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Establishment Struggles to Maintain Control of California
Katie Porter got in a lot of trouble at the end of her 2024 Senate campaign for using the word “rigged” to describe the statewide primary race she lost. She was referring to a coordinated campaign by big money, particularly crypto interests, to drive up her negatives and hand California’s Senate seat to Adam Schiff. Those interests got their return on investment this year when Schiff supported the GENIUS Act.
But underneath that was another kind of rigging, one that experienced observers of the political scene here have long witnessed. Schiff was anointed the front-runner by a class of influential politicians and consultants who have long played kingmaker in California. Contested elections between Democrats for major statewide offices in this one-party state have been nonexistent during the past 20 years, as establishment-chosen politicians have divvied up the spoils.
But two bombshell announcements in the last week have left the establishment without a candidate for next year’s governor’s race. First, Kamala Harris decided against running, and then, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, the expected beneficiary of that decision, dropped out. As a result, Porter has become the unlikely beneficiary of a fractured field, and Democrats in the Golden State may experience something they haven’t seen in a while: democracy, minus the establishment putting its finger on the scale.
At the end of July, the field in the governor’s race was large but frozen, with everyone waiting to see whether Harris would end the speculation and jump in. If she did, it was likely that several candidates would immediately drop out, including Porter, the former congressmember who credits Harris with appointing her to her first job in politics, monitoring the 2012 foreclosure fraud settlement. But Harris decided she didn’t want the job, breaking a cycle where the consultants and donors who shape state politics identify their favorite and clear the field.
But underneath that was another kind of rigging, one that experienced observers of the political scene here have long witnessed. Schiff was anointed the front-runner by a class of influential politicians and consultants who have long played kingmaker in California. Contested elections between Democrats for major statewide offices in this one-party state have been nonexistent during the past 20 years, as establishment-chosen politicians have divvied up the spoils.
But two bombshell announcements in the last week have left the establishment without a candidate for next year’s governor’s race. First, Kamala Harris decided against running, and then, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, the expected beneficiary of that decision, dropped out. As a result, Porter has become the unlikely beneficiary of a fractured field, and Democrats in the Golden State may experience something they haven’t seen in a while: democracy, minus the establishment putting its finger on the scale.
At the end of July, the field in the governor’s race was large but frozen, with everyone waiting to see whether Harris would end the speculation and jump in. If she did, it was likely that several candidates would immediately drop out, including Porter, the former congressmember who credits Harris with appointing her to her first job in politics, monitoring the 2012 foreclosure fraud settlement. But Harris decided she didn’t want the job, breaking a cycle where the consultants and donors who shape state politics identify their favorite and clear the field.
https://prospect.org/politics/2025-08-13-establishment-struggles-control-california-governors-race/]
4 replies
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Are they blood sucking reptilians too? 