| | | | |  | | By Lara Korte and Dustin Gardiner | | | |  Republican and former baseball star Steve Garvey. | AP | THE BUZZ: THE BENEFACTOR — It’s becoming increasingly hard to know where Adam Schiff’s campaign ends and Steve Garvey’s campaign begins. Schiff, the frontrunner in the race to succeed the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, raked in another $3.6 million in the first six weeks of 2024, per the latest round of FEC filings — bringing his cash on hand to $13.6 million. His consistently high numbers have allowed him to spend far more on advertising than his opponents, topping $22 million as of Thursday with at least $3 million more booked for future ads. Garvey has become a frequent guest star in Schiff’s TV, digital and mail advertising, aimed at Republicans, which cast the baseball player as an urgent threat to Democrats’ control of Congress — and by extension, legitimizes his longshot bid for the seat. It’s a thorn in the side of fellow Democratic Rep. Katie Porter and a major boon to Garvey, who raised $1.5 million since the start of the year but, without Schiff, likely wouldn’t even appear much on many Californians’ televisions. Garvey’s campaign disagrees. Spokesperson Matt Shupe noted that he entered the race with 50 years of history with California voters and has been able to amplify his message through state and national news coverage. “I think they’ve helped Adam Schiff,“ Shupe said of the ads. “I don’t think they’ve helped Steve Garvey.” It is true that the former Los Angeles Dodger has relatively high name recognition for someone who’s never run for political office, but the millions of dollars worth of free advertising from Schiff has been an irrefutable blessing to his campaign. A new PPIC poll, dropped last night, puts Garvey one point ahead of Porter in the race for second place. Other public and private polls shared with POLITICO have shown Garvey building a second-place lead over Porter; and a larger lead for Schiff overall. Garvey’s $1.5 million haul is a huge increase from his 2023 total of about $600,000 — but that isn’t without its costs. Federal filings show the baseball star spent more than $560,000 on fundraising services. Other newsworthy nuggets from the latest batch of FEC filings:
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Democratic California state Sen. Melissa Hurtado listens to the debate on a bill before the Senate at the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif., Monday, March 7, 2022. | Rich Pedroncelli/AP | RUMBLES IN THE CENTRAL VALLEY — State Sen. Melissa Hurtado’s fundraising operation continues to flounder. The Democrat only raised $12,000 in the first six weeks of the year, which includes donations from Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains and state Sen. Steve Glazer’s lieutenant governor committee. Hurtado has $10,271 cash on hand — which isn’t even enough to cover the $23,000 she still owes her fundraising consultants. On the bright side for Hurtado, she did better than the self-described “MAGA Republican” Chris Mathys, who pulled in $1,780 in the same period. Rudy Salas raised $250,000 thanks to a huge showing from congressional Democrats, and he heads into the primary with $122,000 in cash. Incumbent Republican Rep. David Valadao raised about $114,000, and has $1.3 million cash on hand. | 
California congressional candidate Gil Cisneros | Chris Carlson/AP Photo | PLAYING THE LOTTO LANE — Democrat Gil Cisneros poured another $2 million of his fortune into the primary race for CA-31. Cisneros, who won a $266 million Mega Millions lottery jackpot in 2010, has loaned his campaign more than $4.3 million total this cycle, spending heavily to run TV ads in the pricey LA market. Cisneros has run for Congress three times in six years, and previously represented an Orange County area seat from 2019 to 2020. He has far outraised his chief competitors in CA-31: state Sens. Susan Rubio ($550,000) and Bob Archuleta ($514,000). The primary will likely determine which Democrat succeeds retiring Rep. Grace Napolitano to represent a safe blue seat in east Los Angeles County. | | A message from Chime Tired of overdraft fees? Learn how Chime is different.
Chime is expanding banking with no overdraft fees to everyday people. Cost is a barrier to many, which is why Chime never charges overdraft or monthly fees — and there are no minimum balance requirements for our checking and savings accounts. We reach customers traditional banks don't, can't or won't and are helping everyone unlock financial progress. Learn more. | | | ORANGE COUNTY OVERTURE — State Sen. Dave Min raised about $179,000 this period, and now has $224,079 worth of cash in what has been a contentious primary battle with political activist Joanna Weiss. Weiss herself was the recipient of a gusher of cash courtesy of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, which acted as the conduit for more than 200 donations totaling nearly $400,000. EMILYs List helped her bring in about $13,000. In all, Weiss raised more than $591,000 this period. Republican Scott Baugh raised about $77,000 and now has $1.7 million cash on hand. | 
California Assemblymember Vince Fong (right) is on the March ballot seeking to replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy following his resignation. | Rich Pedroncelli/AP | SUCCEEDING MCCARTHY — Vince Fong, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s preferred replacement for his recently-vacated seat, raised a good chunk of money this year — but also he spent big. Total contributions came in just over $660,000, and the state lawmaker spent $611,000 of that on things like TV and digital ads and slate mailers. He’s currently sitting on about $155,000 in cash. Fellow Republican opponent, Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux, who was recently endorsed by state Sen. Shannon Grove, raised $118,000 — including $3,000 of his own money. He reported about $125,000 in cash. BIG TECH, BIG MONEY — No other congressional primary has seen such a windfall of fundraising as the race to succeed Rep. Anna Eshoo in CA-16. Combined, the top five Democratic candidates have raked in more than $8 million this cycle. Their hauls speak to the once-in-a-generation opportunity to win the open Bay Area seat as well as the kind of money sloshing around the Silicon Valley district. Among the top contenders: former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo has raked in more than $2.2 million this cycle; Assemblymember Evan Low raised almost $1.4 million; former tech CEO Peter Dixon brought in nearly $2.8 million, including $1.4 million he loaned his campaign; Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian raised $1 million; and Palo Alto Councilmember Julie Lythcott-Haims netted nearly $600,000. GOOD MORNING. Happy Friday. Thanks for waking up with Playbook. Now you can text us at 916-562-0685 — save it as “CA Playbook” in your contacts now. Or drop us a line at lkorte@politico.com and dgardiner@politico.com, or on X — @DustinGardiner and @Lara_Korte. WHERE’S GAVIN? In Washington, where he is expected to meet with President Joe Biden during the NGA Governors Business Session. On Thursday, the governor met with top White House officials to discuss California priorities, including insisting that FEMA honor its commitment to reimburse the state for Project Roomkey.
| | | | CALIFORNIA CLIMATE: Climate change isn’t just about the weather. It's also about how we do business and create new policies, especially in California. So, we have something cool for you: our California Climate newsletter. It's not just climate or science chat, it's your daily cheat sheet to understanding how the legislative landscape around climate change is shaking up industries across the Golden State. Cut through the jargon and get the latest developments in California as lawmakers and industry leaders adapt to the changing climate. Subscribe now. | | | | | |  | CAMPAIGN YEAR | | | |  California Gov. Gavin Newsom. | AP | PPIC POLL, CONT. — In addition to a temperature check on the Senate race, PPIC polled Californians on top issues of 2024. Some other notable stats: — Prop 1: Fifty-nine percent of likely voters would vote yes on Proposition 1, which authorizes $6.38 billion in bonds to build mental health treatment facilities and provide housing for homeless Californians. — Military aid to Israel: Asked about the war between Israel and Hamas, four in ten adults and likely voters favor the United States decreasing military aid to Israel. — Newsom job performance: Less than half of adults (47 percent) and likely voters (48 percent) approve of the governor's job performance — marking the first time since November 2019 that less than half of adults approve of the governor. — Election enthusiasm: If you’re feeling bummed out about the election, you’re not alone. Majorities of Californians are either somewhat, not too, or not at all enthusiastic about voting this year. | | | | A message from Chime   | | | | | UNDER THE DOME | | | 
Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel meets with Bedouin citizens in Israel. | Jesse Gabriel | LEGISLATORS ABROAD — A group of California lawmakers returned from a trip to Israel over the weekend, where they met with survivors of the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and spoke with Israeli leaders, including President Isaac Herzog. The California delegation, led by Jewish Caucus chairs state Sen. Scott Wiener and Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel, included state Sen. Henry Stern, Assemblymembers Damon Connolly, Josh Lowenthal, Al Muratsuchi and Esmeralda Soria. The trip was a collaboration of JPAC, JCRC Bay Area and the Jewish Federation LA. Gabriel, in an interview with Playbook, called the experience "surreal" and said that everyone they met with was traumatized. Foreign policy is beyond the purview of California legislators, but Gabriel said the war is affecting constituents in California. “We have communities here that are impacted in the state of California, both Jewish and Palestinian American communities, so we wanted to go and understand this with some nuance,” he said. WAIT, THERE’S MORE! — Yesterday we told you about Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas' closest allies and advisers, but left out David Pruitt — the chief fundraiser for the speaker and finance director for the Assembly Democratic Caucus. He helps Rivas build a $20 million war chest to support the caucus’ political efforts. | | | | Don’t sleep on it. Get breaking New York policy from POLITICO Pro—the platform that never sleeps—and use our Legislative Tracker to see what’s on the Albany agenda. Learn more. | | | | | | | TOP TALKERS | | — Schiff’s strategy for winning the Senate race seems to be less about pizzazz and throwing elbows than his rival Porter. Rather, he’s focused on keeping a plain and steady demeanor. (Los Angeles Times) — San Francisco’s Police Commission voted this week to limit certain types of pretextual traffic stops, instances when an officer uses a low-level offense as a reason to pull over a driver and investigate them for a more serious infraction. (San Francisco Chronicle)
| | A message from Chime Chime is expanding banking with no overdraft fees to everyday people. Cost is a barrier to many, which is why Chime never charges overdraft or monthly fees — and there are no minimum balance requirements for our checking and savings accounts. We reach customers traditional banks don't, can't or won't and are helping everyone unlock financial progress. Learn more. | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | PUT A RING ON IT — Jacob Wijnberg, an MBA candidate at Stanford, on Valentine's Day proposed to Kristen Clifford, a principal at VC fund 01 Advisors in San Francisco. The couple knew each other in college, but didn’t reconnect until almost a decade later when an Army buddy of his sat next to her at Harvard Business School and reintroduced them. He proposed by the water at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero. Pic here BIRTHDAYS — POLITICO's Katy Murphy ... Marissa Mitrovich … (was Thursday): Viet Dinh CALIFORNIA POLICY IS ALWAYS CHANGING: Know your next move. From Sacramento to Silicon Valley, POLITICO California Pro provides policy professionals with the in-depth reporting and tools they need to get ahead of policy trends and political developments shaping the Golden State. To learn more about the exclusive insight and analysis this subscriber-only service offers, click here. Want to make an impact? POLITICO California has a variety of solutions available for partners looking to reach and activate the most influential people in the Golden State. Have a petition you want signed? A cause you’re promoting? Seeking to increase brand awareness amongst this key audience? Share your message with our influential readers to foster engagement and drive action. Contact Jesse Shapiro to find out how: jshapiro@politico.com. | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
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