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Assemblymember Evan Low represents a Silicon Valley district that could lose tens of millions of dollars in local tax revenues if Gov. Gavin Newsom signs a bill that would allow casino-owning tribes to sue their competitors, private card rooms.So it was surprising that Low, a Democrat who’s running for Congress, twice voted this summer for the measure and against the card rooms.

Now, one of the bill’s biggest supporters, the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians, has bought $60,000 in radio ads supporting Low’s campaign for a congressional race that’ll be decided by voters almost 500 miles from the tribe’s reservation and its large casino in San Diego County.

It’s illegal for lawmakers to pledge a vote in exchange for a campaign donation, and there’s no evidence that happened in this case. But Sean McMorris, a program manager for California Common Cause, said the Viejas ads appear to be political payback for Low’s votes in the Assembly.

“Even though there was probably no coordination between Evan Low and this (political action committee),” McMorris said, “I can probably guarantee you they wouldn’t have spent that money if Assemblymember Low didn’t vote for their interests.”

Tauri Bigknife, the tribe’s attorney general, disputed that assertion.“It’s not payback,” he said. “It’s not buying a vote. It’s none of those things. There’s no there, there, OK? It’s supporting someone that we’ve had a longstanding relationship with.”Bigknife noted that the tribe gave money to Low’s congressional campaign before he cast his votes.  The tribe’s donated at least $9,900 to Low’s campaign, according to Open Secrets.Low’s vote also exposed him to negative advertising. The card rooms paid for a billboard near the San Jose airport slamming him for siding with tribes at the potential expense of tax revenue for the community he represents.

The bill, which is awaiting Newsom’s signature or veto, would allow tribal governments to sue private card rooms over the tribes’ longstanding allegation that the gambling halls are illegally offering card games including blackjack and pai gow poker.

Tribes say California voters gave them the exclusive rights to host the disputed games. But because they’re sovereign governments, the tribes lack legal standing to sue the card rooms.

The fight over Senate Bill 549 was one of the most expensive and contentious of the two-year legislative session that concluded last week. A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, many of them with large tribal casinos in their districts, pushed for the measure, while a smaller group of lawmakers with card rooms in their districts opposed it.

It followed a failed 2022 sports betting initiative that the tribes spent millions of dollars to sponsor and that included a similar provision that would have let the tribes sue.

As they sought to win over lawmakers, the opposing gambling interests donated at least $4.3 million to the 120 members of the Legislature since January 2023, according to the Digital Democracy database. The tribes were the bigger campaign spenders. That included giving $92,000 in the weeks leading up to a critical July vote to members of an obscure Assembly committee that regulates gambling.

Low sits on the committee, which was where he first voted against the wishes of the city of San Jose, one of the cities that stands to lose millions of dollars in revenue should the tribes prevail in their fight against the card rooms.

Low’s campaigns received at least $18,100 from tribes and $12,000 from card rooms since 2023, though a full accounting of any additional gambling donations Low may have received to his congressional account since July won’t be available until October.

Low is running against former San Jose Mayor Sam Liccardo, a fellow Democrat, in a contentious race for the congressional seat currently held by retiring U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo.

“We’re not surprised that Evan voted to harm his constituents in return for financial support, because he has a pattern of doing exactly that,” Liccardo’s campaign said in an emailed statement. Liccardo’s campaign accused Low of also accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign donations from landlords and oil and power companies after voting in their favor.

Low campaign spokesman Nathan Click said in an email that the ads from the Viejas tribe were an independent expenditure that wasn’t associated with Low’s congressional campaign.“On this and all other issues,” Click said, “Assemblymember Low is singularly focused on helping Californians and legislating in the best interest of his district and the state.”