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Voters in Sacramento received a letter in recent weeks stating that “California’s landmark election reform is under attack from Sacramento politicians.” Orinda residents have received fliers that say “Trump back – vote yes.” Video narrator ad shared on X intoned, “Two wrongs don’t make a right — Vote No.” They are among scores of ads, yard signs and billboards bombarding Californians with prompts to support or oppose the redrawing of state congressional districts four years ahead of schedule.
But none of that was paid for by the big campaigns advocating for and against Proposition 50, the ballot measure proposed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to counter Republican efforts to redraw Texas boundaries. Instead, nonprofits, political parties and a billionaire bankrolled independent efforts as Election Day approached Tuesday.
Groups not directly associated with any Prop campaign. 50, reported spending nearly $26 million to influence voters as of Oct. 30, more than any ballot measure in California history, according to a CalMatters analysis of secretary of state campaign finance data. The spending does not include the $118 million reported to have been spent by the three major campaign committees.
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Anyone can buy ads, pay campaigners or otherwise promote their position on an election measure in California as long as they register with a state commission, disclose major funders in the ads themselves and don't coordinate with primary campaigns. Once they spend at least $1,000, they must report their expenses to the Secretary of State as independent expenditures.
Independent spending on the redistricting measure was significantly more than the previous record Prop. 32 in 2012, which attracted $10.8 million in such spending and would have limited union campaign contributions if passed.
The biggest non-campaign spenders this time around are billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer, who reported more than $12.8 million in spending, and the California Republican Party, which poured more than $10.2 million into ads and messaging opposing the measure. As a result, Steyer and the GOP became the second and third largest independent ad buyers in state history. The only group that spent more was run by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's "California Dream Team," which reported spending a total of $27.8 million on multiple campaign measures in 2004 and 2005.
In another example of how the campaign has drawn national attention, the Congressional Leadership Fund, a Republican super PAC, gave $8 million to the GOP in October, which they used to buy nearly $2.9 million worth of digital ads two weeks ago; The super PAC also gave $5 million directly to one of the major anti-Prop campaigns. 50 - "Stop Sacramento's Power Grab."
Some large nonprofits also spend money on Prop. 50. The biggest outlay came from the California Community Foundation, which said it spent $800,000 to support the proposal, though that doesn't cover all the money the nonprofit puts into the election.
Miguel Santana, president and CEO, said the foundation is spending an additional more than a million dollars persuading voters to participate in the election without telling them specifically how to vote, even though efforts to increase voter turnout without taking a position are not reported to the secretary of state.
"California's representation at the federal level matters," Santana said. "Our power is being diluted by the manipulations that are taking place in other parts of the country."
Not just Democrats and Republicans
Other political parties and groups in the state also reported independent expenditures for Prop. 50. The left-leaning California Working Families Party reported spending more than $36,500 on digital ads and outreach to reach voters who may be less receptive to Newsom as a delegate.
"This is not the fight we wanted, but I think it's important that California, the most populous state in the country, fight back," said Jane Kim, California director of the Working Families Party. "We really want to hit the younger voters who are less loyal to the party."
The California Libertarian Party spent more than $6,400 mailing postcards opposing the proposal. Loren Dean, state party chairwoman, said the outreach was an opportunity to raise the party's profile. "It's important for us to take every opportunity to remind people that the 'two-party' choice is a fiction built by would-be monopolists who crave power over their neighbors," Dean said. "Third-party votes matter."
Although not a registered political party, the California Democratic Socialists of America reported spending more than $3,500 to try to persuade voters to vote "yes" while keeping their distance from Governor Newsom.
"We're not doing this to support him," said William Prince, co-chairman of the organization. We must ally ourselves with him in the fight against fascism.
Like the Libertarian Party, the DSA also sees value in releasing campaign materials stamped with "Democratic Socialists of America."
"When voters think about who encouraged them to vote against MAGA's permanent majority in Congress, they will think more about the (California) DSA than they would if we let this go," Prince said.
Elected officials and local parties hit their constituencies
More than two dozen county parties, along with current and former elected officials, have reported more than $1 million in independent spending for and against Prop. 50.
The Sonoma County Democratic Party reported spending nearly $90,000 on postcards, phone banking and radio ads supporting the initiative, while the Yuba County Republican Party reported nearly $55,000 to distribute opposition signs across Northern California.
Pat Sebo, chairman of the Sonoma County Democratic Party, said the county party spent money on its own mailers and canvassing because it wanted to move faster than its state counterpart. "We wanted to act, we had volunteers, we had them break down the doors at the headquarters here," she said.
"Get-out-the-ballot campaigns typically don't hand out signs to local Republican groups," said Johanna Lasaga, chairwoman of the Yuba County Republican Party. She credits her group's spending to raising the visibility of the party's unified stance: "If you drive upstate, you'll see (our signs) everywhere."
Along with donating $5,000 to the primary Yes campaign, former Democratic state Sen. Steve Glazer of Orinda used his vote-measurement committee to spend more than $160,000 in support of Proposition 50 because he said it could reach voters in his district in a way that a statewide campaign could not.
"When you're running a statewide campaign, you don't always have that luxury of micro-targeting," Glazer said. "I felt I had a good handle on the pulse of the voters in my district, where I believe I have an increased level of credibility."
"We decided we wanted to do it faster, better, faster," said Rep. Juan Alanis, a Modesto Republican whose electoral measure committee reported spending more than $12,500 on signs to oppose Prop. 50. He said the short election cycle meant statewide campaigns couldn't guarantee enough signs would reach his district in time, so he decided to "make sure my district is taken care of."
Assemblywoman Maggie Krell, a Democrat who represents Sacramento, said the most valuable way she could have spent the $8,000 was door-knocking in her district. "My best campaign contribution is my network of volunteers — people who go door-to-door and engage voters one conversation at a time," she wrote in an email.
Republican Assemblyman Carl DeMaio of San Diego spent more than $430,000 from his California Reform Committee because he didn't think the official No campaign was up to par. He let go last ad last week, which called on voters across the state to reject Proposition 50.
"I don't trust the failed consultants of these megacommissions," he said. "My intuition was right. The ads were rubbish, with no message."
This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.