Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Taylor Swift receives a shout-out from the Fed, the world loses a fashion icon, and Lexi Reese tells Fortune editor-at-large Michal Lev-Ram why she left tech to enter a crowded Senate race. Have a thoughtful Monday.
– The hot seat. For nearly three decades, Lexi Reese, 48, has led a successful career in the tech industry, playing key roles on the sales, marketing, and operations side at companies like Google. But she’s putting it all on pause to enter one of the most watched (and most expensive) political races in recent history: the contest to replace California’s retiring senator, Democrat Dianne Feinstein.
“Our economy is a hot mess,” Reese told me when I asked her why she would do such a thing. “I know we have the tools to fix it, and I know that if we bring in someone new who can work with lots of people, even if they think differently from them, that we have a shot of securing a better future for our kids.”
If that sounds like a bunch of political platitudes, it is and it isn’t. Reese’s gripes with the nation’s most populous state certainly aren’t unique, but some of her suggested approaches to fixing them are differentiated—and, she says, stem directly from her experience in the tech industry, and in particular her focus on marketing tools to small and medium businesses. (Her last gig was as chief operating officer of HR software developer Gusto.) During a phone call with me on Saturday, Reese outlined some of those proposed policies, which she believes should come from the federal government. They include creating a “small business prosperity package” that would eliminate “onerous rules and regulatory burdens” and providing “human capital tax credits” that she says would incentivize businesses to provide health care, child care, and elder care benefits to their employees.
Lexi ReeseCampaign for Lexi Reese—AP Reese has a proven track record in the tech industry. But she’s a total outsider in the political realm, and has entered a race with not one but three established Democratic politicians: U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee, Katie Porter, and Adam Schiff. And she’s got a lot of catching up to do when it comes to fundraising, having just kicked off her campaign in late June.
So far, Reese has raised $1.3 million, $284,000 of which were her own contributions, according to the most up-to-date numbers from her campaign. But that’s not much compared to some of the other Democratic candidates—Schiff, for example, raised $8.1 million in the second quarter of 2023, which brings his campaign’s total cash-on-hand to $29.5 million, the most raised by a Democratic Senate candidate in the second quarter of an off-year ever. But Reese told me she isn’t put off by the numbers.
“I consider this our Series A,” says Reese, who says she is looking at her campaign like a startup. All of that Silicon Valley-speak isn’t just for show: The former Googler says the Senate needs someone who can “go toe-to-toe with technology companies” and has a deep understanding of “the fundamental monetization engines that power the internet today.”
It’s a long shot, but Reese is optimistic and clear-eyed about the cost of trying: “If I have a shot at using my resources and my skills to be able to create change, then I’m going to do it. Or get really beat up trying.”
Speaking of California…The Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit is coming up, Oct. 9-11 in Laguna Niguel, Calif. Confirmed speakers include CEOs Beth Ford of Land O’Lakes, Karen Lynch of CVS Health, Valerie Jarrett of the Barack Obama Foundation, Kath McLay of Sam’s Club, Kate Ryder of Maven, Fidji Simo of Instacart, Linda Yaccarino of Twitter, and many more. For additional information and to apply to register, click here.
Michal Lev-Ram
[email protected]
@mlevram
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