Santa Cruz County Elections & Politics Digest

With their oaths of office now filed away, Cummings and Hernandez officially begin their four-year terms at noon on Jan. 2. Their first board meeting will be Jan. 10.

The House Jan. 6 committee is wrapping up its investigation into the 2021 U.S. Capitol insurrection. Lawmakers are declaring that they have assembled a "roadmap to justice" to bring criminal charges against former President Donald Trump and allies.

As of Dec. 8, I am no longer mayor of Capitola. The new City Council members were seated that evening and a new mayor appointed.

Following a campaign that saw Soquel Union Elementary School District Area 4 trustee Phil Rodriguez retire, then be reelected, a group of parents and teachers weigh in.

The mood was sentimental in the Santa Cruz County Board Chambers as outgoing Supervisors Ryan Coonerty and Greg Caput bid fond farewells at their final meeting representing the 3rd and 4th districts, respectively.

“Serving as Watsonville's mayor for the past year has been a great honor,” writes Ari Parker.

The council's first action was a unanimous vote to make Margaux Keiser the city's mayor and Kristen Brown its vice mayor.

Deep into consolidation talks with a neighboring fire agency, the Branciforte Fire Protection District is seeking to fill one—if not two—board leadership vacancies.

Four years after California began issuing nonbinary IDs, fewer than 16,000 people have asked the state for a little piece of plastic with their gender marked by an X rather than an F or M.

While LGBTQ candidates and their supporters celebrated several milestone victories around the nation in this year’s midterm elections, California quietly reached its own.

As of Nov. 22, vote counts for all races were nearing the finish, but the final numbers will not be certified until Dec. 6.

Though planners did work on the downtown Santa Cruz library/housing/parking structure before the Measure O vote, construction probably won’t begin for four years.

The midterm election is behind us and true to form the race in Capitola is close and too early to call.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will not seek to lead House Democrats for another term, but will remain in Congress.

Santa Cruz County Clerk Tricia Webber said she plans to do a manual tally of three November general election contests separated by a thin margin.

Democrat Malia Cohen has won the race for California controller, beating out a Republican who gave his party its best shot in years to end its losing streak in statewide elections.

With the latest results released at 4 p.m. on Nov. 11 by the Santa Cruz County Clerk’s office, more than half of the votes are now in. The count continues with the next results released Monday afternoon.

Sit tight, Central Valley voters. Like the rest of the country anxiously awaiting final counts in key House and Senate races, voters in District 13, which spans five counties and 150 miles, have become an unlikely focus of the day-after drama of a midterm election battle for Congress that nobody predicted would be this close.

Watch the newly anointed second-term governor closely in 2023. He has been making unmistakable moves that signal his interest in the White House. Will he run or won’t he? Here are some of the reasons for both sides of the decision.

Derek Timm has a lead in the race for two Scotts Valley City Council seats as Jim Reed and Allan Timms remain head to head.

The current delegation is 42 Democrats, 11 Republicans. Last year, the state lost a seat, forcing redistricting.

"Abortion was so much more a part of this election than anyone ever thought," one expert said.

Even as ballots continue to be counted in two top races, California Democrats running for statewide office had an easy election night, while it was immediately clear the mega millions spent on several high-profile ballot measures turned out to be a poor investment.

A cold rain poured outside as Patty Plumb stood before the Shasta County Board of Supervisors on election day and—with a warm smile and a chipper voice—warned that the local voting system is rigged.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta had a big lead in early ballot returns in his race to win a full four-year term after Gov. Gavin Newsom last year picked him to fill an unexpired term as the most populous state's top lawman.

Voters in heavily Democratic California resoundingly approved a ballot measure to enshrine the right to abortion and contraception in the state constitution.

The 280-mile journey stops at San Jose State, where one 20-year-old tells us, “I’m feeling kind of disillusioned."

There are more and more efforts to get young people to the ballot box and make their voices heard. But how do we do that?

After working together on Santa Cruz City Council for two years, Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson and Justin Cummings are facing each other in the race to represent District 3 on the Board of Supervisors.

Three candidates—Derek Timm, Allan Timms and Jim Reed—are vying for two open seats on the Scotts Valley City Council, with the top two vote-getters winning the seats. Lookout asked each candidate to answer two questions.

Real estate agents and developers continue to give thousands of dollars to oppose Santa Cruz measures N and O.

Paul Pelosi remained hospitalized Oct. 31 while recovering from an attack by the man who planned to take the Speaker of the House hostage and “break her kneecaps.”