Santa Cruz County Elections & Politics Articles

In a time of unprecedented polarization, Braver Angels encourages citizens to do something completely revolutionary: listen to each other.

APTOS—The Cabrillo College Board of Trustees on Monday unanimously appointed Martha Vega to fill the Area 5 seat left vacant when Felipe Hernandez was elected to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. Vega was vying for the position against …

The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday heard arguments in a potential landmark case that could roll back Section 230, the 27-year-old law that protects free speech on social media and other online platforms. Which way were the justices leaning?

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Saturday unanimously appointed Adam Scow to fill the seat vacated when former member Maria Orozco was elected to the Watsonville City Council. “Now the work begins,” Scow said after the …

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday voted unanimously to appoint a member to fill the seat vacated when Maria Orozco joined the Watsonville City Council. The Board could have also filled the Trustee Area 6 …

For her first legislative move since being elected to the California Assembly, Los Gatos' representative, Gail Pellerin, chose to advance the interests of people who'd rather not declare themselves as part of one of the teams in our de facto …

Kevin McCarthy has reached the top position in the U.S. House, but has still fallen short in addressing the ongoing water crisis in his owndistrict, a new CNN.com report says.

Dianne Feinstein, who has been a U.S. senator from California for three decades, hasn't yet said whether she'll seek another term in 2024, but would-be successors are already standing in line.

SAN JOSE—Watsonville native Matt Mahan has been sworn in as mayor of Northern California’s largest city. The Harvard-educated 40-year-old businessman turned politician grew up on the outskirts of Watsonville in the 1980s and ’90s, just off Amesti Road near Pinto …

Welcome to 2023 — a year that may prove decisive in California’s attempts to address some major challenges, from housing and homelessness to climate change.

The Supreme Court is keeping in place, for now, Title 42 — the pandemic policy that OK’d migrant expulsions. California has yet to figure out how to meet the needs of an influx of migrants when it does go away.

Nearly 100 committees are sitting on $35 million in leftover campaign funds. Candidates could give the cash to charity or return it to their donors, but many hold on to the money to retain political influence or to possibly run …

CalMatters' expert journalists around the state created this guide to the state's efforts to meet the challenges of 2022 and prepare for 2023.

He’s served the county and the state in multiple capacities as a public official. Now Fred Keeley is the first popularly elected mayor of his longtime hometown.

WATSONVILLE—The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees closed its year Wednesday by swearing in four trustees, three existing members and one of them freshly elected in November. Olivia Flores took her seat after she and Daniel Dodge Jr. …

The longtime Santa Cruz County Supervisors attend their final city council meeting

Santa Cruz’s first at-large mayor recovers from minor health scare ahead of swear-in

Hanging over the heads of California's newly sworn-in state lawmakers — and likely to be top of mind when they return to Sacramento next month — are the state's intertwined housing and homelessness crises. That was made clear Tuesday, when …

Proposition 13, the popular tax reform law passed in 1978, has driven increases in economic inequality and racial wealth disparities in California. Here’s how.

California's government was born out of utter chaos. Here's how the state developed some sort of order to the way it operates, and how it makes and enforces laws.