The Brief

Donors have contributed more than $128.8 million so far in the fight over whether to redraw California’s congressional lines with supporters of the ballot measure raising over twice as much as opponents.

The fundraising so far marks one of most expensive ballot measure efforts in California's history.

Proposition 50, the statewide proposition slated for a Nov. 4 special election, would allow new congressional maps that would benefit Democrats to stand through 2030. (You can check here to see if where you live is affected.) If approved, the ballot measure would temporarily upend California’s nonpartisan approach to drawing congressional lines that’s been in place since 2008.

The ballot measure was approved by the California Legislature back in August, escalating tensions between California Democrats and President Donald Trump, who first urged Texas lawmakers to redraw their state’s maps to favor Republicans.

Five of the districts that would be most heavily impacted under the plan are in Southern California.

Last Thursday was a key filing deadline for Prop. 50 campaign finance disclosures, giving us the clearest picture yet of how much money is flowing in this race and who’s been donating to each side.

Here’s what the numbers show as of Tuesday.

How much money has each side raised?

Out of the total $128.8 million raised, the “yes” campaign has raised more than $88.6 million, while the “no” campaign has raised about $40.1 million.

Multi-million dollar fundraising is pretty common for high-stakes statewide propositions, and this is no exception. For comparison, here are some of the most expensive ballot measure campaigns in recent years. You'll see in every case below, the side that raised more money was successful:

• $176 million for Prop. 33, a failed 2024 measure that would have allowed cities to pass stronger rent-control laws. The “yes” campaign raised nearly $51 million while the “no” campaign raised $125 million. 
• $408 million for Prop. 27, a failed 2022 measure that would have legalized online sports betting in California. The “yes” campaign raised more than $170 million while the “no” campaign raised more than $238 million, making Prop. 27 the most expensive ballot measure campaign in California history.
• $225 million for Prop. 22, a successful 2020 measure that created a carve-out for app-based drivers, like those working for Uber and Lyft, to work as independent contractors rather than employees. The “yes” campaign raised more than $205 million while the “no” campaign raised just under $20 million. 

Who’s donating money to the Prop. 50 campaigns?

The “no” campaign: The largest individual donor to this campaign so far is Charles T. Munger Jr., who's donated $32.8 million. He’s a Palo Alto-based physicist, former chair of the Santa Clara Republican Party and son of the late billionaire Charles Munger, former vice chair of Berkshire Hathaway. Earlier this month, he wrote an op-ed for the New York Times detailing his reasons for opposing Prop. 50.

“I oppose gerrymandering in any state, regardless of the party responsible for initiating it,” he wrote.

Another $5 million came from the No on 50 Congressional Leadership Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based Super PAC (an independent group allowed to raise and spend unlimited amounts of money on political campaigns) dedicated to electing Republicans to the House of Representatives.

Outside of Munger and the Congressional Leadership Fund, there are more than 190 donors to the “no” campaign so far, some of them individual contributors and others ballot measure committees.

The “yes” campaign: Fundraising in support of Prop. 50 is made up of more than 65,000 different funders so far. This is quite a list to unpack, so here are some highlights among top spenders:

• The Fund for Policy Reform: This is the biggest contributor to date for the “yes” campaign, with $10 million in donations. It’s a Delaware-based lobbying firm founded by billionaire George Soros. The fund has contributed to California state ballot measure campaigns before, notably to support Prop. 64 (a 2016 measure voters approved to legalize recreational marijuana) and Prop. 10 (a failed 2018 measure that would have expanded cities’ abilities to enact rent-control laws). 
• HMP: This stands for the House Majority PAC, a Super PAC dedicated to electing Democrats to the House of Representatives. This group has contributed a total of about $10 million so far.
• Labor groups: Top contributors include the California Teachers Association Issues PAC ($3 million), the California Nurses Association ($2.6 million) and Dignity California SEIU Local 2015 ($2 million). These groups have traditionally contributed large sums to the California Democratic Party and party-endorsed ballot measure campaigns or candidates. 
• Billionaires: Sequoia Capital chairman Michael Moritz ($2.5 million), Cargill heiress and philanthropist Gwendolyn Sontheim ($2 million) and Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings ($2 million) are all among top donors. All three have previously contributed to campaigns supported by the California Democratic Party.

The takeaway

There is a lot of money flowing in the Prop. 50 race, much of it coming from outside California and falling heavily along partisan lines — largely Democrats support Prop. 50 and Republicans oppose it. And with more than a month to go before the election, there’s still a lot of time for more fundraising.

Need more information about Prop. 50 to make your choice for the election? Here’s our full voter guide. You can also ask us any of your election questions below, and we’ll follow up by email with an answer.

Most Southern California renters continue to struggle to find housing they can afford. An important — and for some, possibly life-changing — option opened up on Monday for low-income residents.

The Los Angeles County Development Authority (LACDA) began accepting applicants for its waitlist for public housing for a limited time.

Tracie Mann, the chief of programs for LACDA, said the waitlist was last open in April 2024.

“We need to refresh the list, get new families who are interested in applying, not only to our family sites, but also to our senior sites,” she said.

Mann said she expects more people to apply now because of the sharp rise in the cost of living.

“We know that housing is a serious need here within the region of Los Angeles County, and having LACDA in a position to be able to offer public housing units to those most in need is just so… critical,” she said.

The rent in these county-owned and managed units is generally capped at 30% of a household’s gross income. That limit helps families build savings, said  Justin Fitzsimmons, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles.

“It is a really valuable resource and can be a great opportunity for people to be able to build wealth in this economy and set up their generations in the future,” he said.

Orchard Arms is a public housing property with 183 units in Valencia. It's reserved for seniors.

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Courtesy Los Angeles County Development Authority

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It’s common, Fitzsimmons said, to see clients come to his office for legal help after a life event, such as an accident or major illness that has depleted their savings.

"Public housing is a really wonderful opportunity for a person to help to weather those events that life throws your way," he said.

The waitlist application window opened at 8 a.m. Monday and is set to close at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 16.

Here’s who qualifies and how to apply

To qualify, families must be earning significantly less than the median income in L.A. County. There are different tiers, Mann said, including 30% and 50% of that median income.

People in L.A. County will fall below the 50% threshold if they earn up to $58,300 per year. Families of four will meet the cutoff if they earn no more than $83,300 per year.

Follow this link for more information about how to apply. If you’ve already registered with LACDA, you can apply at this link.

South Bay Gardens is a public housing property with 100 units in South Los Angeles.

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Courtesy Los Angeles County Development Authority

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You can seek help with your application by calling LACDA at (626) 586-1522 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.

LACDA staff also helps people complete their online applications in person at their offices in Alhambra. Their address is 700 W. Main St., Alhambra.

Location, location, location

LACDA oversees public housing on 68 properties for more than 6,600 residents. The agency is opening up wait list registration at only 16 of those sites. Thinking about which location to apply to is important because if you apply to a location and you don’t accept the unit that you’re offered, you will be removed from the waiting list until it opens back up.

People leave public housing units for various reasons, Mann said, such as moving outside the county, finding another apartment or facing eviction. She said LACDA’s public housing program averages 300 vacancies per year. Wait times can be months or longer, depending on vacancies at each property.

Applications for the smaller properties will be capped at 1,000 applications, and their waitlists will close early if that threshold is reached before Sept. 16.

You can find more information about the 16 sites opening their waitlists at this link.

Los Angeles Lakers governor Jeanie Buss is legally contesting her siblings’ plan to sell the family’s remaining 17.8% minority ownership stake in the team to Josh Kushner and Bob Iger, according to a letter obtained Monday by the Associated Press.

ESPN and The Athletic first reported that the siblings had voted to sell the family trust’s remaining interest in the 17-time NBA champion team purchased by their father, Jerry Buss, in 1979. The decision would end Jeanie Buss’ tenure as the Lakers’ governor because that job requires at least 15% ownership of the team.

Jeannie Buss’ attorney, Adam Streisand, wrote to representatives for her five siblings to state that any decision to sell the family trust’s ownership stake could not be “effectuated without approval of the current co-trustees, Jeanie, Janie and Joey Buss.”

The letter further states that the co-trustees “are bound to vote the Los Angeles Lakers, Inc. shares to ensure that the minimum 15% ownership requirement is maintained in order to ensure that Jeanie Buss may remain Controlling Owner. Any attempt by the co-trustees to do otherwise, and any attempt to aid or abet the co-trustees as such, would constitute a breach of trust, breach of fiduciary duty and be in contempt of court.”

Jeanie Buss has been the Lakers’ governor since Jerry Buss’ death in 2013, and she led the family’s decision to sell a controlling stake in the Lakers to Dodgers owner Mark Walter last year at a valuation of $10 billion. Walter, who is under federal investigation for tax issues, abruptly reached a deal earlier this month to flip the Lakers to Kushner and Iger at a valuation of $12.5 billion, another record for a pro sports team.

Venture capitalist Kushner and former Disney CEO Iger are reportedly buying about 65% of the team from Walter. They would own about 83% if they reach a deal with the Buss siblings — and Jeanie Buss would lose the governor role that she had been slated to keep at least through 2030 under the deal with Walter.

Sibling rivalry

The siblings have been in frequent conflict since their father’s death, with Jeanie firing Jim from his job as the Lakers’ head of basketball operations in 2017, followed a week later with a lawsuit against her brothers amid an attempt by Jim and Johnny to oust Jeanie from her role as the Lakers’ controlling owner.

Not all of the six Buss siblings — Jeanie, Jim, Johnny, Janie, Joey and Jesse — were in favor of the deal despite retaining their family trust’s minority ownership stake, and Joey and Jesse were fired from their front-office jobs with the team last November.

The siblings say they voted this month to sell their family’s remaining interest in the Lakers, but Jeanie Buss claims any vote is void. ESPN reported that Jeanie Buss was the only sibling who didn’t support the final sale.

“We have decided as a family to sell the remaining Buss Family Trust shares to the Bob Iger group as part of the ongoing transaction,” the Buss family said in a statement. “We love the Lakers, Laker fans and will continue to support Los Angeles, but it is time to use this opportunity to move on and exit gracefully while we still can.”

In his letter, Streisand said Joey and Jesse Buss have leaked information to ESPN for many years “for the malicious purpose of doing harm to the Los Angeles Lakers so long as Dr. Buss’s chosen successor, Jeanie Buss, carries out her father’s wishes.”

Jerry Buss was a chemist and real estate investor who bought the Lakers, the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings and the Forum arena from Jack Kent Cooke for $67.5 million. The Lakers quickly entered a renaissance in which they became known for their flashy “Showtime” style of play while winning five NBA titles between 1980 and 1988 behind Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

While the NBA and professional sports became increasingly more corporate, the Lakers remained essentially a family business despite their massive profile and steady success. Jerry Buss and the Lakers have employed many of the basketball world’s greatest players and coaches of the past five decades, and Kobe Bryant led the Lakers to five additional championships between 2000 and 2010 before LeBron James added the 17th in 2020.

The sale agreement with Kushner and Iger still must be approved by the NBA’s board of governors, and the process could take months.

Topline:

Cost-of-living: Latinos favored Democrats by 34% when it came to the question about who's better handling cost-of-living. “ It is the economy, cost of living and affordability that is, by a far measure, the issue driving Latino voters and Latino sentiments,” said Mike Madrid, Republican political consultant and founder of the Latino Working Class Project.

More support for Dems? No. This does not mean Latino voters are completely satisfied with how Democrats are running things in California.  "They are just as unhappy with Democrats,” said David Binder, founder of David Binder Research, which helped conduct the poll.

What this means for the gubernatorial race: An overwhelming amount of Latino voters are supporting Xavier Becerra over Steve Hilton, 72% to 24%.  ”If Xavier Becerra wins the election in November, it'll be incumbent upon him to prove that he is also working on behalf of Latino voters and all working class voters to help bring down costs and make things more affordable,” Binder said.