Decisive election waits for California’s results. What’s the hold-up?
KAREN GARCIA, LA Times: "It’s been nearly a week since election day, and California is still counting ballots, imposing an agonizing wait on a nation wondering who will lead the next U.S. House of Representatives.
It isn’t a surprise that California is taking its time to verify, process and count the ballots of its more than 22 million registered voters."
READ MORE about the latest key counts: GOP Rep. Valadao holds Central Valley, California, swing seat,LARA KORTE, Politico; Democrat Dave Min wins seat held by Katie Porter representing coastal Orange County, HANNAH FRY, LA Times
California Gov. Kamala Harris? New poll finds she’d have a clear advantage
LAURA J. NELSON, LA Times: "If Vice President Kamala Harris were to run for governor in California in 2026, she would have a major advantage over the crowded field of candidates vying to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, new polling shows.
The latest poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times, found that if Harris enters California’s crowded 2026 gubernatorial race, nearly half of voters would be very or somewhat likely to support her."
What a second Trump administration could mean for California state workers
WILLIAM MELHADO, SacBee: "The president-elect has threatened to withhold federal funding for disaster relief to the Golden State if the governor doesn’t enact his policies. He promised to conduct mass deportations, which could result in labor shortages in California’s agricultural sector.
But Trump’s potential impact on California state workers is less clear, said Nick Schroeder, an analyst with the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office who specializes in public employment."
Can Newsom’s California Still Lead the Trump Resistance?
ZUSHA ELINSON and SARAH RANDAZZO, Wall Street Journal: "Within two days of the election, Newsom positioned himself at the forefront of the opposition, calling for state lawmakers to convene an emergency special session “to safeguard California values” in the face of an incoming Trump administration.
Hours later, state Attorney General Rob Bonta seconded the notion, speaking beneath the Golden Gate Bridge about California’s role as a fortress for the resistance."
Newsom’s Hail Mary to defend California from Trump
ALEX NIEVES, Politico: "There are 68 days left for California to insulate its nation-leading pollution rules as best it can from President-elect Donald Trump — and Gov. Gavin Newsom is feeling the heat.
Newsom went to Washington on Tuesday to offer President Joe Biden a friendly reminder that come Jan. 20 — Trump’s first day in office — California will lose its power to enforce a big swath of its climate and clean air rules."
Trump’s proposed tariffs, especially on China and Mexico, could hit California hard
A range of experts, from Nobel Prize-winning economists to an internet-famous menswear writer, have a message for Americans who voted for Donald Trump based on his promises to bring down prices: This likely won’t go how you want.
Some voters cited the cost of living as a factor in their decision to elect Trump to a second term as president. But with inflation actually starting to ease, his proposed tariffs, which the president-elect has called the “most beautiful word in the dictionary,” could actually raise prices again."
S.F.’s Ocean Beach could be transformed with massive seawall. Surfers are not happy
TARA DUGGAN, Chronicle: "On Thursday, the California Coastal Commission will vote on the approval of a $175 million climate-related project that would transform the southern portion of San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. A sticking point is a massive seawall that some surfers fear could make the beach disappear.
Staff from the state coastal protection agency have recommended that the commission approve the city’s Ocean Beach Climate Change Adaptation Project, which will be funded by the city, with some conditions. Created by the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission and other agencies, the plan includes a 3,200-foot-long buried seawall designed to protect a sewage tunnel and wastewater treatment plant located along the coast south of Sloat Boulevard."
A guide to Gavin Newsom’s Trump-proofing efforts by POLITICO’s California bureau
DUSTIN GARDINER, Politico: "Gov. Gavin Newsom is pleading with his Democratic friends in Washington to help the Golden State prepare its defenses for Trump 2.0.
The governor is in D.C. today to lobby the outgoing Biden-Harris administration over a series of last-minute funding decisions and federal waiver extensions before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January."
Trump Taps Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to Slash Government
MICHAEL D. SHEAR and ERIC LIPTON, NY Times: "How do you slash, cut, restructure and even dismantle parts of the federal government?
If you’re President-elect Donald J. Trump, you turn to two wealthy entrepreneurs: the spaceship-inventing, electric-car-building owner of a social media platform and a moneymaking former pharmaceutical executive who was once one of your presidential rivals."
Sacramento delays reparations and racial equity vote after ‘major changes,’ official says
EMMA HALL, SacBee: "While reviewing resolutions focused on racial equity and reparations, Councilwoman Mai Vang called out the city manager’s office for making “major changes” ahead of a vote Tuesday afternoon.
One of the resolutions, which is a part of the Mayoral Reparations Initiative, seeks to continue efforts on reparations by making it a city-wide initiative. The other, which was first voted on Oct. 29, would acknowledge Sacramento’s history of systemic racism and racial inequities. The resolutions will be voted on Dec. 3, after Vang and members of the Racial Equity Committee said the latter resolution was changed without approval."
The Trump-California water wars are about to begin. Here’s what’s at stake
KURTIS ALEXANDER, Chronicle: "In a social media post days after the election, President-elect Donald Trump made clear that California’s water wars are top of his agenda – and he’s firmly on the side of big water users, not fish.
His early words for the state come as little surprise after his first four years in office. The previous Trump administration successfully rolled back environmental protections to send more water from rivers in the north to farms and cities farther south."
‘Who the f--k is this guy?’: Defense world reacts to Trump’s surprise Pentagon pick
JOE GOULD, ROBBIE GRAMER, PAUL McLEARY, CONNOR O'BRIEN and JACK DETSCH, Politico: "President-elect Donald Trump’s Tuesday night surprise pick of a conservative commentator and television host as his Pentagon chief shocked Washington, which had expected the nominee to be a seasoned lawmaker or someone with defense policy experience.
National security officials and defense analysts had braced for surprises from Trump after experiencing his first four years in office. But even grading on that curve, they say the announcement of Fox News host and decorated Army veteran Pete Hegseth caught them totally off-guard."
The biggest clue about the Democrats’ post-election future starts with this race
HOLLY OTTERBEIN and ELENA SCHNEIDER, Politico: "When rumors began swirling that Wisconsin Democratic Party leader Ben Wikler might run for chair of the national party, Jeff Weaver, a prominent progressive strategist, texted him with a warning.
“I am letting you know that in advance I will be publicly and actively opposing any effort to elevate you to DNC chair,” he wrote."
Why no one spent more than Google to lobby California officials this summer
ALEXEI KOSEFF and JEREMIA KIMELAN, CalMatters: "Google’s payments to influence state government surged to almost $11 million from July through September, nearly 90 times more than the same period last year, making it the highest-spending lobbyist employer in California in the third quarter.
Its lobbying blitz came as the tech giant engaged in a fierce battle at the state Capitol during the final months of the legislative session over whether it would have to pay news outlets for publishing their content."
OPINION: We now live in a Prop. 187 America. What’s next?
GUSTAVO ARELLANO, LA Times: "We tell ourselves stories in order to live, Joan Didion famously wrote, and the one Democrats in California repeated for decades was Proposition 187.
Californians of a certain age can recite it by heart: A 1994 ballot initiative sought to make life miserable for undocumented immigrants, with proponents claiming that unchecked migration was destroying the Golden State by burdening social services and changing the demographics of cities. It passed with nearly two-thirds of the vote, despite opponents denouncing it as racist and protests across the state that drew hundreds of thousands."
Second round of rain, snow to hit Northern California. Here’s how much to expect
ANTHONY EDWARDS, Chronicle: "A powerful low-pressure system will impact the Pacific Northwest on Wednesday and push a cold front across Northern California. Heavy rain is expected along the North Coast, with 1 to 4 inches of rain forecast in Humboldt County, Mendocino County and across the Klamath Mountains. The Weather Prediction Center forecasts a low-end risk of flash flooding over burn scars, with nuisance roadway flooding likely.
Steady rain will transition to scattered thunderstorms along the North Coast in the afternoon. The Storm Prediction Center forecasts a marginal risk of severe thunderstorms north of Fort Bragg. Strong wind gusts, small hail and even a brief waterspout are possible."