Billionaire blitz: Steyer’s $132 million campaign dwarfs rivals in California governor race

 Billionaire blitz: Steyer’s $132 million campaign dwarfs rivals in California governor race 

 

https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/04/california-governor-race-financials/

 

In summary

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan dominated fellow Democrats in fundraising, bringing in $13 million. Katie Porter raised $2.8 million, Xavier Becerra brought in $1 million, Antonio Villaraigosa raised $707,000 and Tony Thurmond raised just $62,000. 

With so many candidates running for governor, it’s hard to keep up. We’re here to help: Sign up for our 2026 election newsletter to get the latest on the candidates.

Tom Steyer, the billionaire environmental activist and self-styled progressive candidate for governor, is on track to run the most expensive gubernatorial campaign in state history, having already spent more than $132 million. 

He’s saturated the Internet and TV as special interest groups ramp up advertising of their own ahead of the June 2 primary and county officials prepare to mail out ballots. 

Campaign finance disclosures filed late Thursday show that through mid-April, Steyer continued to outspend his opponents twenty- to thirty-fold, mostly to blitz the state with television ads that began airing early in the race. Nearly all of the money came from Steyer personally, $105 million of which he poured into the campaign from January through April 18.

Tom Steyer Should End His Negative Campaign

  Candidate Tom Steyer should end his negative, inaccurate, destructive media campaign distorting the reality of Becerra’s work on immigration. It is unfortunate that this campaign has selected this route. Instead, if he hopes to be governor, Steyer should campaign on what he is in favor of.  

The anti Becerra  ads funded by Tom Steyer are endless and deceptive. Becerra is being blamed for Trump  era immigration failures.  The failures  were created by the overcrowding of immigrants detention facilities during the Trump era. 

 

The Truth is Xavier Becerra inherited the failures at HHS caused by the Trump era assault on immigrants and immigrant children.  And he resolved many of the problems.  Now, Trump has done it all again- even more.

See Here. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SntyYRugBgY&t=1224s

 

Steyer has gained substantive progressive support in recent weeks including from major unions and political organizations.  He should campaign positively and accept the voters solutions whichever way the votes come in.  If he refuses, progressive groups should reconsider their endorsements which endanger this elections. 

If Steyer continues to misrepresent the issues, here is an alternative for those of us who do not want a November election where we are faced with a choice between two bad Republicans.  ( Proposal Reprinted from another source. )

A REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR IN CALIFORNIA?

 NO WAY!

***VOTE STRATEGICALLY IN JUNE 2 PRIMARY*** 

HERE’S THE SITUATION:

California has a “jungle primary,” meaning the two candidates with the highest votes will be on the ballot in November, regardless of party. 

Democrats have at least six candidates competing, while the Republicans have two. Democrats are diluting the vote so much that NONE of them are frontrunners. Tom Steyer, Xavier Becerra and Katie Porter are at 14-10% in polls. 

Both Republicans are MAGA Trump supporters. Steve Hilton is a Fox News commentator. Chad Bianco is a Republican sheriff. Both are round 14 %  in polling.

If we don’t organize and strategize RIGHT NOW, the two Republicans could end up being our only two choices on the ballot in November!

 In spite of Steyers flooding the airways  and our mail boxes with inaccurate campaign ads,,,

We should be strategic to get a candidate on the November that we would be willing to vote for.  

 

WE STRONGLY ENCOURAGE YOU TO DELAY CASTING YOUR VOTE UNTIL 7-10 DAYS BEFORE THE  June 2 primary.  

THEN VOTE FOR THE DEMOCRAT (OPPONENT OF DONALD TRUMP )  WITH THE HIGHEST POLLING NUMBERS. 

Despite what you may feel about some of the candidates, ANY of these Democrats would be much, much better than either of the two Republicans!!! 

A REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR IN CALIFORNIA COULD MEAN:

 - more ICE agents in the streets, deportations, detention facilities

 - subverting, disrupting, hijacking the election in 2028

 - appointing Republican judges and other officials hostile to democratic rule of law

 - dismantling environmental regulations

 - reducing social services and safety net programs 

 - reducing protections for LGBTQ people, racial minorities, immigrants

Further actions to help get an opponent of Trump on the November ballot.

 

SEND THIS INFORMATION TO EVERYONE YOU KNOW, so that people understand why they need to hold off voting until a week before the primary.

Post this on your social media.  Spread the word. 

VOTE IN THE PRIMARY! Check to see if your neighbors will vote. 

We recommend that you take your ballot to the nearest Safe Box. 

Thank you for your participation in helping to save our democracy!

Nicky Silver, nickysilver3@icloud.com

Rebecca Silverstein, rebsilver74@gmail.com

Renée Allen, eenera@icloud.com

Ruth Hurvitz, itzruth@mac.com

Further reading:

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5848331-california-governor-race-becerra-steyer/

https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/03/california-governor-candidates/

https://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/election/voter-guide/article315281369.html

 

 

 

Move On Launches Final Campaign Ad : Believe Him !

As first reported by CNN, yesterday MoveOn launched a seven-figure ad on the economy—the No. 1 issue in this election—with two partner organizations, the Working Families Party and Future Forward.¹

It's our closing argument before Election Day. We are making the final case to American voters that Vice President Kamala Harris is on the side of working people, while Donald Trump absolutely is not.

The ad is airing on streaming services in all seven battleground states and is targeting late-deciding, less political, working-class voters, as well as those voters who have been third-party curious. It can also be seen on YouTube.

It's a very large ad buy, but we had to do it—because this is the final stretch, and we're leaving everything on the field.

But here's the thing: We hadn't budgeted for this ad; we didn't think we'd have to do something like this so late in the game.

But this election is too close—and the stakes are too high—for us to sit this out.

It's critical that we reach on-the-fence voters, and this ad is how we'll do it.

We know that you'll be shocked by the cost of this ad. It's a seven-figure ad buy, but with all of the political spending in this election, that's what the going rate is. We couldn't have done it without crucial allies, and we wouldn't spend the money if we didn't think it had to be done.

Now, we urgently need additional funds for the final stretch to continue our other critical work to reach voters.We want you to watch the ad, but here's a preview:

Against the backdrop of powerful images, our ad says:

"Most of us work hard to care for the people we love and build a better life. But corporations are making record profits, getting richer off our backs, while we work harder. Kamala Harris will make sure we keep more of what we earn–cracking down on price gouging, lowering the cost of housing and prescription drugs, and making the rich pay their fair share in taxes. Vote Kamala Harris. She's with us. Not with them."

And it closes with an image of Trump and his billionaire buddy Elon Musk.

Before launching the ad, we tested it with voters in our target audiences, and it performed extremely well across everydemographic in each swing state.

The results blew us away. They were among the best we'd seen for an ad during this entire election cycle.

That's why we knew we HAD to launch this ad, with the help of crucial partners, at a massive, impactful, difference-making, seven-figure scale.

But we have crucial work we must continue in the final week, including ...

• Phone-banking more than one million voters
• Running microtargeted ad campaigns so that each voter sees the ad most persuasive to them across multiple digital channels
• Working in partnerhip with social media influencers
• Our community vote tripling program that helps voters reach out personally to their family and friends to remind them to cast a ballot. Studies show this program as much as five times more effective than traditional voter outreach; and
• Field organizers on the ground in battleground states who are running canvasses to reach the critical voters who will decide this election.

We can't afford to pull even a little bit away from this crucial work. Not even for this incredibly powerful ad campaign. So we're counting on you to help fill this funding gap for the final stretch.

The New York Times editorial board wrote powerfully on Sunday: "Donald Trump says he will prosecute his enemies, order mass deportations, use soldiers against citizens, abandon allies, play politics with disasters. Believe him."²

They used Trump's own words to outline his dangerous plans in each of these areas, repeating each time, "Believe him."

We believe him and know what he's capable of. And we know that the Trump-packed Supreme Court won't stop Trump. Remember, the Supreme Court ruled this year that Trump can't be prosecuted for crimes he commits as president.³

And we know that the political staff who held Trump in check—to an extent—in his first term have since abandoned him and are sounding the alarms about how dangerous he is. They have been replaced by MAGA die-hards who are endlessly loyal to Trump and will alway put him above us and our country.⁴

And that's why in these final five days before the election, we MUST do everything possible to get every left-leaning voter in the battleground states to the polls. But it's going to take all of us doing everything we can.

 If interested>>>>>>>Please rush a $9 donation now to help MoveOn have the resources for this final sprint to when the polls close on Election Day.

Thanks for all you do.

–Britt, Amanda R., Alyssa, Isbah, and the rest of the team

Defeat Trump : The Latino Vote is Important

By Dolores Delgado Campbell and Duane Campbell

Immigration issues along with the changing composition of the U.S. electorate will shape the 2016 Presidential and Congressional races, as well as many state races.

While working class non-union white voters in the upper Midwest appear to be abandoning the Clinton-led Democratic Party in response to immigration and neo- liberal trade policies, Latino voters are putting some traditional Republican and swing states in play, noticeably Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Texas.  In these states with a close electoral contest, the Latino vote may make the decisive victory.

The U.S. electorate in 2016 will be the country’s most racially and ethnically diverse ever. Nearly one in three eligible voters  (31%) will be Latino, African American, Asian or another racial or ethnic minority, up from 29% in 2012.  Much of this change is due to strong growth among Latino voters, in particular U.S.-born youth. Latinos will constitute an estimated 11.9% of the total electorate.

According to Pew Research, the projected number of eligible voters will be:

White – 69%; African American  12%; Latino 12%; Asian 4%.

(For a detailed description of the various national  groups within the Hispanic category  see  http://www.dsausa.org/dl_hispanic_heritage_month)

Latino millennials will account for nearly half (44%) of the record 27.3 million Hispanic eligible voters projected for 2016. (Pew, 2016)

Donald Trump began his campaign for the Republican nomination with an assault on Mexicans and Mexican Americans in the U.S. This was his strategic choice.  He has expanded his assault to encompass additional immigrant groups including Muslims and other Latino immigrants (but not Cubans).

Forum : The American Way of Poverty

And, Bernie campaign.

The American Way of Poverty ;

How the Other Half Still Lives

Author.  Sasha Abramsky. Speaking at the 7^thannual  Progressive Forum.

March 17, 2016.  3 PM.  Folsom Hall 1063. 

Sasha Abramsky is a widely published journalist, who specializes in social justice and poverty reporting. His work has appeared in the Nation, the American Prospect, Salon, Slate, the New Yorker online, Rolling Stone, Mother Jones, the New York Times, the Village Voice, and many other publications both in the US and the UK.

The Abramsky lecture will be followed by speakers from a number  of local organizations encouraging the student vote in 2016. 

Duane Campbell, (DSA) The Left and the Sanders Campaign.  Student Votes Matter; Presentations by student activists and others.  Free.

Sponsors:  Sacramento Progressive Alliance, Campus Progressive Alliance,  Democratic Socialists of America, California Faculty Association,

Socialism and the Sanders Campaign

Forum.  July 24, 2015.    7 PM.
The Sol Collective. Sacramento
Sponsored by Sacramento DSA, the Sacramento Progressive Alliance  and more.

Lets qualify the majority rule campaign

Initiative campaign for majority rule

The  California Majority Rule campaign is presently circulating petitions to place an initiative on the  California ballot for majority rule- that is for democracy.  And, we invite you to join us.

California is in deep trouble because it has a anti democratic limits on the legislature.  George Lakoff  sent to the Attorney General a ballot proposition for the 2010 ballot called The California Democracy Act,  which simply says,

All legislative action on revenue and budget must be determined by a majority vote.

It’s just  this one sentence.  It would change two words in the Constitution, turning "two-thirds" to "majority" in two places.

Democracy is the main issue in  here.  More democracy  is required for progress on the budget.  The two-thirds rules have an anti-democratic effect. Our legislature is currently under minority rule. One-third plus one -- only 34% -- of either the Assembly or Senate can and do  block the will of the majority.  

Obama campaign

So far, I have read on a number of comments on the Obama campaign that consist of little more than veiled references and feigned insider knowledge. I have not read much substantive analysis, mostly name calling.

For a good essay by a seasoned antiracism activist from the Jackson campaign, see Http:///www.edjustice.blogspot.com

I have previously posted a comparison of the candidates as developed here in Sacramento for our electoral group the Progressive alliance. You can find arguments for Edwards and Obama on our blog at
http://www.sacramentopa.blogspot.com

Here I would like to take up two of the most frequent characterizations of the Obama campaign which I find lacking.

The argument that Obama is an example of color blindness offered by Angela Davis in The Nation is not consistent with the campaign. While I respect the opinion of Angela Davis on many issues, there is a problem here. We should look at the actual campaign and the actual programs.
Also see Shelby Steele, of all people, on this topic in Time Magazine along with an essay by Joe Klein. 
Rather than dismissing Obama, or relying upon others views, I urge readers to look at what he is actually saying. His campaign, for example, is far from color blind. It is not “beyond race” at all.

You can read his positions at http://www.barackobama.com

If you wish to see more see the article on the South Carolina “Black” primary.
On this issue I think it is important to recall a little history. Most African Americans did not support Martin Luther King Jr. while he was active and organizing. Particularly, most “militants”, and many leftists did not.
They found MLK, too accomodationist. Not militant enough.
Of course now writers all claim to have been active supporters of SCLC and King, but if you read history, and his own speeches, you will find how often he was criticized and even denounced as too integrationist.

Now I think there are real issues in the case of Obama and Oprah. What is this role of an African American from the post civil rights generation?
I am not saying that Obama is a new M.L. King. He is an elected official, not a movement leader. However, a fair and accurate analysis of the role of this campaign is in order.

A second major critique, one which I am of two minds about, is the critique of his post partisanship talk. According to the Des Moines Register poll of today, Barack is leading in Iowa --- and his strong support is among independents who will vote in the Democratic primary.

Here is the problem as I understand it.

Bill Clinton etal ( and Hillary) created the DLC arguing that the old politics, the old party structure was obsolete. His critics claim that Sen. Obama is repeating this refrain.
It was different in the DLC era. Their primary argument was that the Democratic Party looked as if it were captured by “special interests” and critics meant Blacks. The DLC was after the Reagan Democrat voter, an older White Male.
Well, obviously with Obama as the candidate, he is not repeating that argument. He is, however, like Clinton, not kneeling to each special interest (such as the NEA, etc.)

I, and many others cringe at this. We tend to see this as an argument against party politics, the sort of beyond ideology stuff. Yes, this is a problem.

At the same time, there is another side. If you think of the actual Democratic Party, of the really existing Democratic Party, that is a corrupt, incompetent, disorganized mass that usually ends up supporting corporate capitalism (see Robert Reich’s new book, supercapitalism),
Given the real nature of the really existing D.P. , then the Obama line of reaching out beyond the existing partisan dueling in the capitol, which is really about who gets the most corporate money for their campaign chests is a reasonable approach. Given this party, then I am less certain of my own position on Barack’s line on the post partisan debate.
How many of us try to recruit people into the D.P.? Why? Then, if Barack argues to move beyond partisanship, why is there such criticism.


So, these are two of the items that concern me about the criticism of the Obama campaign. And they are two items that concern me about the campaign itself. I do not have a clear answer on these. However, in electoral time lines, we do have to make some choices.

Inside the Black Primary, Bob Moser.
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20080107/moser

Reflections on Black Group Identity in the 21st. Century,
Dr. Milton Kilson

http://www.blackcommentator.com/258/258_black_group_will_kilson_ed_bd.html

Duane Campbell
Sacramento