The 2026 main election is about 20 months away, and the 4 high gubernatorial Democratic candidates had been busy making their circumstances to be the state’s high public govtwrites CalMatters Capitol reporter Alexei Koseff.
On Sunday, former state Controller Betty Yee, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and state Sen. Toni Atkins of San Diego spoke at a discussion board hosted by Nationwide Union of Healthcare Employees and the Los Angeles Instances. Former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who’s working once more after an unsuccessful bid in 2018, was invited however was unavailable to attend, in response to a spokesperson.
The candidates shared comparable views on most points. However when it got here to this November’s Proposition 36which might enhance penalties for theft and drug trafficking, they started to distinguish themselves: Yee was the one candidate to say she’d vote in opposition to it. Atkins mentioned she would doubtless not assist it, whereas Thurmond and Kounalakis mentioned they had been undecided.
The well being care union won’t formally endorse a candidate till a while subsequent 12 months, however Thurmond notched an early political benefit by successful the non-binding straw ballot after the occasion.
Learn extra about the discussion board in Alexei’s story.
As for that different election happening roughly a month from now, Vice President Kamala Harris spent the weekend campaigning and elevating cash in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the place on Saturday she referred to as herself the underdog within the race, in response to KQED.
The marketing campaign mentioned she raised a complete of $55 million on the occasions.
Voter registration: California has a report 22.3 million registered voters, almost 1.1 million greater than 4 years in the past.
The proportion who’re no occasion choice voters has declined from 23.7% to 21.9% since 2020, whereas the odds for Democrats (46.4% to 46.1%) have dipped barely and for Republicans (24.2% to 24.8%) have ticked up just a little, in response to the Secretary of State’s Workplace.
