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Planned Parenthood announces latest outside spending plan in California congressional races

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Planned Parenthood announces latest outside spending plan in California congressional races

Planned Parenthood of California plans to launch a multimillion-dollar campaign Tuesday to oust Republicans from several California congressional districts, the latest signal of how critical the state’s House races will be in determining which party takes control of the House of Representatives after the November election.

The effort, coordinated by an independent campaign arm of the reproductive rights organization, is a reflection of the role abortion will play in the fall, particularly among suburban women voters, in the aftermath of the 2022 Supreme Court ruling overturning federal protection for abortion rights and subsequent laws passed in several states to sharply limit access to the procedure.

California is expected to be a hotbed of spending by multiple groups on both sides of the aisle because of the number of competitive races in the state.

While Californians in 2022 voted overwhelmingly to enshrine a right to abortion and contraceptive access in the state’s Constitution in the aftermath of the Supreme Court decision, leaders of Planned Parenthood and other Democratic groups argue that the election of a Republican president and the GOP taking control of the Senate and the House could result in a nationwide ban.

“The road to [reproductive] freedom runs right through California this year,” Jodi Hicks, the leader of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California VOTES, an independent expenditure committee, told The Times. “We have done what we’ve done to protect California and insure that California is a reproductive freedom state.”

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But she said that despite more than two-thirds of voters supporting Proposition 1 in 2022, the state constitutional amendment protecting abortion rights, there is a “disconnect” in terms of understanding that the state’s protection of abortion rights could be eliminated by federal legislative or legal action.

“The only real way to insure California is a reproductive freedom state is making sure we elect a Congress that is committed to protecting those freedoms,” Hicks said. “Every single election we have, politicians can take away those freedoms.”

Hick’s group is the latest Super PAC to announce plans to invest heavily in California’s congressional races.

“This is the state that’s going to decide control of Congress,” said Dan Schnur, a politics professor at USC, Pepperdine and UC Berkeley.

Candidates often rely on outside groups to buttress their campaigns with television ads and other voter outreach because the state is home to some of the most expensive media markets in the nation and the federal limits on donations they can receive is relatively low.

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Congressional candidates can receive a maximum of $6,600 in contributions from individuals to their committees, per Federal Election Committee rules. But donors can contribute nearly $2 million to party affiliated committees and unlimited amounts to Super PACs, such as the Planned Parenthood effort, which are barred from coordinating with candidates.

The House Majority PAC, a Democratic effort; a GOP group targeting Latino voters funded by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers; a California Donor Table effort called “Battleground California” led by minority leaders in competitive districts; and other groups have also announced plans to spend in California congressional races.

“As one of the wealthiest states in the world, California could be a beacon of progress and possibility in securing a future where every family can get the healthcare they need, where every full-time job provides a livable wage, and safe and affordable housing is provided not as a luxury but a right,” Maurice Mitchell, national director of the Working Families Party, said in a statement. “Battleground California isn’t just about winning elections; it’s about winning a future that gives everyday people hope.”

The independent arms of the Republican and Democratic national congressional committees are also expected to be active in California, as well as the Congressional Leadership Fund, a Super PAC dedicated to electing Republicans to Congress that spent around $33 million in the state in the 2022 midterm elections.

“For back-to-back cycles, Republicans have won in California with quality candidates who fit their districts and toxic Democrat policies that have left voters fed up with rising crime and skyrocketing costs,” said Courtney Parella, a spokeswoman for CLF. “California is essential to holding and growing our House Majority, and CLF will invest enormously here.”

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The Club for Growth, a free-market, limited-government group that has endorsed Scott Baugh in an open, highly competitive district in Orange County, could also weigh in.

Political committees don’t always follow through with their announced spending plans, so it remains to be seen how much the PACs will actually spend in California. But unless there is a seismic change in the nation’s politics between now and the November election, the state is expected to be pivotal in determining control of the House, where Republicans hold a razor-thin majority.

California has the largest congressional delegation in the nation, with 52 members, and because of the state’s independent redrawing of districts, 10 are rated as toss-ups, competitive or potentially vulnerable, according to the the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, which has tracked House and Senate races for decades. That’s the most of any state in the nation.

Half of those districts are represented by Republicans in Congress — Reps. Young Kim of Placentia, Michelle Steel of Seal Beach, John Duarte of Modesto, David Valadao of Hanford and Mike Garcia of Santa Clarita — but were won by President Biden in the 2020 presidential election, according to the nonpartisan California Target Book, which tracks the state’s congressional and legislative races.

“It took a few cycles for the impact of the independent redistricting committee to take effect, but once it has, it has created a much larger number of competitive districts,” Schnur said.

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He added that two of the issues that appear to be the most salient in this election — abortion and immigration — are at the fore in many California communities.

The eight districts Planned Parenthood is targeting — seven represented by Republicans and the tight Orange County district that is open because of Rep. Katie Porter’s unsuccessful Senate run — all voted to support Proposition 1 in 2022.

“There are a lot of pro-choice suburban women in California who wouldn’t mind seeing a wall at the border” and other aggressive efforts to crackdown on illegal immigration, Schnur said. “This election is going to be fought over which of those two issues matters more. The battle for Congress is a battle for the suburbs, and California is the ultimate suburb.”

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Socialism goes west as DSA-backed challenger ousts longtime Democrat

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Socialism goes west as DSA-backed challenger ousts longtime Democrat

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Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., a 30-year incumbent, lost to a Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)-backed challenger in a high-profile primary on Tuesday evening.

Melat Kiros, a 29-year-old socialist, defeated DeGette in a Democratic primary for a deep-blue House seat anchored in Denver, according to The Associated Press, scoring a major victory for the socialist left on Tuesday evening.

The DSA had been aiming to cast DeGette’s loss as evidence of its growing momentum after a slate of socialist candidates won Democratic primaries in New York City last week.

“Today, the East Coast, next week the Mountain West,” the DSA wrote in a social media post last week.

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Rep. Diana DeGette speaks during a press conference outside the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 10, 2024. (Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

SOCIALISTS CHEER ‘SHOCKWAVE’ PRIMARY NIGHT AS DSA-BACKED CANDIDATES WIN, ADVANCE ACROSS THE MAP

If elected in November, Kiros, who was born in Ethiopia, will likely join the ranks of the far-left group known as the Squad and become one of a handful of the House chamber’s outspoken socialists. 

The millennial challenger was endorsed by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and the anti-incumbent leftist organization Justice Democrats. Controversial socialist streamer Hasan Piker, who has said Hamas is “a thousand times better” than Israel and praised the Chinese Communist Party, also backed Kiros’ insurgent primary run.

DeGette, a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who supports abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), sought to win a 16th House term by flexing her leftist bona fides. She argued her seniority on an influential House committee would allow her to push for Medicare-for-All legislation — a longtime priority of the party’s far-left flank.

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DeGette, who was endorsed by former CPC Chairwoman Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., also spotlighted her experience as an impeachment manager during Trump’s second impeachment trial in 2021.

Though DeGette and Kiros shared few policy disagreements, they diverged sharply over Israel and antisemitism. Kiros also sharply criticized DeGette for accepting corporate PAC contributions.

Kiros, a PhD student and lawyer, was fired from a New York firm in 2023 after publishing an open letter, arguing that pro-Palestinian student protesters calling for the elimination of Israel were not antisemitic and appearing to defend Hamas.

Melat Kiros participated in a League of Women Voters Congressional District 1 candidate forum at Montview Presbyterian Church in Denver on May 28, 2026. (RJ Sangosti/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post)

WATCH: HOUSE DEMS UNLOAD ON TEXAS DEMOCRAT OVER ‘DEMENTED’ ANTISEMITIC COMMENTS

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She has also described the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks against the Jewish state as the “inevitable consequence of apartheid” and declined to characterize the deadly firebombing of protesters in Boulder last year who were urging the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza as antisemitic. 

“I don’t know what was in the heart of the perpetrator,” Kiros told Colorado’s 9News in a recent television interview. “All I know is that he went and attacked innocent people because of what they might have believed.”

A June 2025 bipartisan resolution condemning the attack as part of a “rise in ideologically motivated attacks on Jewish individuals” won every present lawmaker’s support, except for Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who voted present.

Kiros has also suggested the United States deserved 9/11.

“Inevitable in the sense that we destabilized a lot of the Middle East that forced people to believe that another act of violence was the only response,” Kiros told 9News when asked if she thought the terror attack was “the inevitable consequence of American foreign policy.”

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“And again, just like I said before, our responsibility is to get rid of those conditions that lead to violence in the first place,” Kiros continued.

DeGette argued that Kiros’ embrace of Piker and her comments about antisemitism and 9/11 were disqualifying. 

“I’m shocked and disgusted that Kiros is doubling down on excusing terrorism and the murder of innocent people,” the 30-year incumbent wrote on Facebook earlier this month.

Streamer and creator Hasan Piker speaks at a press conference during day two of Web Summit Vancouver at the Vancouver Convention Centre in Vancouver, Canada, on May 13, 2026. (Sam Barnes/Web Summit via Sportsfile via Getty Images)

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Colorado’s 1st Congressional District is the most liberal seat in the state and voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris by 56 points in 2024.

The primary fight was further scrambled by University of Colorado Regent Wanda James, also running for DeGette’s seat. Though James did not pose the same threat as Kiros, her vote share could ultimately have swayed the contest. 

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Newsom signs off on 100% California tax for money from Trump’s $1.8-billion ‘slush fund’

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Newsom signs off on 100% California tax for money from Trump’s .8-billion ‘slush fund’

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed off on a 100% state tax on money any Californians receive from Trump’s $1.8-billion “anti-weaponization” fund for his political allies.

Newsom unveiled his proposal in May, after Trump’s Justice Department said it would create a fund to compensate Trump’s allies who claim they have “suffered weaponization and lawfare” under Biden’s Justice Department.

The settlement fund was criticized by politicians on both sides of the aisle, including Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who described it as a “slush fund to pay people who assault cops.”

The fund remains in legal limbo. Earlier this month, a federal judge in Virginia extended a court-ordered block on the plan, which critics warned could be used to pay pardoned Jan. 6 rioters.

Fast-tracked into law as part of Senate Bill 122, Newsom’s plan imposes “a tax on any settlement fund payment from the federal Anti-Weaponization Fund, or any subsequent fund, settlement, or agreement, as provided, at a rate of 100%,” according to the bill text. The tax applies to all tax years between 2026 and 2030.

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Newsom signed the bill Tuesday. In a statement, his office said the tax is meant to ensure that, should Trump’s fund proceed, California recipients won’t “receive favorable state treatment on those payments.”

“We believe democracy is worth defending, the rule of law matters, and public dollars should support victims—not those who attacked the very institutions that protect our freedoms,” Newsom said in the statement.

University of Southern California law professor Ariel Jurow Kleiman, an expert on tax law and policy, said that while Newsom’s tax is a “novel legal strategy,” she believes there is “no categorical legal restriction” preventing California from implementing it.

States have a “wide degree of discretion” to design their tax systems — including how they define income — so long as they do not violate their constitutions, Jurow Kleiman said.

If a California resident wanted to challenge the tax in court, they would need to show they were harmed by it to have standing to sue, according to Jurow Kleiman. That would mean receiving a payment from Trump’s settlement fund and then paying the 100% California tax. Unless the settlement fund is established and distributes payments, that scenario is unlikely.

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While there have been proposals to levy a 100% tax on income above certain thresholds — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in 2023 said he supports a 100% tax on income exceeding $1 billion — Jurow Kleiman said she is not aware of any governments that have adopted such a policy.

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Congress eyes rare bipartisan housing win with or without Trump’s help

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Congress eyes rare bipartisan housing win with or without Trump’s help

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The House has officially shipped a colossal bipartisan housing package to President Donald Trump, and lawmakers are hoping that, at the very least, he doesn’t veto it.

Trump was supposed to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act last week, but his last-minute decision to ghost the signing ceremony with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., put into question whether the bill was dead.

His refusal to sign the bill, which passed with overwhelmingly bipartisan support in both chambers, was to leverage the Safeguarding American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act, which doesn’t currently have the votes to succeed in the Senate.

WARREN TELLS TRUMP TO ‘SIGN THE DAMN BILL’ AS BIPARTISAN HOUSING PACKAGE REMAINS STALLED IN WASHINGTON

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Trump has refused to sign the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act. (Shawn Thew/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump appears to be in no hurry to sign the bill, despite Republicans who are hungry for a win in the affordability fight ahead of the midterm elections.

“It’s so unimportant … compared to the SAVE America Act,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Monday. “I think the SAVE America Act is exactly what it says. It’s saving America from crooked elections.”

“Here’s what I would like to sign, much more than a bill that — big deal, it’s a yawn,” he continued. “Some people say it’s wonderful. To me, compared to the SAVE America Act, just about everything is a big yawn.”

GOP INFIGHTING OVER TRUMP’S VOTER ID BILL ERUPTS AS TOP SENATOR CALLS STRATEGY ‘FANTASY’

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It’s legislation that is loaded with nearly 60 provisions from both sides of the aisle in both chambers that’s designed to make it easier for homes to be built and for younger Americans to buy their first home. It also includes a ban on hedge funds buying up housing stock that Trump pushed Congress to include during the State of the Union earlier this year.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., one of the architects behind the bill in the upper chamber alongside Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., charged that Congress handed the bill to Trump “on a silver platter.”

“When you ask me what happens next, if he cared about the American people, he’d have already signed the damned thing, and we’d be underway,” Warren said on WCVB’s “On the Record” on Sunday.

But Trump doesn’t have to put his signature on the bill for it to become law.

IRATE REPUBLICANS ACCUSE TRUMP OF HANDING DEMOCRATS A WIN AFTER BLOWING UP HOUSING PACKAGE

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The Senate advanced a massive, Trump-backed housing package geared toward lowering the costs of homes and supercharging the housing supply. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., pitched it as legislation to prevent America from becoming a “nation of renters.” (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Protect Borrowers; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

The Constitution grants presidents the ability to veto a bill within 10 days of it being transferred over to the White House. In that scenario, Congress could override a veto of the housing package.

It’s happened before under the Trump administration. In early 2021, Congress overrode Trump’s veto of the annual National Defense Authorization Act — a massive Pentagon funding authorization package that some House Republicans are trying to use as a vehicle to pass the SAVE America Act.

But during that 10-day period, if Trump doesn’t sign the bill, it would automatically become law. That’s unless Congress completely adjourns, in which case a “pocket veto” could happen. The Senate is currently in recess and the House is scheduled to leave town by week’s end, but neither count as a full adjournment.

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Johnson, who spent the last few days meeting with Trump at the White House about the housing bill and the SAVE America Act, said: “I hope he does sign it.”

“If he doesn’t, it’s still law,” Johnson said. “We’ll still celebrate it, but he’s trying to make a point, and I think he’s making it very effectively. And the fact that you all ask me every three steps down the hallway illustrates that he has achieved the desired objective, and that is to make SAVE America the number one thing, because if we don’t get that right, everybody’s concerned about what happens next.”

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