Who pays influencers in the California gubernatorial election?

It can start subtle enough: One day, a social media influencer you follow—one who talks politics, recommends beauty products, or shares Internet memes—posts a TikTok or Instagram Reel saying she likes a candidate for California governor.

You don’t think much of it and keep scrolling. But what you don’t know is that the influencer may have been paid — potentially tens of thousands of dollars — to post that video.

As CalMatters reports, the billionaire environmental activist is a practice Tom Steyer gets fired up on the eve of the June primary. As part of the most expensive primary campaign in state history, Steyer paid more than $123,400 to at least eight influencers, according to campaign finance filings. His campaign also paid more than $870,000 to a digital media agency that invited creators to post daily videos about Steyer.

One influencer, Jazz Roche, has posted content supporting Steyer (or criticizing his primary Democratic opponent, Xavier Becerra) 34 times in the last 10 days. In one of the accounts linked to Roche, she describes herself as a “so-called girl butt.” Yet Roche says it is based in Pennsylvania.

It’s also not always clear to viewers that influencers are getting paid to create content for the campaign. CalMatters contacted nearly a dozen creators listed in Steyer’s files who were paid between $1,500 and $10,000 by his campaign to post videos. Only one of them identified their video as a “paid partnership”.

Regulators launched an investigation into one of Steyer’s influencer videos, in one of the first tests of a 2023 state law requiring influencers to disclose in their posts whether they are being paid by a political campaign.

Kevin Liao, a spokesman for Steyer, said the campaign is complying with its legal obligations under the law. And when asked why the campaign paid out-of-state influencers for content, Liao replied, “I don’t see why that’s a problem.”

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Chances are slim that lawmakers will make it easier for Californians to understand what lobbyists are telling them after the Assembly refused a hearing on two open government billswrites Ryan Sabalow of CalMatters.

The bills, one authored by a Democrat and the other by a Republican, would make the formal letters lobbyists write to lawmakers more accessible to Californians by requiring them to be posted online. They are a window into what businesses, advocacy groups and unions are thinking as bills move through the Capitol.

But Assemblywoman Blanca Pacheco, a Downey Democrat and head of the Assembly Rules Committee, which will have to approve the measures to move forward, says she’s interested in making the information more accessible “without requiring legislation.”

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Speaking of bills: Ryan also reported on another bill, this one before the Senate, that gun rights advocates say they are prepared to challenge if it becomes law. The proposal would require Californians who want to own a gun to take a four-hour training course. Supporters say the bill would reduce gun violence, but lawmakers repealed a similar measure last year. Read more.

Republican state lawmakers are lining up behind a ballot initiative that would require Californians to show up proof of citizenship to votewrites Nadia Lathan of CalMatters.

Rep. Carl DeMaio, a San Diego Republican who is leading the voter ID campaign, says the practice protects the integrity of elections.

He cited a survey showing that 56 percent of California voters support voter ID. But that support drops to 39 percent when voters are told the ballot measure is backed by DeMaio and could depress turnout, especially among people of color.

But despite wavering public support and the fact that voter fraud is extremely rare, voter ID stamping is a “traditional Republican message,” said Rob Stutzman, a GOP policy consultant. Putting him on the ballot could potentially fire up the party base in what is likely to be a difficult election year for Republicans.

• Stutzman: “Issues like this that are sort of red meat issues for Republicans when the governor’s race is pretty thin, it helps. … It wouldn’t hurt Republicans to have this on the ballot.”

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