Taylor Swift in the House

From: POLITICO California Playbook - Thursday Jul 27,2023 01:08 pm
Presented by Connected Commerce Council: Inside the Golden State political arena
Jul 27, 2023 View in browser
 
POLITICO California Playbook

By Lara Korte, Dustin Gardiner and Sejal Govindarao

Presented by Connected Commerce Council

FILE - Taylor Swift performs during the opener of her Eras tour in Glendale, Ariz., on March 17, 2023. Swift released "Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)." Swift re-recorded her sophomore country album, “Speak Now,” and has 22 songs, including six that were written during the album’s original era, but not recorded until recently. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis, File)

Taylor Swift performs during the opener of her Eras tour in Glendale, Ariz., on March 17, 2023. Swift released "Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)." Swift re-recorded her sophomore country album, “Speak Now,” and has 22 songs, including six that were written during the album’s original era, but not recorded until recently. | Ashley Landis/AP Photo

DRIVING THE DAY: It’s not just L.A. that’s having a hot labor summer. Members of SEIU-UHW have been picketing in front of dozens of Kaiser Permanente facilities across the state this week, asking the health care giant to address short staffing issues ahead of contract negotiations this fall.

And today, members of SAG-AFTRA are taking to the front steps of the Capitol in Sacramento to call for a fair contract with producers while strikes continue to gum up operations in Hollywood.

THE BUZZ: The final leg of Taylor Swift’s record-setting U.S. tour kicks off this weekend in California. If we’ve learned anything, it’s that the pop icon wields a formidable amount of economic power not to mention cultural clout

She also, as it turns out, wields considerable political influence.

It was clear from January’s Senate hearing on ticket prices that lawmakers are not above shoe-horning a lyrical pun into their testimony to get the attention of musically inclined constituents. But we’ve learned from a fellow Californian that congressional affection for Ms. Swift goes further than just perfunctory pandering.

Shaadi Ahmadzadeh, a 20-year-old University of California, Berkeley data science student, has spent two years tracking down the favorite Swift songs of members of Congress. Turns out it’s a rich vein to mine.

To help her, Ahmadzadeh has enlisted like-minded young politicos from Capitol Hill, the White House and advocacy groups to join in on the project.

Their meticulously kept spreadsheet includes the names of all 535 lawmakers and a growing list of their favorite Swift songs, along with notes and personal commentary. She's gathered 37 responses so far, but is hoping to get enough for a robust statistical analysis.

To collect the data, Ahmadzadeh and her fellow government Swifties have called lawmakers’ offices, emailed staffers, conferred with interns, tweeted at the members directly, or, if the situation allowed, walked right up to them.

That’s how she learned second gentleman Doug Emhoff’s favorite TSwift bop is “Welcome to New York,” though he’s apparently also fond of her latest album, “Midnights.” Ahmadzadeh, who is studying public policy and has worked with youth political groups, approached Emhoff with the question at the White House Eid event, and snapped a selfie for good measure.

She did the same thing for Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, who said she had “a lot” of favorite Swift songs.

Ahmadzadeh queried Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern at a roundtable with young activists. He didn’t answer the question, she said, but pulled out his phone to show them his ringtone — Travis Scott’s “Sicko Mode.” (His office confirms.).

Ahmadzadeh is not shy about it, said her friend Marianna Pecora, a 19-year-old rising sophomore at George Washington University and an intern at the Center for American Progress and the House Democratic Women’s Caucus.

“Shaadi, in the best way possible, is absolutely shameless about this,” Pecora said. “She’ll ask the Swiftie question in any circumstance.”

Pecora took a chance at asking Texas Rep. Dan Crenshaw during the congressional soccer match earlier this summer. The former Navy SEAL laughed, and told her it was “Love Story.” He also gave her a high-five before jogging back onto the field.

Crenshaw, by the way, shares a favorite with California Rep. Robert Garcia, though the two are politically far apart.

There’s something humanizing about openly loving Swift, Ahmadzadeh said. Especially in such divisive times, music can bind people together like, to borrow a song title — an invisible string.

“Some of them might be really vile, evil human beings who just want to watch the world burn,” she said of lawmakers. “But at the end of the day, we’re all people, and everyone likes Taylor Swift.”

The feeling has not always been mutual.

After staying neutral for much of her career, Swift in recent years has become politically vocal. She’s spoken openly about support for LGBTQ rights and gun control. A single Instagram post once sent voter registration rates skyrocketing among young people. In 2018, she encouraged Tennessee fans to elect a Democrat instead of Republican Sen. Marsha Blackburn, who won anyway. In 2020, she endorsed Joe Biden in the presidential election.

And if there’s any remaining ambiguity about how Swift views the government, it might help to draw from her “Anti-Hero” lyrics.

“Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism, like some kind of congressman.”

 

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ELDER WATCH: Who’s qualified for the GOP debate next month — and who might be watching from home? Our POLITICO colleagues sifted through the party rules, and are closely tracking the eligibility of presidential hopefuls, including California’s own Larry Elder. Check it out here.

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FRESH INK

GOOD OHMAN — Jack Ohman, the Pulitzer-winning cartoonist and former deputy opinion editor of The Sacramento Bee, is in talks with a documentarian for a possible project about his career and the broader state of editorial cartooning, Playbook has learned.

Jerry Risius, director and cinematographer behind the 2021 movie “Storm Lake,” about the Pulitzer–winning journalist Art Cullen and his family’s quest to inform their farming community in Iowa, said he’s in early discussions with Ohman after the two were connected by Cullen.

Risius, a self-described “news junkie,” said he was struck by the news earlier this month when McClatchy fired Ohman and two more prize-winning cartoonists on a single day. It’s not a done deal by any stretch. Risius said he’s currently focused on researching as well as funding the nascent Ohman project, adding, “we’re going to continue down that road of discovery.”

Ohman, whose memorable cartoons of Govs. Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown (not to mention Brown’s beloved corgi Sutter,) has a devoted following around the California Capitol and beyond. Within hours of his departure from The Bee, we heard from several high-ranking officials and their top aides across the state bemoaning the loss. But the potential documentary isn’t the only thing keeping Jack busy.

On Wednesday, the radio and TV host Michael Smerconish announced he's bringing in Ohman to work on his daily newsletter. “It was a very generous offer, and I really like this guy a lot,” Ohman said. “He’s a really smart, sensible dude. so I’m happy to be aligned with him.”

Ohman, president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, also told us he’s working on a graphic memoir about the moon landing for the literary agency Writer’s House that they’ll pitch this fall. “I’m coming in for landing on it,” Ohman said of the book.

More irons are in the fire, so stay tuned …

— Christopher Cadelago

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) speaks alongside other House Democrats and abortion-rights advocates during a press event marking the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision in the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Caucus Room on Capitol Hill June 23, 2023. (Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images)

Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.) speaks alongside other House Democrats and abortion-rights advocates during a press event marking the one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision in the Speaker Nancy Pelosi Caucus Room on Capitol Hill June 23, 2023. | Francis Chung/POLITICO via AP Images

FIRST IN PLAYBOOK: DEAN IN WAITING — Rep. Pete Aguilar is launching a major fundraising committee today in a clear sign of his future leadership ambitions, even if he isn’t quite stepping into the shoes of the speaker emerita.

Aguilar said his California House Majority Fund will raise money to help the Democratic Party attempt to flip five GOP-held districts that voted for President Joe Biden in 2020. He bullishly boasts that the “path to a Democratic House majority goes through California,” noting the party needs to net just five seats to retake power.

As the third-ranking House Democrat, Aguilar has swiftly climbed the ranks since his election to the House nine years ago. Many see him as the next dean of California's Democratic delegation, particularly as Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi may be eyeing the exit.

Pelosi has been the Democrats’ top congressional fundraiser for a generation. While she hasn’t said whether she’ll seek another term, Aguilar has positioned himself to take the fundraising baton, though he’s treading lightly. In an interview with POLITICO’s Jonathan Martin earlier this year, he effused praise for Pelosi, saying, “I benefited from learning from her, spending time with her, watching her build relationships.”

Aguilar has, so far, endorsed two rematch candidates: Rudy Salas, challenging Rep. David Valadao in CA-22; and Will Rollins, who’s running against Rep. Ken Calvert in CA-41.

 

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WHAT WE'RE READING TODAY

“Shasta supervisors declare county a 2nd Amendment fortress in ‘war on guns’,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Jessica Garrison: “After gaining national attention for dumping Dominion Voting Systems and becoming the largest entity in the United States to resort to hand-counting ballots, the Shasta County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday waded into another issue roiling right-wing America: an unwavering defense of gun rights.”

“L.A. County Sheriff’s Department accused of excessive force as newly released video shows man yelling ‘you’re gonna kill me’ during arrest,” by CNN’s Cheri Mossburg and Taylor Romine: “Newly released video shows a Southern California man yelling, ‘you’re gonna kill me’ during his violent arrest by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputy in February.”

“Gang tied to killing of two El Monte police officers is swept up on federal charges,” by the Los Angeles Times’ Richard Winton: “The cases stem from the killing of two El Monte police officers last June during a confrontation at a motel with a member of the gang.”

 

STEP INSIDE THE WEST WING: What's really happening in West Wing offices? Find out who's up, who's down, and who really has the president’s ear in our West Wing Playbook newsletter, the insider's guide to the Biden White House and Cabinet. For buzzy nuggets and details that you won't find anywhere else, subscribe today.

 
 
Playbookers

Legislative Director Michele Perrault dumps a bucket of ice water on H.D. Palmer, deputy director for external affairs at the Department of Finance, outside the California Capitol on July 26, 2023.

Legislative Director Michele Perrault dumps a bucket of ice water on H.D. Palmer, deputy director for external affairs at the Department of Finance, outside the California Capitol on July 26, 2023. | Rachel Bluth/POLITICO

SPOTTED: DEPARTMENT OF FUN-ANCE — The California government’s top number crunchers gathered on the Capitol lawns Wednesday to punish their superiors in the name of friendship and frivolity.

As part of a fundraiser for their holiday party, Department of Finance employees took turns dumping buckets of ice water on 10 department heads — all in all raising more than $2,200. The DOF also holds an annual holiday drive to give gifts to individuals served by the Department of Child, Family & Adult Services.

Some dunkees wore swimsuits. Others wore polos. But H.D. Palmer, the DOF’s longtime spokesman, paired his suspenders and cufflinks with some practical flip flops.

“What, you’ve never seen a wet Jos. A. Bank shirt contest before?” he said.

BIRTHDAYS — Berin Szóka … Saumitra Thakur … Jacquelyn Burke

WAS WEDNESDAY: Barry Munitz

 

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