Senate candidate shifts on cease-fire

Your afternoon must-read briefing on politics and government in the Golden State

Mar 05, 2024 View in browser   By Jeremy B. White and Melanie Mason Clockwise from top left: California Senate candidates Adam Schiff, Katie Porter, Steve Garvey and Barbara Lee are pictured. | Francis Chung/POLITICO; Richard Vogel/AP STAYING ON MESSAGE: Rep. Adam Schiff, the most ardently pro-Israel Democrat in the California Senate race, today backed the White House’s call for a Gaza cease-fire that is linked to a larger deal. “My position is the same as the administration,” Schiff told reporters in Burbank, “which is there needs to be a deal to release the hostages and have a pause in the fighting.” The Biden administration has pushed for a compromise as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza intensifies. Vice President Kamala Harris on Sunday called for an “immediate” cease-fire as part of a proposal that would include Israel sending more aid to the battered enclave. President Joe Biden said over the weekend that a deal was close. The conflict in Gaza has divided the House Democrats in the race more than any other issue. Progressive Rep. Barbara Lee has long demanded a cease-fire, and Rep. Katie Porter in December called for a “bilateral cease-fire." Yet Schiff has consistently said any halt in the fighting must be conditioned on Gaza returning Israeli hostages. He reiterated that position on Tuesday, saying “the obstacle to getting that temporary cease-fire is Hamas.” As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s relationship with the Biden administration grows more strained, Schiff also suggested that the two countries should be in a “state-to-state” alliance that transcends changes in Israeli leadership. But the congressman did affirm his support for the two-state solution, which he noted puts him at odds with Netanyahu. ON WEDNESDAY: Catch POLITICO’s California bureau chief Christopher Cadelago breaking down Super Tuesday election results on a Brookings Institution panel. The virtual event will be livestreamed at 11 a.m. PT. IT’S  TUESDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to bjones@politico.com or send a shout on X. DMs are open. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY Former California Assemblymember Rudy Salas is seen in Sacramento, California, on Aug. 12, 2019. | Rich Pedroncelli/AP TURNOUT TEST: Top Democratic recruit Rudy Salas said his race against GOP Rep. David Valadao — and a rival Democrat — will turn on Democrat turnout. “But if we do our job and people realize how important their vote truly is, especially if there is a low turnout, their vote is even vitally more important,” Salas told reporters at the Kern County Fairgrounds as a handful of local voters trickled in. That’s especially true in a fierce Central Valley contest that’s a must-win for national Democrats — if they can even get past the primary. Salas, a former assemblymember who lost to Valadao last cycle, is battling Democratic state Sen. Melissa Hurtado for a spot in the general. If Salas and Hurtado split the vote and Republican voters show up in far greater force than Democrats, Republican Chris Mathys could slide past both of them into a top-two finish that locks Democrats out of a vital race. Democrats have spent heavily to avoid that catastrophe by boosting Salas, and Salas hinted at the challenging math in a large, rural district where turnout tends to lag the rest of California. “If only Republicans turn out in the primary, then it's a very difficult road with having four candidates,” Salas said. — Alex Nieves ON THE BEATS HOUSING CRISIS: Student homelessness is alarmingly high in Central Coast counties, including Santa Barbara (12.3 percent) and Monterey (14.2 percent), according to a new Public Policy Institute of California analysis. The share of students who are homeless has receded to pre-pandemic levels statewide, but 4 percent are still without permanent housing — which not only makes it harder to learn but also complicates efforts to track enrollment. — Blake Jones DONE DEAL: The Biden administration on Tuesday formally approved a $1.2 billion Colorado River water conservation deal among three Southwestern states, concluding that it — along with last year's wet winter — will be enough to evade disaster along the West's most important river for the next few years. The deal's final approval closes out one of the most contentious periods in a generation for users of the river. It was feared in mid-2022 that the system could be barely a year away from being unable to reliably deliver water and produce power, and the seven states that share the river deadlocked over who should take the severe cuts the Interior Department said were needed to prevent disaster. The Biden administration ultimately drove the parties back to the negotiating table with a threat to intervene unilaterally if no agreement could be reached. But just as that near-term crisis recedes, an even bigger one has taken center stage, with the states now butting heads over new rules meant to govern the waterway through the coming decades, when the river's flows are expected to shrink significantly due to climate change. — Annie Snider WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY LEGAL MILESTONE: A 58-year-old San Diego man has been charged with smuggling powerful greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning into the U.S. from Mexico without EPA approval, in the first case of its kind. (The San Diego Union-Tribune) BURNED BRIDGES: Some of Rep. Katie Porter’s colleagues at UC Irvine, where she’s a tenured law professor, are not voting for her over her decision to vacate her swing House seat and leave it vulnerable to a Republican takeover. (New York Times) TESLA TROUBLES: Tesla halted production at a plant in Germany after a power outage that officials suspected was caused by arson. A far-left group claimed responsibility for the fire. (Associated Press)   Follow us on Twitter 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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