By Edward-Isaac Dovere, CNN
Sacramento, California (CNN) — California Democratic leaders have shifted their strategy to prevent their party from being locked out of the governor’s race: Instead of thinking about consolidating the field, they have turned to behind-the-scenes operations and political spending aimed at tamping down Republicans and building up Democratic turnout.
That is letting officials like term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi avoid picking from a field of off-and-on political allies while also saving them from embarrassment if their pick doesn’t win.
“People are not passive in terms of watching it happen,” Newsom told CNN on Wednesday in an interview in Sacramento. “There have obviously been many conversations about this for many months, and people have been watching closely with daily tracking polls, and there’s sort of an organized construct around seeing where things go, and to the extent necessary, taking certain actions to encourage that that’s not the outcome.”
California’s “top two” system sends the two highest vote-getters from the June 2 primary election into November regardless of their party affiliation. The splintered field has long given Democrats fear that the two Republicans could advance in the race, which is still recalibrating after the exit of Eric Swalwell after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct, allegations he has denied.
But with ballots arriving in Californians’ mailboxes this week, Democrats are now confident based on public and private polling that while Republican candidate Steve Hilton is likely to come in first, both billionaire investor Tom Steyer and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra are well-positioned to come in ahead of Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, the other major Republican in the field.
According to three people familiar with the efforts, top Democrats are talking to major donors about funding Greater Golden State, an independent expenditure campaign that the Democratic Governors Association helped set up and is backing. One person called the group an “insurance policy.”
California campaign finance records on Thursday afternoon listed the group as also being called: “Hilton for Governor 2026, sponsored by organizations opposing Republican candidates for governor.”
The group has received $1 million from businessman Bill Bloomfield, who did not respond when CNN emailed him for comment, and $250,000 from the California Service Employees International Union, one of the biggest labor organizations in the state, which earlier in the week jointly endorsed Steyer and Becerra as both “ready to stand by us.”
“This is once again the party establishment that has controlled CA for the last 16 years that is trying to put its thumb on the scale,” said Hilton’s communications director Hector Barajas.
Barajas added that he suspects that rather than going after Hilton or Bianco, the money might end up being spent against one Democrat or another to try to make a clear favorite.
“The party is not trying to force a specific candidate outcome,” California Democratic Party chair Rusty Hicks told CNN. “We’re trying to ensure we have a strong Democrat into the general election.”
Pelosi, who weeks ago expressed confidence that a top-two lockout would not happen, remains sure of that, and has no current plans to endorse, a spokesperson told CNN.
A spokesperson for Sen. Adam Schiff, who had p