Billionaire mall mogul Rick Caruso cut Xavier Becerra’s campaign a check, making a quick switch after his candidate of choice for California governor, Matt Mahan, didn’t make it past the June primary.
Caruso donated $39,200 to Becerra on June 30. He could dole out more, but so far that’s much less than the almost $2 million he gave to Mahan and committees supporting him. Caruso isn’t the only Los Angeles real estate player to shift donations to Becerra, who was a longtime member of the U.S. House of Representative from Los Angeles before serving as California Attorney General and then U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services in the Biden Administration.
Jeff Worthe, founder of Worthe Real Estate Group, donated the same amount in the wake of the primary. Worthe previously contributed to former U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell’s campaign before it ended in a scandal of alleged sexual misconduct that led to his departure from the governor’s race and resignation from Congress.
Kilroy Realty gave Becerra $39,200, too. Angela Aman, CEO of the REIT, previously donated $10,000 to Mahan’s campaign.
Representatives for Caruso declined to comment. Representatives of Worthe and Kilroy did not immediately respond.
Becerra’s total real estate money post-primary amounts to over half a million dollars, based on a review of campaign finance data from the California Secretary of State.
There seems to be capacity for more. Mahan counted a significantly longer roster of real estate executives and companies as backers, including Victor Coleman’s Hudson Pacific Properties, Douglas Emmett’s Jordan Kaplan, Eastdil’s D. Michael Van Konynenburg, Related’s Bill Witte and more.
Other California real estate related donations to Becerra since the primary include $39,200 from Thomas Coates of Jackson Square Properties — plus an additional $39,200 from Coates’ wife — and $5,000 from Thomas Safran of Thomas Safran & Associates.
Becerra previously pulled in about $3 million from the California Association of Realtors. He’s also drawn backing from the labor side of the industry, with a combined $59,200 from the L.A. County Building and Construction Trades Council PAC and the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California PAC.
Former Fox News contributor Steve Hilton, who Becerra will face in the November runoff, received less real estate money post June primary, although he had the backing of Geoff Palmer, billionaire apartment developer, and more leading up to it. Since coming in second, he’s pulled in $94,200 from the industry including $39,200 from Steven Eggert, founder of Sacramento-based developer Anton DevCo.
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