California Democrats Scalp Cardi B Concert Tickets at 140% Markup in Brazen Fundraising Scheme
Three California Democratic legislators are gouging political donors for thousands of dollars per ticket to a Cardi B concert—charging up to 140% more than market rate in what amounts to legalized political scalping.
State Assemblymembers Blanca Rubio, Jessica Caloza, and Tina McKinnor have turned Wednesday’s concert at Sacramento’s Golden One Center into a cash machine. Their campaigns are demanding between $2,500 and $5,000 per ticket for an event where comparable seats sell for as little as $207 on the open market.
This is the swamp in action.
The Price Gouging Breakdown
Caloza’s campaign wants $3,000 for a single ticket. McKinnor is hawking hers at $2,500 each. Rubio takes the prize with a $3,000 per-ticket price tag—or a “discounted” $5,000 for two seats.
Meanwhile, actual concertgoers shopping StubHub on Wednesday morning found upper-level seats listed between $207 and $232, including fees. Even premium “prime view” seats maxed out between $1,478 and $1,806. The highest-priced premium section ticket? Just $2,322.
That means these Democratic politicians are charging donors more than twice what the best seats in the house cost on the legitimate secondary market.
Political Scalping 101
Politicians routinely bundle fundraisers with concerts and sporting events. But this takes that practice to an entirely new level of audacity.
These aren’t just fundraisers with entertainment—they’re essentially selling access and influence at massively inflated prices using a celebrity’s drawing power. The rapper herself has no apparent affiliation with these fundraisers. She’s simply the bait.
Think about the optics here. While Democrats rail against “price gouging” and attack ticket resellers for exploiting consumers, their own elected officials are running the exact same scheme—just with political donations instead of concert tickets.
All three legislators declined to comment. Of course they did.
The Cardi B Political Calculation
The choice of Cardi B as their celebrity draw is no accident. The Grammy-winning rapper has positioned herself as a progressive political voice, endorsing Bernie Sanders in 2020 and Kamala Harris in 2024.
She’s made a name for herself attacking President Trump and weighing in on progressive pet issues like police reform, wealth redistribution, and immigration. Her political activism has aligned seamlessly with Democratic talking points.
But here’s the irony: Cardi B has gone conspicuously quiet on politics since Trump’s return to the White House.
In a candid interview last fall, she admitted she’s backed away from political commentary. “You know the reason why I’ve been so silent about politics?” she told Billboard. “It’s because when I used to complain the past four years, I know for a fact that people watch my stuff.”
She acknowledged her influence—and the White House’s attention to her statements—before essentially admitting defeat and retreating from the political arena.
Follow the Money
This fundraising gambit reveals everything wrong with California’s political culture. These three Democrats represent parts of Los Angeles—one of the most economically stratified regions in America, where homelessness is rampant and the cost of living has driven middle-class families out of the state.
Yet instead of focusing on the needs of ordinary constituents, they’re hosting $5,000-per-couple concert fundraisers targeting wealthy donors who can afford to pay double market rate for entertainment.
The message is clear: access costs extra in California’s Democratic machine.
This is the same party that constantly lectures about economic inequality and corporate greed. The same party that wants to regulate ticket prices and crack down on resellers. The same party that claims to represent working people.
Meanwhile, their own elected officials are running a markup scheme that would make StubHub blush.
The Bigger Picture
California’s campaign finance landscape has become a free-for-all, with money sloshing around Sacramento in unprecedented amounts during this election cycle. These Cardi B fundraisers are just one particularly brazen example of how the game is played.
The Democratic supermajority that controls California’s legislature has created a political ecosystem where influence-peddling has been refined to an art form. Fundraisers like these aren’t aberrations—they’re standard operating procedure.
And when caught red-handed engaging in the very practices they publicly condemn, these politicians simply refuse to comment and move on to the next payday.
The hypocrisy is staggering. But in California’s one-party Democratic state, there’s no accountability and no consequences.
Just high-priced concert tickets and well-connected donors getting premium access to their elected officials—at a 140% markup.
