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Elections

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We provide in-depth coverage of California elections with one aim: to give voters what they need to make informed decisions. Our nonpartisan coverage of elections explains key races, candidates, ballot measures and campaign finance.

California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa, left, and Republican political consultant Mike Madrid in the offices of Grassroots Lab in Sacramento, California, November 16, 2017. Photo by Max Whittaker for CALmatters
Elections
Political odd couple: GOP consultant advises Democrat’s bid for governor
One wants to end the death penalty. The other thinks capital punishment is just. One campaigned for tax increases that the other opposed. One tried to put Hillary Clinton in the White House. The other helped elect President George W. Bush. What both men believe, however, is that Latinos—California’s largest ethnic group—suffer disproportionate levels of poverty in part because they barely turn out to vote. That common ground helps form the basis of an unlikely political alliance that could shape the 2018 race to determine the next governor of California. Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa—a former mayor of Los Angeles and speaker of the Assembly—has hired a Republican political consultant to work on his campaign to become California governor.
By • November 22, 2017
Education
School building bonanza—but new dollars might not reach poor districts
It’s tough for California voters to say no to more money for school construction. They almost always approve state bond requests, and this month they passed a $9 billion package that backers promised would help pay for repairs and upgrades needed to preserve students’ access to safe, modern classrooms. Unlike previous bonds, however, Prop. 51 […]
By • November 22, 2016
Elections
Unfunded or undone: A Trump presidency eyes California policies
As a state bluer than Lake Tahoe in sunlight, California has adopted a slew of progressive policies that drive Donald Trump nuts. They combat climate change, protect undocumented immigrants, evangelize for Obamacare and more. So this week—as candidate Trump morphed into President-elect Trump—uncertainty swept the state. While protesters hit the streets and the hashtag #Calexit […]
By • November 10, 2016
Elections
Death penalty dilemma: Will vote on Props. 62 and 66 hinge on costs?
Money changes everything, it is said, and that adage hovers conspicuously over two clashing death penalty proposals that Californians will weigh in next week’s election. Proposition 62 asks voters to abolish the state’s death penalty after 38 years. The other measure, Proposition 66, promotes a streamlining of legal proceedings so the term “capital punishment” means […]
By • November 4, 2016
Elections
Dueling Dems: 4 issues may hinge on what brand of Democrat wins
In a turbulent election year full of surprises, this much is certain: When it’s all over next week, broad swaths of California will still be represented by Democrats. The pressing question in many parts of the state: What kind of Democrat will voters send to Sacramento?Sixteen legislative races—from Northern California’s Wine Country to SoCal’s Inland […]
By • November 3, 2016
Elections
Legalizing pot: Is Prop. 64 really a civil rights issue?
For rapper Jay Z, the war on drugs is personal: “Young men like me who hustle became the sole villain.” That’s why the hip-hop mogul— who once dealt drugs in his New York public housing project and recently made a video denouncing current drug policy as an “epic fail”—is now endorsing a California ballot proposition […]
By • November 3, 2016
Elections
Who decides how minors are tried? Prop. 57 would change the answer
The scene that greeted Raymond Aguilar in his old Stockton neighborhood on his release from prison four months ago was too familiar: boarded-up windows, liquor stores, prostitutes and gang members walking the streets. Twenty-five years had passed since his conviction for second-degree murder, and nothing had changed.   “Not a lot of money is being spent on the community,” […]
By • November 2, 2016
Elections
From loyal to lost? Vietnamese voters and the GOP
In Florida, it’s Cuban Americans. Within one generation, the children of a loyally conservative immigrant group don’t feel the same attachment to the Republican Party that their parents did. In California, it’s Vietnamese Americans. And the flight from the GOP among younger Vietnamese voters appears to be happening at very rapid pace. The generational change […]
By • November 2, 2016

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