Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: Courtni Pugh

No. 90 Courtni Pugh

In her bio last year, we said campaign consultant Courtni Pugh has had some huge wins and huge losses in her career. Well, she took a big ol’ L in the early part of this year when she went all in on a certain gubernatorial candidate who ended up not making it to election day and resigned his Congressional seat to boot. But she was quickly added to Xavier Becerra’s Primary campaign team and has just been tapped to co-chair (along with Rick Rivas, No. 16) a new group opposing Prop. 39, Asm. Carl DeMaio’s voter ID law. Pugh has the ear of some of California’s biggest political names, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, Attorney General Rob Bonta and Congressman Dave Min. Yeah, she takes some losses, but that’s what happens when you swing big.

Updated Aug. 11, 2026