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| By Lara Korte and Dustin Gardiner |
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Assembly candidate Maggy Krell kicks off an afternoon of door-knocking for Nevada's proposed constitutional amendment ensuring the right to an abortion in Reno. | Lara Korte/POLITICO | THE BUZZ:
TRAIL DISPATCH — Maggy Krell is running to represent Sacramento in California’s 6th Assembly District. But on Sunday afternoon, she was 130 miles away from her would-be constituents talking to voters in Nevada about abortion.
"I think this is the most important thing I could be doing with my time and resources,” the Democrat said, striding down a sidewalk in Reno’s beaming afternoon sun, campaign literature in hand. “I feel good about my race. I worked really hard in the primary ... but what's at stake in this election is so much bigger than me and my Assembly district."
In the final precious weeks of campaign season, Californians like Krell in safe races are traveling outside their districts to pound the pavement for other candidates and causes — especially Vice President Kamala Harris. As a candidate in the comfortably blue Sacramento seat currently held by outgoing member Kevin McCarty, Krell has a bit of breathing room in her race against Republican opponent Nikki Ellis
(who also appears to be spending time outside California — just not for campaign reasons). Krell was walking precincts in Reno on Sunday as part of a “Bus Ride For Choice” that she’s been organizing for months. A former lawyer for Planned Parenthood, she woke up at 4 a.m. to lead three charter buses full of California volunteers across state lines to talk to Nevadans about a ballot measure to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution — something California did two years ago with Prop 1.
"It's the only way to make a difference," said Patricia Lynch, a 76-year-old, lifelong Nevadan who was pleased to be greeted by Krell on her porch Sunday. "You can walk around California all you want, it won't make any difference."
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California Assembly candidate Maggy Krell walks with a group of volunteers in Reno on their way to knock doors for Nevada's proposed constitutional amendment ensuring the right to an abortion. | Lara Korte/POLITICO | |
For candidates like Krell, the play is, arguably, a more effective use of time and money than knocking on doors for themselves, and allows candidates in otherwise unremarkable contests to build up name ID and political clout in the areas that matter to them, like abortion rights. The day before Krell took the buses across state lines, other safe Democrats like Reps. Nanette Barragán and Jimmy Gomez
also traveled to Nevada for a Harris GOTV effort. It’s also an opportunity for the well-resourced California Democrats to throw their weight around where they feel they could make a difference. Gov. Gavin Newsom has been relishing his role helping Harris bring down Donald Trump (more on that below) and Harris’ California campaign operation has devoted substantial time to get-out-the-vote efforts in swing states Arizona and Nevada.
"I can't do anything," said Jim Hawley, one of Krell’s nearly 160 volunteers who expressed anxiety about the presidential election, climate change, and the Ukraine war. "But the people we're going to go talk to? They're holding the fate of the free world in their hands." The stakes feel similarly high for Democrats in California’s battleground House races — which have also become a popular spot for political volunteerism.
Rep. Adam Schiff, who is currently enjoying a nearly 30-point lead over Republican Steve Garvey in the Senate race, has embraced the role of supporting actor this year, traveling to battleground House districts and raising more than $7 million for other Democratic candidates, including Harris’ presidential bid and various party committees.
While Krell was out knocking on doors in Nevada, Schiff on Sunday was with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi in Los Angeles, where the pair raised more than $735,000 for six red-to-blue candidates — Adam Gray, Rudy Salas, Derek Tran, George Whitesides, Will Rollins and Dave Min.
The fundraising haul, first reported by Playbook, came from an event that featured a panel discussion with actor and film director Rob Reiner and DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene. The Senate candidate himself directly contributed $300,000. Schiff has also appeared in events for Min, Tran, and Gray, as well as Jessica Morse,
who is challenging GOP incumbent Rep. Kevin Kiley. “I am focusing much of my campaign in these competitive House districts,” he told POLITICO earlier this month in Merced after rallying volunteers in Gray’s campaign office. “It's an opportunity to help flip the House, and it's also an opportunity for me to reach out to these purplish parts of the state.”
Krell, walking between houses on Sunday, described her efforts as part of a long-term fight for abortion rights. After the Dobbs decision two years ago removed national protections, that battle turned into going state-by-state to make sure women had access to health care. If Sacramento voters elect her to the Legislature, she’ll be proud to serve them, she said. But she also feels an obligation to widen her campaign radius in such a critical election year.
"Women are literally bleeding out in parking lots because emergency rooms won't serve them," she said. "That's more important than what I have going on in District 6." GOOD MORNING. Happy Monday. 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 lkorte@politico.com and dgardiner@politico.com, or on X — @DustinGardiner and
@Lara_Korte. WHERE’S GAVIN? Back in California after campaigning in Michigan and North Carolina for Kamala Harris last week. More on that below.
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CAMPAIGN YEAR | | | |
California Gov. Gavin Newsom campaigns for Kamala Harris. | Courtesy of the Newsom campaign |
SURROGATE-IN-CHIEF — Newsom was back out on the road urging Democrats in North Carolina and Michigan to put their trust in his “old friend” Harris, our colleague Christopher Cadelago writes in a weekend travelogue reflecting on the governor’s evolution
as a presidential race surrogate — from White House antagonist to Joe Biden’s go-to supporter to slowly finding his way to stumping for Harris.
“I couldn’t be more proud of my old friend, Kamala Harris,” Newsom said. “And I say that not in the political [sense]. I know you hear politicians say, ‘my old friend,’ and you’re shivving them in the back. Kamala Harris and I knew each other five or six years before we were both in politics, [we] used to go on vacation together, dinner together and had mutual friend groups.”
While there are dozens of other Democrats, of course, competing for who’s next, Chris writes: “no others have been so familiar with each other for so long, sharing a political network and chugging uphill on parallel tracks. And certainly no others have a contender on the doorstep of the presidency, raising a politically existential question for the other: What’s next?” HE’S WITH HIM? — In an interview with Chris, Newsom also revealed he’s supporting
Elon Musk in his dispute with the California agency that rejected a plan to increase SpaceX’s rocket launches off the Pacific coast. “I’m with Elon. I didn’t like that,” Newsom said. Musk sued the California Coastal Commission
last week in federal court in Los Angeles, alleging it “engaged in naked political discrimination” when commissioners cited his support for former President Donald Trump in rejecting a Department of Defense proposal to expand the number of SpaceX launches at Vandenberg Space Force Base. “Look, I’m not helping the legal case,” Newsom
acknowledged in the piece by Chris and Debra Kahn. He added, “You can’t bring up that explicit level of politics.” But Newsom isn’t going any easier on Musk. He told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki in a taped interview that aired Sunday that while he’s known Musk for over 20 years, he’s highly suspicious of his motives in going all-in for Trump.
“I just don't have the confidence that there's other things that he’s not up to behind the scenes. Not just again what he’s expressing quite publicly,” Newsom told Psaki. “And I’m very concerned about our country, where people like Elon Musk, others that are sucking up to Donald Trump that will undoubtedly be carved out of regulations, undoubtedly get massive, even larger federal contracts.”
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OAKLAND | | NEVERMIND —
LPAC, one of the largest PACs dedicated to electing LGBTQ+ women, has rescinded its endorsemen t of Oakland House candidate Jennifer Tran after the group said her recent tweets promoted “dangerous and harmful myths” about transgender people. Janelle Perez
, executive director of LPAC, said that Tran expressed support for gender-affirming health care for youth when she applied for the group’s endorsement. But Tran said the opposite in a tweet last week, arguing that “there are too many cases of trans youth medically transitioning as children and regretting it in adulthood.” Tran also repeated an unfounded rumor about a local political activist being a pedophile. Tran is running for the open House held by Rep.
Barbara Lee, who is retiring at the end of the year. The other Democrat vying for the seat is BART board member Lateefah Simon, Lee’s chosen successor. Simon has a sizable lead in recent polling, but there are still many undecided voters in the district.
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| LOS ANGELES
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 Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, right, has touted the 2028 Olympic games as a potential financial windfall for the region. | Christophe Ena/AP PHOTO |
OLYMPIC GOLD — As California’s largest city prepares to host the 2028 Olympics, a new report offers a glimpse of how the international games and other major sports events could deliver an economic windfall for Los Angeles.
The study led by industry groups, including the LA Sports Council and LA County Economic Development Corporation, estimates that the sports industry generates $11.7 billion in economic output for the region. That total, following the addition of two NFL teams, includes an estimated $705 million in local and state tax revenue. Recent polling from USC
suggests that many Angelenos are feeling meh about hosting the games, especially as the region rushes to improve its haphazard transit system. But LA Mayor Karen Bass said the study shows how the Olympics and upcoming FIFA World Cup in 2026 will generate billions of dollars in benefits for residents and local businesses.
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CLIMATE AND ENERGY | | FIRE SALES —
When you mix climate-fueled wildfires with California’s culture of startups, you get "firetech." Read Friday’s California Climate on what VC Bill Clerico thinks comes next for the growing niche.
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| TOP TALKERS | |
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Former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf. | Jeff Chiu/AP | SUCCESSION FAIL — Former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf
has endorsed the effort to recall her successor. It's the latest in a long series of setbacks for Mayor Sheng Thao, who has recently come out swinging against the recall effort. As K QED reported, Schaaf said Thao’s mishandling of the city’s fiscal and public-safety problems convinced her to speak out. The former mayor was stinging in her criticism, arguing Thao has shown she’s “is not capable of growing into the job.”
HEY ARNOLD — Donald Trump spent the weekend trying to make his closing argument to voters in the must-win state of Pennsylvania. But what dominated the headlines was his bizarre ode to the late golfer Arnold Palmer
’s, uh, manhood. “But when he took showers with the other pros, they came out of there, they said, 'Oh my god, that's unbelievable.' I had to say it,” the former president said.
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| AROUND THE STATE | | |
— California legislators and Newsom passed a law to prevent school boards from requiring teachers to out trans students. But the Chino Valley Unified School District passed such a policy anyway. (San Francisco Chronicle) — Firefighters battling blazes across the state have been aided by favorable weather conditions
, such as higher humidity and lower temperatures. (Los Angeles Times) — San Franciscans were livid about self-driving taxis a year ago. But the controversy has subsided in recent months, especially as Waymo dominates. (The Wall Street Journal)
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AROUND THE STATE | |
SPOTTED: TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME — At Dodger Stadium watching the Dodgers clinch the national league championship: Nathan Hochman, John Pérez, Karen Bass and Nanette Barragán.
PEOPLE MOVES — Tessa Browne, Rep. John Garamendi’s communications director, has departed to be press secretary for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. BIRTHDAYS — Jay Wierenga
of the Fair Political Practices Commission … AT&T’s Kim Hart … FCC’s Jonathan Uriarte … Jordan Hoffner … Gyan R Parida …
BELATED B-DAY WISHES — (was Sunday): VP Kamala Harris (6-0) … Rep. Mike Levin (D-Calif.) … former Labor Secretary Hilda Solis … Webber Xu ... Erin Mellon
, VP of strategic comms at the California Medical Association … WANT A SHOUT-OUT FEATURED? — Send us a birthday, career move or another special occasion to include in POLITICO’s California Playbook. You can now submit a shout-out using this Google form.
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