At MacDomnhall’s on Substack, award-winning reporter Patrick Range McDonald has written a one-of-a-kind special report about the real estate industry’s use of campaign cash to sway elections and buy political favors in California. Unlike anything done by the mainstream media, it’s titled “Exposé: Big Real Estate’s Money Trails to Kill the Expansion of Rent Control in California.”
In 2024, McDonald worked for the Yes on Prop 33 and No on Prop 34 campaigns as the advocacy journalist for Housing Is A Human Right, the housing advocacy division of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Prop 33 was sponsored by AHF and aimed to repeal rent-control restrictions in California. Prop 34 was sponsored by the California Apartment Association and sought to knee-cap AHF’s ability to use money for its housing advocacy work. They were two of the most closely watched ballot measures in the state.
On Election Day, Prop 33 was defeated while Prop 34 barely passed.
After the election, McDonald decided to further examine two years worth of campaign contributions from the California Apartment Association and corporate landlords to elected officials and political groups.
“Examining the real estate industry’s money trails is incredibly important,” says McDonald. “We see that the California Apartment Association and corporate landlords use campaign cash to sway elections and influence politicians all over the state. For some reason, though, the mainstream media in California have almost completely failed to investigate Big Real Estate’s use of political money, especially when it comes to Prop 33 and Prop 34. So I wanted to correct that and inform the public about what really happens behind the scenes.”
McDonald adds, “To be honest, I’m beyond disappointed with the mainstream media’s failure to dig deep and explain how the real estate industry’s cash impacts democracy. The media’s negligence is shocking.”
His special report provides 12 key findings, with in-depth details and analyses backing up the findings.
“I’ve been covering the California Apartment Association, corporate landlords, and YIMBY groups, as a beat, for more than seven years,” says the award-winning journalist, “and I’ve been covering the real estate industry, one way or another, since 1998. My special report, in real ways, is the culmination of all that work. At this point, I’ve become a top expert about the real estate industry’s use of political money in California.”
McDonald adds, “The mainstream media have not only let down California voters, but its negligence has impacted housing policy across the country. If we were successful in repealing rent-control restrictions in California, then activists in other states would have followed our lead. There’s no doubt about that. A national movement to rein in the real estate industry’s predatory business tactics would have been born with the passage of Prop 33. But the mainstream media failed to inform voters, and the voters were bombarded by Big Real Estate’s lies. So Prop 33 was defeated, and a national movement didn’t taken off to end rent control bans across the country. The mainstream media played a big role in that.”
Read “Exposé: Big Real Estate’s Money Trails to Kill the Expansion of Rent Control in California” at MacDomhnall’s.