Kate Wolfee
November 9, 2026
In April, Ada Briceño felt confident she’d win one of the top two spots in the Assembly District 67 primary race to represent parts of Orange and L.A. counties. The labor leader and former hotel worker had endorsements from the California Democratic Party, the Working Families Party and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. Internal polling showed she was solidly ahead of her closest Democratic competitor, Cerritos city councilmember Mark Pulido.
Then the money started flowing.
Between April 9 and the June 2 primary, special interests groups spent $9.2 million attacking Briceño and raising Pulido’s profile, with the majority coming from Airbnb, Meta, Google and cryptocurrency billionaire Chris Larsen. Pulido’s campaign spent another $600,000. Two regional cardrooms spent $500,000 to support Briceño, but her campaign couldn’t compete.