SACRAMENTO, California — A leading Democrat to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom is launching a new Super PAC to help President Joe Biden and bolster her profile in California.

Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, a candidate for governor in 2026, told POLITICO that her new political organization, Californians for Choice, will mobilize voters in the neighboring swing states of Nevada and Arizona to boost Biden and work to defeat Donald Trump.

Along with turning out voters across the West who are concerned about abortion rights, Kounalakis’ PAC also will recruit Golden State volunteers to make calls, knock on doors and organize in several California House districts that are crucial for Democrats’ efforts to take back the chamber in November.

“I know that there is nothing more important for women’s freedom than the ability to control our bodies. And like so many Californians, so many Americans, I’ve been in absolute shock about the possibility of a Trump administration with a MAGA Republican Congress that issues a national abortion ban,” Kounalakis, a longtime supporter and close ally of Vice President Kamala Harris, said in an interview Tuesday.

“There is nothing more important that we can focus on right now than mobilizing people who care about reproductive choice and bodily autonomy to get out there and win these elections,” she said.

An aide to the lieutenant governor — a prolific fundraiser and major donor before moving into statewide elected office in 2019 — did not provide a figure on the committee’s financial goal, but said it would raise and spend millions of dollars heading into the fall.

Kounalakis’ strategy dovetails with Newsom and several other governors’ national political outreach in its intense focus on abortion access. It also builds on prior statewide aspirants who have used committees and high-profile ballot measures as organizing tools during, or ahead of, their own elections to build financial support and stand up infrastructure. In 2022, Kounalakis was a fixture in the campaign to enshrine abortion rights in California’s constitution.

Newsom, who sponsored a pair of 2016 ballot measures before his run for governor in 2018, has stepped onto the national stage with ads and travel funded by his Campaign for Democracy, also with a heavy focus on abortion rights though more oriented in red states.

And in Los Angeles, billionaire shopping mall magnate Rick Caruso, who ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2022 and is said to be eyeing his next political campaign, is staying active by working to help swing-seat Democrats retake the House in 2024.

Kounalakis on Wednesday also rolled out a new TV ad and cable buy to mark the PAC’s formation, with the lieutenant governor speaking about abortion restrictions in Republican-led states. She notes Texas women are facing lawsuits for helping a friend get abortion pills and an Ohio woman was criminally charged after miscarrying.

“Extreme Republicans are criminalizing women and it’s happening right now,” Kounalakis says in the video, introducing herself as “Eleni.”

“I’m building an army to fight back, stand up for choice and stand up for women,” she says.

Californians for Choice is setting its sights on a handful of the state’s most competitive congressional races, including a pair in the Central Valley where Democrats are trying to oust incumbent GOP Reps. David Valadao and John Duarte. The PAC is also targeting Southern California districts held by Republicans Mike Garcia and Ken Calvert.

It will also plunge into the effort to keep Democratic Rep. Katie Porter’s Orange County seat blue, where Democrat Dave Min is running against Republican Scott Baugh. Kounalakis’ PAC is barred by federal rules from coordinating with individual campaigns.

A former ambassador to Hungary under President Barack Obama who previously worked for her family’s successful development company, Kounalakis was part of the class of post-2016 candidates motivated to make their first run for office after Trump took the White House. Last year, she became the first of several Democrats to join the crowded field of candidates for governor in 2026.

Kounalakis said she didn’t want to wait until the fall to get more involved in the 2024 election.

“I’m hearing this everywhere I go, where people are saying they want to do more. What do they do? How do they do it?” she said in the interview. “And I didn’t want to wait until October to try to figure out how to get volunteers to go to Nevada, or Arizona or the flippable districts in California. So we’re starting now.”