Posts Tagged: election

News

We already know today’s biggest winners: campaign consultants

Image by ArtFamily

Today is Election Day and while we won’t be certain who is moving onto the general until after the polls close this evening, there is one group of people we already know are big winners: the campaign consultants. Campaign consultants for state-level races have pocketed more than $10.7 million so far this election cycle, according to a Capitol Weekly analysis of expenditure data downloaded last week from the California Secretary of State’s website, Cal-Access.

Opinion

Time to end the top two primary

Image by Jim Vallee

OPINION – There will be another primary election on Tuesday, and the result will be another indictment of this state’s failed top-two primary experiment. It’s time we go back to a system in which we let voters from all parties — Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, Greens – select a candidate in primary elections and then let a battle of contrasting political ideas play out in the fall.

News

CA 120: California’s confusing primary voting process explained

Image by Jim Vallee

Even if former President Donald Trump stays on the California Republican primary ballot, there will be more than a quarter-million voters who have previously voted in a Republican Presidential primary who won’t find him on their ballot. And over 650,000 voters who previously voted in the Democratic primary who won’t find President Joe Biden on theirs.

Experts Expound

Experts Expound: The race to replace DiFi

Reps. Barbara Lee, Adam Schiff, Katie Porter. Photo courtesy of the U.S. House of Representatives

Dianne Feinstein’s announcement she will not seek another term has sparked a furious three-way battle for the Democratic nomination to replace her. But is there a Republican dark horse in the mix? Or maybe even California Gov. Gavin Newsom? We asked our experts to weigh in.

News

CA120: This was an election the pollsters got right

Directions to the local polling site in San Francisco. (Photo: Kevin McGovern, via Shutterstock)

Much of the coverage of the recent midterm election has been about the surprise outcome – one in which the Republicans have taken a small majority in the U.S. House of Representatives, and Democrats retained control of the U.S. Senate.  However, this was the story that polling was telling us — if we were willing to listen.

News

Another high-stakes election looms — but largely under the radar

A photo illustration of bacteria as seen through a research microscope. (Photo: Per Bengtsson, via Shutterstock)

California has another election coming up this fall, but it is not your usual political campaign free-for-all. Instead, it involves the leadership of the $12 billion state stem cell agency, which is trying mightily to develop “miraculous” treatments and cures for diseases that afflict — according to its backers — half of the families in California.

Podcast

Special Episode: Proposition 29 – Kidney Dialysis Regulation

CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Today we present a Special Episode of the Capitol Weekly Podcast, recorded live, Thursday May 26 at CALIFORNIA VOTES, A 2022 Election Preview. Panelists Kathy Fairbanks and David Miller discuss the merits of the proposition, moderated by Sigrid Bathen of Capitol Weekly.

News

CA120: Numbers showing sparse turnout for the primary

Signs at a site in San Francisco show the way to the polls. (Photo: Kevin McGovern, via Shutterstock)

Going into this gubernatorial primary election, one could have rightly expected to see a pretty good turnout. There are more than 30 open legislative seats for the first time in nearly a decade and competitive congressional races after the shakeup of redistricting. But with just a few days to go, we are at just 13% total turnout statewide. In some key battlegrounds, like the hot L.A. Mayor’s race, turnout is even lower at just 10%,

News

Hugely expensive ballot fight looms over gambling

Dealing the cards at a casino gaming table. (Photo: Nejron Photo, via Shutterstock)

Californians, given the chance, would wager hundreds of millions of dollars a year on sporting events, say analysts, and that golden potential is luring gaming tribes, card rooms and online sportsbooks to the November ballot.

Opinion

Opposition brewing to Sacramento storm water tax

A warning sign blocks motorists from entering an area flooded by storm water. (Photo: Yorklass, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: We strongly suspect that readers of this column are stunned to see the authors’ names together as coauthors. One of us is a conservative taxpayer advocate and the other is a Democratic political consultant. What unites us is our opposition to the City of Sacramento’s proposed storm water tax. Here’s some background.

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