| | | | |  | | By Dustin Gardiner and Tyler Katzenberger | Presented by California Resources Corporation | | 
California Gov. Gavin Newsom will visit Washington, D.C. today to ask the Biden administration for help safeguarding the state against President-elect Donald Trump. | Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images | THE BUZZ: WISH LIST — Gov. Gavin Newsom is pleading with his Democratic friends in Washington to help the Golden State prepare its defenses for Trump 2.0. The governor is in D.C. today to lobby the outgoing Biden-Harris administration over a series of last-minute funding decisions and federal waiver extensions before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January. Trump has already lashed out at Newsom and California officials over the effort to “Trump-proof” the state, and the former president has a history of using the Oval Office to punish California by withholding or threatening to claw back funding. Now, Newsom has two months to build a firewall. The governor landed in the Beltway Monday afternoon and was set to spend the next 36 hours meeting with White House officials and California’s congressional delegation. Izzy Gardon, a Newsom spokesperson who’s traveling with the governor in D.C., said focus areas include “disaster funding, the approval of state healthcare initiatives aimed at improving access to health and mental healthcare for Californians and crucial climate and clean-air efforts." Newsom has vowed to make California a leader of the resistance against Trump’s second term — especially when it comes to disagreements over the state’s voter-ID and climate laws, as well as protections for women seeking abortions and LGBTQ+ rights. POLITICO’s California team is tracking the policy areas where the outgoing administration could aid Newsom and state Democrats. Here are our reporters’ insights:
|  California officials are looking to shore up the state's disaster aid funds after President-elect Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal relief money from the state. | AFP via Getty Images | Disaster aid : It’s tough to parse which threats Trump may follow through on, but Newsom appears to be taking Trump’s promise to withhold disaster relief funding from California seriously. The governor is pressing the Biden administration and its Federal Emergency Management Agency to fulfill several outstanding funding requests. They include reimbursements for $5.2 billion in emergency coronavirus relief spending by state and local governments that could be in jeopardy. That’s on top of the untold amount of California’s budget that Newsom wants to set aside to backfill any lost disaster aid — a proposal he floated first to POLITICO last month. — Blake Jones, education and budget reporter Electric cars: Newsom will advocate for the eight waivers that California still hasn’t received from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to let it phase out fossil fuel-burning cars, trucks and trains. EPA has until President Joe Biden’s last day in office, Jan. 19, to approve the waivers, which give California authority to enforce stronger-than-federal air standards. Trump — who’s consistently attacked California’s electric vehicle policies — has promised to revoke California’s zero-emission rules once in office. Any waivers that haven’t already been approved, however, can simply be denied. — Alex Nieves, climate reporter
|  California is looking to President Joe Biden to help preserve natural areas in the state like the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, which the president expanded earlier this year. | Justin Sullivan/Getty Images | Land preservation: Newsom has thrown his weight behind campaigns led by environmental and tribal groups asking Biden to designate three new national monuments: the Kw’tsán National Monument and the Chuckwalla National Monument in the Southern California desert, and the Sáttítla National Monument in the Shasta-Trinity highlands in Northern California. The designations would forbid development, including renewable energy projects, from nearly 1 million acres total and further California's efforts to conserve 30 percent of its land and coast by 2030. Biden earlier this year expanded the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument in Northern California's Coast Range and the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument near Los Angeles. — Camille von Kaenel, environment reporter Federal health waivers: California has several big health care programs pending federal approval, including efforts related to reproductive health, behavioral health and funding for Medicaid. The two programs Newsom is focusing on most for this trip are getting approval on a behavioral health program that uses Medicaid dollars to strengthen the broader system for mental health care so people have treatment options outside of institutional settings. He’s also gunning for approval of the state’s MCO tax, which could bring in billions at almost no cost. Voters just overwhelmingly said they wanted this tax to be renewed by approving the statewide ballot measure Proposition 35. — Rachel Bluth, health care reporter High-speed rail: Another big pot of money with a target on its back is California’s embattled high-speed rail project, which is relying on billions of dollars in federal funding to complete the Central Valley leg of the route that could eventually connect Los Angeles to San Francisco. Congressional Republicans have introduced multiple bills in recent years to block funding. But former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was instrumental in convincing the Biden administration to award California $6 billion for rail projects last year, including $3.1 billion for the Central Valley portion of the bullet train. Newsom and Democrats on the Hill will surely be looking for ways to get that funding out the door sooner than later. — Alex & Dustin 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 dgardiner@politico.com and tkatzenberger@politico.com, or on X — @DustinGardiner and @TylerKatzen. WHERE’S GAVIN? In Washington. He’s set to return to California on Wednesday.
| | | | A message from California Resources Corporation: California Resources Corporation (CRC) is “a different kind of energy company,” committed to helping California achieve carbon neutrality by 2045 while powering our busy lives. CRC's Carbon TerraVault will provide innovative services to capture, transport and permanently store carbon dioxide deep underground - helping to reduce emissions and advance energy transition while bringing rewarding jobs to our local California communities. CRC's Carbon TerraVault | | | |  | ON THE HILL | | | 
Representative-elect Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.) will begin her term in Congress on Jan. 3, 2025. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | NEW BLOOD — Three incoming congressmembers elected to deep-blue California House seats last week are joining the ranks of the Democratic Party’s progressive wing. The representatives-elect — Lateefah Simon, who is succeeding outgoing Rep. Barbara Lee in the East Bay, Luz Rivas, who is replacing Rep. Tony Cárdenas in the San Fernando Valley, and Laura Friedman, who will take Sen.-elect Adam Schiff’s seat in a neighboring district to the east — each spoke at the Congressional Progressive Caucus’ press conference with new members yesterday. They touched on housing access, immigration, climate change and health care access. Here are the highlights:
- Rivas, an outgoing state lawmaker, on President-elect Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations: “I grew up with a single mother that was undocumented until I was 15. I remember the fear … is she going to come home today? ... No child should have to go through that.”
- Friedman, also an outgoing state legislator, on climate change: “My state is literally on fire right now in places. We see that year after year. People are anxious. They’re anxious and they’re worried.”
- Simon, a civil rights advocate: "This is a difficult time for many. But one of the things I learned from my old boss, Kamala D. Harris, she told me years ago: When things get hard … we put our shoulders back, we put our chin up, and we roll up our sleeves. We have people to deliver for.”
| | | | The lame duck session could reshape major policies before year's end. Get Inside Congress delivered daily to follow the final sprint of dealmaking on defense funding, AI regulation and disaster aid. Subscribe now. | | | | | | | | | A message from California Resources Corporation:   | | | | | ELECTION RESULTS | | | 
Voters ousted Pamela Price from her post as Alameda County district attorney in a recall vote last week. | Lea Suzuki/San Francisco Chronicle via AP | WHAT’S NEXT — The Alameda County Board of Supervisors may not appoint a replacement for recalled District Attorney Pamela Price until January or February, according to Board of Supervisors president Nate Miley. Miley told Playbook that he plans for the board to begin discussing picking Price’s replacement on Dec. 10, the earliest the item can be taken up after the deadline for election results to be certified. Royl Roberts, Price’s chief assistant district attorney, would take over until the board acts — unless the five-member board picks its own placeholder, as Miley prefers. Miley said he would want the board to screen applicants for the full-time position before conducting public interviews of the top four or five candidates. There could be a large field vying for the role. Miley has received nearly a dozen calls expressing interest, ranging from deputies who have worked under Price or her predecessors as well as outside candidates. Miley would also want the appointed DA to promise not to run in two years to serve out the remainder of Price’s term, which ends in 2028. “I might not feel comfortable appointing someone who's going to run in 2026 and give that person the position of incumbency,” Miley said. Miley, who voted for the recall, suggested he’d want someone in the mold of San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins. Jenkins, a moderate, was appointed to the job after San Francisco in 2022 recalled its own progressive DA, Chesa Boudin. Nearly two-thirds of Alameda County voters were supporting Price’s recall as of Monday. — Eric He
| | | CLIMATE AND ENERGY | | IDENTITY CRISIS — California officials are at the U.N. climate talks reassuring diplomats that the Golden State will be a stable partner on climate change no matter what Trump does. But they're not going as big on the message as they have in years past. Read the tea leaves on what this means for California's role in the "resistance" in last night's California Climate.
| | TOP TALKERS | | |  Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) conceded his reelection campaign to George Whitesides after latest results showed the Democratic challenger's lead widening. | Mariam Zuhaib/AP | MAN DOWN — Republican Rep. Mike Garcia conceded his reelection campaign to Democratic challenger George Whitesides yesterday evening, our own Melanie Mason reports. A fresh batch of results released Monday showed Whitesides growing his lead over Garcia in the Los Angeles County district to nearly 7,000 votes. Garcia in his concession statement said he had congratulated Whitesides and promised to "ensure a smooth handoff of open constituent case work." OTHER HOUSE RACES — Republicans are inching closer to retaining their House majority thanks to recent pickups in Arizona and Colorado, even as more than a half-dozen California districts remain uncalled, POLITICO’s Anthony Adragna reports. But Democratic gains in key Golden State races could put that majority on thin ice. Republican Rep. Michelle Steel’s lead over Democrat Derek Tran in Orange County shrunk to less than 4,000 votes as of yesterday evening, and a small batch of ballots dropped last night San Joaquin County cut GOP Rep. John Duarte's margin over Democrat Adam Gray to under 3,000 votes. Meanwhile, Trump continues to create likely Republican vacancies in the House by selecting GOP congressmembers for his cabinet. AND THEN THERE WAS ONE — Diana Becton , the Contra Costa County district attorney, is now California’s leading progressive local prosecutor following George Gascón’s ouster in Los Angeles County and Pamela Price’s recall in Alameda County, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. But a group founded earlier this fall to recall her from office could threaten her job.
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Get The Facts on CRC's Carbon TerraVault | | | | | AROUND THE STATE | | — LA’s new police chief, Jim McDonnell, will receive a $450,000 salary, a roughly $60,000 increase from his predecessor. (Associated Press) — A citizens’ oversight board is accusing the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office of ignoring its record requests for data related to the high rate of deaths in county jails. (San Diego Union-Tribune) — San Francisco Supervisor Dean Preston, a progressive with a national following, has been ousted by moderate Democrat Bilal Mahmood. Meanwhile, Supervisor Connie Chan, a progressive, survived a challenge from moderate Marjan Philhour. (San Francisco Chronicle) — The Sacramento City Council will vote today on the initial details of a plan to build a $217 million soccer stadium near the downtown railyard. (The Sacramento Bee)
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