The Competitive Races at the Top of California’s Ballot
First time I’ve written an article in a while but alas, I am here, and alive.
The June 7th primaries are among the largest and most contentious in the nation, and of course, the largest state in the union by population has a fair share of electoral battles. Whilst many top of the ballot races, such as Governor, Lieutenant Governor, and some other races, aren’t too contended, some of them are appearing to be rather close.
Attorney General
California has, in recent years, had quite a large number of big-name Attorney Generals. Jerry Brown, a former Chairman of the California Democratic Party, Secretary of State, Mayor of Oakland, and Governor, became Attorney General in 2007, and served in that office until 2011, in which he would actually take the office of Governor again. If that isn’t some insanely stacked resume, I quite frankly have no idea what is. A District Attorney from San Francisco would run in the race to replace Brown, with her name being Kamala Harris. Harris would end up being elected Senator, and then eventually Vice President, with Congressman Xavier Becerra replacing her in the office. Upon the ushering of the new cabinet of President Biden, Becerra would take up the mantle of Secretary of Health and Human Services, and Governor Newsom would have to make a decision of who would replace him.
Now, with that background finally out of the way, Governor Newsom would pick progressive State Assemblyman Rob Bonta to replace Becerra, and Bonta would easily pick up virtually every endorsement from members of the California Democratic Party in his first statewide bid. From Blue Dog Congressman Jim Costa to progressive State Assemblyman Ash Kalra, he has sucked up support from all sides of the party.
However, his mostly progressive positions have led to a lot of opposition from police officer unions and conservative factions in California, and while I typically would gloss over a race such as this one, the presence of a certain candidate makes me want to discuss it.
This shouldn’t really come to a surprise to those who pay attention to District Attorney races, but to those who don’t, (aka: 99.9% of the American population; as these races are far beyond any radar and are kept uncontested a large part of the time) Sacramento County actually has a very conservative District Attorney in Anne Marie Schubert. Schubert, who describes herself as socially liberal on abortion, used to be a Republican until 2018, in which she ditched party labels, but still kept a tough-on-crime ideology. Schubert is running against Early Release of convicted criminals, running against illegal guns, and is running for prosecuting environmental polluters. Schubert is running as an Independent, or as California puts it: No Party Preference (“NPP”), and has been backed by the current Mayor of Fresno, who identifies with the Republican Party, the current District Attorneys of Stanislaus, Alameda & San Diego Counties, as well as two currently-serving Republican State Senators: Melissa Melendez & Jim Nielsen.
Additionally in the race are two Republicans: Eric Early and Nathan Hochman.
While Hochman, who served as a former federal Assistant Attorney General, has most of the backing of the Republican Party, such as the Party endorsement itself, Congressional Representatives Ken Calvert, Darrell Issa, Young Kim, Jay Obernolte, and Michelle Steel, he also has been backed by the Democratic Sheriff of Los Angeles County, Alex Villanueva, and the former Democratic District Attorney of LA County as well, Jackie Lacey. However, Hochman seemingly may have a name recognition struggle against Early.
Early, who ran for Attorney General in 2018, placed fourth place, seems to have captivated specific wings of the Republican party that Hochman and Schubert simply haven’t. He has leaned heavily into the far-right messaging that has been coming with many of the Republican party’s rising stars, running on a platform consisting of investing those who ordered for virtual learning during the COVID pandemic, making restrictions on the participation of Transgender athletes in sports, and “stopping” rogue District Attorneys, a reference to left-winged District Attorneys that have ran on platforms of reform.
Public polling as Bonta way above the pack, with Early at second place, Hochman at third, and Schubert at fourth, but the poll has more undecided voters than voters picking Early.
Personally; I believe that if Bonta faces either Hochman or Early, it should be a relative cakewalk for him, but Schubert could prove to be a very difficult opponent for him in November, especially if the recall of reformist District Attorney Chesa Boudin goes through, potentially helping shape a narrative against progressives being in charge of similar positions.
Controller
Incumbent Controller Betty Yee is term-limited, ineligible to run for a third term.
The Democrats were left with four major candidates: State Board of Equalization Chair Malia Cohen, Los Angeles City Controller Ron Galperin, State Senator Steve Glazer, and Monterey Park Mayor Yvonne Yiu.
Cohen previously served as the President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors before becoming the Chair of the State Board of Equalization, in which the Board of Equalization, if you didn’t know, (honestly — I didn’t until this until researching it) deals with taxation in California. Cohen famously defended California’s sanctuary cities, leading for Fox News Host Bill O’Reilly to say that she deserves to be jailed. Cohen has some decently progressive positions, and has been backed by a wide range of notable officials, ranging from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to US Representative Ro Khanna. She also has the backing of the California Democratic Party.
Now, before introducing the next candidate in the race: I want to state the amount of history that may be made due to this race. If elected, Cohen will be the first Black female Controller of California, and if our next candidate: Ron Galperin, gets elected, he will be the first LGBTQ state controller. Galperin has been backed by State Controller Betty Yee, former State Controller John Chiang, and an asserted list of Representatives that includes Nanette Barragan, Tony Cardenas, Adam Schiff, and Maxine Waters. Basically, Cohen is the NorCal candidate whilst Galperin is the SoCal candidate. Both Galperin and Cohen have not raised money from police, corporate PACs, the real estate industry, or fossil fuel corporations, and are generally seen as relatively progressive candidates.
With that knocking out two of the most progressive candidates in the race, two more conservative options are left in terms of the Democratic candidates: Steve Glazer & Yvonne Yiu. State Senator Steve Glazer is from NorCal, and he previously ran for Assembly on basically one position: prohibiting public transit strikes, was the sole Democrat in the State Senate to vote against a single-payer healthcare system, and voted against a High-Speed Rail. It appears Glazer has mostly picked up support from newspapers, such as the Sacramento Bee, the Mercury News, East Bay Times, and the Fresno Bee. Glazer has mostly been financially supported by the California Chamber of Commerce.
Yvonne Yiu has been backed by former State Controller John Chiang and has mostly been running on expanding stuff such as financial literacy. However, Yiu has been criticized for giving more than $5 million to her own campaign, which is like, a crazy amount of money.
I do of course have to mention the Republican candidate: Stanford University professor Lanhee Chen, who also served as an advisor for the NRSC, Mitt Romney, and Marco Rubio. Chen, who is not really associated with the Trumpworld of the GOP, stands as a candidate mostly running on issues such as transparency. He has backing from virtually every California Republican elected official, as well as the official party endorsement.
This is virtually a battle between a progressive NorCal candidate, a progressive SoCal candidate, a conservative NorCal candidate, a conservative SoCal candidate, and an extra conservative Republican NorCal candidate. Great. Regional divides are my favorite!
Insurance Commissioner
Well, I guess this is a race.
Incumbent Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, who took office in 2019 after previously serving as a State Senator, attracted significant criticism after admitting to receiving donations from the insurance industry which he regulates after pledging not to, apologized after billing taxpayers for a Sacramento apartment whilst living in Los Angeles, and how he’s made pro-Insurance executive decisions.
State Assemblyman Marc Levine has taken aim at him due to this, and announced a bid against Lara, mainly complaining that Lara has been an absolute wreck whilst in office. Levine is running mostly on standing against special interests, such as the insurance industry, the NRA, and oil corporations. He has backing from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, and Congresswoman Jackie Speier.
Meanwhile, Ricardo Lara still has significant support after his fumbles whilst serving, running on a platform surrounding his positive accomplishments in office, such as authoring legislation enabling single-payer healthcare, creating a Climate and Sustainability Branch of the Department of Insurance, and more, Lara has been backed by Governor Newsom, Attorney General Bonta, Secretary of State Weber, Treasurer Ma, Congressional Representatives Cardenas, Lieu, and the California Democratic Party to name just a few endorsers of his campaign. Basically in a way to flex to Levine, Lara has picked up some of his most significant colleagues endorsements, including backing from State Assemblymembers Carrillo, Jones-Sawyer, Lee, and Bryan.
While Lara appears to be the frontrunner, I must again mention his fumbles and another part of the race: it’s ANOTHER regionally divided election, with Lara being from SoCal whilst Levine is from NorCal. We’ll just see how it goes.
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Sigh. I hate having to write about these types of races, but alas, they exist.
Way back in the grand year of 2018; a Democratic “wave” year, this was probably the craziest race that year, well, I’m lying, but it was nearly crazy because Marshall Tuck, a pro-charter school advocate who was completely hated by the California Democratic Party accepted donations from anti-gay activists, billionaires associated with Betsy DeVos, and was a generally conservative candidate in the race. Whilst a Democrat, Tuck was seen basically as a pseudo-Republican candidate, and he got 49.1% of the vote. That basically showcases how the office can, especially due to it being a nonpartisan race, can be a stepping stone for Republicans or Conservative Democrats to win.
While Republican Lance Christensen, an education policy executive, who is running on “holding schools accountable” and including more parental oversight of education, doesn’t seem to be holding up great in the race, I don’t want to count this race out of the ballpark of being potentially competitive.
I do think incumbent superintendent Tony Thurmond, backed by the California Democratic Party, should thrive pretty well in this race, it still warrants a mention.
Conclusion
If anyone can explain to me why California decided to pick this year of all years to have a ton of competitive primaries, please explain. I know it’s redistricting, term limits, all that junk, but man. There’s too damn many that I have to write three separate articles about California if I want to properly analyze things. Great. Wow. Woo!
