Posts Tagged: politics

Opinion

Ready or not, the next generation of California politicians has arrived

Dr. Flojaune Cofer, photo via YouTube

OPINION – Dr. Flojaune Cofer shocked the Sacramento political establishment by defeating three well known politicians in the Sacramento mayoral primary – a race widely heralded as the most closely watched in the state due to its razor-thin vote margins in the early count. She represents a rising wave of unapologetically progressive Millennial women using grassroots organizing to win races throughout the state.

Experts Expound

Experts Expound: The power of Legislative caucuses

Capitol caucuses, image by Andrii Yalanskyi

Both the Senate and Assembly have several caucuses beyond the main party caucuses: Rural Caucus, Latino Caucus, Jewish Caucus, Black Caucus, LGBTQ Caucus, etc. But which wields the most power behind the scenes? We asked our experts to weigh in.

News

Rising Stars: Lucia Saldivar, Chief of Staff for Assemblymember Lisa Calderon

Lucia Saldivar, photo by Scott Duncan Photography

Growing up in San Ysidro, just this side of the California-Mexico border, Lucia Saldivar thought she was going to be a musician, like her father. “Music always helped me make sense of the world and my community,” she says. “Then in high school, I learned a new language to help make sense of the world around me, and that was politics and policy.”

Opinion

Surprise, surprise: An insurance crisis is upon us

A view of downtown Los Angeles seen from the Hollywood hills. (Photo: logoboom, via Shutterstock)

OPINION: Perhaps the greatest financial risk faced by Californians today has nothing to do with rising interest rates or a looming recession. Rather, it is the loss of access to products they rely upon to protect their most valuable assets: auto, homeowners and commercial insurance.

Podcast

Oppo Research Meets the Hillside Stranglers

CAPITOL WEEKLY PODCAST: Longtime politics oppo research specialist Joe Rodota has lately turned his skills toward historical events and storytelling, first with a book on the Watergate complex, The Watergate: Inside America’s Most Infamous Address, and now with a new podcast, Hillside: The Investigation and Trial of the Hillside Strangler.

News

Seeds of bitter recall politics sprouting across the state

Pro-recall forces gather in Redding during the campaign. (Photo: Jefferson Public Radio)

For two years now, Shasta County has been the center of a fight between moderate Republicans serving on the board of supervisors and local far-right activists and militia groups who have taken issue with the state’s public health restrictions. But what began as an intensely local political fight captured attention across the state, in part because others wonder whether a similar battle could come their way.

News

Recall elections increasingly define political landscape

A newspaper's election gives readers information about the Sept. 14, 2021, recall election. (Photo: Matt Gush, via Shutterstock)

California’s attention was focused recently on the failed attempt to recall Gov. Newsom as a rare event of historical magnitude. In fact, recall elections happen all the time, and all but a relative handful of these obscure contests disappear into the limbo of history.

News

Newsom recall unlikely — but simmering

Gov. Newsom at a 2019 briefing in Sacramento. (Photo: Associated Press)

A perfect storm of events is giving Gov. Gavin Newsom political headaches, and he is yet again the subject of a recall movement that claims to have already collected more than 800,000 signatures. It marks the sixth attempt by various Republicans to oust Newsom – the other five fizzled. Few veteran political observers give this one any chance of success, either, although California politics is full of surprises.

News

Newsom: Politics, policy and the pandemic

Gov. Gavin Newsom at last year's Gay Rights Day parade in San Francisco. (Photo: Sheila Fitzgerald, via Shutterstock)

Gov. Gavin Newsom has been riding a high tide of approval from Californians for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, but he could be heading for stormy weather. California’s tax revenues are projected to decline more than 22 percent and the state estimates that unemployment for the year will hit  18 percent.

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