San Joaquin County Elections & Politics Articles

Retired Los Angeles Dodgers All-Star Steve Garvey is running for Senate as a "moderate" Republican and could be the first GOP U.S. Senator from California in 35 years, if a new poll is any indication.

State lawmakers reconvene with a lot of problems to fix, but not a lot of money to spend on solutions with a projected $68 billion budget deficit.

A judge rules that the Bakersfield Republican is eligible to run in the 2024 election for Congress even though he had already filed to run for his state Assembly seat.

Two-thirds of the bills opposed by the oil industry this year were killed, thanks in part to an alliance with the building trades union, forcing Democrats to sometimes choose between jobs and the environment.

Poverty in California was reduced by record levels during the COVID pandemic, but now those economic support programs have come to an end and poverty is on the rise again.

Rep. Kevin McCarthy of Bakersfield announces he will leave Congress at the end of the year after fellow Republicans booted him as House speaker. Who might run for his seat? Could one candidate be former Rep. Devin Nunes?

With few strict rules on what California lawmakers must do, politics, policy priorities and personal preferences determine how much they follow the wishes of voters who put them into office.

Governors Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Ron DeSantis (R-FL) faced each other on a debate stage and traded blows, barbs, and zingers over the relative merits of their states in a Fox News debate that was nothing if not entertaining.

Small, rural districts often struggle to pass local bond measures to pay for school construction and repairs. In some cases, leaking roofs, dry rot and broken air conditioners haven’t been fixed in years.

Governors Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and Ron DeSantis (R-FL) are set to face off in a debate Nov. 30 with unexpectedly high stakes, as polls now show both underwater in voter approval ratings.

Assembly Speaker Rivas puts key allies into leadership posts and shuffles the top posts on committees heading into the 2024 session of the Legislature. One big winner: pro-housing advocates.

A new law requires K-12 schools to add media literacy to curriculum for English language arts, science, math and history-social studies. Among the lessons will be recognizing fake news.

Democracy is a 2,500-year-old system of government still looked on today as the best system, because under a democratic system, the people govern themselves. But is that all there is to it? What is democracy? And how does it work …

A year from now we’ll be choosing the next U.S. president. But there are many important decisions to be made before then. Now’s the time to start getting ready for the March 5 primary.

By the end of September 2023, more than $358 million had been spent this year on lobbying California’s Legislature, agencies, and Public Utilities Commission.

It’s the highest-profile race next year in California. This is where the leading candidates—Democrats Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff—are raising the most money.

California took the first step toward a single-payer health care system when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed SB 770 this month, but the move is not enough for many backers of universal health coverage.

KQED has spent more than three years reporting on how reparations could work in California. This series looks at the nuanced work that could be needed.

Former President Trump claims mail balloting is rife with fraud. But to win more elections, the state GOP is expanding its efforts to collect mail ballots to boost turnout.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has made lowering the cost of prescription drugs a signature health care issue, but he rejected a bill to cap what diabetics pay for insulin. His reasoning: California is working on a different solution.