The culture war goes to court

MR. RELATIONSHIP — Rep. Robert Garcia was in Sacramento this week doing something seldom done around the state Capitol by members of Congress: pressing the flesh. Garcia huddled with Newsom, Speaker Robert Rivas, Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins and incoming Pro Tem Mike McGuire. 

Politicians meeting with each other is hardly headline — or even newsletter — news, but the crossover between Sacramento and D.C. is still unusual and speaks to Garcia’s knack for building relationships and growing his nascent profile with powerful people across California and in Washington. 

Recently, Garcia served as a kind of emissary for his freshman class on concurrent visits to Vice President Kamala Harris’ residence at the Naval Observatory. His takeaways from a swing through the Capitol: Rivas, Garcia said, was whip smart. And McGuire “was fantastic, by the way,” Garcia wrote in a post-meeting text. The man can schmooze.