Raised in Orange County before he earned a fortune on Wall Street, Joseph Sanberg had been mulling a governor’s run. | Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Jefferson Awards Foundation New primary challenger to Feinstein emerges

SAN FRANCISCO — Add another name to the list of progressive Democrats seriously considering a primary challenge to California’s senior Senator Dianne Feinstein: wealthy financial entrepreneur Joseph N. Sanberg.

Sanberg, 38 — co-founder of Aspiration.com, a socially-conscious investment firm, and a founding investor in Blue Apron, the home delivery meal service — has burnished his progressive credentials in recent years by successfully lobbying for the creation of CalEITC4Me, the earned income tax credit program which he’s advocated as a means of delivering economic relief to low-income families. His work has earned praise from Gov. Jerry Brown’s right hand, Nancy McFadden, who called him “the spark” of a major economic effort.


Raised in Orange County by a single mom before he earned a fortune on Wall Street, Sanberg had been mulling a governor’s run, sources familiar with his planning told POLITICO, and he delivered a speech to the last state Democratic convention that appeared to lay out a rationale for that race.

But that contest has become crowded with well-known Democrats like Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Treasurer John Chiang, all already heavily financed — and the door to that race appears to be closing.

Now, sources close to Sanberg say he is being strongly encouraged to make a play for the Senate — and take Feinstein on from the left. POLITICO reported this week that State Senate Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, 50, is also being pushed by some progressives to mount a challenge to Feinstein, should she seek a fifth full term in 2018.

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This week, Sanberg launched a new statewide ad — and a website — to introduce himself to voters and to underscore his themes of pushing policies for working class. Sanberg's team — in a move that appears to mirror a campaign start-up — announced the statewide digital media buy starts Thursday and that the spot is available in four languages: English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Vietnamese.

There are other signs that he’s gearing up for a Senate run: Sanberg has hired on two powerhouse Democrat consultants. They are Laura Capps, the daughter of former Rep. Lois Capps, and Rebecca Katz, whose past resume includes serving as Special Advisor to New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, running Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid’s war room, and assisting with White House communications strategy for Judge Sonia Sotomayor’s confirmation.

Several Democrats who’ve long known Sanberg and his work insist he’d be an attractive progressive candidate for office with a passion for issues and knowledge of the concerns of working class Democrats.

Among them is Rep. Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat who has known Sanberg for decades and was a classmate at Harvard. He says Sanberg “was a progressive leader from Day 1 — pushing progressive values and issues’’ on campus.

Gallego says both he and Sanberg were the product of working class families, and that Sanberg — who was then president of the college Democrats — “actually recruited me" into the party. “He convinced me to get more involved in politics, and has been a good guiding post for me since then,'' he said.

The Arizona congressman says Sanberg's political talents were on display at this year's Netroots Nation convention, where he said Sanberg talked about the impact of California's earned income tax credit program, which Sanberg has said in its first two years has put over $2 billion in state and federal tax credits "back in the pockets of the lowest-income Californians."

Gallego said the California businessman fired up progressives with a message “about making working families stronger.”

“He’s a thought leader,’’ Gallego said, adding that Sanberg understands “the scope of who we need to be attracting to the Democratic party,’’ working people who are facing concerns about the economy and their jobs. He said Sanberg’s work on California’s EITC program proves it has been “a really good model for the rest of the country.”

Asked specifically about a race against Feinstein, Gallego said: “It’s up to him where he wants to go in the future.’’ But he added: “He’s done everything right in terms of doing the service for the people of California.’’



This article tagged under: Dianne Feinstein

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