Capitol Weekly’s Top 100: David Pruitt

No. 75 David Pruitt

There is a scene in “Christmas Vacation” where Clark gets mad when he finds out he’s been enrolled in the Jelly of Month Club and Cousin Eddie tells him, “Clark, that’s the gift that keeps on giving the whole year.” Fundraiser David Pruitt gave the California Democratic Party a gift like that — and it can fund way more than a new pool for the Griswolds. Pruitt is the architect of the new and improved Speaker’s Cup golf tournament, which we hear routinely raises enormous sums of money for California’s majority party, thanks to the introduction of Pruitt’s signature innovation, the Speaker’s Circle funding scheme, which costs big corporate interests trying to get the Speaker’s ear a boatload to join. Pruitt also fundraises for a number of individual Dems, including Xavier Becerra, as well as various PACs and committees, making him a central cog in Speaker Robert Rivas’ bustling political machine.

Updated Aug. 11, 2026