Lyft puts $2 million behind push to defeat assemblyman; ‘They’re trying to send a message to all legislators’
Ride-hailing firms lost a battle last year over a law that could classify their drivers as full-time employees./Ringo Chiu/Zuma Press
By Christine Mai-Duc | The Wall Street Journal
After losing a difficult battle in Sacramento last year over a law that could classify their drivers as full-time employees, Lyft Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. are signaling they are ready to spend big against California legislators who opposed them.
Lyft has placed $2 million in a campaign account taking aim at Tyler Diep, an Orange County assemblyman who was the sole Republican to vote for the law, known as AB5, according to campaign-finance records. Uber has contributed $200,000 to a PAC that opposes Mr. Diep, who faces a contested primary election on Tuesday, a company spokesman said.
The Lyft-backed committee, called Californians for Independent Work, has received all of its funding from the ride-hailing company and has spent more than $328,000 on activities including polling, digital ads and mailers. One mailer called Mr. Diep’s AB5 vote “a mockery of his campaign pledge to roll back regulations and promote jobs.”
It is by far the largest share of outside spending in the race. Mr. Diep’s campaign has spent only a little more in total so far, $458,649, while his best-funded primary opponent, fellow Republican Janet Nguyen, has spent $277,777.
