Gavin Newson's recent fundraising strategy. Will he be the next Democratic candidate?

The California governor has raised millions of dollars through a PAC, suggesting he will run in the Democratic primary.

Gavin Newsom, gobernador de California — Gage Skidmore/ Flickr

Published by

7 de agosto, 2023

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Gavin Newsom may be paving the way to announce his candidacy for the Democratic primary. It is not unreasonable to think that he may end up trying his luck at the highest level of U.S. politics. There have been signs indicating he is interested in the presidency. In fact, there are analysts and journalists like Tucker Carlson who believe this is likely.

According to the Washington Free Beacon newspaper, the California governor has been coming up with different personal strategies to compete against Joe Biden in the primaries. He is using a Political Action Committee (PAC) he launched in March called the Newsom Democracy Campaign.

More than $2 million was funneled to Democratic candidate booster company

Newsom intended to use that PAC to raise money to create a constitutional amendment for gun control and to take on Republican governors from other states. The committee received a total of $3.8 million. According to the Washington Free Beacon, much of those funds went to other purposes.

When he launched the PAC, the governor said he had plans to go to GOP-led states to take on his political rivals. However, Federal Election Commission (FEC) records indicate that the committee has funneled $2.12 million to Aisle 518 Strategies, a company that "is committed to working with progressive campaigns and organizations to leverage the power of people and technology to take on and defeat powerful corporate interests and the politicians who prioritize their needs," according to its website. Stacey Abrams, Mark Kelly, Mandela Barnes and Bernie Sanders are all clients of Aisle 518 Strategies.

On the other hand, the FEC revealed that Newsom has used some of those expenses for his own interests: $181,000 went to an advertising company used by his gubernatorial campaign; $60,000 went to fundraising events and consulting; $42,000 was spent on trips to Republican-governed states such as Arkansas or Mississippi; and $11,000 was given in direct contributions to Democratic Party members from other Republican Party-led states.