Move over, Big Oil, Big Pharma and Big Tobacco. There’s a new member of the club of “big, bad, boogeymen” in politics, as Sonoma State University political science professor David McCuan terms it.
Big Tech now finds itself in that nationwide nemesis role amid blowback over the warnings about artificial intelligence and broad opposition to data centers — a shockwave extending into the Democrat-on-Democrat race for California’s 12th Assembly District, which covers Marin County and southern Sonoma County, including Petaluma, Cotati, Rohnert Park, and part of Santa Rosa.
That contest pits Marin County Supervisor Eric Lucan and Rohnert Park City Councilmember Jackie Elward, the top two vote-getters from June’s primary.
The race drew the attention of Grow California, a political committee founded by a pair of crypto billionaires, Chris Larsen and Tim Draper, who seek to transform the state’s Assembly and Senate into more tech- and business-friendly bodies. Between its expenditures opposing Elward and in support of Lucan, the Grow California PAC has now spent over $1.6 million on the North Bay race.
Draper is a libertarian-leaning Bitcoin crusader also known for his attempts to break up the state of California. Larsen, a Democrat and founder of the crypto company Ripple, is a San Francisco resident who also owns a 46-acre compound in Calistoga. He believes unions hold too much sway over the state Legislature, and seeks a more centrist, pro-business “counterforce” to them.
But Grow America’s expenditures in the District 12 race do not appear to be having their desired effect. Elward, an educator with strong support from labor unions, and the backing of Damon Connolly, the incumbent running for state Senate, has raised her profile by calling attention to the super PAC’s efforts to oppose her, brandishing them as a badge of honor.
Lucan, a longtime SMART board member and former Novato councilmember, meanwhile, is actively distancing himself from the committee, working to let voters know he’s not coordinating with Grow California and wants nothing to do with it.
Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat
Transportation and government officials gathered Nov. 9, 2023, to break ground for the Petaluma North SMART Station which will serve as a vital transportation link and also included in the project are 131 new affordable housing units adjacent to the station in Petaluma. Eric Lucan, chair of the SMART Board of Directors addresses the crowd. Lucan, a Marino County supervisor, is now running for the District 12 seat in the California Assembly. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)
As he put it in an Instagram post Wednesday, “Here’s my message to the dark money special interests who are pouring millions into this Assembly race flooding your mailboxes and on your screens: Stop. Now.”
In the primary, Grow California spent over $750,000 opposing Elward, the more progressive candidate, with mailers, TV and digital advertisements. Meanwhile it spent over $307,000 supporting Lucan.
Earlier this week, Grow California filed an independent expenditure report, signaling that it is spending another $551,000 in support of Lucan.
Somehow that’s become a problem for the 45-year-old Novato resident, father of three and former chief marketing officer for Mike’s Bikes.
Taking into consideration the issues animating politics in this moment, foremost among them concerns over artificial intelligence and data centers, said McCuan, the sums being spent by wealthy tech interests — including money to sink Elward’s bid for higher office — is perhaps not having its intended impact.
“They’re giving Jackie free media, and it’s a big deal. It’s substantial. It raises her profile.”
Elward said she’s not surprised the crypto billionaires are going after her. “They know I’m the real deal, and right now they need someone they can just manipulate.”
Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat file
Rohnert Park City Council member Jackie Elward, who represents District 4, is running against Marin County Supervisor Eric Lucan for the California Assembly District 12 seat. (Christopher Chung / The Press Democrat file)
The 47-year-old mother of three immigrated to the United States from the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2003. Elward learned English — she speaks six languages — became an educator, and later made history as the first Black woman elected to the Rohnert Park City Council.
A labor organizer, she is running on a platform of standing up for working families, advocating for higher living wages and better benefits, and “affordable homes that working-class individuals and young people can actually afford.”
She has also vowed to check the power of Big Tech.
“Like we have seen in California and throughout the country, they’re gonna do everything they can to take over. So we are doing everything we can to make the people of AD 12 aware” of that,” she said. “This is a dire situation.”
The involvement of Grow California in his race puts Lucan in a bind, McCuan pointed out, since “voters make no distinction between IE (independent expenditure) spending and campaign candidate spending.”
Even though Lucan is not in contact with, nor has anything to do with Grow California, “he’s got to explain that” to voters, said McCuan.
“And Jackie gets to ride the wave.”
That explains why Lucan took to Instagram Wednesday with what amounted to a cease-and-desist demand to the various “dark money” groups using independent expenditures to influence the race, a list not limited to Grow California.
Since Grow California started spending on this race, Elward’s labor allies have responded in kind. One group, whose sponsors include the AFL-CIO, has spent $1.15 million on her behalf this year. Another has poured in $488,000 since September 11.
All the dark money groups inserting themselves into this race “are misleading voters about me, as well as my opponent,” he wrote, “and all of it is distorting and corrupting our democracy — it’s everything that disgusts people about politics. Whether they are funded by oligarchs, tech billionaires, trial lawyers, crypto, AI, labor groups, developers — our district and our democracy deserve better than shadowy Independent Expenditures (IEs) attempting to influence your vote and manipulate this race.
“I want to be loud and clear, so that these dark money IEs (and everyone else) will know exactly where I stand: I am not connected to any of these expenditures, mailers, or ads.”
Representatives for Grow California did not respond to a request for comment, including a question about whether it would it would heed Lucan’s wish that it stop “supporting” his campaign.
In an interview Thursday, Lucan expressed some frustration that the deluge of independent expenditures, including those by Grow California, had become a distraction from topics he’s been discussing with voters “for the last 16 months,” including “the number one issue I hear at the door, which is cost of living and affordability.
“It’s quite comical,” he said, when asked to respond to characterizations of him as being overly beholden to Big Tech.
“You know, I’ve got a 15-year track record (in public service) that I could point to. I’ve got all the elected officials that are behind me in this race, including five county supervisors, 10 of the 15 mayors in the district, 50 current city and town council members.”
Before working at Mike’s Bikes, Lucan and his wife, Kiley, opened a fitness studio on Union Street in San Francisco, which they still own.
“That’s the background that I’m coming to this with,” he said. “The three pillars in my campaign are cost of living and affordability, climate resiliency, and local economic opportunity — our local, Main Street businesses.
The idea that he’s linked to “the largest tech companies in the world, or out there trying to build AI data centers — that does give me a good laugh,” Lucan said.
While Elward is running a “very activist oriented campaign,” said McCuan, Lucan’s is “much more establishment oriented.”
Elward is a staunch proponent of Prop 40, which, should it pass, will impose a one-time 5% wealth tax on California residents and trusts with a net worth exceeding $1 billion.
Lucan is opposed to it. Yes, Prop 40 would create “a one-time windfall,” he said, but its “long-term impacts” could include “more and more higher earners leaving the state, which is then going to make it even less sustainable for us to continue to provide the services to the most vulnerable.”
Lucan said he had hesitations about the way the ballot measure “was crafted, and where the funds will be utilized,” he said.
“And that’s why I am aligned with groups” — he mentioned the California Professional Firefighters, California Teachers Association and Planned Parenthood — “saying this is not the right approach at this time.”
Catherine Bracy is the founder of Oakland-based Tech Equity Action. It also has spent money in the District 12 race, though in opposition to the Big Tech money flooding politics, according to Bracy.
Their local mailers call out how much money has been tech money has been spent in support of Lucan versus the zero spent on Elward’s behalf.
The group, which Bracy describes as “a public education campaign, not in support or opposition to any candidate,” recently launched its own $1 million ad buy. She would not divulge the sources of those funds. Their goal, she said, to make sure the public understands that Big Tech “is a corporate interest with a specific agenda, and it is completely misaligned from where the public is on these issues.”
She said it’s been “extremely hard” in California to make strong rules that would create guardrails for tech companies, “even through the public is overwhelmingly demanding it. And in large part it’s because of the money that the industry is spending.”
One mailer warns that tech billionaires want to “block protections for kids online, enable AI-driven job losses, and build data centers that harm our communities.” It adds: “Here in Marin and Sonoma counties, tech executives are spending big to influence our Assembly race.”
While he made no predictions about the race, McCuan said that AI and data centers are very much a part of the national conversation, “and that’s not going away.”
He described the contest as “a bit fluid,” with plenty of time for voters to learn more about the candidates.
In the meantime, he said, “It’s clear that Jackie’s profile has grown” and the $753,000 spent by Grow California to tank her candidacy “has had exactly the opposite effect.”
You can reach Austin Murphy at austin.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On X (Twitter) @AusMurph88.