How a Southern California couple may have helped swing Northern California House primary

The political spending in California’s 4th Congressional District primary was eye-opening, especially for a midterm election. Rep. Mike Thompson raised about $3.5 million. His Democratic challenger, political newcomer and former venture capitalist Eric Jones, brought in around $8.35 million, including $5.35 million of his own cash.

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All told, about $11.7 million flooded into the 4th District primary. Across California, only one other race — in District 40, where a pair of Republican frontrunners duked it out with several Democrats — attracted more money.

In retrospect, though, the cagiest spending in the 4th District may have been a comparatively modest $110,000 floated by a low-profile hedge fund analyst and his family.

Rishi Dixit works for San Francisco-based Valiant Capital Partners and lives in Santa Monica, some 400 miles from the 4th District — which now spans nine counties and stretches from Santa Rosa to the Gold Country foothills of eastern Yuba County following Prop. 50-authorized redistricting.

Dixit has no other obvious ties to the area. But the spending by him and his family may have helped swing the primary election in Jones’ favor.

Dixit, along with his wife Georgia Dean — identified as Georgia Dixit on campaign finance forms — and his parents, fully funded the campaigns of three dark horse Republican candidates and a startup PAC called California Leadership Fund. That PAC financed attack ads against Republican frontrunner Ray Riehle.

Rishi Dixitalso reported contributing the maximum $7,000 to Jones’ campaign in the cycle. Their past political spending has skewed almost entirely Democratic, according to a review of campaign finance reports.

Though it’s impossible to determine the precise impact, the Dixits’ money may have helped to generate just enough votes for the three also-ran GOP candidates — siphoning away support from Riehle — to propel Jones into second place in the 4th District.

Jones, as of June 12 update, edged ahead of Riehle by 1.5 percentage points — about 3,000 votes — to claim a runoff spot behind Thompson. That outcome is all be certain to stand in the final results, with Jones, 35, advancing to a November election against Thomson, 75, for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Meanwhile, Republican candidates Sharon Brown, John Mackenzie and Mandy Ghusar together had 10.4% of the vote  — about 21,400 votes —  with a small sliver of ballots still to be counted as of Thursday, June 18.

Mackenzie’s campaign brought in $14,000 in outside donations, while Brown’s and Ghusar’s netted $7,000 each. Every reported dime came from the Dixits, including $7,000 to Mackenzie from Rishi Dixit’s parents, Rahul and Purnima, who listed Florida as their state of residence.

Rishi Dixit didn’t respond to an email from The Press Democrat seeking comment. Georgia Dean did not respond to phone calls and text messages.

The potential impact of their spending wasn’t lost on Riehle, a small business owner and veteran of the Citrus Heights Water District Board of Directors.

“My answer is not based on any real science or math,” he told The Press Democrat. “But I don’t think John or Sharon were going to run for office without that donation. If they didn’t run, that means about another 19,000 votes there. And I think I would have received 80-90% of those votes.”

Mike Thompson’s campaign manager spoke more directly.

“This is another example of Eric Jones and his wealthy venture capitalist donors trying to buy a seat in Congress,” Thomas Dowling wrote in an email. “80 percent of voters rejected Eric Jones’ message and we look forward to sending Eric back home to San Francisco in November.”

A message sent to Mackenzie’s official campaign email was bounced back.

Funding your rival’s rival

Jones’ campaign manager stressed that the candidate did not work with the Dixits in setting up or administering California Leadership Fund political action committee. That sort of coordination with campaigns is unlawful.

“We are grateful for every contribution from supporters who want to challenge the status quo, refuse special interest money, and bring real change to Washington,” Brian Parvizshahi wrote. “While we appreciate Rishi’s support, we cannot speak to his involvement with other candidates or organizations. Our campaign does not coordinate with any Super PAC or outside expenditure committee.”

Thompson’s own relationship with a Super PAC was spotlighted earlier this month by an independent news organization. Drop Site News noted that St. Helena congressman sits as treasurer of the Blue Dog Political Action Committee, which supports centrist Democrats. A spending arm associated with that PAC, Blue Dog Action Fund, spent at least $1.2 million on ads backing Thompson’s reelection bid, and gave $5,000 to him directly.

Thompson’s campaign could not immediately be reached Friday to comment on that spending and his leadership role in the group.

Political spending in favor of your rival’s rival is not new. Both major U.S. political parties and their allied interests and committees have marshaled such spending in competitive national and state races over the past decade — and faced criticism for the practice.

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Those sorts of contributions popping up in the 4th District race is even less of a surprise.

Jones, whose fortune stems from his 12 years of work with San Francisco-based Dragoneer Investment Group, has forged an insurgent run against Thompson, seeking to portray the 14-term incumbent — and Democratic Party leadership in D.C. more broadly — as an ineffective bulwark against the onslaught of the Trump administration.

Fundraising by both camps has served as fodder for campaign trail jabs. Jones has portrayed Thompson as beholden to the corporate interests that have donated heavily to his campaign through their committees. Thompson’s camp, in turn, has painted Jones as as puppet for the monied interests that have helped fund his run: venture capital, tech, private equity and hedge funds.

California Leadership Fund, fully funded by Rishi Dixit, entered late in the campaign cycle. The PAC reported spending just under $60,000 in May for three rounds of ads attacking Riehle, plus $2,600 for a June texting campaign, according to Federal Election Commission records.

At least two of the mailers focused on water rate hikes in the Citrus Heights district during Riehle’s tenure on the board. One included an unflattering picture he said was snipped from the live feed of a public meeting. The other referenced personal details such as a mortgage default, property lien and allegations that he fell behind in child support payments. Riehle called those characterizations overblown. They stemmed from a complicated period following his divorce, he said, adding that he and his ex-wife remain close friends.

A disclosure on the ads noted they were paid for by the California Leadership Fund, which also registered the website TheRealRay.com.

That organization is a Super PAC, created this year. Its only listed receipts are $75,000 from Rishi Dixit, in two installments.

Big spending, low profile

Riehle, who raised a total of $113,000 for the primary, said he got questions about water rates after the attack ads began arriving in the mailboxes of likely Republican voters at the eastern end of the 4th District. But he doesn’t believe the mailers were effective.

“I don’t think people can look at those pictures on the card and take it seriously,” he said.

Nor does the candidate begrudge the Dixits’ political spending. But he does rue the involvement of faceless PACs in American politics.

“People can spend their money however they want,” Riehle said. “We have passed laws that allow these PACs to do what they want to do. But when someone makes a donation like that, it shouldn’t be just the PAC’s name. It should be the donors, too, so everyone can look at that information.”

The Dixits don’t have an extensive public profile. Rishi, 36, has worked at Valiant Capital for 13 years. Georgia, 34, is a senior director of brand partnerships for Paramount Pictures. They live in a sleek but generally unremarkable house they apparently rent, and have donated time and money to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

The couple’s past political spending favored Democrats.

Before 2023, Rishi Dixit’s contributions were to the Hillary for America, Biden for President and ActBlue PACs. The donations were modest, totaling less than $3,700. That spending began to ramp up in 2023, when Dixit got behind South Bay Congressman Ro Khanna. The hedge fund analyst has contributed a total of $16,400 to Khanna’s campaigns since then.

Georgia Dean has donated more than $10,000 to Khanna.

In the current election cycle, in addition to the dollars the Dixits gave to Republicans Mackenzie, Brown, Ghusar, Jones and California Leadership Fund, Rishi donated $7,000 to Zach Dembo, who is running for Congress in Kentucky as a Democrat.

In a twist that mirrors some of their 4th District spending, however, the couple also reported donating $7,200 to the 2026 primary campaign of Republican Ritesh Tandon, one of the candidates vying for Khanna’s 17th District, taking in much of Silicon Valley. Rahul and Purnima Dixit also gave $14,000 to Tandon.

Those donations appear calculated, as well. Tandon finished second in the District 17 primary and will face Khanna in November, averting the possibility of a Democrat-on-Democrat slugfest.

Back in the 4th District, Ray Riehle has accepted his primary defeat. But he would have liked a platform to focus on the infrastructure issues, like water and fire management, that he fears the Democratic candidates will ignore.

“The reason I’m angry is that none of these issues will be in the forefront, because no one wants to talk about them,” Riehle said.

You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 707-521-5263 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @Skinny_Post.

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