Who in Real Estate is Supporting Larry Elder in California’s Recall Election
Real estate developers, investors, and brokers contributed $ 513,000 to Larry Elder’s campaign to oust Governor Gavin Newsom (Getty).
Just two weeks before California’s re-election, radio host Larry Elder, who emerged as the front runner among the 46 challengers, managed to attract a sizeable amount of money from prominent real estate developers.
Real estate developers, investors, brokers, and others related to the industry have until the end of August, according to a Real Deal analysis of the California Secretary of State’s filing for contributions.
In total, Elder has received just over 700 donations from approximately 600 people who have indicated that they are employed in the real estate industry.
Contributions to Elder are dwarfed by the $ 4.8 million real estate companies contributed to a committee in support of Governor Newsom.
Newsom has received financial support from the California Association of Realtors and the California Building Industry Association, as well as a number of prominent property developers, including Barry Lang, William Witte of Related California, and Caleb Roope of Pacific Companies.
Still, for a candidate with few real estate connections, Elder won the support of real estate agents who plan to get the governor out on September 14th.
Elder has spoken out loud about the housing crisis in California and the need to abolish regulations to help property developers across the state build low-income homes.
“I’ve talked to a lot of developers and a lot of them are totally demoralized, disaffected, and a lot of them are building outside of California for that very reason [the California Environmental Quality Act]“Elder said in an interview earlier this month.
If he wins the recall election, Elder has proposed suspending CEQA so developers can build on government land, building on a plan by former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti.
“We need to build affordable housing so they can go anywhere,” Elder said at an event in Mission Valley earlier this month. “We can’t tolerate what’s going on, people pitching tents and sleeping on sidewalks.”
Other callback candidates, including real estate multimillionaire John Cox and former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, have also received real estate donations.
First time donors
Many of the real estate players who donated to Elder’s recall did not contribute to other recall candidates or committees supporting the recall.
Theory Properties’ Gary and Catherine Daichendt donated a total of $ 64,800 to Elder’s campaign. The Scottsdale-based investment firm owns the 90,000-square-foot Pierside Pavilion retail and restaurant development in Huntington Beach and property in Rancho Santa Margarita. Neither of them have previously donated to a recall.
Elder also received $ 10,000 from Jeffrey Karsh, a partner in Los Angeles-based investment firm Tryperion Partners, which invests in US office, industrial, multi-family, hospitality and retail real estate
Colton Sudberry, president of San Diego-based Sudberry Properties, donated $ 5,000 to Elder’s campaign, as did Scott Kepner, a partner at San Francisco-based Village Investment Partners.
Palmer returns
One of Elder’s top real estate donors is also one of the recall’s largest funders.
Geoff Palmer, President of Beverly Hills-based GH Palmer Associates and a generous supporter of former President Donald Trump, donated $ 1 million to a committee for Larry Elder and $ 32,400 to Elder’s own 2021 campaign.
In total, Palmer has donated over $ 400,000 to campaigns in support of the recall and $ 32,400 to recall candidate Kevin Faulconer.
The industry still wants Newsom
Although Elder has emerged as a potential loser, the real estate industry still largely supports Governor Newsom.
Since July, the governor has received hundreds of thousands of dollars more in contributions from real estate companies across the state.
Barry Lang, a founding partner of Covington Group, which develops industrial and commercial real estate in the United States, donated $ 250,000 to a committee in support of Newsom.
The committee also received $ 150,000 from Clinton Reilly Homes, the owner of San Francisco-based Clint Reilly who owns a number of commercial properties in the city, and $ 50,000 from William Witte of Related California. Related California is developing a 9 million square foot mixed-use residential area in Santa Clara, expected to open in 2023.
It’s not just commercial properties that support Newsom. Joyce Rey, a prominent broker for Coldwell Banker in Beverly Hills, donated $ 5,000 to the same committee.
Contact Isabella Farr