Gavin Newsom running for president? His fundraising strategy signals White House aspirations

Gov. Gavin Newsom is taking fundraising steps often used by potential presidential candidates, setting up multiple committees that in their first three months have raised and spent millions of dollars.

The three Newsom-affiliated committees are a political action committee, which limits contributions to $5,000 a year and can donate to individual candidates; a SuperPAC, which can raise unlimited amounts of cash but is restricted from promoting a specific candidate, and a joint fundraising committee, which functions like a bank, mostly collecting and distributing funds to the other groups.

Newsom has repeatedly denied any interest in running for the nation’s highest office next year. But whether President Joe Biden wins or loses, there will be no Democratic incumbent in 2028. As governor of the nation’s largest state, the big winner of two elections and a recall, Newsom would be well-positioned for a White House run.

Forming the trio of fundraising committees allows prospective candidates like Newsom to begin building a base of support and explore a run for federal office without saying it outright, according to Brendan Glavin, senior data analyst at Open Secrets.

“For someone who has an interest in launching a presidential campaign, these are the first steps you’d take,” Glavin said. “I wouldn’t say it’s set in stone, but certainly you wouldn’t do all of these things if you weren’t thinking about it.”

Nathan Click, a campaign advisor for Newsom, flatly refuted that narrative and pointed to dozens of instances where the governor said he had no interest in the White House.

“That’s not what this is about,” Click said. “This is all about going deep into the reddest states and helping Democrats where they’re on defense.”

Presidential candidates use a similar strategy to Newsom

Never Back Down, for instance, is a major player backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, with $97 million on hand at the end of June. Robert Bigelow a Las Vegas hotel magnate and UFO researcher, gave the SuperPAC $20 million on March 30.

Unite The Country, which supports President Joe Biden, raised and spent $49 million during the 2020 election cycle. Make American Great Again, a SuperPAC backing former President Donald Trump, reported $30.8 million on hand at the end of June.

Newsom’s PAC had $6.2 million on hand at the end of June and the SuperPAC had $6.3 million. Most of the money going to the committees came from funds raised by the governor during previous campaigns. About $2 million was raised through a Marin County fundraising event for Biden and another $1.1 million resulted from email blasts and in-person fundraisers for Democratic parties in red states such as Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee, Idaho and Utah, Click said.

The SuperPAC got $666,666 from the California Conference of Carpenters-Builders and another $333,333 from Working for Working Americans, a Washington-based SuperPAC that supports building trades unions. It also received $25,000 from philanthropist Aileen Getty.

“Newsom has made it very clear he would never, ever, ever run for president, but on the off chance that he changes his mind, a lot of this would money would be available to him,” said Dan Schnur, a political science professor at USC and former GOP political consultant.

California governor takes on red states with new fundraising group

When he launched the PAC, Newsom said it was his way of fighting back against “rising authoritarianism” and helping “elect leaders in 2024 who believe in democracy.” Newsom seeded it with more than $10 million from his gubernatorial campaign account.

Since launching the organization in late March, Newsom has campaigned to rebut the GOP agenda and energize pockets of often neglected Democratic voters. Through fundraising emails and events, he has promoted his own agenda by calling for stricter gun control laws, greater access to abortion and protecting the rights of the LGBTQ community.

He’s made at least two cross-country trips, visiting with party leaders and organizers in states such as Arkansas and Mississippi and hosting fundraising events in Idaho and Oregon.

In early April, Newsom met with students of New College of Florida, the small liberal arts school that became a culture war flashpoint under presidential contender and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. The Republican governor placed six conservative allies on the college’s board of directors — a move that Newsom said exhibited the Republican governor’s “zest for demonization.”

Newsom also participated in a two-part interview last month with conservative talk show host Sean Hannity where he accused Fox News of airing a “doom loop about California” and defended Biden’s reelection bid.

Most of the spending was done by the Campaign for Democracy PAC. There’s a lengthy list of hotel and travel expenses, as Newsom visited Arkansas, Alabama, Florida and other Southern states earlier this year to promote Democrats.

The governor also paid more than $100,000 for consulting to Bearstar Strategies, the most powerful political consultancy in California, and $7,500 for polling, though it’s unclear what the subject of the poll was.

The PAC gave $10,000 to the Arkansas Democratic Party and helped the Senate campaign of Democratic Rep. Colin Allred, who’s running a longshot campaign against incumbent Republican Sen. Ted Cruz.

Details on Newsom’s PAC finances

• Campaign for Democracy PAC: Contributors are limited to $5,000 per calendar year, and funds cannot come directly from corporations or labor unions. The committee can make contributions to individual candidates, within legal limits. Politicians use these committees to win goodwill and support by giving to candidates around the country. This PAC had $6.2 million on hand at the end of June.

• Campaign for Democracy Committee: This is a “joint fundraising committee.” and may collect contributions from individuals, corporations, and labor because one of its participant committees, Campaign for Democracy Group, is a Super PAC. This committee is like a bank that collects and distributes the funds, but usually does little direct spending on political activity.
  
  

• Campaign for Democracy Group: This is the pro-Newsom SuperPAC. It can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money, and take contributions from labor unions, corporations, individuals and others. It is restricted from promoting a specific candidate, but can run ads or spend to urge voters to turn out or promote a position. It had $6.3 million on hand at the end of June.