The California Ties at the Top of the Presidential Ticket

The 2024 presidential race just got even more Californian.

Vice President Kamala Harris’s credentials are already well-known: She was born in Oakland, graduated from U.C. Law San Francisco, and went on to become state attorney general and a U.S. senator representing California.

But Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio, who was formally chosen this week as the Republican vice-presidential nominee and is best known for his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” about growing up poor in Appalachia, has connections to the Golden State, too. And he has already leveraged them to help former President Donald J. Trump.

While studying at Yale Law School, Vance met his wife, Usha Vance, who grew up in a San Diego suburb. The two soon moved to San Francisco, where J.D. worked as a venture capitalist for Peter Thiel, a conservative megadonor and an early Trump supporter. Usha worked at the law firm Munger, Tolles & Olson. (She resigned from the job this week “to focus on caring for our family,” SFGate reported.)

The couple moved to Ohio in 2017, but their Bay Area years followed them. When Vance ran for U.S. Senate in 2022, his Democratic opponent, Tim Ryan, then a U.S. representative, thought Vance’s time in San Francisco “was political gold among working-class voters,” The San Francisco Chronicle reports.

“Ryan’s supporters mocked Vance as a ‘San Francisco vulture capitalist’ and sent him a ‘soy candle that is sustainable and vegan, in a one-of-a-kind S.F. fragrance,’” the news outlet reported, quoting an Ohio Democrats news release.

But Thiel donated $15 million to Vance’s race in Ohio. And he brokered a meeting between Vance and Trump — whom Vance had previously denounced as “cultural heroin” — so the two could make amends. Trump then backed Vance for Senate, and he won his crowded primary.

Vance has since helped Trump make inroads with Silicon Valley donors. He introduced the former president to David Sacks, a Bay Area venture capitalist who is seen as something of a leader of the tech industry’s right wing, and whom Vance has called “one of his closest confidants in politics.”

Sacks held a fund-raiser for Trump at his San Francisco home last month and raised $12 million for his campaign. It was the first time that Trump had set foot in the city in at least a decade. Sacks said at the event that it “would never have happened” without Vance’s support, according to a person familiar with his remarks.

After Vance was named as Trump’s running mate on Monday, Harris called to congratulate him, and challenge him to a debate that could be held next month. If they eventually meet, perhaps California will come up.

The rest of the news

• Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the nation’s first law prohibiting policies that force educators to tell parents if their children ask to use a different name or pronouns.

• Elon Musk said that he would move the headquarters of two of his businesses, the rocket manufacturer SpaceX and the social media platform X, from California to Texas in protest of the new gender identification law.

• The statewide rise in Covid cases is being aided by people who are continuing to go to work and travel while sick, The Los Angeles Times reports.

• NASA transmitted the Missy Elliott song “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” to Venus from a radio dish in California. It took 14 minutes to travel the 158 million miles.

• Michael Tubbs, a former mayor of Stockton, said he is entering the 2026 race for lieutenant governor, The Los Angeles Times reports.

Southern California

• The 22nd District Agricultural Association board voted unanimously to reject building a train tunnel under the Del Mar Fairgrounds over concerns that it could take up space for potential affordable housing, The San Diego Union-Tribune reports.

• Jesse Katz’s true-crime narrative, “The Rent Collectors,” delivers a nuanced portrait of a Los Angeles community racked by poverty and violence and deprived of opportunities to get ahead.

Northern California

• The tech community in Silicon Valley has funded programs that give people unconditional cash. Some say it is not enough.

And before you go, some good news

By the time Andy Macdonald competes in the Paris Olympics this summer, he will be 51, making him the oldest skateboarder at the Games. Though he was born in the United States and lives in California, he’s representing Britain because he has a British father.

In an interview with The New York Times, Macdonald discussed qualifying for the Olympics, injuries during his career and the challenges of skating competitively against younger athletes.

Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow. — Soumya

P.S. Here’s today’s Mini Crossword.

Halina Bennet and Briana Scalia contributed to California Today. You can reach the team at [email protected].

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