One anecdote does well to illustrate the apparent association between donating to Newsom and succeeding in California.

Centene Corporation CEO Michael Neidorff and his wife donated $116,800 to Newsom’s debut 2018 gubernatorial bid. Shortly after Newsom won his election and took office in 2019, California began paying out massive sums of money to Health Net, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Centene Corporation, as part of the state’s health benefit exchange program. Between 2019 and 2020, the state paid roughly $24.6 million to Neidorff’s company.

Centene and the Neidorffs’ contributions didn’t stop in 2019, nor did their business relationship with the state of California. Neidorff and his wife donated an additional $124,000 to Newsom’s 2022 reelection campaign while Centene itself gave Newsom $32,400.

“They’re trying to protect their market share,” Gerald Kominski, then a senior fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles Center for Health Policy Research, told KFF Health News in 2022 as it reported on some of Centene’s donations from that year. “They see it as necessary to maintain good relations with the agencies and with the individuals who are involved in decision-making because that’s the way government works.”

At the time of Kominski’s observation, it was unclear if Centene would continue to receive contracts from the state of California, as it was embroiled in a well-publicized overbilling scandal. Centene’s subsidiary, ultimately, continued to win state health insurance contracts after the 2022 donations, corporate press releases show.

Other contractors that cut checks to Newsom, either directly or through executives, and were provided with state contracts included Thomas Safran & Associates, which received well over $100 million in housing grants, tax-exempt bonds, and tax credits from the state after it gave roughly $140,000 to Newsom; Sierra Pacific Industries, which the state awarded over $9 million in forest management and fire protection contracts after it contributed over $100,000 to the governor; Reach Air Medical Services, which raked in roughly $15.5 million in emergency response contracts then donated $62,000 to Newsom’s reelection campaign; and Sunrun Incorporated, which secured nearly $3 million in contracts after giving $50,000 to the governor. 

Thomas Safran & Associates was implicated in a previous pay-for-play scheme involving the Los Angeles City Council.

The California Governor’s Office disputes Kominski’s characterization of contractor donations as a vector for political influence.

“This is categorically false and irresponsible,” Newsom spokesman Izzy Gardon told the Washington Examiner. “In California, state funds and contracts are awarded through transparent, competitive, and legally defined processes — often through independent grant administrators — not because of political contributions or personal influence. Any suggestion otherwise is not just wrong, it’s outrageous and a deliberate distortion of the truth.”

While the California Governor’s Office commented on contracts, it declined to comment on tax credits, favorable legislation, or state appointments that were conferred following donations to Newson’s political committees. 

Newsom, for instance, appointed civic leader Janet Reilly to the board of the University of California system in 2019 after she donated $30,200 to his 2018 campaign. In a similar chain of events, Newsom appointed another woman, this time philanthropist Anna Ortiz-Morfit, to the California State University board of trustees in 2020 following a $58,400 contribution she made to his 2018 campaign. 

As it relates to tax credits, Pacific Steel Group CEO Eric Benson donated $45,000 to Newsom’s national super PAC in December 2023, and just months later, the state approved a $30 million tax credit for the firm to construct a solar-powered steel mill. AES Clean Energy, similarly, donated $50,000 to Newsom in 2022 and was awarded $6 million in state tax credits in 2024.

The governor, showered with donations from big-time individuals in the entertainment industry and American Indian tribes, also has a well-reported history of taking actions favorable to both groups, including his recent move to more than double his state’s film tax credit to $750 million.

Newsom has recently dominated the news cycle following his high-profile clashes with President Donald Trump. While some among Democrats cast him as the party’s national leader and a natural choice for their 2028 nominee, conservative critics point to his past controversies, including other pay-for-play stories.  

“Governor Newsom has a pattern of cashing in on his position and influence for personal benefit,” Americans for Public Trust executive director Caitlin Sutherland told the Washington Examiner. “It’s hardly surprising that this pattern extends to his wealthy megadonors as well. Californians, and all Americans, deserve a leader who will engage in good public policy instead of one who benefits their donors.”

Campaign for Democracy, Newsom’s super PAC, has roughly $4 million in cash on hand and is seen by some as a way the governor can fundraise for a presidential run without explicitly putting his hat in the ring. The Washington Examiner’s analysis of campaign finance records included donations to Campaign for Democracy, Newsom’s gubernatorial committees, and the committees that opposed recall efforts targeting the governor.

GOP DONORS COULD WIN BILLIONS AFTER TRUMP DISMANTLED KEY PUERTO RICO OVERSIGHT BOARD

When contacted for comment, the California GOP tied Newsom’s apparently mutually beneficial relationship with donors to another national story: the mid-decade redistricting battles.

“California voters created the Citizens Redistricting Commission to stop backroom deals and restore public trust,” California Republican Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin told the Washington Examiner. “Yet time and again, we see Sacramento operate like a pay-to-play club where big donors get appointments and favors. Proposition 50 would lock that same culture into our election maps, giving politicians the power to protect themselves and their allies instead of voters. Defeating Prop 50 is the only way to keep maps fair, transparent, and accountable to the people, not the well-connected.”

Proposition 50 is a special election ballot measure scheduled for a November vote that, if passed, would replace California’s current independent congressional district map with a new map drawn by the Democrat-controlled legislature.