Newsom holds edge in Hollywood fundraising for governor’s race
LOS ANGELES — As mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa built relationships in Hollywood: He sought the counsel of studio heads, fought for state tax credits to keep film and television production in the city and mingled with celebrities on the red carpet at glitzy film premieres and HBO parties.
In return, members of the entertainment industry backed his political ambitions — a rare show of support at the time from Hollywood for a local politician.
But as Villaraigosa runs for governor — potentially the final chapter of his political career — Hollywood is divided. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Villaraigosa’s chief rival, has raised nearly twice as much from donors tied to entertainment and the arts.
Villaraigosa brought in about $887,000 from donors tied to the arts and entertainment sectors, a respectable haul, but far less than the $1.7 million Newsom has raised from the same group, according to a Los Angeles Times analysis of financial disclosure reports filed with the state through the end of July.
“It’s a bit surprising,” said Donna Bojarsky, a veteran entertainment industry political consultant, noting that Villaraigosa’s ties to Hollywood predate his two terms as mayor. “Antonio was the first modern mayoral candidate that really reached out and got Hollywood support.”
The entertainment and arts donations reflect the overall fundraising race. Newsom leads the pack across most sectors, including technology, finance, legal and labor, raising nearly $16 million. Villaraigosa lags behind with $5.1 million. But the entertainment and arts contributions make up a greater proportion of Villaraigosa’s total fundraising, 17 percent, compared with nearly 11 percent of Newsom’s haul.
The other candidates in the race have been largely ignored by these donors. State Treasurer John Chiang has raised $182,000 from the entertainment industry and art world. The remaining three top candidates — Democrat Delaine Eastin and Republicans Travis Allen and John Cox — received few donations from these donors.
Most of these contributions were made by people in movies and television, such as studio executives, talent agents, celebrities, producers and directors. The group also includes donations from musicians, artists, fashion designers, video-gaming executives and entertainment attorneys.
In February 2015, Newsom was the first candidate to enter the 2018 gubernatorial race, which has partly driven his fundraising edge — he has raised up to $58,400 per donor since then. Villaraigosa entered the contest 18 months later, two days after the November 2016 presidential election.
“Antonio just got into the race, and Gavin’s been running for a long time,” said Rick Jacobs, a Hollywood fundraiser who is an adviser to Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “If you’re raising money statewide and have been in the race a long time, you would be remiss if you weren’t raising money in Hollywood.”
The Democratic-leaning entertainment industry has historically been a wellspring for political donations. Last year, it spent nearly $24 million backing Hillary Clinton’s unsuccessful presidential bid, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The industry has not been as consistently involved in state and local races, though Gov. Jerry Brown, former Sen. Barbara Boxer and Garcetti were strongly backed by some in Hollywood.
Many of the industry’s policy concerns, such as intellectual property issues, are decided at the federal level. But many of the contributions, whether at the federal, state or local level, are driven by donors’ existing relationships with candidates — and by ideology.
Newsom and Villaraigosa are “left-of-center Democrats,” said Rick Rosen, head of television for William Morris Endeavor Entertainment. “I don’t think there’s an enormous amount of policy differences between the two of them.”
But Rosen decided to back Villaraigosa because of his long-standing relationship with the former Los Angeles mayor.
“I’ve seen Antonio do the hard work of getting things done,” Rosen said, pointing to Villaraigosa’s controversial effort to reform the city’s schools. Rosen sits on the board of a Lincoln Heights charter school and recalled Villaraigosa speaking in English and Spanish at its graduation ceremony, and sticking around for pictures with students and families afterward.
“He’s not afraid of rolling up his sleeves, banging heads together and taking on difficult positions with teachers unions, with other unions in fact,” he said.
Rosen has contributed $5,000 to Villaraigosa, but more notably co-hosted a June fundraiser for him — the biggest in Hollywood for a gubernatorial candidate this cycle — at the home of studio and media executive Peter Chernin and his wife, Megan.
Other co-hosts included Paramount Pictures Chief Executive Jim Gianopulos, Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings, comedian George Lopez, former Sony Chief Executive Michael Lynton, NBCUniversal Vice Chairman Ron Meyer and producer Rob Reiner.