Posts Tagged: democratic

Recent News

California’s voter registration errors draw close look

A Department of Motor Vehicles building in Los Gatos. (Photo: Stellamc, via Shutterstock)

Errors in the new California Motor Voter registration system may undermine the credibility of elections, some worry. The state’s Department of Motor Vehicles announced early in September that it sent 23,000 voter registrations with errors to the secretary of state. This included mistakes in political party selections, vote-by-mail options and 3,000 registrations from people who had opted not to be registered.

News

June 5 primary: Voters head to the mail box

With California voters turning increasingly to the mail box to cast their ballots, five counties have set up an expanded vote-by-mail system for this year’s elections. Sacramento, Madera, Napa, Nevada and San Mateo are swapping out more than 500 neighborhood polling places and replacing them with nearly 80 high-tech “vote centers.”

News

‘Indivisible’ makes political presence felt

Members of Indivisible at the Women's March in January 2017. (Photo: Melissa Bender)

It began with a married pair of Democratic staffers in Congress, outraged at the success of the hard-right Tea Party. That vocal GOP off-shoot showed that a disciplined minority could leverage policy, woo voters and bend the party leadership. So Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, stunned by Donald Trump’s electoral victory, founded a group called Indivisible, which 17 months later has developed into a loose-knit national movement.

Analysis

CA120: Political intrigue: BOE’s redistricting and the gas tax

Board of Equalization Chair Jerome Horton chats with colleague Diane Harkey in the Capitol. (Photo: AP/Rich Pedroncelli)

Whether you liked it or not, the state Board of Equalization successfully blocked a gas tax increase.  This saved Californians 4-cents-a-gallon at the pump, but handed Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers a $617 million hole in the state budget. What caused this rather dramatic policy move?  I keep being drawn to the extraordinary events surrounding the 2011 redistricting of the BOE, which has four directly elected members.

News

CA120: Bernie voters stay angry at Dem establishment

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders at a Ventura campaign rally two weeks before California's June 7, 2016 Democratic primary. (Photo: Joseph Sohm)

The survey, which can be seen in a fully-interactive infographic, polled 851 voters who cast ballots in the Democratic primary election and who in an exit poll told us they had voted for Sen. Bernie Sanders. In this study we look not only at his level of current support among his June 2016 voters, but we also want to know how these respondents view the aftermath of that election and the Democratic Party as a whole.

News

The staying power of Nancy Pelosi

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi at a Capitol news conference in February. (Photo: Albert H. Teich)

In the end, it all comes down to following the money – about $568 million and counting. Nancy Pelosi, the minority leader of the House and former speaker, is no stranger to criticism and this year is no different. But this time, the attacks are coming from fellow Democrats who are calling for the longtime House leader, who turned 77 in March and is a California political icon, to step down. So far, she’s not budging.

News

State Library creates Greg Schmidt collection

A tiny sampling of the books on Greg Schmidt's home shelves.

The California State Library is setting up a special collection in honor of Gregory Schmidt, the long-time ranking Senate staffer who died of cancer at the age of 69. State Librarian Greg Lucas said in an email that the Greg Schmidt Collection on Political Leadership will include “any number of books, articles, movies, podcasts, lectures and case studies besides those in Greg’s personal library that inform today’s political leaders.”

Analysis

CA120: Nov. 8, through the looking glass

(Illustration: Tim Foster, Capitol Weekly)

From neighbors to family members to local coffee shop baristas, the number one question I’ve received since Nov. 8 is “How did that happen?” Donald Trump’s come-from-behind win shocked about everyone in the political world. Even his own political team. Even Hillary Clinton’s own political team.

News

Nov. 8: The Democrats’ quest for a supermajority

The state Capitol in Sacramento. (Photo: Feoktistoff, via Shutterstock)

Asked about the prospect of a Democratic supermajority in the California Legislature after Nov. 8, leaders of both parties are being, well, supercautious. With a Democratic supermajority, which means majorities of two-thirds or greater in each house, Republicans could go from marginalized to irrelevant.

Opinion

Nurses: Time to cut drug prices

A recent demonstration in support of curtailing drug prices. (Photo: California Nurses Association)

OPINION: The best argument for passing Proposition 61 to cut drug prices in California, may be SB 1010, a modest effort to require the drug manufacturers give more notice and some justification when jacking up prices. Though the bill would not have actually cut prices, it drew ferocious opposition from a who’s who list of major pharmaceutical firms. They won.

Support for Capitol Weekly is Provided by: