Harris’s Senate Seat Up in Air With Top Pick Ensnared in Ad Feud
- Alex Padilla hired Biden-linked firm to teach voter safety
- State controller says money was to go to local officials
This article is for subscribers only.
California Secretary of State Alex Padilla’s bid to replace Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in the U.S. Senate may be complicated by $34 million in unpaid bills for a contract his office arranged to provide voter education before the November election.
The state controller, Betty Yee, has refused to pay the contract between Padilla’s office and Washington strategic communications firm, SKDKnickerbocker, to produce ads and conduct other outreach instructing Californians how to vote safely amid the coronavirus pandemic. Yee says Padilla didn’t have the authority to spend the money.
Padilla is considered a frontrunner to fill Harris’s seat in the Senate when she is sworn in as vice president next month. Padilla and Yee are both Democrats.