L.A. mayor’s race: Rick Caruso and Karen Bass headed to November runoff
LA Times, JAMES RAINEY, JULIA WICK, BENJAMIN ORESKES: “Billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso and U.S. Rep. Karen Bass will square off in a November runoff in their costly race to become Los Angeles’ next mayor, with the two far ahead of the rest of the primary field.
Caruso held a narrow but widening lead over Bass in partial returns early Wednesday. With slightly more than one-third of the expected votes counted, Caruso was ahead with 42% to Bass’ 37%.
Los Angeles City Councilman Kevin de León was third, far behind the leaders, with progressive activist Gina Viola fourth.”
California races that will shape control of Congress come into focus after primary
LA Times, SEDEMA MEHTA/MELANIE MASON: “California contests that will shape control of Congress came into focus Tuesday evening in the midterm primary, with one of the nation’s most endangered Republican incumbents, Rep. Mike Garcia, moving forward to face off for the third time against former Assemblywoman Christy Smith in northern Los Angeles County.
GOP Rep. Michelle Steel will continue an increasingly personal battle with Democrat Jay Chen, a Navy Reserve intelligence officer, in a competitive Orange County district with a plurality of Asian American voters. And Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, also drawn into a tight district in the same county, will face off with a former GOP state legislator.
These are two of several congressional contests in the state that are being closely watched by political observers around the nation as Republicans attempt to retake control of Congress.”
Why are Californians bankrolling ‘high stakes’ national races in states where they don’t vote?
PHILLIP REESE, SacBee: "Californians have given more money this election cycle to a candidate running for U.S. Senate 2,500 miles from Sacramento than they have given to any candidate running in their own state.
Raphael Warnock, the incumbent Democratic senator from Georgia, has raised about $7 million in itemized contributions for the 2021-22 election cycle from individual California donors,
according to Federal Elections Commission data that runs through March 31.
U.S. Senator Alex Padilla, who is widely expected to win reelection in California this year, is runner-up in terms of donations from Californians. They have given Padilla $6 million."
California Sends Democrats and the Nation a Message on Crime
SHANE GOLDMACHER, NY Times: "Voters in California delivered a stark warning to the Democratic Party on Tuesday about the potency of law and order as a political message in 2022, as a Republican-turned-Democrat campaigning as a crime-fighter vaulted into a runoff in the mayoral primary in Los Angeles and a progressive prosecutor in San Francisco was recalled in a landslide.
The two results made vivid the depths of voter frustration over rising crime and rampant homelessness in even the most progressive corners of the country — and are the latest signs of a restless Democratic electorate that was promised a return to normalcy under President Biden and yet remains unsatisfied with the nation’s state of affairs.
“People are not in a good mood, and they have reason not to be in a good mood,” said Garry South, a Los Angeles-based Democratic strategist. “It’s not just the crime issue. It’s the homelessness. It’s the high price of gasoline.”
California voters choose incumbent Alex Padilla and lawyer Mark Meuser in US Senate primary
GILLIAN BRASSIL, SacBee: "Two primaries for United States Senate were on the California ballot in Tuesday. Sen. Alex Padilla and Republican attorney Mark Meuser won both and advanced to elections in November.
Padilla, a Democrat, had to run in both a special and general election to keep the seat through January 2029. The special election is for the last two months of the current term; the general election is for a full, six-year term that starts in January 2023.
The Associated Press called both races for Padilla less than 23 minutes after polls closed on Tuesday. He had more than 55% of the vote in each contest by 12:00 a.m. Pacific Time."
Automakers side with California in lawsuit over climate change, tailpipe emissions
DALE KASLER, SacBee: "California’s fight to regain its leadership role on regulating carbon emissions from automotive tailpipes is getting help from an unlikely ally: the car industry.
Carmakers have fought with California officials for decades over air-pollution regulations. The industry initially sided with former President Donald Trump when he announced he was planning to strip California of its unique power set its own guidelines over greenhouse gas emissions.
President Joe Biden’s administration announced in March it was reversing Trump’s decision, restoring California’s ability to set tougher standards than the nation as a whole. But 17 Republican state attorneys general sued Biden’s administration, saying it was unfair to let California have such authority."
Parts of Southern California used 26% more water in April, despite conservation pleas
HAYLEY SMITH, LA Times: "Coastal Southern California increased water usage by more than 25% for the month of April, lagging behind most other parts of the state in conservation and appearing to dismiss dire warnings of supply shortages.
According to data released Tuesday by the State Water Resources Control Board, cities and towns in the South Coast hydrologic region — an area that includes Los Angeles and more than half the state’s population — used 25.6% more water in April than in April 2020, the first year of the current drought.
Statewide, urban residents used 17.6% more water, marking a small decline from March, but still far less than what officials say is needed to weather a historic drought."
Sacramento County reports fifth probable monkeypox case; second case in two days
ROSALIO AHUMADA and MICHAEL McGOUGH, SacBee: "Officials have detected a fifth likely case of monkeypox in Sacramento County through contact tracing, the local health office announced Tuesday afternoon.
Samantha Mott, a county health spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement that a specimen has been sent to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for confirmatory testing. She also said in the statement that the “risk to the general public remains low.”
On Monday, health officials announced a fourth likely case of monkeypox was detected in Sacramento County, and a specimen was sent to the CDC for confirmatory testing."
California primary results: Who is advancing to November?
CALMatters, STAFF: “The polls are closed, but remember: In California elections, this is just the beginning.
The June top-two primary is when California voters choose their two favorites for governor, for top prosecutor, for fiscal watchdog and for a phalanx of lesser known and less competitive positions. Ditto for each of the 80 Assembly districts, 20 state Senate races and 52 congressional districts where 160, 40 and 104 candidates, respectively, will emerge after all the ballots are counted. But there may not be as many ballots to count as in previous primaries, if projections on abysmal voter turnout prove right.
In some races, this is the election that counts. There will be overwhelmingly blue or decisively red districts where only one member of the dominant party will secure one of the two coveted spots, all but ensuring their victory in November. But in others, the contests will create Democrat versus Democrat battles or, to a far lesser extent, Republican versus Republican fights. And for most races, the results of the June 7 primary will set the terms for the contests to come. Which races will be most competitive? Which political factions and ideological movements will win out? And which issues will be most hotly discussed and debated?”
California primary sends Newsom, Republican Brian Dahle to November governor’s race
LA Times, PHIL WILLON: “Gov. Gavin Newsom took a large step toward reelection Tuesday after crushing a crowded field of scarcely known challengers in California’s statewide primary, and will face off against a conservative Northern California Republican, state Sen. Brian Dahle.
The Associated Press projected that the 55-year-old Democratic governor will easily move to the Nov. 8 election and a two-person race where he will be heavily favored over Dahle, 56.
Newsom’s dominance comes almost nine months after he easily swatted down a Republican-led recall attempt. The one-two punch showed just how formidable he remains in California politics even after a first term in which he was tested by the tumult of the COVID-19 pandemic, six of the largest wildfires in state history and an ever-worsening homelessness crisis.”
What’s next for Chesa Boudin? Maybe another run for D.A.
The Chronicle, MICHAEL CABANATA: “Even though he has been recalled by San Francisco voters, District Attorney Chesa Boudin could be back on the ballot in six months to run for the office he just lost.
Some criminal justice advocates and political consultants have suggested that it could make sense for Boudin, a leading figure in the progressive prosecutors movement, to run again for district attorney in the November election to fill out his term.
While Boudin was recalled Tuesday, with early returns showing 61% of voters backing Proposition H, in 2019 he topped all opponents in all three rounds of the general election and instant runoffs, demonstrating that there was support for his reformer agenda. He also has a campaign organization up and running that could swiftly shift direction from the recall to the Nov. 8 election.”
The Chronicle, RACHEL SWAN/MALLORY MOENCH: “On the night San Francisco voters removed him from office, District Attorney Chesa Boudin — a politician narrowly elected amid the fervor of Black Lives Matter, resistance to the presidency of Donald Trump and hope that local prosecutors could improve the criminal justice system — found the limits of the city’s progressivism.
By keeping his promises to slash the city’s jail population, divert more defendants to treatment and prosecute police officers,
Boudin pushed even further left than his liberal predecessors and became a standard-bearer in a nationwide movement.”
Locked in a tight race, Sheriff Villanueva forced into runoff election
LA Tmes, ALENE TCHEKMEDYIAN, LIBOR JANY , CONNOR SHEETS: “Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s bid for reelection will go to a runoff in November after early poll results showed him holding a healthy lead over retired Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna.
With nearly 29% of the expected votes counted, the Associated Press projected that Villanueva would not reach the 50%-plus-one threshold needed to avoid a runoff.
Trailing Villanueva by about 10 percentage points, Luna had not secured the second runoff spot by early Wednesday, leaving open the possibility that another challenger could overtake him, according to the AP.”
New teaching residency at CSUB targets Black student success
EdSource, EMMA GALLEGOS: “When Dominique Alexander Lane struggled to pass math tests in third grade, her teacher told her that she was never going to get it.
“I took that with me through the rest of my academics,” she said. “Like, ‘I’m not a math person. I just can’t do it. I won’t do it.’”
Now Lane has returned to Seibert Elementary, the Bakersfield school she attended as a child, through a teaching residency launched in the spring by Cal State Bakersfield. The Black Educator Teacher Residency (BETR) is aimed not only at recruiting Black teaching candidates like her but at transforming the education system for Black students.”
For education, adults should have financial aid opportunities, too
OP-ED, Capitol Weekly, JOCELYN ZARAGOZA: “It’s been my dream to earn my MBA and this year, I did it.
During my journey, I learned there are millions of people who don’t follow a traditional path to college after high school and want to return to school as an adult, but face too many barriers such as high costs, limited availability, and scheduling restrictions at brick-and-mortar schools.
That is why I decided to drive from my home in Perris, California to the State Capitol to share my story and ask state legislators to support a new state grant program for working adults like me, who need financial aid and the flexibility of online courses to go to school.”
Can Lake Tahoe outgrow its dependence on tourism? A new report offers solutions
The Chronicle, GREGORY THOMAS: “Most everyone in Tahoe appears to agree: the region is at a crossroads.
The pandemic sent remote workers and streams of tourists to the mountains, adding new pressure to Tahoe’s lean infrastructure and sparking conversations about how communities there will manage going forward. Workforce housing is in short supply, the affordability gap is growing, roads and trails are jam-packed, and tensions between newcomers and established locals routinely make headlines.
At the same time, towns have struggled with wildfires, smoke and periodic pandemic lockdowns that drove tourists away at key times.”