'Champing at the bit': Newsom's labor allies plan redistricting ground game

SACRAMENTO, California — An expansive network of labor juggernauts and Democratic-aligned groups is pledging to help the campaign to gerrymander California’s congressional map with its ground game and field operation, a spokesperson for the effort first told POLITICO.

The California Democratic Party and Gov. Gavin Newsom’s political team will get support with grassroots organizing from SEIU California, the California Teachers Association and California Federation of Labor, union allies that have supported the governor in past ballot measure campaigns. Also involved are the California Calls Action Fund, the CHIRLA Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California.

So far, the campaign for California Democrats’ counter-Texas gerrymander has recruited more than 20,000 volunteers to assist, while 75,000 supporters watched a recent volunteer Zoom and nearly 1,000 Californians registered for a first round of trainings, according to the spokesperson, Nathan Click.

The Democratic Party perennially leans on left-leaning labor groups for canvassing, and in blue California, the bench of eager union volunteers and paid door knockers is so deep that members routinely travel out of state to campaign. The success or failure of this reactivated ground operation — and the strength of the opposing campaign’s field work — could be particularly critical in a low-turnout, off-year election. California voters will decide whether to redraw the state's congressional lines with the aim of flipping five GOP House seats on Nov. 4.

“Our members have been looking around and seeing an administration that has shown nothing but cruelty to their neighbors and family members,” said SEIU state political director Oscar Lopez. They “are champing at the bit to join the fight back.”

SEIU California will communicate with its 750,000 odd members about the rapidly approaching election but also knock on the doors of non-union voters, Lopez said, likening the effort to 2021, when the union fought Newsom’s recall with similar methods.

Aisle 518, the Democratic firm that services both Newsom and Bernie Sanders’ digital operations, is helming the campaign’s fundraising and digital efforts.

CTA dropped $3 million into Newsom’s redistricting campaign committee and SEIU California’s state council cut a $1 million check for the effort, financial disclosures show. And that won’t be SEIU’s last contribution, said Lopez.

The campaign raised more than $9 million from digital grassroots and mobilization efforts alone during its first week, Click told Playbook. That figure doesn’t include the big sums from unions or from John Pritzker, who gave a quarter of a million dollars and is the cousin of a potential Newsom 2028 competitor, Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.

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