#california-politics

#california-politics

The poll, which surveyed 537 likely primary voters in California 11th congressional district in English only, found Wiener leading Chakrabarti 33-to-28 heading into June's primary.

In the 17th Congressional District, incumbent Rep. Ro Khanna is facing a challenge from tech founder Ethan Agarwal, a fellow Democrat. Agarwal is an opponent of the ballot initiative to levy a one-time, 5% wealth tax on Californians with more than $1 billion in assets.

We are a minority-majority state, and the idea that the four candidates of color are not going to be on the stage to bring those perspectives, to really speak to those communities, is really not doing right by the voters, Yee complained last week.

A steady stream of leaders from communities across the state said Wednesday they planned to reevaluate the numerous ways Chavez has been memorialized. Gov. Gavin Newsom said no decisions have been made at the state level regarding what to do about the typical observation of Cesar Chavez Day, but noted there's a sense of urgency as the March 31 holiday approaches.

Nearly 6,000 properties sit in various stages of insurance dispute, debris clearance, redesign or financing limbo. What has stalled progress, residents say, is not a lack of will, but a lack of coordination, capital flow, clear accountability and the critical question around insurance.

The resulting anger directed at the insurance industry over how it has handled claims has helped draw four Democrats into the race, who will be vying this weekend for a critical endorsement at the party's annual convention in San Francisco ahead of the June 2 primary election. "We haven't seen this level of competition and, frankly, choice on the Democratic side since it first became an elected office in 1990,"

The transformation of the Santa Clara Valley from a bucolic grower of fruit into the technological powerhouse of Silicon Valley thanks largely to Stanford University's presence fueled a dramatic evolution of California's economy, growing it into the fourth largest in the world, were it a nation. Technology isn't just a linchpin of the economy; the immense personal wealth of its creators has perhaps unfortunately become a crucial source of revenue for the state.

Eric Swalwell East Bay congressman wins endorsements for governor from Sen. Adam Schiff, the most prominent public official to choose so far, and the state's largest firefighter's union, California Professional Firefighters. Jennifer Siebel Newsom Wife of Gov. Gavin Newsom draws heat for scolding reporters at a news conference for not asking her husband questions she prefers about Planned Parenthood a habit that won't fly in a presidential race.

Tan, the CEO of the vaunted startup incubator Y Combinator, announced Wednesday he had spun up a dark-money group called "Garry's List" that he described as a "voter education group" that is "dedicated to civic engagement, voter education and support for common-sense policies and candidates" in a press release. Such groups give donors a way to anonymously support causes without giving directly to a candidate or a measure.

The Democratic candidates for governor must be ignorant of California's election rules: Only the top two primary vote-getters will be on the November ballot. All Democratic candidates should thrash out who is the best candidate, otherwise it is possible that no Democrat will be on the November ballot. And the November ballot will have a huge conservative turnout because of the constitutional initiative circulating to suppress the vote of low-income/minority/youth/women voters by requiring unnecessary certified, documented proof of citizenship in order to vote, ending online voter registration. Stop and think, Betty Yee, Xavier Becerra, Matt Mahan, Katie Porter, Tom Steyer and Eric Swalwell: What if there were no Democrats on the November ballot because of your egotism? Idiocy.

A march supporting California's billionaires didn't exactly draw a huge crowd on Saturday - the San Francisco Chronicle counted around three dozen attendees, along with another dozen tongue-in-cheek counter-protesters. To be fair, organizer Derik Kauffman had predicted attendance of only "a few dozen" beforehand. But the "March for Billionaires" has drawn outsized attention on social media because it's such an incongruous idea, and according to Mission Local, journalists nearly outnumbered demonstrators at the event itself, where marchers carried signs with messages like "We ❤️ You Jeffrey Bezos" and "It's very difficult to write a nuanced argument on a sign."

I don't think you're going to have a lot of motivation to walk precincts for somebody who won't engage working class voters on the very things that are taking away their jobs," Gonzalez said of Newsom's widely expected 2028 presidential run.

The year opened with President Trump declaring that "the fraud investigation of California has begun," a move that quickly set off a barrage of allegations from his administration and Republican allies questioning the integrity of state programs and the leadership of Gov. Gavin Newsom. The accusations, amplified across social media and conservative outlets, have pushed California and its Democratic leadership to the center of a broader national political fight over waste, fraud and abuse.

"There are some that say he's a dictator. Well, no, he's not a dictator - we voted him in," she said. "I think it would all be a lot better if we didn't resist the federal government and instead just got together and said, 'Hey, I'm with you ... Let's sit down, work together and clean it up instead of fight it'."

"Voters will certainly be confused about the shifting district lines in two elections so close together in time," Kim Nalder, director of the Project for an Informed Electorate at Sacramento State, said in an email. She added that the special election is likely to get "fairly low turnout," with those who do cast ballots being "better informed and more partisan."

I think it's very, very ironic that Gov. Newsom who strikes me as Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken may be the only Californian who knows less about economics than Kamala Harris, said Bessent.