Who Supported, Opposed, and Profited off Proposition 50?

The Special Election for Proposition 50 was passed by voters last week.

Who contributed to its passage – who supported it; and who contributed to its failure – who opposed it?

And, who in the consultancy class profited from Proposition 50?

The contributions and expenses for the YES on Prop. 50 and NO on Prop. 50  campaigns aren’t complete yet, but there are plenty of records updated today at the California Secretary of State and included below.

Curiously, one media outlet in Southern California reported on the NO campaign, but then the story was taken down. The Globe was provided screen shots of the article last evening.

The SoCal Daily Pulse initially reported that former California GOP Chairwoman Jessica Patterson allegedly was paid $500,000 by the NO on Prop. 50 campaign. The article was then swiftly taken down from the website, however sources had already saved it and provided it to the Globe.

The article, now posted to X, reads:

“GOP leaders wanted a more measured approach than what they had seen during the unsuccessful recall of Governor Gavin Newsom in 2021—something that might appeal to independent and moderate voters wary of partisan trench warfare.

They also wanted to avoid another money pit, the kind of consultant-driven operation that had come to define the state party’s failures under Jessica Millan Patterson. But that wasn’t how things played out.

When Rep. Kevin McCarthy and Patterson muscled their way into control of the “No on Prop 50” campaign, any serious chance of beating back a Democratic power grab seems to have subsided rather quickly. Astute Republicans could see the writing on the wall—because they’ve been there many times.

The same small circle of insiders, who always seem to find their way to the trough, would find a way to enrich themselves once more. And so support dried up. In August, McCarthy boasted that he intended to raise $100 million (to fight Prop 50). One month later, the amount he had actually raised was closer to $7 million The same enthusiasm that enabled Republicans to raise $45.3 million in 2021 (to support Newsom’s recall was, evidently, not there for McCarthy and Patterson in 2025). Fortunately for them, philanthropist Charles Munger Jr. invested upwards of $30 million of his own money to fight Prop 50. Unfortunately for Munger, his money wasn’t in good hands.”

And:

“A source close to the campaign told SoCal Daily Pulse that Jessica Patterson personally steered the media contracts to Swing Strategies. As part of the arrangement, she allegedly negotiated a cut of 1 percent of the total ad buy spend for herself. Based on reports from CalAccess, Swing Strategies (which appears as Meridian Pacific Inc. DBA Swing Strategies) received roughly $31 million from the No on 50 committee titled “Protect Voters First, Sponsored by Hold Politicians Accountable”(which is Munger’s pot of money). Just by that math, Patterson allegedly stood to make around $310,000.

And that’s before counting what she earned as the head of McCarthy’s PAC.”

Unlike a PAC, Swing Strategies is a private company and therefore not required to disclose who they pay or how they distribute funds. That makes this sort of compensation nearly invisible to the public. So the perennial GOP consultant class has secured another lucrative arrangement for themselves—as they often do. But one has to spend money to make money, as the adage goes. So, were the ads at least effective?

Even before the campaign’s fundraising troubles became public, donors were expressing frustration over the quality of the No on Prop 50 mailers.”

And:

“A source who asked to remain anonymous told SoCal Daily Pulse that Patterson herself has already collected $250,000, with another $250,000 reportedly on the way, bringing her total haul to nearly half a million dollars. But she’s not alone. Bryan Watkins of Irvine-based Inversion Strategies, tasked with coalition outreach, received $150,000 for his work. And Andy Gharakhani, who last year managed Steve Garvey’s failed Senate campaign and led the fundraising for No on Prop 50, pocketed $100,000.”

Read the entire article posted at Mike Netter’s X page:

THIS STORY ORGINALLY APPEARED IN THE SOCAL DAILY PULSE
It’s a familiar story: Republicans suffer a dramatic defeat on a major statewide ballot initiative while the perennial consultants collected six-figure sums for shoddy work.
Though Virginia, New York, and other states had a… pic.twitter.com/EGzssfoNOj

— Mike Netter (@nettermike) November 11, 2025

We don’t know yet who told the SoCal Daily Pulse to remove the article or why.

Lastly, many California voters reported receiving NO on Prop 50 mailers the day after the election – some received as many as three mailers in one day. It’s curious that the NO campaign couldn’t get the mailers out in a timely fashion, relegating them to the waste pile. It’s even more curious that anyone in California politics would still use mailers at all, especially for such a short political race. Political campaigns are mostly advertised digitally now… but with Patterson in charge of steering the media contracts to Meridian Pacific Inc. DBA Swing Strategies, who no doubt have a successful printing and direct mail production company on speed dial, it isn’t a stretch to make the connection.

Here are a few interesting YES on Prop. 50 supporters:

• Consumer Attorneys of California Issues Political Action Committee, Yes on 50 spent $3,319,029.
• Democratic Action, Yes on 50, sponsored by Democratic Governors Association (Fed PAC ID #C00562983 spent $2,303,694.
• HMP for Prop 50 (Fed PAC ID #C00495028) spent $45,974,970.
• Moveon.Org Political Action (FEC PAC ID C00341396) Supporting Prop 50 spent $8,241,830.
• Yes on 50, The Election Rigging Response Act, Governor Newsom’s Ballot Measure Committee spent $102,431,568.

Here are a few interesting opposition contributors:

• No on Prop 50 – Protect Voters First, sponsored by Hold Politicians Accountable spent $32,791,959.
• No on Prop 50 Congressional Leadership Fund (Fed PAC ID# C00504530) spent $44,332,904,
• No on Prop 50 – Stop Sacramento’s Power Grab spent $6,630,020.

Here are the total contributors in SUPPORT:

Here are the contributors who OPPOSED Prop 50: