Politics
How an expensive bet by Emily's List in an Orange County congressional race went awry
For Emily’s List, the Democratic political group that has helped elect hundreds of women who support abortion rights, backing Joanna Weiss just made sense.
Weiss, a first-time candidate for Congress in a competitive Orange County district, had founded a Democratic advocacy group and was proving to be a formidable fundraiser.
But the sheer amount of money that Emily’s List spent in support of Weiss raised eyebrows. During a single week in the congressional primary, the group’s independent expenditure arm spent more than $813,000 on television and online ads for Weiss. She is the only candidate that the super PAC has backed this year.
Weiss finished third in the 47th District primary, behind Democratic state Sen. Dave Min and Republican Scott Baugh. The losing bet by Emily’s List in Orange County left Democrats scratching their heads.
“I had just assumed that they were smarter with their donor dollars,” said Mari Fujii, the first vice chair of membership for the Democrats of Greater Irvine.
The group’s super PAC, called Women Vote, typically saves the bulk of its war chest for the November ballot. But the group has also frequently waded into early primary races, often in districts without an incumbent candidate.
When a record number of American women ran for office in 2018, Women Vote backed candidates in a dozen House primaries, including two in Southern California. Women Vote also spent in several House primaries in 2022, including a border district in Texas where the group tried to oust Rep. Henry Cuellar, the last antiabortion Democrat in the House. Challenger Jessica Cisneros lost by 281 votes.
Emily’s List said its work to support women running for office extends beyond independent expenditures to recruitment, campaign advice and fundraising help, including bundling contributions and introducing candidates to major donors. Spokeswoman Christina Reynolds said the organization does “not comment on strategic decisions about specific races.”
The super PAC reported having $1.5 million on hand at the end of March, raising questions about the group’s ability to influence November races in media markets where an effective outside expenditure campaign can top $1 million.
The 47th District is one of the hottest races in the country, pivotal to both Democrats and Republicans fighting for control of Congress. The coastal district, which runs from Seal Beach to Laguna Beach and inland to Costa Mesa and Irvine, is represented by Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine), who is leaving Congress in January.
Porter’s decision to give up her House seat and run for the Senate, a bid that fell short in the March 5 primary, kicked off a flurry of campaigns to replace her in Washington.
Before Weiss announced her candidacy, Emily’s List approached her to ask if she was interested in running, said Mike McLaughlin, a senior advisor to the Weiss campaign.
Former Rep. Harley Rouda and Min had both announced they would run, and Emily’s List was “very invested in trying to keep a women in that seat,” McLaughlin said. By then, Weiss had already decided she would run, he said.
Emily’s List did not promise to fund Weiss’ campaign, McLaughlin said. But, he said, the group signaled that it would watch to see if Weiss merited an endorsement, and if she had the kind of fundraising chops needed to win in a battleground House district.
Then the already competitive race took several unexpected turns.
Rouda suffered a brain injury after a fall and dropped out of the race last April. In May, Min was arrested for driving under the influence in Sacramento and pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor.
In June, Emily’s List endorsed Weiss, saying that her history as “a community organizer, lawyer, and advocate for women is unparalleled.”
By election day, Weiss had raised more than $2 million from individual contributions — more than any other non-incumbent woman running for Congress in the U.S., McLaughlin said. (That figure does not include the $225,000 Weiss loaned her campaign.)
“That is what led Emily’s List to then decide to make an investment,” McLaughlin said. “It was a competitive race, and she was doing her part to build a broad coalition of support.”
The main political committee controlled by Emily’s List has given to dozens of candidates across the country, but in far smaller amounts. Federal law restricts such committees from giving big amounts directly to candidates. Independent expenditure committees — including the Emily’s List super PAC, Women Vote — can receive and spend an unlimited amount, however.
Women Vote began buying ads for Weiss on Jan. 30, spending more than $827,000 in a week on television ads and mailers, federal records show.
“If you’re going to spend that kind of money, you’d expect to see it spent over a longer amount of time and it would be targeted better,” said Jon Gould, the dean of the School of Social Ecology at UC Irvine. “It had the feel that someone suddenly committed a lot of money at the last minute.”
The board of the Irvine Democrats, which backed Min, took the unusual step of writing to the president of Emily’s List, chiding the group for investing so heavily in Weiss. Their letter spelled out what the group saw as Weiss’ biggest problems, including her lack of experience as a candidate and her decision to send her children to private schools outside the district.
“Backing the flawed campaign of Ms. Weiss will harm the chances of electing a Democratic House majority in 2024,” the group wrote. They suggested that Emily’s List redirect the money to two other races in Orange County with strong Democratic women candidates.
This year is not the first time Min has been at odds with Emily’s List.
During the bruising 2018 primary for California’s 45th Congressional District, Min ran against Porter in a crowded field to unseat then-Rep. Mimi Walters, a Republican.
After Emily’s List endorsed Porter, the group’s super PAC spent more than $241,000 on ads and mailers to support her.
Min’s campaign then released an ad suggesting Porter, Walters and another candidate were being funded by “special interests.” In a voice-over, a narrator said: “Washington insiders have spent over $100,000 to elect Katie Porter.”
In a terse statement, the then-president of Emily’s List dismissed Min’s ad as “dishonest.”
“In a year where we’re seeing a record number of women step up and run for office, it’s unfortunate that there are those who are trying to diminish our success,” Stephanie Schriock said. She called Min’s comments “disparaging” to more than 5 million supporters of Emily’s List, including many who lived in his district.
The 47th District wasn’t the only race in California where choices by Emily’s List rankled Democratic leaders. One Democratic consultant, who requested anonymity to speak frankly about an organization that works closely with Democratic campaigns, said the group has made “many weird decisions in California this year.”
State Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D-Sanger) told The Times that the group had contacted her about running in the Central Valley’s 22nd Congressional District, hoping oust incumbent GOP Rep. David Valadao of Hanford. But Rudy Salas, a Democrat and a former member of the state Assembly, already had the backing of Washington’s Democratic leadership. Hurtado said she had weekly meetings with Emily’s List until it became clear the organization was not going to support her financially. She finished in a distant fourth place in the primary.
Emily’s List did not endorse a candidate in the 45th Congressional District in inland Orange County, represented by GOP Rep. Michelle Steele. Democrat Kim Nguyen-Penaloza, a Garden Grove councilmember and the daughter of Mexican and Vietnamese immigrants, finished third in the primary, losing by 367 votes to Democrat Derek Tran.
In the 40th Congressional District, an inland suburban district mostly in Orange County, Emily’s List endorsed Allyson Muñiz Damikolas in her bid to unseat GOP Rep. Young Kim. The endorsement helped Damikolas bring in more money, but the group did not spend a significant amount to help her. She finished a distant third behind Kim and Democrat Joe Kerr, a retired firefighter.
The results of both those races, Gould said, suggest that Emily’s List “probably made the right call.”
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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.
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.
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)
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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.”
“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.
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.
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.
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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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
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.”
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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.
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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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