What we’re watching today: 14 props, Congress in the balance

November 4, 2026 By Lynn La 5 Comments

Election Day is here and it’s an exciting one. Tonight we’ll start to learn which party controls Congress in the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term, whether Californians want to tax billionaires and if Democrats will continue a run that dates to 2010 of winning every statewide office.

We have reporters all over the state and we’ll be posting updates all day and night. Here are a few stories we’re watching:

Click Here to Subscribe to the California Political Review

  • How is voting going? As of Monday, more than a quarter of all ballots, or 26.44%, have been returned, according to the voter data firm Political Data Inc. That’s 3 percentage points higher than the November 2022 midterm election, when 23.34% of ballots were returned a day before Election Day.
  • Will contested ballots count? The Trump administration for weeks has been trying to set aside about 20,000 California ballots, alleging that some of them went to noncitizens. The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday denied the administration’s request to sequester the ballots. That’s a win for California officials who found flaws in the administration’s data and argued the Constitution grants to states the power to oversee elections.
  • What are Newsom’s poll watchers up to? Gov. Gavin Newsom will deploy 134 election attorneys to five congressional districts to preempt what the Democrat describes as potential election interference by federal monitors. The attorneys will be in the Sacramento area, the Central Valley, Orange County and San Diego and will stay “as long as necessary,” reported The Sacramento Bee. “We’re not screwing around, nor is (Trump),” said Newsom last week on a late-night show when he announced the plan.
  • What’s going on in the East Coast and Midwest?: House Republicans’ narrow lead could flip this election, and it could happen before Californians are done voting. Eighteen races in Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and other states are considered tossups, and Democrats would need to secure 218 seats to eke out a slim majority. Flipping the Senate would be a taller order, and the party would need to nab four more seats for a majority.
  • Will there be a ‘red mirage?’: For close races in almost every major election, early returns show Republicans winning or faring better than expected. Then as more votes are tabulated, Democrats pull ahead. It happens in California too, reports CalMatters’ Ryan Sabalow, like during the June Los Angeles mayoral race. But that so-called red mirage wasn’t because California Democrats were rigging the election, but rather Republicans were turning in their ballots earlier and the state, like usual, took a long time to tally votes. This election might be a little different though, as Democrats have been returning their ballots earlier both in California and in other states.

We’ll be posting live updates all day so come to CalMatters for the latest news.

One more thing, if you haven’t voted — or know someone who is still making up their mind — there’s still time to check out our voter guide.

Click here to read the full article at CalMatters

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: , ,

Newsom proposes $1-billion cap for film and TV tax incentive

November 4, 2026 By Cerys Davies and Stacy Perman 1 Comment

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Monday called for a significant expansion of the state’s film and TV tax incentives in the face of mounting evidence that producers are fleeing California in search of cheaper locales.

Newsom said in a statement Monday that he favors expanding California’s current Film and Television Tax Credit Program from $750 million to at least $1 billion annually.

Notably, Newsom’s proposal would include credits for actors and other above-the-line talent and extend the tax credit through 2040, according to the statement. That would make California’s program more competitive with those of other states such as Georgia and New York that allow tax credits to offset the cost of actors’ salaries.

Click Here to Subscribe to the California Political Review

If approved by the state Legislature, the credit would be the country’s largest capped film and TV tax credit, Newsom’s office said.

“We’re the capital of entertainment and we’re going to keep it here,” Newsom said in the statement. “Through this expansion, we will maintain the momentum and success of our historic expansion last year.”

Newsom’s announcement comes as the outgoing California governor and possible presidential candidate is looking to burnish his image as a champion of Hollywood as the state is increasingly losing production to other hubs in the U.S. and abroad, where tax incentives are higher and production costs lower.

The proposal puts pressure on fellow Democrat Xavier Becerra, who is widely expected to be California’s next governor, to take up the mantle of helping Hollywood at a time when the state faces rising financial pressures.

Newsom expanded the program last year, when the annual credit was raised from $330 million to $750 million through 2030. Since then, the credit has generated more than $8 billion in direct production spending and over 43,000 jobs, according to the governor’s office.

Newsom also recently signed California’s first stand-alone postproduction credit to bring back jobs for the industry’s editors, sound mixers, composers and visual effects artists.

With a budget of $10 million, the program will allow a 35% to 50% credit on qualified expenses related specifically to postproduction work done in California, even for productions that don’t shoot in the state.

Despite the expanded incentives, local film and TV production in the Los Angeles area continues on a downward trend.

On-location shoot days in the Los Angeles area fell nearly 5% between July and September from the same period a year earlier, and were 29% below the five-year average, according to FilmLA, the nonprofit group that handles film permits for city and county.

Newsom said the expanded credits would address some of California’s limitations.

Click here to read the full article at the LA Times

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: , , ,

California election workers hit with criminal subpoenas as Trump DOJ turns up heat in voting showdown

October 31, 2026 By Robert Schmad 1 Comment

At least four employees received grand jury subpoenas as the Trump administration questions voter citizenship

Leadership at the Department of Justice is escalating the Trump administration’s fight with California over suspected illegal voting, directing top federal prosecutors to pursue criminal subpoenas of local and state officials.

At least four election workers in California have received federal criminal grand jury subpoenas within the last week, CalMatters reported. At least one of these subpoenas was delivered on Thursday, after a federal judge rejected the DOJ’s request that California set aside mail-in ballots associated with over 20,000 registered voters whose citizenship the Trump administration has called into question.

Click Here to Subscribe to the California Political Review

A subpoena sent to three election employees at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder’s office requested records on how the department stops non-citizens from voting as well as “records relating to or involving evidence collected by your agency which tends to indicate an alien has voted in a federal election.” An official in Orange County received a similar subpoena, local media reported.

“This court believes it would be wise that any threats to state or county employees cease immediately,” the judge said during court proceedings. “These threats must stop,” he wrote in his Wednesday decision.

A Justice Department spokesperson pushed back against characterizations that the administration was targeting individuals with subpoenas, noting that receiving a subpoena doesn’t mean you are a target and that the DOJ generally doesn’t subpoena targets.

Click here to read the full article at Fox News

 

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: , ,

Get up to speed fast on the California election with our guide for the still undecided

October 28, 2026 By Lynn La 1 Comment

It’s time to lock in on Election Day if you haven’t already mailed in your ballot.

California voters are making some big decisions, including choosing the next leader of the state, who will serve in the U.S. House (and potentially what party controls Congress) and whether California becomes the first state to impose a billionaire tax.

Click Here to Subscribe to the California Political Review

Plus we have a dizzying 14 propositions on our statewide ballots, including ones on complicated topics like environmental and healthcare spending.

On top of that, President Donald Trump and his administration have been contesting the mechanics of California elections for months. It began with an executive order that was meant to limit mail-in voting, which California uses. That effort failed in court but fueled worries that ballots would not be delivered.

Now, the administration is suing California to force elections officials to set aside up to 20,000 ballots that the feds claim could have been mailed to noncitizens. It also charged 28 immigrants with illegally voting or registering to vote. Democratic congressional leaders and allied groups have sued the administration in return.

Here’s what you need to know to get up to speed and make sure your vote counts.

How to vote

Early voting has already begun in some locations across all counties, and you can look up nearby voting centers here where you can vote in person or drop off your ballot.

You can also mail your ballot, which must be postmarked on or before Election Day and received by election offices within seven days after Election Day. Officials are urging voters to mail ballots early in case there’s any post office delays.

After you submit your ballot, you can track its status here. County elections officials must begin reporting results to the secretary of state on Election night, no more than two hours after they begin counting votes. The officials have 30 days to count ballots and finalize their results to the state. The secretary of state then has 38 days to certify the results. More information about California’s vote-counting process can be found here.

California governor’s race

In a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans two-to-one, Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra is the likeliest to win. Unlike his opponent, Republican Steve Hilton, Becerra has remained mum during the race about specific policies he’d enact as governor.

The son of working-class Mexican immigrants, Becerra has had a long history of public service: He served a dozen terms in Congress, became California’s first Latino attorney general and went on to become the first Latino U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services.

Becerra urges voters to look at his record to see where he stands, like when he sued the first Trump administration to preserve the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals immigration program or filed a lawsuit with Texas to preserve the Affordable Care Act. He was also an early supporter of LGBTQ+ rights and universal public healthcare.

Hilton, meanwhile, hopes to be the first Republican to hold statewide office in 20 years and is endorsed by Trump. Born in the U.K. to Hungarian immigrants, Hilton doesn’t fall neatly into one singular political ideology. While working in London to refresh the British Conservative Party’s image, he pushed to slash welfare, cut government employment and privatize government services. But he’s also endorsed a higher national living wage in the U.K. and is critical of the right for oftentimes blaming China and immigration for inequality in the U.S.

He’s run a cheeky campaign while touting lofty pledges such as abolishing the California DMV, lowering gas to $3 a gallon and halving electricity bills.

The two only debated each other once, in September, in which Becerra linked Hilton repeatedly to Trump and Hilton accused Becerra of dodging California’s real problems.

For more, see where the candidates stand on climate, healthcare, artificial intelligence regulation, water management and homelessness.

Click here to read the full article in CalMatters

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: , ,

A last-minute voter guide to all 14 propositions on the California ballot

October 28, 2026 By Adam Echelman 1 Comment

Yes, the much talked-about billionaire tax is on the ballot this November, but it’s just one of 14 statewide propositions.

If you’re not a policy wonk who knows the ins and outs of state election, tax or environmental law, don’t worry — you’re not alone, and we’re here to help. The CalMatters voter guide has full explainers, videos and even quizzes to help you decide how these measures line up with your values and priorities.

Click Here to Subscribe to the California Political Review

Taxes: Props. 2, 3, 40, 41, 42 and 43

If it seems like this year’s ballot has an unusually high number of tax-related ballot propositions, well, you’re right. It does.

Prop. 2 would allow the state to deposit more money into its reserves, otherwise known as the rainy day fund. The state has strict rules about how much money it can save for lean times in part because of limits imposed during the state’s 1970s taxpayer revolt. But California also has a fairly volatile tax system that rises and falls with the incomes of its highest earners. Democrats want more flexibility to sock money away for downturns. Many Republicans say leftover money should go to taxpayers, rather than sit in state coffers.

Prop. 3 would turn a temporary income tax for high earners into a permanent law. The tax, which hits those with individual income over $360,000, was enacted as a quick fix in 2012, with most of the money going to support K-12 education and community colleges. Now the state’s largest teachers union wants to make the tax permanent, but opponents say California already has some of the highest taxes in the country.

Prop. 40, otherwise known as the billionaire tax, is hands-down the highest profile and the most expensive proposition campaign this year. It would enact a one-time 5% tax on billionaires’ net worth, raising roughly $100 billion over five years, according to the healthcare workers union that put the measure on the ballot. Proponents argue that these ultra-wealthy Californians are already getting federal tax cuts and that the money will help healthcare programs that face state and federal funding cuts. But business leaders point out that California relies on these billionaires for tax revenue, and if they leave, the state could suffer. Even some healthcare organizations, such as Planned Parenthood, oppose Prop. 40, because they are concerned the money won’t actually help stave off state and federal funding cuts.

Prop. 40 is so controversial that its opponents have two rival ballot measures, Prop. 41 and Prop. 42, which, if approved, would thwart the billionaire tax. A yes vote for either of these two ballot measures would invalidate the billionaire tax.

Prop. 43 would make it harder for local citizen-driven tax referenda to pass. Currently, these local tax measures only need a majority to win. If Prop. 43 passes, they would need two-thirds of the vote. Proponents say Prop. 43 closes a loophole in election tax law. Opponents say it’s anti-democratic.

Should California borrow money for housing and medical research?

The state can quickly raise lots of cash by selling bonds to investors, but selling too many bonds risks saddling the state with debt.

Prop. 1 would authorize the state to borrow up to $11.25 billion toward housing construction and renovations, mostly for rental units. Many developers and local governments that receive the money would have to reserve a portion of it for affordable housing for low-income renters or for specialized housing that serves the homeless. Some money would also be earmarked to support first-time homebuyers, veterans, farmworkers, students and California’s tribal communities.

Prop. 37 would create a loan fund that helps middle-class homebuyers with their down payment. It’s technically a $25 billion bond, though the money would get paid back slowly by homebuyers rather than from taxpayers. If passed, most California renters would qualify. Proponents, including unions, real estate developers and the Democratic Party, say the proposition could make homebuying accessible, but opponents say it has a number of problems that could prevent the program from actually happening, or worse, that it could put homebuyers in greater debt.

Prop. 38 would pump $8.4 billion in state funding to immunology research — but with a catch. About half the money would go to one nonprofit organization, most likely the California Institute for Immunology and Immunotherapy. Gary K. Michelson, the institute’s co-founder, put this proposition on the ballot.

Changing election laws

These ballot propositions could shape how the candidates raise money and how recall elections operate. Voters will also weigh in on a voter ID proposal.

Prop. 4 would allow the state and local governments to create public financing for political campaigns. Proponents, including the California Democratic Party, argue it could help cap political spending because candidates usually have to accept certain spending limits in exchange for access to public money. Opponents say the proposal could force taxpayers to chip in money for candidates they don’t support. Research on the effectiveness of public financing for political campaigns is mixed.

Prop. 5 would modify the rules surrounding California’s recall elections. Currently, a recall election asks voters whether they want to oust the officeholder and who they want instead. A yes vote on Prop. 5 would make it so that recall elections only ask whether voters want to remove the elected official from office. If recalled, another election would determine who should replace the officeholder. The Democratic Party supports this proposition. Republicans oppose it.

Prop. 39 would increase identification requirements for California voters. To register, voters are already required to declare in writing that they are U.S citizens. This proposition would require voters to show proof of citizenship before casting their vote. Republicans argue the proposition would put California in line with many other states and that it will crack down on voter fraud, which is rare. They’ve spent over $36 million supporting the proposition, almost half of it from Illinois billionaire Richard Uihlein. Democrats say Prop. 39 could create “unnecessary barriers,” especially for immigrants and low-income Californians who lack a driver’s license.

Other stuff: Healthcare and the environment

Anyone can place a proposition on California ballots if they follow the right procedures and get enough signatures, but special interest groups, such as unions and pro-business organizations, do it more often than most.

Click here to read the full article at CalMatters

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: , ,

Major California water plan faces ‘huge mess’ as deadline looms

October 27, 2026 By Kurtis Alexander Leave a Comment

At the urging of Gov. Gavin Newsom, California water officials have been working with a group of agencies for years on a far-reaching plan to protect the rivers that nourish the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

The Newsom administration is seeking an arrangement in which urban and agricultural suppliers across the state agree to take less water from California rivers, and help restore river habitat, in exchange for more flexibility using water and meeting regulations. The goal is to halt the ecological slide of the delta, a sprawling estuary and water supply hub for nearly 30 million people.

But even as the governor has made finalizing what’s called the Bay Delta Plan a priority before he leaves office in January, the state’s negotiations with the water agencies appear to have come up short. The State Water Resources Control Board is scheduled to adopt the plan this week, yet water providers up and down the state are taking issue with it, many saying it isn’t the collaborative deal they were promised. The Trump administration is also protesting.

Click Here to Subscribe to the California Political Review

The division, after nearly a decade of private discussions, is not just a setback for the parties involved. It leaves the fate of the Bay Delta Plan and, importantly, the future of delta water management, in disarray.

Without appropriate action, the watery 1,100-square-mile region between the Bay Area and Sacramento will face a worsening crisis of dwindling freshwater, degraded habitat, rising pollution and perishing wildlife, notably salmon runs. Ultimately, delta water exports to some of California’s biggest cities and farms are at stake.

“This is a huge mess,” said Jennifer Pierre, general manager for the State Water Contractors, a group of water agencies that receive state water exports and a participant in the Bay Delta Plan negotiations. “It didn’t need to be this way. It’s very unfortunate that this is where we are now (with the plan). We’ve been working on it for a long time.”

Water suppliers, including such Bay Area giants as the East Bay Municipal Utility District and Santa Clara Valley Water District, cite a range of concerns. The common complaint is that state regulators aren’t giving the agencies enough operational leeway, undercutting the suppliers’ hope of managing rivers without rigid rules and with enough latitude to adjust as conditions change.

Click here to read the full article in the SF Chronicle

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: , ,

After $1.6 billion in claims, addiction treatment leaders arrested by feds

October 25, 2026 By Teri Sforza 1 Comment

Column: Lawyers for father-son duo David and Nathan Young argue their arrests and detention were illegal

It was very hard to leave the addiction treatment empire of Nathan and David Young: Clients were drugged with medication, cut off from communication with family members, prevented from accessing their belongings and even physically blocked when they tried to bolt, a federal complaint says.

Clients were referred to not by name, but by insurance policy, it continued. “The United girl has decided to come in …,” said a text from a broker, proposing to put her into expensive detox treatment at Rodeo Recovery. “Ok, I think it’s a bad policy but sure,” Nathan Young responded. “An Alaska would be 20 times better….”

A week later, a client with better “Alaska”-type insurance came along, and “United” was booted. “Yes I was moving the (expletive) United back to sober living,” the broker texted Nathan Young.

This exchange is problematic, the federal complaint says, because “neither Nathan nor the broker have medical training, yet appear to be making medical decisions about patients’ level of care (lowering the United Health Care patient’s level of care from detox to sober living) based solely on the profitability of her insurance plan.”

After years of wrongful death and injury claims, a $40 million lawsuit from Aetna accusing the Youngs of weaponizing addiction for profit, reporting by the Southern California News Group and revoked licenses from the state government, Nathan Young and his father David Young have been arrested on federal charges of healthcare fraud.

That includes submitting fraudulent health insurance applications on behalf of prospective patients; providing patients with illegal drugs to maintain addiction so they cycled through the Young facilities for as long and as many times as possible; billing for non-existent and woefully inadequate “therapy” sessions; and giving patients financial inducements in exchange for enrolling and remaining in treatment, “often referred to as ‘patient brokering’ or ‘body brokering,’” the complaint said.

The Young facilities submitted more than $1.6 billion in claims to private health insurers and were paid more than $210 million, it said.

They are on home detention with remote monitoring after posting $4 million bail, each. Passports were surrendered. A hearing is slated for Nov. 5.

Click here to read the full article in the OC Register

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: , ,

How is Kimberly Guilfoyle related to California governor Gavin Newsom? The surprising link between two political figures

October 15, 2026 By Advaita Suresh 2 Comments

Kimberly Guilfoyle and Gavin Newsom’s personal history connects two big names from opposite sides of the American political spectrum. The former couple tied the knot in December 2001 and divorced in 2005, before Newsom became governor of California and Guilfoyle rose to prominence in conservative media and Republican politics.

Politics often brings together people whose careers later move in very different directions. Kimberly Guilfoyle and Gavin Newsom are one such example. Guilfoyle and Newsom shared a chapter of their personal and professional lives together in San Francisco once married to each other before Guilfoyle went on to become a conservative political figure and Newsom became governor of California.

Their relationship continues to be an interesting connection between two characters on opposite ends of American politics. Since then their careers, public statements and party affiliations have gone their separate ways, and their history is relevant to an understanding of where each of them has ended up.

Who is Kimberly Guilfoyle?

Kimberly Guilfoyle is an American lawyer, former television legal analyst and political personality. She initially established her career in law, working as a prosecutor in California before getting into television and conservative politics.

Born and raised in San Francisco, Guilfoyle earned her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Davis, and later graduated from the University of San Francisco School of Law. She was admitted to practise law in California in 1994 and worked in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.

Guilfoyle subsequently established a media career as a legal analyst for CourtTV and later worked at Fox News. After leaving the network in 2018, she became increasingly involved in Republican politics and fundraising for Donald Trump.

Click here to read the full article in the Economic Times

Filed Under: Trending News Tagged With: , ,

How California’s insurance race became a race to the left

October 13, 2026 By SAQIB RAHIM 3 Comments

Progressives have spotted an opening to seize one of the most powerful regulatory posts in the country from establishment Democrats.

They’re bringing in Sen. Bernie Sanders to help.

“People are sick and tired of the greed of these billionaires, tired of them undermining democracy,” thundered Sanders (I-Vt.) at a Saturday rally in San Francisco, the first of three California stops to whip up support for a tax on billionaires and a clutch of progressive candidates. Among the headliners: Jane Kim, a Democrat and former San Francisco official running for state insurance commissioner.

Click Here to Subscribe to the California Political Review

For progressives, the insurance post represents a chance to transform policy in an influential — if little-known — role in the nation’s most populous state. And it offers an alternative route to power for a wing of the Democratic Party that flopped in this year’s gubernatorial race after billionaire Tom Steyer lost in the primary.

“This is an industry that needs a transformative shift,” Kim said in an interview. Voters are “tired of any candidate that’s going to do more of the same … they want to see someone fight the insurance industry.”

Kim is up against state Sen. Ben Allen, marking the first time two Democrats have ever competed directly for the seat. A recent poll showed voters narrowly preferring Kim in the Nov. 3 contest, though most remain undecided.

The stakes are unusually high, because California is experiencing perhaps the most extreme insurance market crunch in the nation. A rash of wildfires, combined with price regulations insurers say are too strict, have prompted insurers to pull back en masse and left more than half-a-million people with no private insurer willing to cover them.

California’s top insurance official enjoys a formidable set of powers including the authority to tamp down on price hikes, investigate insurers for their claims practices and propose legislation to change the insurance code. And Sanders’ visit reflects the intensity of the contest between establishment Democrats and their left flank over whether the state can nurse the market back to health — or take a more muscular role in it.

Kim, a former civil rights attorney and Sanders campaigner backed by the California Democratic Socialists of America, intends to make the state a major provider of insurance against natural disasters for all homeowners — a sharp break from the state’s current private-led system. The program she’s proposing, which would need to be created through legislation, would be funded through a charge on home insurance policies.

Allen, a veteran lawmaker endorsed by the state Democratic Party, is proposing an extension of policies set by outgoing Commissioner Ricardo Lara, combined with efforts to reduce fire risk in communities that he says will attract insurers.

“Blowing something up with no plan is not going to help consumers,” Allen said of Kim’s platform in an interview. “I understand that people are mad. I’m angry, too … I’m putting a plan forward that’s bold, audacious, but also doable. I’m not going to lie to people about what’s possible.”

Lara, also a Democrat, has spent three years enacting policies meant to bring insurers back, like allowing them to set prices based on future climate risk, which they were previously barred from doing, and to pass on some of the costs linked to rising natural disasters around the world. He and insurers say the policies are helping the market recover, but some consumer groups have attacked the policies as too industry-friendly.

Click here to read the full article in Politico

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: , ,

Trump Casts Long Shadow Over California Campaigns

October 10, 2026 By Susan Crabtree Leave a Comment

Even before Donald Trump’s confusing gaffe Monday night in Nebraska about Iran bombing Los Angeles and San Diego, the president was looming large over nearly every hotly contested California election campaign.

In one Southern California race, Trump’s long shadow produced a disjointed two-step. Rep. Ken Calvert is attacking fellow Republican Rep. Young Kim for her anti-Trump stances, even as a Calvert-aligned PAC sent Democratic voters in the district mailers playing up her support for and from Trump.

Confused? That’s understandable. Under the new map, Calvert’s 41st Congressional District in Southern California was redrawn as a solidly Democratic seat, so the 33-year incumbent chose to run in the neighboring 40th, which stretches from the eastern edge of Orange County into a large chunk of western Riverside County.

Click Here to Subscribe to the California Political Review

That move set up the cycle’s strangest California race: Calvert versus Kim in a solidly Republican district that Trump carried by 12 points. It has been one of the nastiest campaigns in the country, with both sides fighting over who is more loyal to Trump. During the primary, a pro-Calvert super PAC, Americans 4 Security, spent $2.9 million on anti-Kim ads. Calvert has called Kim a “backstabbing RINO” and a “Trump-traitor,” and the PAC’s ads paint her as a liberal who hates Trump, citing her past vote to censure the president while ignoring her votes against Democrats’ efforts to impeach him.

Yet the same pro-Calvert super PAC sent two deliberately deceptive mailers to Democrats, playing up Kim’s pro-MAGA record. One showed a photo of a smiling Kim with the words “Young Kim, 100% with Trump,” and “a proven fighter who will stand with President Trump to deliver a bold American First Agenda.”

The goal was obvious: Turn off Democratic households and discourage party crossover support for Kim.

Kim answered with an ad focused on Calvert’s old scandals. It cites a 2009 Orange County Register editorial that ranked him among the most corrupt members of Congress, calls him swampy and sleazy, and revives a 1994 Los Angeles Times story about police catching him with a prostitute in his car. The ad ends by calling Calvert a “sleazebag.”

For all their fighting over Trump, both Calvert and Kim carefully avoided the furor over his Iran comments early this week, even as the remarks set off a raging debate on social media and in campaigns across the state. The timing could hardly have been worse for Republicans: The comments landed just as most California voters began receiving their mail-in ballots.

Speaking before a cheering crowd in Grand Island, Nebraska, Monday night, Trump defended his war with Iran with a line that landed hard 1,500 miles west: “Let them take out Los Angeles, let them take out San Diego.” The White House defended the line, saying the president was clearly warning about what Iran could do with a nuclear weapon, not encouraging it.

Although the explanation clearly fits the context of the president’s remarks, it didn’t satisfy everyone in his own party. By Tuesday morning, the Republican running in Southern California’s most closely watched open House seat was publicly breaking with him.

Jim Desmond, a San Diego County supervisor and Navy veteran who is the GOP nominee in the redrawn 48th District, said he “vehemently” disapproved of what the president said. The district is currently represented by retiring Rep. Darrell Issa.

Desmond’s quick distancing is a measure of how worried Republicans are about Trump’s waning popularity even in precincts he carried in previous elections – a dynamic playing out beyond California’s borders as well.

The newly drawn 48th district is a hook-shaped swath that includes areas in San Diego and Riverside counties, including around Vista, San Marcos, Palm Springs, and Temecula. The current configuration changed a 12-point Republican voter registration advantage to a 4-point Democratic lead. That, of course, was done by design. Late last year, state Democrats redrew the state’s congressional map through Proposition 50, the ballot measure voters approved last November. Gov. Gavin Newsom sold the measure to voters as a way to fight Republican “fire with fire,” abandoning independent redistricting to redraw California’s congressional map in Democrats’ favor (in response to Republicans’ redistricting effort in Texas). The new map was designed to put five of California’s nine Republican-held seats either at a strong Democratic advantage or within Democrats’ reach. The question now is not whether Democrats gain seats here, but how many. And the answer turns on a handful of genuinely competitive races.

Click here to read the full article in Real Clear Politics

Filed Under: Top Stories Tagged With: , , ,