| | | | |  | | By Lindsey Holden | |  The National Republican Congressional Committee is touting increased Republican voter registration in key California House races. | Rich Pedroncelli/AP Photo | VEERING RIGHT: Republicans are cheering a “slight reddening” of deep-blue California in the state’s most competitive House districts, steering the conversation away from their ongoing fundraising disadvantage in many swing races. National Republican Congressional Committee data shared exclusively with Playbook shows the GOP picking up voters in target areas from Jan. 5 through Sept. 6, in line with a recent Public Policy Institute of California analysis indicating a similar trend. The voter share pickups in the six most competitive districts were marginal — about 27,180 voters total or less than 1 percent in each district the NRCC highlighted. But they represent a psychological boost for Republicans fighting to secure key House seats against well-funded opponents, in a state where nearly half of all voters are registered Democrats. “It is important not to exaggerate these changes,” the PPIC report said. “The rate of switching is still small enough that the broader hue of the state remains solidly blue.” California GOP chair Jessica Millan Patterson played up the numbers during a Friday press conference, held a day before former President Donald Trump’s visit to the Golden State, where he rallied voters in Coachella. “In 2019, when I took over, we were essentially the third-largest party in the state,” Patterson said, referring to a period in which there were more no-party-preference voters in California than Republicans. “Since then, we have registered over 800,000 new Republicans.” The NRCC shared the data just ahead of today’s Federal Election Commission reporting deadline, which is expected to show Republicans trailing in fundraising after Democrats saw a big jump during the third quarter. A Playbook analysis also showed Democrats in six battleground House races led their GOP opponents in fundraising during the second quarter. At least one Republican candidate bucked that trend. Punchbowl last week reported Orange County Republican Rep. Michelle Steel raised $2.6 million in Q3, $600,000 more than her Democratic opponent, Derek Tran. Patterson downplayed the fundraising gap on Friday. “It is not uncommon for Republicans to be outspent by Democrats,” Patterson said. “I am very confident that our candidates will be able to pull it out in the end, and we are putting every resource that we can into every single race that is winnable.”
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Lindsey Holden/POLITICO | The NRCC data showed Republicans picked up the most swing-district voters in District 41, where Democrat Will Rollins is trying to unseat longtime Riverside County Rep. Ken Calvert. The GOP picked up 7,085 voters out of about 8,600 new registrants, increasing their share by 0.8 percent. In the Central Valley, District 13 — home of the rematch between GOP Rep. John Duarte and Democrat Adam Gray — saw nearly 5,000 Californians register as Republicans out of 7,800 new registrants, while Democrats lost 945 voters. The other swing area in the region, District 22, also saw Republican voter gains as Democrat Rudy Salas is trying to topple Rep. David Valadao. The GOP picked up about 4,400 voters out of more than 7,800, and Democrats lost 1,067 voters. In Orange County’s District 47 — where Democratic state Sen. Dave Min and Republican Scott Baugh are running to replace outgoing Rep. Katie Porter — registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by just 173 voters as of today, according to the Orange County Registrar of Voters. The PPIC analysis suggests the overall shift comes from voters leaving other parties to register as Republicans — a departure from the traditional pattern of independent voters moving toward the Democratic Party. PPIC also reports Latinos have become Republicans at higher rates than other racial and ethnic groups. The think tank suggests Republicans’ closed primary system — meaning voters must be registered with the party to participate — may have partially contributed to the uptick in GOP voters. PPIC also posited mobilization by parties and campaigns has played a role, spurring Democratic losses in areas with the most competitive elections. IT’S TUESDAY AFTERNOON. This is California Playbook PM, a POLITICO newsletter that serves as an afternoon temperature check on California politics and a look at what our policy reporters are watching. Got tips or suggestions? Shoot an email to lholden@politico.com.
|  | WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY | | |  Pallbearers Max Kennedy, left, Chris Kennedy, behind center left, and Matt Kennedy, center front, and Joseph Kennedy III, front second from right, carry the casket of Ethel Kennedy. | Steven Senne/AP | IN MEMORIAM: Gov. Gavin Newsom today traveled to Washington, D.C., to attend a memorial service for Ethel Kennedy, who died on Thursday at age 96. Kennedy was married to Robert F. Kennedy and was mother to former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Kennedy’s family today held a funeral mass on Cape Cod. Newsom will join a celebration of life in D.C. on Wednesday, which President Joe Biden is also expected to attend. The governor in 2022 rejected a parole board recommendation to release Sirhan Sirhan, the man convicted of Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 Los Angeles assassination. Ethel Kennedy had urged Newsom to block Sirhan’s release. “His decision represents the vindication of the rule of law over all who would betray it with hatred and violence,” said Ethel Kennedy and other members of the Kennedy family in a statement after learning Sirhan would remain incarcerated. Newsom and First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom called Ethel Kennedy a “beloved family matriarch and powerful force for social justice and civil rights around the world” in a statement after her death. “Unshaken in her compassion for others and commitment to a more just and peaceful world, she advocated tirelessly for positive change abroad and at home,” the Newsoms said. “Including here in California, where she worked to advance the rights of farmworkers and championed the civil rights leadership of César Chávez.”
| | ON THE BEATS | | | | 
Donald Trump speaks with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait during an event with the Economic Club of Chicago. | Evan Vucci/AP | WHAT’S IN A NAME? Trump today defended his use of the “Gavin Newscum” moniker during an interview with Bloomberg’s Editor in Chief John Micklethwait at the Economic Club of Chicago. Trump began to talk about Newsom signing a bill from state Sen. Dave Min that would ban local laws requiring voters to show identification before casting ballots. “Gavin Newscum, he’s the governor of California,” Trump said. “Newsom,” Micklethwait said, correcting him. “Newscum, I call him,” Trump said. “There are CEOs out here, if they said those sort of things about a rival CEO, they’d be sacked,” Micklethwait said. “I know, but they don’t have to survive like me,” Trump said. “They don’t have to go through what I have to go through. There’s never been a president that’s been treated like me, so I have to fight my own way.” Trump went on to disparage Min’s bill, saying, “Of course you have to show voter ID. The only reason you wouldn’t do [it] is because they want to cheat.” The legislation is meant to prevent cities like Huntington Beach from enacting their own voter ID requirements, which voting rights organizations say disenfranchise residents. The groups contend such rules are unnecessary, as California already has many voter fraud protections in place. PILE ON: Add one more to the array of outside groups trying to unseat Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón. Already, independent expenditures by political veterans such as billionaire developer Rick Caruso and the Los Angeles police and sheriff's unions have been boosting Gascón’s challenger, Nathan Hochman. Joining the fray is relative newcomer Diego Berdakin, a Los Angeles-based tech entrepreneur whose digital ad campaign says the progressive incumbent has “lost the public’s trust” and extols Hochman’s background. The $500,000 digital ad campaign targets moderate Democrats, decline-to-states as well as Asian American and Latino voters. And Berdakin previews that there’s more to come from his new group, Angelenos for a Safer LA. “We’re supporting Nathan now, and we’ll be backing other candidates in future elections who are dedicated to common sense solutions for a safer Los Angeles,” he said in a statement. — Melanie Mason BALLOT MEASURES 101: Not sure how to vote on this year’s slate of statewide ballot measures? Join POLITICO’s Emily Schultheis and Will McCarthy, reporters on our ballot measures team, for an event at the San Francisco Public Library on Thursday to break down the biggest issues on the California ballot this fall. The event starts at 6 p.m. at the SFPL’s Main Library (100 Larkin Street in Civic Center). More details here.
| | WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY | | — Crypto has quietly become one of the biggest electoral players. You wouldn’t know it from their ads. (POLITICO) — “Sleazebag”: Donald Trump is hurling fresh insults at Adam Schiff as he looks to paint the Democrat as one of this country’s “enemies from within.” (Sacramento Bee) — What happens when the vice president is your neighbor? Residents who live next to Kamala Harris’ home in Brentwood say it’s a delight ... and an annoyance. (Los Angeles Times)
| | AROUND THE STATE | | — Abortion isn’t on the ballot in California, but Democrats running in key legislative races can’t stop talking about it. (CalMatters) — High winds could bring dire wildfire weather to inland Northern California later this week. (SFGATE) — Paul Lowe, a renowned photojournalist who captured the fall of the Berlin Wall, was allegedly killed by his son near Mt. Baldy over the weekend. (Los Angeles Times) — compiled by Tyler Katzenberger | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
