A political action committee funded by billionaire George Soros that has pumped hundreds of thousands of dollars into the campaign of Genevieve Jones-Wright for district attorney canceled all of its planned television advertising Wednesday for the candidate, just six days before voters go to the polls.

The move by the California Justice & Public Safety PAC, confirmed by two local television station managers, is a blow to the Jones-Wright campaign in the run-up to election day. The PAC had been running saturation-level television advertisements for the past several weeks over county airwaves.

The commercials were polished, biographical ads designed to introduce Jones-Wright to voters in the county and crucially raise her name recognition as she competes against the current officeholder, District Attorney Summer Stephan.

Jones-Wright, a deputy public defender who is running on a platform calling for reforms in the criminal justice system, was one of four DA races that the PAC had thrown its support behind in California. On May 3, Soros contributed $1.5 million to the PAC, which is backing candidates in Sacramento, Alameda and Contra Costa counties as well.


The PAC immediately spent more than $400,000 on advertising and mailers supporting Jones-Wright, and more has been deployed for her campaign in the succeeding weeks. The most recent campaign disclosure report filed with the secretary of state showed the PAC had spent $848,853.50 in support of her campaign through May 19 — the largest sum of any of the four candidates the PAC was backing.

On Wednesday a spokesman for California Justice & Public Safety PAC declined several requests to comment on the ad cancellations. On Thursday the PAC issued this statement:

“We booked TV spots in advance and booked more than we needed. Our field campaign continues. Our decision to cancel the excess spots does not reflect on the candidate or the value in supporting her. Our goal was to introduce the candidate to the voters and we have done that. It’s now up to the voters to decide who they will support.”

It’s unclear what caused the PAC to cancel its ad buys. A spokesman for the group — which under campaign finance laws has to act independently and can’t coordinate with the campaign it is supporting — declined repeated requests to comment Wednesday.


But political insiders say the move could show the PAC concluded the massive campaign has failed to boost Jones-Wright enough, and has decided to deploy its money elsewhere.

Joel Davis, vice president and general manager of 10News television, said a representative of the PAC told the station Tuesday it was canceling the remainder of its advertising buys, totaling $106,000 with the station, and across the city.

“They did not give us a reason for it,” Davis said. “They told us it was a market-wide decision to pull the advertising dollars.”

Christopher Dolan, vice president of sales at NBC 7, also said in an email that the campaign had canceled its advertising with his station on Tuesday.


The large infusion of money from Soros had stirred up the race, with Stephan’s campaign attacking the support and characterizing Soros as a dangerous out-of state billionaire willing to use his considerable wealth to “buy” the DA seat and advance what she called an “anti-prosecutor” criminal justice reform agenda.

Jones-Wright initially welcomed the support, saying on May 7 the PAC money would “help level the playing field in a race that was rigged by my opponent from the beginning.” On Wednesday her campaign spokeswoman Eva Posner downplayed the impact of the advertising pullout.

“The existence of PACs and IEs (Independent Expenditure committees) in this race has never and will never change the fabric of our campaign,” she wrote in a text message. “We have been consistent in message and strategy from day one. This is a People Powered campaign focused on voter communication fueled by volunteers and small dollar donations, and we could not be more proud of all the support we have gotten.”

Stephan’s campaign consultant Jason Roe said he had also confirmed that the ads were pulled. “I have to assume Soros has realized that San Diego has no interest in an unqualified candidate holding the top law enforcement job in the county,” he said in an email.


Stephan was appointed by the county Board of Supervisors in June to fill out the remainder of Dumanis’ term after she announced she was stepping down to run for a seat on the board. She has raised more money than Jones-Wright and, while not matching Soros’ bankroll, has also enjoyed substantial support from PACs representing law enforcement labor unions, the Chamber of Commerce and Lincoln Club, which combined have assembled a war chest of approximately $700,000, records show.

A poll conducted May 9 to May 14 for The San Diego Union-Tribune and 10News showed Jones-Wright trailing her opponent, appointed District Attorney Summer Stephan, by 13 points, 35 percent to 22 percent. The poll showed that 43 percent of voters were undecided.

San Diego political consultant John Dadian said with no statement from the PAC it was impossible to know precisely why they pulled down the ads. But he said it’s not an encouraging sign for Jones-Wright.

“The only thing I can possibly think of is they had some indicator or polling showing that their candidate they are supporting doesn’t stand a chance, so why waste the money,” he said.


Twitter: @gregmoran


greg.moran@sduniontribune.com

UPDATES:

1:13 p.m.: This article was updated with a statement from California Justice & Public Safety PAC.

This article was originally published May 30 at 5:00 p.m.