MEMO

To: Interested Parties

From: Gavin Newsom For Governor Campaign Leadership
Date: January 4, 2018
State of #CAGov: Newsom is in the driver’s seat & the rest of the field is panicked

In the weeks leading up to the holidays, most Californians were busy planning family get-
togethers and celebrating with friends. But a handful of Californians – specifically those running
against Gavin Newsom in the California Governor's race – spent the holiday season frantically
lobbing negative attacks against Newsom with the precision of a spaghetti catapult. The
reason? Newsom has been far out front leading the field and driving the conversation in the
California Governor's race. Here’s how:

Fundraising: As 2017 ended, news of Newsom’s fundraising dominance spread through
California political circles. While more information will be coming when the reports are filed,
here is what we know now about each candidate’s performance in 2017:

• The Newsom campaign announced it has raised more than $20 million to date and after
a flood of late contributions on-line, now has surged to more than $19.5 million cash on
hand -- totals that far surpass any of the other candidates. The campaign netted more
than 100,000 individual donations – an astonishing figure that underscores the strength
of Newsom’s low-dollar fundraising apparatus, which has already raised millions online.
This grassroots army is particularly potent when paired with the broad support for
Newsom from more traditional donors up and down the state. And while his
opponents' fundraising has flat-lined in 2017, Newsom's numbers are actually
strengthening long after the "low hanging fruit" phase.

• Villaraigosa’s campaign told California news outlets he has raised $7 million since
becoming a candidate, even though he had already reported raising $5 million in
previous reports. Simple math shows, that by his own accounting, Villaraigosa raised
just $2 million in the last six months and likely has just $6 million on hand - less than a
third of Newsom’s reserves.

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 • Tellingly, Chiang has been uncharacteristically mum about his fundraising totals for the
second half of 2017. Earlier this week, the Sacramento Bee reported Chiang raised just
$106,000 in December -- 10 times less than the amount Newsom reported during the
same month. Interestingly, Chiang's slowed finance activity came
after the Bee reported how Chiang "helped award millions in tax breaks to his developer
donors." With their shady fundraising strategy exposed, Team Chiang was no doubt
forced to change tactics.

Driving the conversation in the race: As Joe Mathews noted in December, Newsom has led the
field in releasing policy ideas -- plans that are as bold as they are detailed. Just over the holiday,
he and Assemblymember Autumn Burke rolled out their moonshot plan to end child poverty in
California, which followed proposals on housing, sustainability, education and early learning.

Endorsements: Newsom is building a diverse coalition of support from leaders and
organizations representing nearly every constituency in the state. Newsom has more state
Democratic legislator endorsements than all the candidates combined, and he's the only
candidate to be publicly endorsed by a statewide elected official. Newsom counts 7 statewide
union endorsements with a combined membership totaling in the hundreds of thousands, while
no other candidate has been endorsed by a single one.

Organization: Newsom has the most experienced and winning team in California politics. While
other campaigns are in turmoil, Team Gavin is ramping up to prepare for 2018. The campaign
now includes:

• Communications Director Nathan Click, formerly communications director on Kamala
Harris’ U.S. Senate campaign and most recently served as a communications aide with
Doug Jones victorious Senate campaign in Alabama;

• Senior Political Advisor Brian Brokaw, a longtime California political strategist who ran
Kamala Harris’ 2010 and 2014 Attorney General campaigns as well as the victorious
Prop. 64 campaign in 2016;

• Policy Director Joey Freeman, who most recently served as Southern California Director
& Chief Policy Consultant in the California Lieutenant Governor’s Office;

• Scheduling Director Emily Swide, who joins the campaign from a similar role in Oakland
Mayor Libby Schaaf’s campaign and has staffed various Bay Area campaigns;

• Finance Associate Kenneth Armstrong, who has worked as a finance staffer on Kamala
Harris’ Senate campaign and has staffed other Southern California campaigns.

They will join existing members of Team Gavin:

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 • Campaign Manager Addisu Demissie, who worked previously as a senior staff member
of the Clinton presidential campaign during the General Election and managed Cory
Booker’s special election campaign for Senate;

• Deputy Campaign Manager Lindsey Cobia, who has served in that role since January of
2016 and previously worked for Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer;

• Finance Director Katie Prisco-Buxbaum, who previously served as Kamala Harris’
Southern California Finance Director and has worked as a finance staffer on numerous
races;

• Political Director Daniel Lopez, who most recently served in that role for Kamala Harris’
Senate campaign and has advised a number of California campaigns;

• General Consultants SCN Strategies, veterans of numerous national and statewide
campaigns.

Polling: While public polls should always be taken with heaps of salt and often are supported by
pretty dubious assumptions about the 2018 electorate, Newsom has led each one, and there
has never been a poll to show his lead inside the margin of error.