Kevin McCarthy attends a ceremony in the East Room of the White House on July 18, 2025. Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images/File

This summer, a fired-up Kevin McCarthy vowed to personally lead the fight against California Democrats’ redistricting push , aiming to raise $100 million to help protect Republican lawmakers in his home state.

But in the final weeks of the high-stakes election, the former GOP speaker has fallen massively short of that mark, according to people familiar with the fundraising goal he set. That has required more direct involvement from both the White House and GOP leadership, those people said.

Republicans acknowledge that they always faced an uphill battle to defeat Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom on the referendum, known as Proposition 50, in a state where regist

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