| | | | |  | | By Jeremy B. White | |  Vice President Kamala Harris speaks with California legislators at the Stanford Mansion on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024, in Sacramento, Calif. (Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP, Pool) | AP | MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER: California won’t swing the presidential election, but it can model good behavior for Democrats — just ask Vice President Kamala Harris. America's most powerful Californian stopped by Sacramento today to raise cash and rally the Democratic faithful. In a meeting with legislative Democrats at the Stanford Mansion, she talked about the stakes of the 2024 campaign and highlighted issues — like abortion rights, gun restrictions and artificial intelligence — where California has carved out a prominent role. “She’s trying to tell us to keep doing what we’re doing — to do what we do in California, because it matters,” Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins told reporters. Of all those issues, abortion rights figure to be most prominent in 2024. Harris’ agenda underscored the issue’s primacy. After meeting with legislators, she was on to a fundraiser with Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who along with Atkins championed a 2022 abortion rights ballot measure that will likely figure in their rival campaigns for governor. From there, the vice president was scheduled to lead an abortion-focused rally in San Jose. The Veep visit extends the White House’s determination to emphasize abortion rights at every turn. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a top Biden surrogate who’s now playing proxy in South Carolina, has similarly invoked the issue again and again as he works to help define the contrasts that will flow from the presidential race down through Senate and House contests. That could be a powerful turnout driver. Abortion access may be settled law in California, but that doesn’t mean it’s politically dormant. The Democrats running for the Senate piled on Republican Steve Garvey during a Monday debate, accusing him of obfuscating his views on a critical issue. Rep. Katie Porter assailed Rep. Adam Schiff at the same event for a line on his website that suggested the work for reproductive rights was done. The issue could turn out to be pivotal whether the November general election features Garvey or two Democrats. And it’s reverberating through critical House races that could swing control of Congress, from the fight to keep Porter’s seat blue — where Democrat Joanna Weiss is trumpeting an endorsement from Emily’s List as she vies with Democratic state Sen. Dave Min — to campaigns to oust Republicans like Rep. Mike Garcia and Rep. John Duarte, where both Democratic challengers and the national party have hammered the issue. IT’S THURSDAY AFTERNOON. This is 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 sgtaylor@politico.com or send a shout on X. DMs are open. |  | WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY | |
UC HITS PAUSE: The University of California backed away today from a plan to allow people without legal immigration status to hold campus jobs.
UC President Michael V. Drake announced that the university would hold off on the proposal for at least a year as the Regents emerged from a closed session at their meeting in San Francisco. The board then ratified that decision by vote. The decision came after months of legal scrutiny and pressure from the Biden administration, which privately let UC officials know the proposal violated federal law and would likely leave the university vulnerable to a lawsuit or administrative action. "We concluded that the proposed legal pathway is not viable at this time, and in fact carries significant risks for the institution and for those we serve," Drake said. "For that reason, it is inadvisable for the university to initiate implementation right now." The decision leaves around 4,000 undocumented students across the 10-campus system unable to hold campus jobs, including paid positions and residencies that some need to graduate or pursue advanced studies. — Blake Jones | | ON THE BEATS | | | | 
Joanna Weiss, Democratic candidate for California's 47th Congressional District, is photographed in Los Angeles on Oct. 9, 2023. | Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call via AP |
GOING THERE — No longer dancing around the subject, Joanna Weiss is taking direct aim at fellow Democrat Dave Min in the second ad for her CA-47 campaign, attacking the state senator for his recent drunk driving conviction in a six-figure ad buy.
The spot, titled “Trust,” highlights an incident in May when Min was pulled over by California Highway Patrol, not far from the state Capitol in Sacramento. He was later sentenced to three years of probation and $2,000 in fines. "Min drove drunk, lied to the police, and endangered innocent lives,” says the narrator in the ad released today. A spokesperson for Min’s campaign said the ad is an attempt by Weiss to distract from her own record, pointing to a recent Daily Beast story that highlighted her husband’s history defending the Catholic Church in sexual abuse cases. “Dave Min is endorsed by The California Democratic Party, Katie Porter and the Los Angeles Times,” Orrin Evans said in a statement. “Who are you going to trust?” The district is one of the state’s most hotly-contested races this cycle, with Republicans eager to flip the seat Porter has held onto since 2018. Weiss, an attorney and former nonprofit exec, has managed to mount a serious intraparty challenge to Min by scooping up support from some local Democrats and going on the attack. — Lara Korte GAINING GROUND: Backers of a ballot measure to increase penalties for drug crimes and retail theft say they’ve quickly gathered more than 200,000 signatures — a sign their cause may be resonating with voters. The campaign, which has received $1.5 million from retailers Target and Walmart, needs more than 546,000 signatures to get on the November ballot. The so-called Homeless, Drug Addiction, Retail Theft Reduction Act would increase penalties for some low-level crimes, reversing changes brought by Proposition 47, which voters approved in 2014. Retail theft has emerged as a political priority around the state as many stores have begun to keep basic items in locked cases in response to shoplifting — even as violent crime has shown significant declines. Greg Totten, campaign chair of the ballot measure and CEO for the California District Attorneys Association, said people are lining up to sign the petition. The measure is commonsense and injects accountability back into our laws,” he said. — Sarah Grace Taylor | | DULY NOTED | | CHANGE AT THE TOP: The owner of the Los Angeles Times, Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, has appointed Terry Tang, editor of the editorial page, to serve as the paper’s interim executive editor, replacing Kevin Merida, the paper reported today. | | WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY | | A FEDERAL CASE: Federal prosecutors are now looking into how driverless car company Cruise responded to regulators after one of its vehicles collided with a pedestrian in San Francisco. (The Wall Street Journal) HOW IT’S GOING: Peter Navarro, who ran for office five times in San Diego as a liberal Democrat and went on to become a trade adviser in the Trump administration, was sentenced today to four months in prison for defying a subpoena from the Jan. 6 select committee. (POLITICO) THOUSAND-YEAR-STORMS: This week’s deluge in San Diego, which reportedly killed two people, and the Dec. 21 storm that slammed Ventura County are characterized as “thousand-year events,” meaning there’s a 0.1 percent likelihood of such heavy rainfall occurring in any given year. (Los Angeles Times) STILL WITH US?: Researchers find that the average attention paid to a single screen is 47 seconds, and also that “people are happiest when they can do mindless, easy, engaging activities." (University of California)
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