who recently poured another $10 million into his campaign, is hitting the airwaves today with an ad targeting Trump for not releasing the Epstein files. The TV spot is Cloobeck's biggest statewide foray to date as he tries to build his name ID and goodwill with Democratic voters.
As Cloobeck's campaign exclusively told Playbook, he's spending over $1.3 million to air the ad in the next week alone. The TV spot focuses on Trump's friendship with the late Jeffrey Epstein, a serial child sex trafficker.
'Trump is for they them, Stephen Cloobeck is for you,' the ad states as photos of Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, one of his convicted accomplices, flash on the screen — an obvious play off Trump's 2024 ad that hammered Kamala Harris over her stance on the rights of transgender inmates. The ad is slated to air in every major media market across the state, as well as on cable news stations in Washington, Manhattan, Mar-a-Lago and Bedminster, New Jersey (where Trump has another golf club).
Meanwhile, Cloobeck, a billionaire hospitality entrepreneur and longtime Democratic donor, came under attack from a fellow Democrat in the race Monday. Former Rep. Katie Porter is using Cloobeck's comments about her to raise money, in particular a recent remark where he questioned if she's qualified to do the job.
'She's a school teacher. She's a legislator. What does she know about running anything?' Cloobeck told Fox 11's Elex Michaelson.
Porter jabbed back at her 'billionaire opponent' in an email to supporters and post on X, writing, 'Teachers know a hell of a lot more about what's going on with California families than this guy.'
Mike Madrid, a consultant for Cloobeck, seemed to relish the attention, thanking Porter for 'raising Steve Cloobeck's name ID to her donor base.' Apparently, all attention is good attention from Cloobeck's standpoint.
REPUBLICANLAND
REDISTRICTING REBUKE — Republican governor candidate Steve Hilton is planning to announce a lawsuit today against Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta over their efforts to redraw California's congressional districts mid-decade.
'The California Constitution is crystal clear: redistricting happens once per decade after the federal census. Newsom and Bonta's scheme violates state law, Supreme Court precedent, and the U.S. Constitution's guarantee of equal representation,' Hilton said in a statement. 'A 'special election' to amend the California constitution's redistricting provisions does not overcome this, more fundamental, legal obstacle.'
Hilton also plans to argue that outmigration from California — a major sensitivity for in-state Democrats — will ensure redistricting is based on outdated population data, making new districts unequal in size. California's population has dropped a hair since the last census, from 39,538,223 in April of 2020 to 39,529,101 in January of this year, according to Department of Finance estimates. But Hilton argues recent fires and unaffordability have caused further movement between congressional districts, and that basing new maps on old data would violate the equal protection clause of the U.S. Constitution.
'Five years after a census, without a new count, it is impossible to ensure population equality,' Hilton said.
SACTOWN
IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A … POLITICAL STATEMENT — If you looked up in Sacramento yesterday, you might have seen a small white plane dragging a red lettered banner across the sky that said 'MESS WITH TEXAS' (we saw it with our own eyes at least twice), a banner paid for by 'anonymous democracy advocates' meant to nudge blue state lawmakers to fight back against the redistricting effort in Texas.
The group flew the banner over several other state Capitols on Monday including Albany, Annapolis, Augusta, Trenton and Springfield. Too bad California's Legislature is still out of town for its summer recess.
'The only way to force Republicans to reevaluate their rule-breaking is for blue states to break some rules themselves and end the double-standard. We can't keep fighting with one hand tied behind our back,' said a spokesperson for the group's interests.
The banner chimes in on a complicated conversation happening throughout the state, where not everyone agrees redistricting is the right solution. Jeanne Raya, a former chair of California's first Independent Redistricting Commission, sought to warn Newsom and other Democratic lawmakers not to go against California's voter approved process.
'Voters overwhelmingly demanded an end to backroom political gerrymandering when they created the Independent Redistricting Commission in 2008. That mandate still stands,' she said.
But the anonymous group pushed back, saying that 'if you favor nonpartisan districting — in California and across the country — then you need to account for the asymmetric aggression of Texas,' according to a spokesperson. — Nicole Norman
CAMPAIGN FINANCE
WATCHDOG WAVES — Controller Malia Cohen appointed Charlene Zettel — California's first Latina Republican state legislator who went on to direct the Department of Consumer Affairs in the Schwarzenegger administration — to the Fair Political Practices Commission.
Zettel, a former University of California Regent, replaces former Republican legislator Catharine Baker on the five-member board of California's campaign finance watchdog.
New enforcer … The FPPC also last month named Kendall Bonebrake its new chief of enforcement, a top staff role that oversees investigation and prosecution of state campaign finance law. Commission Chair Adam Silver heralded Bonebrake, who was previously assistant chief counsel at the California High-Speed Rail Authority, as 'uniquely prepared to build on the Enforcement Division's record-setting year in 2024' in which the FPPC issued its largest sum of fines since 2017.
TOP TALKERS
A FINE LINE — A ballot measure passed by Los Angeles City could increase wages for hotel and airport workers to $30 an hour, The New York Times reports. But a coalition of businesses submitted petitions to put it on hold, citing concerns that raising wages too quickly could lead to job losses.
WEALTHY GAINS — A federal bill that would eliminate the capital gains tax on the sale of a primary residence would largely benefit wealthy Californians, data shows. Homeowners in expensive coastal markets like California have, as Bloomberg reports, the 'greatest share of properties that have appreciated by more than what can currently be excluded for tax purposes.'
AROUND THE STATE
— A searchable database of public records from nearly 12,000 cases regarding the use of force and misconduct by California law enforcement is now available. (Los Angeles Times)
— Speed cameras in San Francisco on Tuesday will officially begin issuing citations with fines. (San Francisco Chronicle)
— A recent lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation alleges that the assault of a prison lieutenant over multiple years at various prisons is part of a 'broader institutional climate.' (The Sacramento Bee)
— The Fresno County Board of Supervisors is holding a hearing Tuesday to formalize how the county decides which holidays the county recognizes. (Fresnoland)
Compiled by Juliann Ventura
PLAYBOOKERS
PEOPLE MOVES — Greg Wilson, who was most recently the interim executive director at the California Association of School Psychologists is now the interim executive director for the California Peace Officers Association.
BIRTHDAYS — Colin Sueyres at the Western Propane Gas Association … Luis Quinonez at the California Foundation for Commerce and Education … former Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval … Meta's Monique Dorsainvil …
BELATED B-DAY WISHES — (was Monday): Greg Joseph
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