Official paperwork for California's recall election.(Photo: Matt Gush, via Shutterstock)Institute of Governmental Studies: By a resounding three-to-one margin (75% to 24%) voters describe the recall provision as a good thing. This view is held by majorities of all political stripes, although Democrats and liberals express somewhat greater reticence, with greater than one in three viewing it as a bad thing.
Ballots that will be mailed to voters across California for the Sept. 14 recall election. (Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald, via Shutterstock)A million-dollar donation to fight the recall effort against Gov. Gavin Newsom came from Washington state, not California, and from a name familiar in the world of finance and high tech. Connie Ballmer, who is married to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, contributed $1 million to Newsom’s campaign, the second-largest donation thus far to the anti-recall effort.
An illustration of a California voter casting a ballot. (Photo: Niyazz, via Shutterstock)Berkeley IGS Poll: The election will be decided not by the overall electorate, but by only those who choose to take part in the recall. And, when the voting preferences of those considered most likely to participate are examined, the outcome becomes much closer, with 47% favoring Newsom’s recall and 50% favoring his retention.
Demonstrators supporting the recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom gather in Yorba Linda in Orange County. (Photo: Matt Gush, via Shutterstock)OPINION: Usually, the year after a presidential election is pretty quiet in California when it comes to high-profile political contests. But this year Republicans have managed to make the Golden State a national battleground — and a fundraising juggernaut — with their recall fight against Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Ballot boxes in Foster City for the November 2020 general election. (Photo: MariaX, via Shutterstock)The state’s House delegation – now at 53, but likely to drop by one seat after the new redistricting – stood at 46 Democrats and only seven Republicans after the 2018 elections. But last year, Republicans captured four seats from Democrats — which caught political observers by surprise.
Secretary of State Alex Padilla at a 2019 news conference in the state Capitol. (Photo: Rich Pedroncelli/AP)Alex Padilla, California’s chief elections officer and a former state legislator, was appointed Tuesday by Gov. Gavin Newsom to fill the U.S. Senate seat of Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. The appointment is historic: Padilla, 47, becomes California’s first Latino U.S. senator, representing a state in which about 38 percent of the population is Latino.
Last week Capitol Weekly and the McGeorge Capital Center for Law & Policy presented a Post-Mortem of the 2020 Election, a half-day online conference in which a score of experts and insiders discussed the results of the election and provided a look-ahead at what they mean for 2021 – and beyond. This event was held on Thursday, November 5. We broadcast audio from each of the presentations as individual episodes of the Capitol Weekly Podcast.
Flying the flag on Labor Day. (Photo: Deborah Kolb, via Shutterstock))OPINION: We all could use a day off this Labor Day. The past six months have felt like six years, as Americans endure an intersection of crises that threaten our health, endanger our safety, injure our collective soul and tear at the very fabric of our democracy. We are all very tired.
Kim Alexander at Capitol Weekly's Post-Mortem of the 2018 Election. Photo by Scott Duncan, Capitol WeeklyFollowing the harrowing scenes of voters braving long lines and exposure to the coronavirus during Wisconsin’s primary election last week, there is a renewed discussion of the importance of vote-by-mail options.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - February 15, 2020: Voting Season Starts for California Democrats - Kevin McGovern, ShutterstockVoters in California have been casting ballots for nearly a month. In total, more than 2.5 million voters have returned ballots, and in-person voting has begun in 15 counties. The big question is what these early numbers mean for turnout.