Elections

A few things distinguished tonight’s vice presidential debate from the Trump-on-Biden interruption-fest that the nation suffered through last week: The two were separated by prophylactic plexiglass Tupac was invited for some reason A fly made a surprise appearance on the vice president’s head The back-and-forth was, for the most part, actually a back-and-forth, rather than […]

No, the ballot measure won’t ban Uber and Lyft in California. But it would overhaul how drivers get paid.

Want a quick introduction to the dozen measures on your November ballot? This playlist gives you a 60-second description of each — just play the first one and the rest will automatically play afterward: The Props-in-a-Minute playlist, produced by CalMatters’ reporting team, covers the array of subjects voters will be asked to decide this fall. […]

When debate moderator Chris Wallace asked President Donald Trump last night whether he would urge his supporters “not to engage in any civil unrest” while ballots are being counted and to “not declare victory until the election has been independently certified,” the president responded with a very different appeal to his base. “I’m urging my […]

If you didn’t catch the first presidential debate of 2020 tonight — and if you didn’t, and did virtually anything else with that time, congratulations on a restful evening well-spent — you missed a cameo appearance by California. The Golden State made its entrance around the 75-minute mark.  That was presumably long after everyone but […]

When supporters of a November property tax ballot measure talk about soaking the state’s faceless corporate giants and its wealthiest landlords, they are not talking about people like John Kevranian. The co-owner of Nuts for Candy & Toys in Burlingame, Kevranian and his wife have operated this mainstay of the Bay Area city’s downtown strip […]

Alice Huffman, who is both a professional campaign consultant and long-time NAACP leader, was especially sought after this year as political campaigns respond to the national reckoning over race.

Yesterday Gov. Gavin Newsom leaned over the hood of an electric car and signed an executive order to phase out new gas-powered vehicles in California by 2035 and halt new fracking projects by 2024. It was exactly the kind of “big, hairy, audacious” move that Newsom has made his calling card: one guaranteed to generate […]

For over a year a bill — signed into California law this month — that gives judges discretion over whether or not to require someone convicted of statutory rape to register as a sex offender, has been at the center of a storm of viral misinformation. Now it’s become an issue in a handful of […]

Maybe you saw the video on Facebook before it was deleted: Glen Stailey, president of the state prison guards’ union, rails against “failed public safety policies” and “cheap political points” and announces that “it is time to bring accountability back to the state Capitol.” Cut to a shot of the union president, with a horseshoe […]