‘Democrats Need To Stop Snipping At Each Other’: Political Operatives Annoyed Billionaire Showed Up To Party
As California’s Nov. 4 special election approaches to approve the Democratic gerrymander plan, state party leaders are clashing over messaging strategy.
Democratic mega donor and failed 2020 presidential candidate Tom Steyer caused a stir when his last-minute, $12 million ad buy in early October featured a self-delivered monologue highlighting his opposition to President Donald Trump, which some Democrats considered too personally motivated.
“The Democratic Party was furious with me for organizing the Need to Impeach campaign, but we saw the threat,” Steyer said in the ad. “It’s Texas versus California. You want to beat Trump? Democrats can’t keep playing by the old rules. Vote yes on Proposition 50, and let’s stick with Trump.”
Proposition 50, the only statewide measure on California’s November ballot, would temporarily amend the state Constitution to allow its legislature to draw new congressional maps through 2030, likely bringing the Democratic Party five additional seats in the House of Representatives. California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative Democrats pushed the measure after Texas Republicans passed a mid-decade overhaul of Congress that is expected to return the GOP its five seats in the 2026 elections.
“We don’t know why he’s so obsessed with promoting himself,” an unnamed senior Democratic official in the California House of Representatives told Politico. “It’s bigger than him. It’s a question of democracy.” (RELATED: ‘I Just Want to Be Left Alone’: Farmers Are Fed Up With Newsom’s Latest Gambit)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – FEBRUARY 14: Democratic presidential candidate Tom Steyer reacts as he poses with supporters during a campaign event at the Martin Luther King Jr. Senior Center on February 14, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Steyer continues to campaign for Nevada’s upcoming Democratic presidential caucus. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
“Democrats need to stop shooting each other and focus on the real threat: Donald Trump,” Steyer spokesperson Kevin Liao said in a statement provided to Politico.
Steyer’s ad would have further angered many Democrats because of its competition for air time with another Prop 50 bill. campaign featuring former President Barack Obama. Steyer’s team disagreed with that assertion, telling Politico that their purchase complemented Obama’s, not Obama’s.
“There is no Democratic messenger in the country, and particularly in California, who is more powerful than Barack Obama,” a prominent California labor leader associated with the campaign told Politico. “What kind of ego does it take to say, ‘I see Barack Obama is up. I’m going to put myself in the mix?'” (RELATED: Can Texas hold them?)
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 20: (LR) Former U.S. President George W. Bush, former first lady Laura Bush and former U.S. President Barack Obama arrive at the inauguration of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Recent polls indicate the Prop 50 referendum is neck and neck, with a UC Berkeley poll finding 48% support for the proposition among likely voters, and an Emerson College poll reporting 51% support.
The fight over California’s Prop 50 comes as the U.S. Supreme Court considers it in Louisiana v. Callaisa case that aims to end race-based redistricting, potentially upending decades of precedent for how states draw congressional districts.
“Honestly, I’m very concerned. And anyone who loves democracy and believes that the right to vote preserves all other rights should be deeply concerned,” Georgia Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock told DCNF on Wednesday, referring to the Louisiana case. “It has an impact, and if the Supreme Court gets Section Two wrong, it will have enormous implications, not only for Black voters, but for the health of our democracy.”
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