California Dem Says Michael Bloomberg's $4.3M Support Will Raise Climate Change Awareness
*By Christian Smith*
With less than two weeks until election day, a California Democrat, Harley Rouda, has gotten a $4.3 million boost from Michael Bloomberg in his bid to take down 30-year incumbent Republican Congressman Rohrabacher.
Bloomberg's Independence USA PAC disclosed the spending last week, which went to advertising targeting the Republican. Rouda said Bloomberg's ad campaign will help bring the issue of climate change to the forefront of voters' minds in the coastal Orange County district.
"We're thrilled to have Bloomberg's support, and more importantly calling attention to that really important issue of climate change, which my opponent Dana Rohrabacher basically calls junk science," Rouda said Monday in an interview on Cheddar.
"It's certainly going to boost voters' awareness of Rohrabacher's atrocious record in addressing climate change, and more importantly the fact that he's been in the pocket of special interest groups like big oil and big gas," he added.
The U.S. House race is now dead-even in California's 48th District, went for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election. Orange County is a key target for the Democratic Party, which used to be a stronghold for the Reagan-era Republican party, but has trended blue in recent years.
The race became the most expensive in the country after billionaire Michael Bloomberg's infusion of ad spending. More than $18.2 million has been spent on the race in total.
Recent polls have the race as a tie. The latest Monmouth University poll puts Rep. Rohrabacher ahead of Rouda 50 to 48 percent, which is within the margin of error, and a recent New York Times poll has the two at an even 45-45 split with 10 percent of respondents saying they are undecided.
With the race a virtual tie just a week from election day, Rouda said his team of volunteers will be key to winning the race.
"What's going to get us over the finish line is what got us to where we are now and that is our incredible volunteers," Rouda said. "We have almost 5,000 volunteers now and they're knocking on doors and making phone calls because they want real change."
For full interview [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/californias-48th-district-becomes-most-expensive-house-race-in-u-s).
Award-winning journalist, entrepreneur, and host Soledad O'Brien spoke to Cheddar about empowering women through her own podcast on financial literacy this Women's History Month.
Six House lawmakers are calling on Meta to stop paid ads from Chinese news companies that push Russian misinformation regarding the war in Ukraine. Matt Skibinski, General Manager, NewsGuard Technologies joins Cheddar to discuss the role of social media in this war.
Reva Shakkottai, Senior Vice President and financial advisor at RBC Wealth Management, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where she elaborates on factors besides Wednesday's Fed decision that led to gains across the major indexes on Thursday, including new home construction and jobless claims data.
Art Hogan, Chief Market Strategist at National Securities, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he breaks down Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech following the U.S. central bank's decision to raise rates and explains why Powell's comments move the markets more than the Fed decision itself.
Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif. 29th District) joined Cheddar News at South By Southwest to discuss the variety of sanctions that the United States has placed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine began last month and the impacts they are having both domestically and abroad. With rising gas prices, especially in states like California, Schiff noted that the American people are willing to make sacrifices in order to uphold their values and suggested that crisis may be a warning to shift away from fossil fuels. "At the end of the day though, this ought to be a wake up call that we need to stop our reliance on this oil economy and move to renewable sources of energy," he said. Schiff also explained his remarks about the January 6 commission investigating those closest to former President Trump and touched on a disturbing case in San Francisco where the police department used rape kit samples to ID a murder suspect.
Markets opened lower as the Federal Reserve announces plans to hike interest rates by a quarter point, while signaling six additional rate hikes later this year. Gary Schlossberg, Global Strategist, Wells Fargo Investment Institute, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss.
Apple's Racial Equity and Justice Initiative is a $100 million program aimed at combating systemic racism while working to advance racial equity across the country. Alisha Johnson, director of the initiative, joined Cheddar at SXSW to discuss the work being done. "We focused on three critical areas. The first is education. The second is criminal justice reform, and the third is economic empowerment, really looking first in our own supply chain, how can we really increase our spend with Latinx, Hispanic, and indigenous-owned businesses," she said. "And then how can we go further to empower entrepreneurs who have been cut out of access to funding and capital and really help them to get the funding."
What you Need to Know on Thursday, March 17. Updates from Ukraine, President Biden refers to Putin as a ‘war criminal’ for the first time, Walmart has ambitious hiring targets for Q1, and Netflix takes steps to crack down on password sharing.
