A Senate candidate goes on offense

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Sep 14, 2023 View in browser   By Rachel Bluth, Sejal Govindarao and Lara Korte Presented by Senate candidate Rep. Barbara Lee. GAME TIME: Rep. Barbara Lee is behind, with the clock running down. Now, she’s going on offense. With a key fundraising deadline looming and polls showing her trailing Reps. Adam Schiff and Katie Porter by double-digits in the U.S. Senate race, Lee is shifting into a more combative mode. Lee first called out Gov. Gavin Newsom after he ruled out appointing her to fill Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s seat if the senior senator steps down. Then Lee went on CNN in prime time to drive home her point. There’s been pressure on Newsom to wade into the primary debate by appointing Lee to Feinstein’s seat, but last weekend he made it clear he did not want to tip the scales. His choice to pick a Black woman only on an interim basis has rankled Lee and others in the caucus. “Unfortunately, I think Black women will continue to have an uphill battle as we’re running for elections,” Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove told POLITICO. “I mean, look at what’s happening, you know, with Vice President Harris — people throwing shade on her all the time as a Black woman.” Lee’s aggressive moves coincide with bringing in a pair of progressive campaign consultants with Bernie Sanders bona fides: Robert Dempsey and Anna Bahr. The campaign, Bahr said, was always going to be about proving Lee has been more consistently progressive than her peers. “Now, it’s September, voters are finally paying attention, and we are executing on exactly that plan,” she said. Lee’s message has become more direct, targeting one of her opponents in a post about authorizing the war in Afghanistan. “I voted against it — knowing it would lead to endless war. @AdamSchiff voted for it,” she posted on X on Thursday. And the campaign that once prided itself on being the most deferential to Feinstein is publicly chastising Newsom for refusing to name a replacement if she has to leave office. Rep. John Garamendi said Newsom is doing the right thing by staying away from the primary fight, but he said Lee didn’t assume the seat was hers. “As I know, she'd never expected it,” Garamendi said. “I don't know that she ever asked for it.” Schiff declined to comment. In a brief interview in Washington, Porter sounded pleased to not have to run against someone with a leg up. “I’m glad the voters of California are going to have this election,” Porter said. “I’ve really enjoyed campaigning, and I’m excited to have the kind of competitive race that we have.” HAPPY THURSDAY AFTERNOON! Welcome to California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check of California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to lkorte@politico.com or send a shout on Twitter. DMs are open!   A message from YouTube and Google: We can all use a little nudge to get off screens sometimes, and that includes teens. So to help them be more mindful of their time on YouTube, we automatically remind teens aged 13–17 to take a break, or switch off for bed. To find more online safety features for kids and teens, visit youtube.com/myfamily   WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY Striking Hotel workers from Unite Here Local 11 join the picketing actors of SAG-AFTRA, and writers of the WGA, outside Netflix studios on July 21, 2023, in Los Angeles. | Chris Pizzello/AP Photo GOVERNOR’S LABOR: Newsom has a tough decision to make after the Legislature sent him a bill extending unemployment insurance to striking workers. The late-emerging Senate Bill 799 grows out of a summer of work stoppages by hotel workers, actors and more. Now Newsom will need to choose between the bill’s champions in organized labor and its foes in the business community. Either way, he’s certain to anger someone. A BIG VOTE ABOUT VOTING: A multi-front battle over local taxes could soon shift from the Legislature to the electorate. The Senate advanced a pair of voting-related constitutional amendments this afternoon — the latest move in a clash that sets business foes seeking to limit taxes against cities and unions hoping to unlock more revenue. Both ACA-1 and ACA-13 fundamentally concern how local taxes get passed: ACA-1 would lower the threshold for special levies to 55 percent, while ACA-13 seeks to undermine a California Business Roundtable initiative requiring two-thirds tax vote margins by saying the Business Roundtable measure would also need to pass by two-thirds. Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins was explicit about the motivation for ACA-13, saying lawmakers were responding to "a few special interests, led by the California Business Roundtable," qualifying a ballot measure to "change the rules to their benefit." The measures are now on a glide path to the 2024 ballot. A final ACA-13 Assembly vote is a foregone conclusion after the red carpet passed the measure this week, and Newsom doesn’t need to sign constitutional amendments. But there’s still a chance of averting a ballot fight if the Business Roundtable can be persuaded to pull its measure. — Jeremy B. White   A message from YouTube and Google:   ON THE BEATS HOT LABOR FALL: Kaiser Permanente may have a strike on its hands if it can’t come to a deal with its union by the end of the month. Nearly 60,000 SEIU-UHW workers at Kaiser in California voted to authorize a strike if they can’t get a deal, the union announced today. Kaiser workers in Oregon and Colorado have also voted to authorize strikes. The union says that if it happens, it will be the largest health care strike in U.S. history. FAST TIMES: A fast-food labor deal was looking fully cooked, but an omitted ingredient is heating up labor tensions. Franchise corporations and SEIU California sealed a pact this week that secures a $20 minimum wage for fast-food workers — a win for labor — and a ban on local governments boosting those wages higher in a concession to industry. That has caused consternation because Unite Here Local 11 already has agreements allowing higher wages at some southern California locations. And time is not on their side: Bill language needed to be in print by Monday night to get a vote before both houses gavel down tonight, which means this could get kicked to next year. “Unite Here has represented and bargained for and created standards for fast-food workers throughout California in certain venues,” California Labor Federation chief Lorena Gonzalez said in an interview. “They need a fix so that we can all support this compromise.” — Jeremy B. White   A message from YouTube and Google: We’re making the internet safer for kids and teens. To help manage their time online, and find other safety features, visit youtube.com/myfamily   WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY RED CALIFORNIA: Democrats, a distinct minority in the inland section of Northern California, have made some gains, including by keeping some conservatives off the school board in rural Siskiyou County, thanks to some local organizing efforts funded by Tom Steyer’s NextGen. (The Sacramento Bee) BRANDING IS EVERYTHING: A San Francisco-based nonprofit has received more than $50 million from at least four municipal governments, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, to move people living in tents on the streets to — wait for it — living in nicer, more orderly tents in a designated asphalt lot with security. Encampments managed by Urban Alchemy are more orderly, though some of its “ambassadors” have been accused in lawsuits of abusive behavior. (Los Angeles Times) YOU CAN CALL ME CAL: A 19-member task force tasked with coming up with a “coherent” brand for a certain East Bay university has determined that the sports teams should be referred to as Cal Berkeley and the school itself should be UC Berkeley. Apparently, there was some confusion about the matter. (San Francisco Chronicle)   Follow us on Twitter Katy Murphy @katymurphy POLITICO California @politicoca   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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