Cloobeck Thinking Of Running Again— But Not In Nevada This Time
Gavin Newsom is termed out in 2026 and jockeying for the gubernatorial election has already begun. There are 4 top tier declared candidates so far:
Tony Thurmond, the state superintendent of public instruction
Toni Atkins, state Senator (may drop out to run for a Lt. Gov.)
Betty Yee, former state controller, state party leader
Eleni Kounalakis, rich, unaccomplished Lt. Governor
Other likely, but undeclared candidates include:
Xavier Becerra- U.S. HHS Secretary
Antonio Villaraigosa- former L.A. Mayor
Rick Caruso- billionaire
Stephen Cloobeck, bipartisan Las Vegas billionaire who nearly can for Nevada governor a couple of times
Laphonza Butler- appointed US Senator
Katie Porter- Congresswoman
Thurmond, Yee and Porter would all be running in the progressive lane. Kounalakis has already announced some endorsements that indicate she’s running as a centrist— Hillary Clinton, Blue Dog Mike Thompson and conservative state Sen. Bill Dodd. She’s not very well-known outside of elite circles. I mean she’s been a big financial contributor— I looked up her name on OpenSecrets and there were 557 contributions— which explains the political jobs she gotten. In 2018, she massively self-funded to the tune of $7,850,000. Before that she regularly made huge contributions to the DNC and other Democratic committees, which explains how she got appointed to be Ambassador to Hungary. She inherited all that money, by the way, and worked for her family’s real estate business. She’ll be running in the conservaDem lane.
Yesterday, L.A. Times columnist Mark Barabak introduced Kounalakis to his readers. Why so early? She’s already running TV spots about abortion to build up some name recognition (and “wedge her way into the political conserversation”). And with her open wallet habits, why not? Right? He noted that Kounilakis is “the latest in a long line of wealthy women and men with a mountain of cash at the ready as they pursue California’s top political job. Most— Meg Whitman, Jane Harman, Al Checchi, to name a few— failed in grand fashion.”
What’s not good or healthy is for Kounalakis to buy her way into the governor’s office, the way she used an outsized wallet to flatten opponents and win the lieutenant governorship in 2018.
At the time, Kounalakis’ main political credential was having given tons of money to Democratic candidates and political causes. Enough that it set her up for appointment by President Obama as U.S. ambassador to Hungary.
When Kounalakis turned her eye to elected office, oodles of cash again cleared her pathway.
She benefited greatly from the millions that her father— a wealthy Sacramento developer— showered on Kounalakis’ candidacy through a political action committee promoting her campaign. (There are legal limits on how much an individual can give to a candidate. Not so for political action committees.)
Kounalakis topped that off with several million more in personal spending.
That made her one of several affluent candidates who’ve procured down-ballot office in California— state controller, insurance commissioner, lieutenant governor— by sinking part of their wealth into their races.
“Nobody knows much about those candidates,” Jeffe noted, so it’s easy “to buy name recognition, to shape their image” in ways that are much more difficult in a contest for governor.
Since taking office, Kounalakis hasn’t exactly bowled Sacramento over, though she did win reelection in 2022. George Skelton, my columnizing colleague who has covered the capital for well over half a century, once described Kounalakis as “the most obscure lieutenant governor I’ve ever seen.”