San Benito County Elections & Politics Digest

The California Voter Foundation launched a tool tracking daily vote counts in 18 close contests for Congress and the state Legislature. The tracker aims to show how counts change over time and dispel misinformation about election fraud, the group says.

Voters in California’s farm belt, stretching more than 400 miles from Kern County on the south to Tehama County on the north, delivered solid majorities for Donald Trump in this month’s presidential election.

Between the summer session of the California Legislature featuring hot topics like AI regulation and money for journalism, and a special one focusing on gas prices, powerful corporations poured in record-setting money to influence lawmakers.

President-elect Donald Trump campaigned on implementing a sweeping border crackdown and undertaking the largest-scale deportation effort in history. If carried out, his proposed initiatives will have profound consequences in California, which shares a 140-mile border with Mexico.

California’s Senate will reach gender parity, but depending on the outcome of some close contests, that could extend to the whole Legislature.

Newsom wants the new Legislature to ‘protect’ California from Donald Trump on civil rights, reproductive freedom, climate action, and immigrant families. The session will start Dec. 2.

A lot is at stake with the new Trump administration: California’s water projects, its unique authority to clean its air, federal support for offshore wind and disaster aid for wildfires.

THE SALINAS VALLEY is the setting for fecund soil, labor rights movements and John Steinbeck novels.Squeezed into one 90-mile-long wedge between the Gabilan and Santa Lucia mountains, the valley’s residents constitute less than 1% of Californians but have shaped the identity of the whole state.

Homeless Californians face many barriers to casting a ballot, even in elections that affect their lives. Some counties and nonprofits are trying to boost turnout.

Proposition 33 on local rent control and the related Proposition 34 are attracting the most campaign cash by far of the 10 ballot measures. But the amount pales to what was spent on dueling sports betting measures in 2022.

Use our tool to search through investigations opened by the state’s campaign law watchdog. The data updates weekly.

Only one-third of the California GOP congressional delegation has pledged to accept the 2024 presidential election results. And only two incumbents in office in 2021 voted to certify President Joe Biden’s win over Donald Trump in the 2020 race.

With proponents of Proposition 36 raising nearly $15 million so far — about three times as much as its opponents — and 71% of likely voters in support, it appears the statewide ballot measure will pass in November.
And that’s exactly what immigrant rights advocates are worried about.

More than half of the school board races in 49 counties analyzed won't appear on the November ballot because either no one is running for the seat or a single candidate is unopposed.

With Democrats firmly in control of statewide offices and the Legislature, California isn’t often seen as a “battleground state.” But California could decide which party controls Congress — and both parties and their allies are spending tens of millions of dollars to seize the opportunity.

The Yes and No on 33 campaigns have collectively spent more than $140 million. CalMatters fact checked some of the more pervasive claims made by both sides.

After the Watergate scandal, California voters approved a ballot measure that created the Fair Political Practices Commission — an independent, nonpartisan agency to police election campaigns and investigate political ethics violations.

Last week, VotingMatters went to public libraries, colleges, and a museum to talk about California’s ballot propositions. So far, VotingMatters has reached more than 750 people across 20 events, bringing crucial election information to voters around the state.

U.S. Senate candidates Rep. Adam Schiff (far left) and Republican Steve Garvey (second) participate in a debate moderated by news anchor Marc Brown (far right) in Glendale on Oct. 8, 2024. Photo by Damian Dovarganes, AP Photo

The Mercury News explains the Proposition 35 to renew the existing tax used to fund Medi-Cal health services.

The Mercury News guide to the Proposition 2 $10 billion bond to build and repair public schools.

The Mercury News guide to the anti-crime and ant-drug dealing measure Proposition 36 on the November ballot.

Worries about retail theft and fentanyl deaths shaped a November ballot measure that would toughen some criminal penalties. Here are the facts about California crime trends.

The Sacramento Bee takes a look at the Proposition 33 rent-control measure on the November ballot.

Amid a Southern California heat wave, about 300 advocates for rent control — with two 10-foot “greedy landlord” puppets — rallied Thursday in downtown Los Angeles, chanting: “The rent is too damn high!”

Some Democrats are pushing bills that could put their colleagues on the hot seat in an election year. The authors say they’re representing their constituents and there’s never a perfect time for votes.

The Sacramento Bee explains Proposition 6, the initiative to ban involuntary servitude.

The Sacramento Bee explains Propisition 36, the anti-crime measure on the November Ballot.

Proposition 32 to increase the minimum wage from $16 isn’t as far-reaching as when it was first proposed. Fast food workers are already making more, and health care employees are on track. But worker groups are already pushing for more.

Legislators and Gov. Newsom are working behind the scenes to draft energy legislation before the end-of-the-month deadline.

A voter at a polling center at Santa Ana College in Santa Ana on March 5, 2024. Photo by Lauren Justice for CalMatters

Although the initiative process — proposing new laws via ballot measures — has been in California’s constitution for more than a century, its use was fairly uncommon until the 1970s.