Filling Schiff’s shoes + Assembly R’s want to tackle crime + Dhillon won’t lead the RNC

Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

AS SCHIFF EYES FEINSTEIN’S SENATE SEAT, 2 STATE LAWMAKERS LOOK TO FILL HIS

Last week, California Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Burbank, announced that he is joining the increasingly crowded race to succeed California Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the U.S. Senate.

Now, two SoCal state lawmakers — Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Burbank, and Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, D-Glendale — have announced designs to replace Schiff in the U.S. House of Representatives.

As of Friday afternoon, Portantino had yet to go public. But CATargetBot, a Twitter bot created by California Target Book, caught that the state senator has submitted his formal statement of candidacy.

Friedman has been more vocal about her run. Her campaign announced Friday that she had the endorsement of Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and “numerous federal, state and local elected leaders.”

ASSEMBLY REPUBLICANS TO LAY OUT ANTI-CRIME AGENDA

Last week, the Senate Republican Caucus had its say about its 2023 agenda. On Monday, it’s the Assembly Republican Caucus’ turn.

Assembly Republican Leader James Gallagher, R-Yuba City, is set to be joined by other caucus members as well as law enforcement, to introduce a package of public safety bills.

“Californians are suffering from an unprecedented crime crisis due to policies passed by the Democrat super-majority, with violent crime rising over 6%. In light of the recent shootings, including those that killed two sheriff’s deputies, Assembly Republicans are putting forward a bill package to stop CA’s crime spree,” according to a caucus statement.

The presser starts at noon on the west steps of the Capitol, and you can watch it here.

HARMEET DHILLON LOSES BID TO RUN THE RNC

After weeks of intra-party drama over who should run the Republican National Committee, California attorney and GOP operative Harmeet Dhillon fell short in her bid to unseat Ronna McDaniel, who was re-elected overwhelmingly to a fourth term as head of the RNC.

Dhillon had the support of several GOP luminaries, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, but was the victim of a whisper campaign about her Sikh faith, according to reporting from Politico.

McDaniel, who is Mormon, told Politico she did not condone any such attacks, and that they have no place in the Republican Party.

Dhillon released a statement Friday after the vote.

“After a hard-fought effort, we unfortunately came up short. However, the RNC will be better for the tough conversations that were desperately needed about how to reform the RNC to win elections and earn the trust of our voters, activists, and donors,” she said.

She added that it is critical for the party’s chances in 2024 that her supporters “rally around our party and its candidates.”

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, when we remember the Holocaust — the extermination of 6M Jews & 6M others. The forces of antisemitism deny the Holocaust occurred. Too many young people don’t even know about it. We must educate people & fight to ensure it never happens again.”

- Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, co-chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus, on Friday via Twitter.

Best of The Bee:

• A group of disability and civil rights organizations is hoping to block Gov. Gavin Newsom’s latest plan to address California’s homeless crisis by moving people with severe, untreated mental illness off of the streets into court-ordered treatment programs, via Maggie Angst.

• Following years of pleadings from the autonomous vehicle industry, California officials are revisiting a statewide policy that prohibits self-driving semi-trucks and big rigs on its roads, via Maggie Angst.

• Video released publicly Friday shows the husband of former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi fighting with his assailant for control of a hammer moments before he was struck in the head during a brutal attack in the couple’s San Francisco home last year, via The Associated Press.

• A group of California Democrats is working to quash a potential Assembly speakership bid from a Fresno lawmaker, a move they call “surprising” given the caucus’s existing leader transition agreement, via Lindsey Holden.

• The State Bar of California is pursuing the disbarment of John Eastman, an attorney who was involved in former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, via Mathew Miranda.