Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Jason Kinney

36. Jason Kinney

Jason Kinney practically came out of the womb doing politics, running a state Senate campaign at just 13. Okay, it was his mom’s campaign and he definitely had some help, but you get the point. There’s some gray around his temples these days, but Kinney is in many ways still the same wunderkind he was when he got to the California Capitol to work as a spokesperson for then-Assemblymember Don Perata in 1997. He has since rarely stayed still for long, quickly transitioning from there to the Senate to the governor’s office to big-dog political consulting, eventually co-founding Axiom Advisors with Cassie Gilson (No. 37) and Kevin Schmidt in 2019. Axiom hit the ground running and has since been one of the biggest players and top earners on the Capitol scene. Kinney’s smarts, tenacity, ability to build relationships, and position as one of the few folks inside Gavin Newsom’s inner circle is a big part of the reason why.

Updated Aug. 7, 2024