The race is heating up to decide who will replace outgoing Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva in the California State Assembly’s 67th District, with over $6 million spent by the candidates and a host of unions, tech companies and other special interests spending millions in the race via political action committees. 

Whoever wins the race will take over a district stretching from Cerritos to Anaheim, covering Orange County cities including Buena Park, Cypress, La Palma and parts of Fullerton along with Artesia and Hawaiian Gardens in LA County. 

Most of that spending has focused on two candidates – Cerritos City Councilman Mark Pulido and Ada Briceño, the former head of the OC Democratic Party and co-president of the Unite Here Local 11 worker’s union. 

A majority of the spending has been political advertising supporting Pulido’s campaign, while some of it has been used to attack Briceño. 

While Briceño’s secured endorsements from both the OC and LA Democratic Parties, as well as the California Democratic Party, she’s been the biggest target for attack ads in the race by a series of committees funded by large businesses including Meta, AirBnB, In-N-Out and others.

“They’re obviously trying to buy our seat,” Briceño said in a Wednesday interview. “This is an assault on the residents of the 67th.” 

Pulido did not respond to requests for comment.  

Who’s Benefitting from the Special Interest Spending? 

Most of that money has gone to support Pulido, who’s benefited from over $3.8 million in advertisements paid for by a series of political action committees. 

The biggest spending came from a committee dubbed Grow California, which is primarily funded by two people – Christian Larsen, executive chairman of tech company Ripple, and Timothy Draper, founding and managing partner of venture capital firm Draper Associates.  

Their political action committee disclosed over $1.6 million in spending to support Pulido’s campaign, including television ads, research and consulting. 

The second largest spending came from the California Leads committee, which disclosed over $1.2 million in support for Pulido, with most of its funding coming from tech companies Google and Meta, the company behind Facebook. 

Another committee named Citizens for An Affordable California Supporting Mark Pulido for Assembly spent another $642,000 supporting Pulido, with nearly all of its funding coming from AirBnB, along with a small donation from Laborers International Union of North America. 

Another political action committee called Working Families and Small Businesses for Mark Pulido spent over $375,000 advertising Pulido, with most of its funding coming from two other committees. 

Those political action committees are the CA Hotel and Lodging Association and the CA Alliance of Family Owned Businesses, two industry groups that advocate for hotels and large chain restaurants respectively. 

Pulido’s own campaign account has spent over $436,000 since the start of last year, with around $110,000 still in the bank as of April 18, the most recent disclosure date. 

Special Interests Target Union Leader with Negative Ads

Spending didn’t stop at positive ads for Pulido. 

The hotel and chain restaurants groups also donated to a committee called Working Families and Small Businesses Against Briceño, alongside another committee dubbed Californians for Jobs and a Strong Economy. 

The Californians for Jobs and a Strong Economy committee also disclosed receiving money from groups including the Hotel and Lodging Association and restaurants like In-N-Out. 

The Working Families and Small Businesses Against Briceño committee disclosed having spent over $217,000 against Briceño. 

Another political action committee dubbed Advance California spent $700,000 on ads against Briceño, with most of its funding coming from the California Apartment Association committee. 

The Citizens for an Affordable California political action committee funded by AirBnB also spent over $35,000 opposing Briceño’s candidacy.

Altogether, that’s around $952,000 in spending aimed directly against Briceño’s campaign. 

Briceño’s biggest support comes from the Hawaiian Gardens Casino, which has spent over $221,000 advertising her according to campaign disclosures through their own political action committee. 

Briceño’s campaign was also advertised by Unite Here Local 11, the union she helps run, which spent around $50,000 in support. 

The California Working Families Party committee also spent around $12,000 supporting Briceño. 

Altogether, that leaves Briceño with $283,000 in outside support against $952,000 in attack ads. 

“The polling shows us in the lead and we’re going to continue to fight despite this horrific influx of money into our race,” Briceño said. “We are knocking on doors, we’re meeting voters where they’re at and speaking to them about what we’re going to do in Sacramento.” 

Briceño’s own campaign committee has disclosed spending $474,000 since the start of 2025, and had another $267,000 in the bank as of April 18. 

Other Candidates Spend Without Special Interest Support

Ali Taj, a Pakistani immigrant and former mayor of Artesia who picked up Quirk-Silva’s endorsement, has fundraised over half a million dollars since the start of 2025 and spent over $338,000 advertising his campaign. 

Voice of OC did not locate any special interest or politicatal action committee spending supporting or opposing Taj. 

The remaining candidates haven’t fundraised nearly as much. 

Paulo Morales, a former Cypress police officer and city councilman, has spent around $25,000 for his race for assembly this year. 

Paul Gonzales, a Buena Park resident and employee of the OC District Attorney, is entirely self-funded with $5,000 of his own money. 

Realtor Adrian Oscar Ayub has disclosed less than $1,000 in fundraising.

Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.