Lexi Reese, a former tech govt and documentary filmmaker, has filed paperwork to run for the open U.S. Senate seat in California.
A San Mateo County resident, Reese is a former Google and American Categorical govt and the previous chief working officer for Gusto, an HR firm for small companies. She introduced her exploratory committee for the seat on Thursday, saying an official announcement a few choice is forthcoming.
“Right now’s financial system isn’t working,” Reese mentioned. “Californians are exhausted and stretched skinny. They’re working more durable and greater than ever, however the whole lot prices an excessive amount of. Now we have extra folks working than any time in our lives, but people are battling extra widespread monetary fragility and earnings inequality that places the American Dream out of attain, particularly for ladies and other people of coloration.”
If she enters the race, Reese will be a part of three well-known Democrats vying to switch retiring Sen. Dianne Feinstein: Reps. Barbara Lee of Oakland, Katie Porter of Irvine and Adam Schiff of Burbank.
Current polling by Emerson Faculty/Inside California Politics reveals Schiff (15%) and Porter (14%) primarily sharing the lead, however with many extra voters (47%) nonetheless undecided.
Reese, in her work at Gusto, helped small companies acquire PPP funding in the course of the pandemic, in keeping with a 2020 Forbes profile.
She has labored in documentary filmmaking (in Nicaragua, her work highlighted the plight of ladies who labored in prostitution to assist their households financially) and within the Manhattan District Lawyer’s intercourse crimes unit. She studied social entrepreneurship on the Harvard Enterprise College, in keeping with Forbes.
Reese has contributed small quantities to Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 White Home bid, President Joe Biden in 2020 and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke’s 2022 gubernatorial effort.
Politico, which first reported Reese’s curiosity within the race, mentioned she plans to pitch herself as a “totally different sort of chief.”
In her announcement of the exploratory committee, Reese cited a Gallup survey that discovered solely 20% of these surveyed mentioned they permitted of how Congress operates. Pointing to earnings inequality and monetary hardships, Reese mentioned: “The failure to adequately deal with these challenges is why so few folks place confidence in how Congress is doing its job, and it’s why California wants a unique sort of chief representing us within the U.S. Senate.”
“Our nice state is at a tipping level, and I consider we’d like leaders with a unique perspective to get us heading in the right direction,” mentioned Reese. “Within the coming weeks, I will probably be conferring with household and mates about taking this step, and hope to have a closing announcement to share with Californians quickly.”
Feinstein, 89, will not be working for reelection in 2024. She’s grappled this yr with problems from a shingles prognosis, however her workplace maintains she plans to complete out her time period, which ends on Jan. 3, 2025.
Eric Early, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran for legal professional common in 2018 and 2022, in addition to for Congress in 2020, is vying for the seat. Former Dodgers star Steve Garvey can also be mulling a bid as a Republican, an advisor confirmed earlier this month.
