Judge Rejects Trump Administration Bid to Set Aside 20,000 California Ballots
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DOJ Orders Contra Costa, Other California Counties to Verify Ballots
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saying the Trump administration had embarked on “a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference,” a federal judge on Wednesday refused to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106835/judge-says-trump-could-disenfranchise-voters-in-purge-of-noncitizens-from-election-rolls\">order California election officials to set aside 20,000 ballots\u003c/a> over claims those voters might not be citizens.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch,” wrote U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, an appointee of President Bill Clinton.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“This request violates longstanding constitutional principles mandating that states have control over their elections,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28856709-carter-order/\">the judge wrote\u003c/a>, saying if he granted the Trump administration’s last-minute request “either party could create chaos for their own political purposes to disrupt the election process. Over 20,000 registered Californians would potentially lose the right that generations of Americans have fought to preserve.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ruling is the latest legal defeat for the Trump administration as it has sought to find evidence that would validate President Donald Trump’s longstanding claims that Democrats win because of rigged elections.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Carter said he declined to be a party to a process that could disenfranchise voters.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Eroded trust in our democracy is irreparable,” he wrote. “Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred. If the executive (branch) can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carter also slammed the federal government for not providing a clear accounting of its methodology in creating the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106418/santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe\">list of 20,000 possible noncitizens\u003c/a>, saying prosecutors provided vague explanations “and raised multiple questions regarding reliability.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Federal officials insist their list is mostly accurate and came from investigators correlating public voter files, government data and commercial databases, but prosecutors have acknowledged that some of the people on the list are likely citizens.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">State and county officials and civil rights groups have \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/trump-voting-claims-counties/\">said that the list\u003c/a> appears to be riddled with inaccuracies and it often omits key data such as Social Security and driver’s license numbers that would allow county officials to confirm who the people are.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a briefing with reporters Wednesday before Carter’s ruling, California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta said the federal government’s case was little more than an “amateur hour” political stunt to validate Trump’s conspiracy theory that elections are rigged for Democrats.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“It’s a joke. It’s embarrassing, but it is dangerous,” Bonta said. “They are trying to attack the fundamental right to vote with trash data.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a Fox News interview on Wednesday before the ruling, Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said the administration would appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and possibly to the U.S. Supreme Court.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“We’re moving at a lightning pace because the way California does elections, everyone already has a ballot,” Essayli said. “Hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been returned, and the counties already started processing those ballots. … That’s why we need an order now to separate and segregate these ballots — not to cancel any vote — just to sequester them so we can figure this out.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Higher court declined to intervene\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 9th Circuit panel already rejected one attempt by Essayli’s office to get an emergency order. A three-judge panel ruled 2-1 Monday to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106418/santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe\">reject an urgent appeal\u003c/a> to bypass Carter’s courtroom. The federal government claimed the district judge didn’t schedule a hearing fast enough.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile on Wednesday, a group of civil rights organizations, including California’s chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union, sued the Trump administration and urged a federal court to block the administration’s “Unlawful Voter Initiative.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The groups claim the initiative has been targeting and intimidating naturalized U.S. citizens, former green card holders who have gone through the citizenship process. The initiative directed immigration officials to generate target lists of possible noncitizen voters and to coordinate with ICE field offices to interrogate individuals it identified.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The civil rights groups contend the federal government is using illegal tactics and faulty data to harass innocent legal voters. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“These allegations are putting eligible voters — including naturalized U.S. citizens — at risk of disenfranchisement,” Theresa Lee, an attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said in a statement. “The administration can’t keep creating political stunts to sow distrust in our elections and lay the groundwork to question results they don’t like.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Carter noted in Wednesday’s ruling that those most at risk of being disenfranchised are naturalized citizens.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Individuals that the federal government recently identified as noncitizens on voter rolls in different states have repeatedly turned out to be naturalized citizens,” Carter wrote.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>The ACLU’s and other groups’ suit came a week after a federal judge in California issued an order blocking the Department of Homeland Security from doing in-person interrogations of people investigators suspect may be noncitizens. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The judge in that case, Araceli Martínez-Olguín, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/10/22/nx-s1-6012682/judge-dhs-noncitizen-voting-operations\">ruled\u003c/a> that the federal government was relying on “faulty data sources that sweep in U.S. citizens” and was likely violating the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voter intimidation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Martínez-Olguín’s order is in effect through Election Day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/trump-ballot-claims-california-ruling/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Saying the Trump administration had embarked on “a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference,” a federal judge on Wednesday refused to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106835/judge-says-trump-could-disenfranchise-voters-in-purge-of-noncitizens-from-election-rolls\">order California election officials to set aside 20,000 ballots\u003c/a> over claims those voters might not be citizens.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch,” wrote U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, an appointee of President Bill Clinton.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This request violates longstanding constitutional principles mandating that states have control over their elections,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28856709-carter-order/\">the judge wrote\u003c/a>, saying if he granted the Trump administration’s last-minute request “either party could create chaos for their own political purposes to disrupt the election process. Over 20,000 registered Californians would potentially lose the right that generations of Americans have fought to preserve.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The ruling is the latest legal defeat for the Trump administration as it has sought to find evidence that would validate President Donald Trump’s longstanding claims that Democrats win because of rigged elections.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Carter said he declined to be a party to a process that could disenfranchise voters.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Eroded trust in our democracy is irreparable,” he wrote. “Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred. If the executive (branch) can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Eroded trust in our democracy is irreparable,” he wrote. “Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred. If the executive (branch) can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Carter also slammed the federal government for not providing a clear accounting of its methodology in creating the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106418/santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe\">list of 20,000 possible noncitizens\u003c/a>, saying prosecutors provided vague explanations “and raised multiple questions regarding reliability.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>State and county officials and civil rights groups have \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/trump-voting-claims-counties/\">said that the list\u003c/a> appears to be riddled with inaccuracies and it often omits key data such as Social Security and driver’s license numbers that would allow county officials to confirm who the people are.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a briefing with reporters Wednesday before Carter’s ruling, California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta said the federal government’s case was little more than an “amateur hour” political stunt to validate Trump’s conspiracy theory that elections are rigged for Democrats.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“It’s a joke. It’s embarrassing, but it is dangerous,” Bonta said. “They are trying to attack the fundamental right to vote with trash data.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a Fox News interview on Wednesday before the ruling, Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said the administration would appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and possibly to the U.S. Supreme Court.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“We’re moving at a lightning pace because the way California does elections, everyone already has a ballot,” Essayli said. “Hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been returned, and the counties already started processing those ballots. … That’s why we need an order now to separate and segregate these ballots — not to cancel any vote — just to sequester them so we can figure this out.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A 9th Circuit panel already rejected one attempt by Essayli’s office to get an emergency order. A three-judge panel ruled 2-1 Monday to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106418/santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe\">reject an urgent appeal\u003c/a> to bypass Carter’s courtroom. The federal government claimed the district judge didn’t schedule a hearing fast enough.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meanwhile on Wednesday, a group of civil rights organizations, including California’s chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union, sued the Trump administration and urged a federal court to block the administration’s “Unlawful Voter Initiative.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The groups claim the initiative has been targeting and intimidating naturalized U.S. citizens, former green card holders who have gone through the citizenship process. The initiative directed immigration officials to generate target lists of possible noncitizen voters and to coordinate with ICE field offices to interrogate individuals it identified.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The groups claim the initiative has been targeting and intimidating naturalized U.S. citizens, former green card holders who have gone through the citizenship process. The initiative directed immigration officials to generate target lists of possible noncitizen voters and to coordinate with ICE field offices to interrogate individuals it identified.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The civil rights groups contend the federal government is using illegal tactics and faulty data to harass innocent legal voters. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“These allegations are putting eligible voters — including naturalized U.S. citizens — at risk of disenfranchisement,” Theresa Lee, an attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said in a statement. “The administration can’t keep creating political stunts to sow distrust in our elections and lay the groundwork to question results they don’t like.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Carter noted in Wednesday’s ruling that those most at risk of being disenfranchised are naturalized citizens.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Individuals that the federal government recently identified as noncitizens on voter rolls in different states have repeatedly turned out to be naturalized citizens,” Carter wrote.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>The ACLU’s and other groups’ suit came a week after a federal judge in California issued an order blocking the Department of Homeland Security from doing in-person interrogations of people investigators suspect may be noncitizens. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“These allegations are putting eligible voters — including naturalized U.S. citizens — at risk of disenfranchisement,” Theresa Lee, an attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said in a statement. “The administration can’t keep creating political stunts to sow distrust in our elections and lay the groundwork to question results they don’t like.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Carter noted in Wednesday’s ruling that those most at risk of being disenfranchised are naturalized citizens.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Individuals that the federal government recently identified as noncitizens on voter rolls in different states have repeatedly turned out to be naturalized citizens,” Carter wrote.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>The ACLU’s and other groups’ suit came a week after a federal judge in California issued an order blocking the Department of Homeland Security from doing in-person interrogations of people investigators suspect may be noncitizens. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The judge in that case, Araceli Martínez-Olguín, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/10/22/nx-s1-6012682/judge-dhs-noncitizen-voting-operations\">ruled\u003c/a> that the federal government was relying on “faulty data sources that sweep in U.S. citizens” and was likely violating the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voter intimidation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/trump-ballot-claims-california-ruling/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A federal judge refused to order California to set aside 20,000 ballots, citing a ‘pattern of attempted election interference’ by the Trump administration.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saying the Trump administration had embarked on “a broad, ongoing pattern of attempted election interference,” a federal judge on Wednesday refused to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106835/judge-says-trump-could-disenfranchise-voters-in-purge-of-noncitizens-from-election-rolls\">order California election officials to set aside 20,000 ballots\u003c/a> over claims those voters might not be citizens.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Never before in American history has the federal government, on the eve of an election, sought to coerce a state and local government to abandon their own Constitutional elections procedures and bend to the will of the Executive Branch,” wrote U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, an appointee of President Bill Clinton.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“This request violates longstanding constitutional principles mandating that states have control over their elections,” \u003ca href=\"https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28856709-carter-order/\">the judge wrote\u003c/a>, saying if he granted the Trump administration’s last-minute request “either party could create chaos for their own political purposes to disrupt the election process. Over 20,000 registered Californians would potentially lose the right that generations of Americans have fought to preserve.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ruling is the latest legal defeat for the Trump administration as it has sought to find evidence that would validate President Donald Trump’s longstanding claims that Democrats win because of rigged elections.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Carter said he declined to be a party to a process that could disenfranchise voters.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Eroded trust in our democracy is irreparable,” he wrote. “Once a vote is segregated, lasting harm has occurred. If the executive (branch) can discount votes and threaten an ongoing election due to unproven allegations, then our democracy is in danger.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carter also slammed the federal government for not providing a clear accounting of its methodology in creating the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106418/santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe\">list of 20,000 possible noncitizens\u003c/a>, saying prosecutors provided vague explanations “and raised multiple questions regarding reliability.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Federal officials insist their list is mostly accurate and came from investigators correlating public voter files, government data and commercial databases, but prosecutors have acknowledged that some of the people on the list are likely citizens.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">State and county officials and civil rights groups have \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/trump-voting-claims-counties/\">said that the list\u003c/a> appears to be riddled with inaccuracies and it often omits key data such as Social Security and driver’s license numbers that would allow county officials to confirm who the people are.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a briefing with reporters Wednesday before Carter’s ruling, California Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta said the federal government’s case was little more than an “amateur hour” political stunt to validate Trump’s conspiracy theory that elections are rigged for Democrats.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“It’s a joke. It’s embarrassing, but it is dangerous,” Bonta said. “They are trying to attack the fundamental right to vote with trash data.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a Fox News interview on Wednesday before the ruling, Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, said the administration would appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and possibly to the U.S. Supreme Court.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“We’re moving at a lightning pace because the way California does elections, everyone already has a ballot,” Essayli said. “Hundreds of thousands of ballots have already been returned, and the counties already started processing those ballots. … That’s why we need an order now to separate and segregate these ballots — not to cancel any vote — just to sequester them so we can figure this out.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Higher court declined to intervene\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A 9th Circuit panel already rejected one attempt by Essayli’s office to get an emergency order. A three-judge panel ruled 2-1 Monday to \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106418/santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe\">reject an urgent appeal\u003c/a> to bypass Carter’s courtroom. The federal government claimed the district judge didn’t schedule a hearing fast enough.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile on Wednesday, a group of civil rights organizations, including California’s chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union, sued the Trump administration and urged a federal court to block the administration’s “Unlawful Voter Initiative.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The groups claim the initiative has been targeting and intimidating naturalized U.S. citizens, former green card holders who have gone through the citizenship process. The initiative directed immigration officials to generate target lists of possible noncitizen voters and to coordinate with ICE field offices to interrogate individuals it identified.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The civil rights groups contend the federal government is using illegal tactics and faulty data to harass innocent legal voters. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“These allegations are putting eligible voters — including naturalized U.S. citizens — at risk of disenfranchisement,” Theresa Lee, an attorney with the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project, said in a statement. “The administration can’t keep creating political stunts to sow distrust in our elections and lay the groundwork to question results they don’t like.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Carter noted in Wednesday’s ruling that those most at risk of being disenfranchised are naturalized citizens.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“Individuals that the federal government recently identified as noncitizens on voter rolls in different states have repeatedly turned out to be naturalized citizens,” Carter wrote.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>The ACLU’s and other groups’ suit came a week after a federal judge in California issued an order blocking the Department of Homeland Security from doing in-person interrogations of people investigators suspect may be noncitizens. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The judge in that case, Araceli Martínez-Olguín, who was appointed by President Joe Biden, \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/10/22/nx-s1-6012682/judge-dhs-noncitizen-voting-operations\">ruled\u003c/a> that the federal government was relying on “faulty data sources that sweep in U.S. citizens” and was likely violating the Voting Rights Act, which prohibits voter intimidation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Martínez-Olguín’s order is in effect through Election Day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/trump-ballot-claims-california-ruling/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Scott Wiener and Connie Chan Fight to Represent SF in Congress",
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"headTitle": "Scott Wiener and Connie Chan Fight to Represent SF in Congress | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For decades, Nancy Pelosi has represented San Francisco in Congress. Now she’s retiring, making way for a truly competitive race for California’s 11th Congressional District. Today, we talk about the candidates — San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan and state Sen. Scott Wiener — and discuss how they differ on the big issues. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide\">KQED’s Voter Guide\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/propfest\">Prop Fest: A collaboration between The Bay and Bay Curious\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Episode Transcript\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This transcript is computer-generated. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:00]\u003c/em> I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Nancy Pelosi has been San Francisco’s representative in Congress for decades. But now she’s retiring. And for the first time in a long time, a true competitive race is underway for California’s 11th congressional seat. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:29]\u003c/em> She has become a force in American politics, and whoever replaces her is gonna have huge shoes to fill. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:39]\u003c/em> After winning Pelosi’s endorsement earlier this year, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan will face off against State Senator Scott Wiener. And while the two candidates are aligned on a lot of issues, San Francisco voters are gonna be looking at the finer print when they ffill out their ballots and where these candidates stand on everything from AI to housing to wealth taxes and Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:09]\u003c/em> Who we send to Congress to position themselves and make policy and law on these issues is gonna be incredibly important. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:19]\u003c/em> Today, KQED reporter Sydney Johnson tells us more about who Connie Chan and Scott Wiener are and how these two differ on the big issues. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:40]\u003c/em> Locally, you know, this seat controls how San Francisco gets federal resources. Sydney Johnson is around.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:51]\u003c/em> Reporter for KTVU. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:51]\u003c/em> That was a huge thing that, you know, Nancy Pelosi talked about. And I think why she earned the reputation that she did was she brought it back to San Francisco. It wasn’t just about those like flashy moments in Washington, but it was about showing the people in San Francisco that, hey, I’m working for you, you know, whether or not you agreed with what she was doing. And so, whoever goes on to represent San Francisco and Washington right now… Is going to have a big fight ahead of them to help the city get a lot of the funding that it has lost in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:29]\u003c/em> I mean, I think maybe we sort of have taken for granted having such a powerful national figure who has spent decades working up to the career that she has to have brought so much resources back to San Francisco. And now there’s this historic shift that’s happening. And it’s historic also because both of the candidates in this election would be historic firsts in their own ways. So I wanna talk about them, starting with Connie Chan. Who is she and what kind of candidate is she shaping up to be in this race? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:05]\u003c/em> Yeah, Connie Chan is a supervisor in San Francisco. She represents the Richmond district. She was born in Hong Kong. She lived part of her early childhood in Taiwan and immigrated to San Francisco and grew up in Chinatown. And she’s really positioned herself as a working mom, as someone who is not taking money from billionaires in this race. Someone who’s looking out for the little guy, tenants. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:37]\u003c/em> We’ve been building that coalition in San Francisco, the Working People’s Coalition. We know how to fight, and we know how win. And we now will take this fight from San Francisco all the way to Washington, D.C. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:50]\u003c/em> She has sort of worked her way up in civil and public service. And she talks a lot about her experience on the board of supervisors as the budget chair, the person who brings all parties and interests together and tries to strike a deal. If Chan were to win, it would be the first time that we had someone who’s Chinese-American represent San Francisco in Congress. I think those are sort of the elements of the picture that she’s trying to paint of like. If you elect me, you’re electing the everyday San Franciscan.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:04:33]\u003c/em> And then there’s your challenger, Scott Wiener. Remind us a little bit of his story and who he is as a candidate in this race. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:04:43]\u003c/em> Scott Wiener is a state senator representing San Francisco. Scott Wieter has really been pointing to his experience as a lawmaker, as this kind of bull in Sacramento, where he has passed tons of legislation. He’s kind of characterized as this policy wonk, but someone who’s going to work across the aisle in order to get things done. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:09]\u003c/em> And we need leaders in Congress who do not just accept the status quo, but who demand change, even when it’s hard. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:19]\u003c/em> He would also be a historic first. He would be the first out gay man to represent San Francisco, which as we know has a huge history of being on the forefront of LGBTQ rights and gay marriage. And that is totally historic in its own right as well. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:38]\u003c/em> Well Sydney, we’re gonna dive into their stance on some of these big issues, but how different are these candidates really and what do we know about how they might vote if they do get to Congress? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:51]\u003c/em> So, yeah, they will probably agree on the vast majority of issues in Congress that are applicable to a national scale. But here in San Francisco, you know, they are quite different. You know, Connie Chan gets kind of pegged as further left or more progressive in this race, even though she does have the endorsement of Nancy Pelosi herself, which we’ll get into. I think… The difference between these two, you know, one really lies in who’s supporting them and kind of the money that’s supporting, but also what they see as the definition of progress in San Francisco. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:34]\u003c/em> Let’s get into the nitty gritty, where I think most San Francisco voters are probably sitting right now as they’re looking at their ballots and all the different ways that these candidates differ, starting with housing, which is of course a huge issue in San Francisco, in California. In what big ways do these two candidates differ in their approach to the housing crisis.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:59]\u003c/em> Yeah, I think housing is probably one of the areas where there’s the most stark difference between these two candidates. We’ll start with Senator Wiener. He has been known for passing a tremendous amount of legislation directed at housing at the state level, specifically to make it easier to build housing and also to increase pressure on cities to build housing. I mean, he supports more housing at all levels. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:07:27]\u003c/em> I went to Sacramento and as a result of our work, thousands of affordable homes have been built in San Francisco with thousands more in the pipeline. We need to go big and build millions of homes in this country.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:07:40]\u003c/em> Senator Wiener has received a lot of support for the work that he’s done at the state level from pro-housing activists with Yimbi. And Chan, Wiener, has sort of painted her as an obstructionist, not only to what he sees as progress, but to literal housing projects and public transit projects in the city. He points to a project in Soma that Chan was part of a group of supervisors who oppose the development. She also opposed the mayor’s rezoning plan, which makes it easier to build taller and more dense buildings around the city. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:18]\u003c/em> We need to build housing, and we need to build housing that people can afford. We also need to help people to have rental subsidies so they can stay housed. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:27]\u003c/em> Her defense to this, she says she is looking out for tenants, that she’s looking out for small businesses that could be displaced by rents rising, by market rate developments. And she has said that those projects did not come with enough protections baked in. That’s the reason why she’s opposed a lot of projects. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:55]\u003c/em> We’re gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, where the two candidates stand on AI, the billionaire tax, and Gaza. By the way, if you appreciate the work that we do here on the Bay, consider becoming a sustaining KQED member. That’s one of the best ways you can help support the journalism that we bring you here on this show. Just go to donate.kqed.org/podcasts. We’ll be right back.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:09:29]\u003c/em> Another big issue in this race, Sydney, is AI. How do these two differ on that? They’re in all the ads! \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:09:38]\u003c/em> For sure. They are dominating the ads in this race. Senator Wiener, he actually authored a A.I. Safety bill several years ago that Newsom vetoed. He came back the next year, and he got an AI transparency bill passed that Newsom did sign. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:09:57]\u003c/em> But Congress has failed in a huge way around tech regulation. We have almost no federal regulation of AI.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:05]\u003c/em> Wiener has been talking a lot about this kill switch, this idea that when something really bad happens that AI is doing, there would be this kind of magical button that we could press to just shut it all off. But Chan has said that we shouldn’t wait until a catastrophe to have more regulation. In fact, we should wait before we move forward with the technology to figure out how to avoid that situation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:32]\u003c/em> It is important to have human oversight during the developmental phase of the technology. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:38]\u003c/em> She’s taken kind of what one academic expert described to me as a more populist approach in this race when it comes to AI. She has called for a full moratorium on data centers until the technology is reined in and legislated. Wiener doesn’t support a full-on moratorium like that. He says that communities should decide where and when data centers get built. Another element to this, where the two have differed, is Wiener also just has more support, I think, from AI companies in general that are looking for regulation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:15]\u003c/em> We as San Franciscans, but really all across the nation trust you to be able to regulate AI with integrity and that is not going to just placate to the industry. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:28]\u003c/em> You know, he has said that he has their support because they trust that he’s the guy who can get regulation done. Chan has pointed to legislation she’s supported locally to stop an AI-driven rent-fixing tool. But she does have a bit less experience in the lawmaking area than Wiener does around AI. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:49]\u003c/em> And so we have a lot more work to do on AI regulation, and the reality is I’m the only candidate on this stage who has ever regulated AI full stop. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:04]\u003c/em> I know these two also differ on the billionaire tax and wealth taxation, including in their support for Prop 40, the billionaire wealth tax. How are these two talking about that issue? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:19]\u003c/em> Wiener previously opposed the local overpaid CEO tax in San Francisco, which was defeated. And he is also opposing Prop 40. He has said that he supports taxing the wealthy, but that this one-time tax in particular is not the solution that he thinks is going to give Californians what we need. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:42]\u003c/em> We already have an unstable boom bust budget. This will make it dramatically worse, and that’s why I don’t support it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:48]\u003c/em> But he has said he supports things like Elizabeth Warren’s ultramillionaire tax. So I don’t think it’s fair to say that he doesn’t support wealth taxes full stop. But the ones that we are voting on here in San Francisco and California, he has opposed. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:07]\u003c/em> No billionaire should be paying less taxes than our teachers and nurses. And simple as that. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:14]\u003c/em> Chan has supported all of the above and has kind of used it to draw a line in the sand between her and Wiener. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:27]\u003c/em> Okay, and then lastly on the issues, I wanna talk about foreign policy. They do seem similar on a few things here, but notably they differ around the issue of Israel and Gaza. How do these two differ in terms of their opinions on the U.S.’s relationship with Israel and Israel’s siege of Gaza?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:53]\u003c/em> Yeah I mean, just to go back to the early days of this race, there was a debate. Saikat Chakrabarti was still in the race at this time. The three candidates were asked if what’s happening in Gaza, what Israel is doing in Gaza is a genocide. And Chan and Chakrabarti held up their sign that said yes. And Wiener kind of twirled his sign. He didn’t answer the question. And the room erupted. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Protester:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:31]\u003c/em> Answer the question Scott! \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:31]\u003c/em> Days later, Senator Wiener made a public announcement that he does consider what’s happening in Gaza to be a genocide. But I think for some voters, for whom this is their big issue that they’re maybe choosing their candidate on even, that that wasn’t totally satisfying. And Wieners does not support sending offensive arms to an Israeli government, but he does support defensive systems, such as the Iron Dome and David’s sling. But Chan talks about how she supports a full arms embargo to Israel. So there’s still some gray area between these two candidates on this. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:15:15]\u003c/em> I wanna talk about how the campaign has been going so far. How are the candidates doing in this race? And have there been any other sort of pivotal moments that seem to be swaying voters in one direction or another?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:15:30]\u003c/em> Another thing I want to bring up, actually, that has been pretty pivotal in this race. Earlier this year, Scott Wiener’s campaign released an AI chatbot that people could go and ask a question and the responses were supposed to look like they were coming from Connie Chan. The idea was to basically create this interactive tool that you could go see why Connie Chan wants to block all of your housing. But it immediately fell flat. The reaction was pretty negative, pretty quick. And Connie Chan said that she felt that this was unfair, that she was being mocked. And Nancy Pelosi also stepped in and said, this is putting words in women’s mouths, something that women in politics have had to deal with for a long time. And they took it down. And they also took down the physical billboards that they had purchased to advertise his chat bot. And Scott Wiener publicly apologized. Even though it was not a good look, Wiener still has the lead in the polls. It doesn’t seem to have haunted his campaign in any lasting way.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:16:49]\u003c/em> You talked a little bit about this already, Sydney, but can you summarize for me what the money is looking like in this race? Who’s funding both candidates here?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:16:58]\u003c/em> Well Wiener has raised far more than Chan has in this race, but Chan has significantly increased the amount that she’s raised, you know, specifically in this final stretch of the race. Chan has gotten money from labor groups, from Chinese American groups, and from Pelosi’s own family members. Wieners has received money from PACs that have contributions from AI companies and has received donations from people like crypto billionaire Chris Larson. He actually told Mission Local that he returned a donation from a Palantir executive. So he’s got the attention of tech for sure. But Wiener has also gotten union support. The last one to point out maybe is just that Grow USA, which is tied to the moderate political group in San Francisco called Grow SF, also contributed to Scott Wieners’ campaign. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:18:00]\u003c/em> And what are you gonna be watching out for in the next couple of days?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:18:03]\u003c/em> You know, the last few days are always some of the most intense, I think, in terms of just the emotion, the feelings. You know obviously the polls are looking good for Scott Wiener, but we didn’t expect Connie Chan to do as well in the primary as she did. So it’ll be really interesting to see just what that final outcome looks like, how different neighborhoods vote in this race also. And yeah, we’ll be looking out for all of it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:18:38]\u003c/em> Well, Sydney Johnson, thank you so much as always. Appreciate it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:18:41]\u003c/em> Thank you, Ericka. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:00]\u003c/em> I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Nancy Pelosi has been San Francisco’s representative in Congress for decades. But now she’s retiring. And for the first time in a long time, a true competitive race is underway for California’s 11th congressional seat. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:00]\u003c/em> I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Nancy Pelosi has been San Francisco’s representative in Congress for decades. But now she’s retiring. And for the first time in a long time, a true competitive race is underway for California’s 11th congressional seat. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:29]\u003c/em> She has become a force in American politics, and whoever replaces her is gonna have huge shoes to fill. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:29]\u003c/em> She has become a force in American politics, and whoever replaces her is gonna have huge shoes to fill. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:39]\u003c/em> After winning Pelosi’s endorsement earlier this year, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan will face off against State Senator Scott Wiener. And while the two candidates are aligned on a lot of issues, San Francisco voters are gonna be looking at the finer print when they ffill out their ballots and where these candidates stand on everything from AI to housing to wealth taxes and Gaza.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:39]\u003c/em> After winning Pelosi’s endorsement earlier this year, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan will face off against State Senator Scott Wiener. And while the two candidates are aligned on a lot of issues, San Francisco voters are gonna be looking at the finer print when they ffill out their ballots and where these candidates stand on everything from AI to housing to wealth taxes and Gaza.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:09]\u003c/em> Who we send to Congress to position themselves and make policy and law on these issues is gonna be incredibly important. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:09]\u003c/em> Who we send to Congress to position themselves and make policy and law on these issues is gonna be incredibly important. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:19]\u003c/em> Today, KQED reporter Sydney Johnson tells us more about who Connie Chan and Scott Wiener are and how these two differ on the big issues. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:19]\u003c/em> Today, KQED reporter Sydney Johnson tells us more about who Connie Chan and Scott Wiener are and how these two differ on the big issues. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:40]\u003c/em> Locally, you know, this seat controls how San Francisco gets federal resources. Sydney Johnson is around.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:51]\u003c/em> Reporter for KTVU. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:51]\u003c/em> Reporter for KTVU. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:51]\u003c/em> That was a huge thing that, you know, Nancy Pelosi talked about. And I think why she earned the reputation that she did was she brought it back to San Francisco. It wasn’t just about those like flashy moments in Washington, but it was about showing the people in San Francisco that, hey, I’m working for you, you know, whether or not you agreed with what she was doing. And so, whoever goes on to represent San Francisco and Washington right now… Is going to have a big fight ahead of them to help the city get a lot of the funding that it has lost in recent years.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:29]\u003c/em> I mean, I think maybe we sort of have taken for granted having such a powerful national figure who has spent decades working up to the career that she has to have brought so much resources back to San Francisco. And now there’s this historic shift that’s happening. And it’s historic also because both of the candidates in this election would be historic firsts in their own ways. So I wanna talk about them, starting with Connie Chan. Who is she and what kind of candidate is she shaping up to be in this race? \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:29]\u003c/em> I mean, I think maybe we sort of have taken for granted having such a powerful national figure who has spent decades working up to the career that she has to have brought so much resources back to San Francisco. And now there’s this historic shift that’s happening. And it’s historic also because both of the candidates in this election would be historic firsts in their own ways. So I wanna talk about them, starting with Connie Chan. Who is she and what kind of candidate is she shaping up to be in this race? \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:05]\u003c/em> Yeah, Connie Chan is a supervisor in San Francisco. She represents the Richmond district. She was born in Hong Kong. She lived part of her early childhood in Taiwan and immigrated to San Francisco and grew up in Chinatown. And she’s really positioned herself as a working mom, as someone who is not taking money from billionaires in this race. Someone who’s looking out for the little guy, tenants. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:37]\u003c/em> We’ve been building that coalition in San Francisco, the Working People’s Coalition. We know how to fight, and we know how win. And we now will take this fight from San Francisco all the way to Washington, D.C. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:37]\u003c/em> We’ve been building that coalition in San Francisco, the Working People’s Coalition. We know how to fight, and we know how win. And we now will take this fight from San Francisco all the way to Washington, D.C. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:50]\u003c/em> She has sort of worked her way up in civil and public service. And she talks a lot about her experience on the board of supervisors as the budget chair, the person who brings all parties and interests together and tries to strike a deal. If Chan were to win, it would be the first time that we had someone who’s Chinese-American represent San Francisco in Congress. I think those are sort of the elements of the picture that she’s trying to paint of like. If you elect me, you’re electing the everyday San Franciscan.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:04:33]\u003c/em> And then there’s your challenger, Scott Wiener. Remind us a little bit of his story and who he is as a candidate in this race. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:04:43]\u003c/em> Scott Wiener is a state senator representing San Francisco. Scott Wieter has really been pointing to his experience as a lawmaker, as this kind of bull in Sacramento, where he has passed tons of legislation. He’s kind of characterized as this policy wonk, but someone who’s going to work across the aisle in order to get things done. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:09]\u003c/em> And we need leaders in Congress who do not just accept the status quo, but who demand change, even when it’s hard. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:09]\u003c/em> And we need leaders in Congress who do not just accept the status quo, but who demand change, even when it’s hard. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:19]\u003c/em> He would also be a historic first. He would be the first out gay man to represent San Francisco, which as we know has a huge history of being on the forefront of LGBTQ rights and gay marriage. And that is totally historic in its own right as well. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:38]\u003c/em> Well Sydney, we’re gonna dive into their stance on some of these big issues, but how different are these candidates really and what do we know about how they might vote if they do get to Congress? \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:51]\u003c/em> So, yeah, they will probably agree on the vast majority of issues in Congress that are applicable to a national scale. But here in San Francisco, you know, they are quite different. You know, Connie Chan gets kind of pegged as further left or more progressive in this race, even though she does have the endorsement of Nancy Pelosi herself, which we’ll get into. I think… The difference between these two, you know, one really lies in who’s supporting them and kind of the money that’s supporting, but also what they see as the definition of progress in San Francisco. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:51]\u003c/em> So, yeah, they will probably agree on the vast majority of issues in Congress that are applicable to a national scale. But here in San Francisco, you know, they are quite different. You know, Connie Chan gets kind of pegged as further left or more progressive in this race, even though she does have the endorsement of Nancy Pelosi herself, which we’ll get into. I think… The difference between these two, you know, one really lies in who’s supporting them and kind of the money that’s supporting, but also what they see as the definition of progress in San Francisco. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:34]\u003c/em> Let’s get into the nitty gritty, where I think most San Francisco voters are probably sitting right now as they’re looking at their ballots and all the different ways that these candidates differ, starting with housing, which is of course a huge issue in San Francisco, in California. In what big ways do these two candidates differ in their approach to the housing crisis.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:34]\u003c/em> Let’s get into the nitty gritty, where I think most San Francisco voters are probably sitting right now as they’re looking at their ballots and all the different ways that these candidates differ, starting with housing, which is of course a huge issue in San Francisco, in California. In what big ways do these two candidates differ in their approach to the housing crisis.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:59]\u003c/em> Yeah, I think housing is probably one of the areas where there’s the most stark difference between these two candidates. We’ll start with Senator Wiener. He has been known for passing a tremendous amount of legislation directed at housing at the state level, specifically to make it easier to build housing and also to increase pressure on cities to build housing. I mean, he supports more housing at all levels. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:59]\u003c/em> Yeah, I think housing is probably one of the areas where there’s the most stark difference between these two candidates. We’ll start with Senator Wiener. He has been known for passing a tremendous amount of legislation directed at housing at the state level, specifically to make it easier to build housing and also to increase pressure on cities to build housing. I mean, he supports more housing at all levels. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:07:27]\u003c/em> I went to Sacramento and as a result of our work, thousands of affordable homes have been built in San Francisco with thousands more in the pipeline. We need to go big and build millions of homes in this country.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:07:27]\u003c/em> I went to Sacramento and as a result of our work, thousands of affordable homes have been built in San Francisco with thousands more in the pipeline. We need to go big and build millions of homes in this country.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:07:40]\u003c/em> Senator Wiener has received a lot of support for the work that he’s done at the state level from pro-housing activists with Yimbi. And Chan, Wiener, has sort of painted her as an obstructionist, not only to what he sees as progress, but to literal housing projects and public transit projects in the city. He points to a project in Soma that Chan was part of a group of supervisors who oppose the development. She also opposed the mayor’s rezoning plan, which makes it easier to build taller and more dense buildings around the city. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:07:40]\u003c/em> Senator Wiener has received a lot of support for the work that he’s done at the state level from pro-housing activists with Yimbi. And Chan, Wiener, has sort of painted her as an obstructionist, not only to what he sees as progress, but to literal housing projects and public transit projects in the city. He points to a project in Soma that Chan was part of a group of supervisors who oppose the development. She also opposed the mayor’s rezoning plan, which makes it easier to build taller and more dense buildings around the city. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:18]\u003c/em> We need to build housing, and we need to build housing that people can afford. We also need to help people to have rental subsidies so they can stay housed. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:18]\u003c/em> We need to build housing, and we need to build housing that people can afford. We also need to help people to have rental subsidies so they can stay housed. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:27]\u003c/em> Her defense to this, she says she is looking out for tenants, that she’s looking out for small businesses that could be displaced by rents rising, by market rate developments. And she has said that those projects did not come with enough protections baked in. That’s the reason why she’s opposed a lot of projects. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:27]\u003c/em> Her defense to this, she says she is looking out for tenants, that she’s looking out for small businesses that could be displaced by rents rising, by market rate developments. And she has said that those projects did not come with enough protections baked in. That’s the reason why she’s opposed a lot of projects. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:55]\u003c/em> We’re gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, where the two candidates stand on AI, the billionaire tax, and Gaza. By the way, if you appreciate the work that we do here on the Bay, consider becoming a sustaining KQED member. That’s one of the best ways you can help support the journalism that we bring you here on this show. Just go to donate.kqed.org/podcasts. We’ll be right back.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:55]\u003c/em> We’re gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, where the two candidates stand on AI, the billionaire tax, and Gaza. By the way, if you appreciate the work that we do here on the Bay, consider becoming a sustaining KQED member. That’s one of the best ways you can help support the journalism that we bring you here on this show. Just go to donate.kqed.org/podcasts. We’ll be right back.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:09:29]\u003c/em> Another big issue in this race, Sydney, is AI. How do these two differ on that? They’re in all the ads! \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:09:29]\u003c/em> Another big issue in this race, Sydney, is AI. How do these two differ on that? They’re in all the ads! \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:09:38]\u003c/em> For sure. They are dominating the ads in this race. Senator Wiener, he actually authored a A.I. Safety bill several years ago that Newsom vetoed. He came back the next year, and he got an AI transparency bill passed that Newsom did sign. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:09:38]\u003c/em> For sure. They are dominating the ads in this race. Senator Wiener, he actually authored a A.I. Safety bill several years ago that Newsom vetoed. He came back the next year, and he got an AI transparency bill passed that Newsom did sign. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:09:57]\u003c/em> But Congress has failed in a huge way around tech regulation. We have almost no federal regulation of AI.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:09:57]\u003c/em> But Congress has failed in a huge way around tech regulation. We have almost no federal regulation of AI.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:05]\u003c/em> Wiener has been talking a lot about this kill switch, this idea that when something really bad happens that AI is doing, there would be this kind of magical button that we could press to just shut it all off. But Chan has said that we shouldn’t wait until a catastrophe to have more regulation. In fact, we should wait before we move forward with the technology to figure out how to avoid that situation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:05]\u003c/em> Wiener has been talking a lot about this kill switch, this idea that when something really bad happens that AI is doing, there would be this kind of magical button that we could press to just shut it all off. But Chan has said that we shouldn’t wait until a catastrophe to have more regulation. In fact, we should wait before we move forward with the technology to figure out how to avoid that situation. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:32]\u003c/em> It is important to have human oversight during the developmental phase of the technology. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:32]\u003c/em> It is important to have human oversight during the developmental phase of the technology. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:38]\u003c/em> She’s taken kind of what one academic expert described to me as a more populist approach in this race when it comes to AI. She has called for a full moratorium on data centers until the technology is reined in and legislated. Wiener doesn’t support a full-on moratorium like that. He says that communities should decide where and when data centers get built. Another element to this, where the two have differed, is Wiener also just has more support, I think, from AI companies in general that are looking for regulation.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:38]\u003c/em> She’s taken kind of what one academic expert described to me as a more populist approach in this race when it comes to AI. She has called for a full moratorium on data centers until the technology is reined in and legislated. Wiener doesn’t support a full-on moratorium like that. He says that communities should decide where and when data centers get built. Another element to this, where the two have differed, is Wiener also just has more support, I think, from AI companies in general that are looking for regulation.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:15]\u003c/em> We as San Franciscans, but really all across the nation trust you to be able to regulate AI with integrity and that is not going to just placate to the industry. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:15]\u003c/em> We as San Franciscans, but really all across the nation trust you to be able to regulate AI with integrity and that is not going to just placate to the industry. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:28]\u003c/em> You know, he has said that he has their support because they trust that he’s the guy who can get regulation done. Chan has pointed to legislation she’s supported locally to stop an AI-driven rent-fixing tool. But she does have a bit less experience in the lawmaking area than Wiener does around AI. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:28]\u003c/em> You know, he has said that he has their support because they trust that he’s the guy who can get regulation done. Chan has pointed to legislation she’s supported locally to stop an AI-driven rent-fixing tool. But she does have a bit less experience in the lawmaking area than Wiener does around AI. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:49]\u003c/em> And so we have a lot more work to do on AI regulation, and the reality is I’m the only candidate on this stage who has ever regulated AI full stop. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:49]\u003c/em> And so we have a lot more work to do on AI regulation, and the reality is I’m the only candidate on this stage who has ever regulated AI full stop. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:04]\u003c/em> I know these two also differ on the billionaire tax and wealth taxation, including in their support for Prop 40, the billionaire wealth tax. How are these two talking about that issue? \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:19]\u003c/em> Wiener previously opposed the local overpaid CEO tax in San Francisco, which was defeated. And he is also opposing Prop 40. He has said that he supports taxing the wealthy, but that this one-time tax in particular is not the solution that he thinks is going to give Californians what we need. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:42]\u003c/em> We already have an unstable boom bust budget. This will make it dramatically worse, and that’s why I don’t support it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:42]\u003c/em> We already have an unstable boom bust budget. This will make it dramatically worse, and that’s why I don’t support it. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:48]\u003c/em> But he has said he supports things like Elizabeth Warren’s ultramillionaire tax. So I don’t think it’s fair to say that he doesn’t support wealth taxes full stop. But the ones that we are voting on here in San Francisco and California, he has opposed. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:48]\u003c/em> But he has said he supports things like Elizabeth Warren’s ultramillionaire tax. So I don’t think it’s fair to say that he doesn’t support wealth taxes full stop. But the ones that we are voting on here in San Francisco and California, he has opposed. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:07]\u003c/em> No billionaire should be paying less taxes than our teachers and nurses. And simple as that. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:07]\u003c/em> No billionaire should be paying less taxes than our teachers and nurses. And simple as that. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:14]\u003c/em> Chan has supported all of the above and has kind of used it to draw a line in the sand between her and Wiener. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:14]\u003c/em> Chan has supported all of the above and has kind of used it to draw a line in the sand between her and Wiener. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:27]\u003c/em> Okay, and then lastly on the issues, I wanna talk about foreign policy. They do seem similar on a few things here, but notably they differ around the issue of Israel and Gaza. How do these two differ in terms of their opinions on the U.S.’s relationship with Israel and Israel’s siege of Gaza?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:27]\u003c/em> Okay, and then lastly on the issues, I wanna talk about foreign policy. They do seem similar on a few things here, but notably they differ around the issue of Israel and Gaza. How do these two differ in terms of their opinions on the U.S.’s relationship with Israel and Israel’s siege of Gaza?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:53]\u003c/em> Yeah I mean, just to go back to the early days of this race, there was a debate. Saikat Chakrabarti was still in the race at this time. The three candidates were asked if what’s happening in Gaza, what Israel is doing in Gaza is a genocide. And Chan and Chakrabarti held up their sign that said yes. And Wiener kind of twirled his sign. He didn’t answer the question. And the room erupted. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:53]\u003c/em> Yeah I mean, just to go back to the early days of this race, there was a debate. Saikat Chakrabarti was still in the race at this time. The three candidates were asked if what’s happening in Gaza, what Israel is doing in Gaza is a genocide. And Chan and Chakrabarti held up their sign that said yes. And Wiener kind of twirled his sign. He didn’t answer the question. And the room erupted. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Protester:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:31]\u003c/em> Answer the question Scott! \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:31]\u003c/em> Days later, Senator Wiener made a public announcement that he does consider what’s happening in Gaza to be a genocide. But I think for some voters, for whom this is their big issue that they’re maybe choosing their candidate on even, that that wasn’t totally satisfying. And Wieners does not support sending offensive arms to an Israeli government, but he does support defensive systems, such as the Iron Dome and David’s sling. But Chan talks about how she supports a full arms embargo to Israel. So there’s still some gray area between these two candidates on this. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:31]\u003c/em> Days later, Senator Wiener made a public announcement that he does consider what’s happening in Gaza to be a genocide. But I think for some voters, for whom this is their big issue that they’re maybe choosing their candidate on even, that that wasn’t totally satisfying. And Wieners does not support sending offensive arms to an Israeli government, but he does support defensive systems, such as the Iron Dome and David’s sling. But Chan talks about how she supports a full arms embargo to Israel. So there’s still some gray area between these two candidates on this. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:15:15]\u003c/em> I wanna talk about how the campaign has been going so far. How are the candidates doing in this race? And have there been any other sort of pivotal moments that seem to be swaying voters in one direction or another?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:15:30]\u003c/em> Another thing I want to bring up, actually, that has been pretty pivotal in this race. Earlier this year, Scott Wiener’s campaign released an AI chatbot that people could go and ask a question and the responses were supposed to look like they were coming from Connie Chan. The idea was to basically create this interactive tool that you could go see why Connie Chan wants to block all of your housing. But it immediately fell flat. The reaction was pretty negative, pretty quick. And Connie Chan said that she felt that this was unfair, that she was being mocked. And Nancy Pelosi also stepped in and said, this is putting words in women’s mouths, something that women in politics have had to deal with for a long time. And they took it down. And they also took down the physical billboards that they had purchased to advertise his chat bot. And Scott Wiener publicly apologized. Even though it was not a good look, Wiener still has the lead in the polls. It doesn’t seem to have haunted his campaign in any lasting way.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:15:30]\u003c/em> Another thing I want to bring up, actually, that has been pretty pivotal in this race. Earlier this year, Scott Wiener’s campaign released an AI chatbot that people could go and ask a question and the responses were supposed to look like they were coming from Connie Chan. The idea was to basically create this interactive tool that you could go see why Connie Chan wants to block all of your housing. But it immediately fell flat. The reaction was pretty negative, pretty quick. And Connie Chan said that she felt that this was unfair, that she was being mocked. And Nancy Pelosi also stepped in and said, this is putting words in women’s mouths, something that women in politics have had to deal with for a long time. And they took it down. And they also took down the physical billboards that they had purchased to advertise his chat bot. And Scott Wiener publicly apologized. Even though it was not a good look, Wiener still has the lead in the polls. It doesn’t seem to have haunted his campaign in any lasting way.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:16:49]\u003c/em> You talked a little bit about this already, Sydney, but can you summarize for me what the money is looking like in this race? Who’s funding both candidates here?\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:16:49]\u003c/em> You talked a little bit about this already, Sydney, but can you summarize for me what the money is looking like in this race? Who’s funding both candidates here?\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:16:58]\u003c/em> Well Wiener has raised far more than Chan has in this race, but Chan has significantly increased the amount that she’s raised, you know, specifically in this final stretch of the race. Chan has gotten money from labor groups, from Chinese American groups, and from Pelosi’s own family members. Wieners has received money from PACs that have contributions from AI companies and has received donations from people like crypto billionaire Chris Larson. He actually told Mission Local that he returned a donation from a Palantir executive. So he’s got the attention of tech for sure. But Wiener has also gotten union support. The last one to point out maybe is just that Grow USA, which is tied to the moderate political group in San Francisco called Grow SF, also contributed to Scott Wieners’ campaign. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:16:58]\u003c/em> Well Wiener has raised far more than Chan has in this race, but Chan has significantly increased the amount that she’s raised, you know, specifically in this final stretch of the race. Chan has gotten money from labor groups, from Chinese American groups, and from Pelosi’s own family members. Wieners has received money from PACs that have contributions from AI companies and has received donations from people like crypto billionaire Chris Larson. He actually told Mission Local that he returned a donation from a Palantir executive. So he’s got the attention of tech for sure. But Wiener has also gotten union support. The last one to point out maybe is just that Grow USA, which is tied to the moderate political group in San Francisco called Grow SF, also contributed to Scott Wieners’ campaign. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:18:00]\u003c/em> And what are you gonna be watching out for in the next couple of days?\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:18:03]\u003c/em> You know, the last few days are always some of the most intense, I think, in terms of just the emotion, the feelings. You know obviously the polls are looking good for Scott Wiener, but we didn’t expect Connie Chan to do as well in the primary as she did. So it’ll be really interesting to see just what that final outcome looks like, how different neighborhoods vote in this race also. And yeah, we’ll be looking out for all of it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:18:03]\u003c/em> You know, the last few days are always some of the most intense, I think, in terms of just the emotion, the feelings. You know obviously the polls are looking good for Scott Wiener, but we didn’t expect Connie Chan to do as well in the primary as she did. So it’ll be really interesting to see just what that final outcome looks like, how different neighborhoods vote in this race also. And yeah, we’ll be looking out for all of it. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:18:38]\u003c/em> Well, Sydney Johnson, thank you so much as always. Appreciate it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For decades, Nancy Pelosi has represented San Francisco in Congress. Now she’s retiring, making way for a truly competitive race for California’s 11th Congressional District. Today, we talk about the candidates — San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan and state Sen. Scott Wiener — and discuss how they differ on the big issues. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Links:\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide\">KQED’s Voter Guide\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/propfest\">Prop Fest: A collaboration between The Bay and Bay Curious\u003c/a>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Episode Transcript\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This transcript is computer-generated. While our team has reviewed it, there may be errors.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:00]\u003c/em> I’m Ericka Cruz Guevarra and welcome to The Bay, local news to keep you rooted. Nancy Pelosi has been San Francisco’s representative in Congress for decades. But now she’s retiring. And for the first time in a long time, a true competitive race is underway for California’s 11th congressional seat. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:29]\u003c/em> She has become a force in American politics, and whoever replaces her is gonna have huge shoes to fill. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:00:39]\u003c/em> After winning Pelosi’s endorsement earlier this year, San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan will face off against State Senator Scott Wiener. And while the two candidates are aligned on a lot of issues, San Francisco voters are gonna be looking at the finer print when they ffill out their ballots and where these candidates stand on everything from AI to housing to wealth taxes and Gaza.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:09]\u003c/em> Who we send to Congress to position themselves and make policy and law on these issues is gonna be incredibly important. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:19]\u003c/em> Today, KQED reporter Sydney Johnson tells us more about who Connie Chan and Scott Wiener are and how these two differ on the big issues. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:40]\u003c/em> Locally, you know, this seat controls how San Francisco gets federal resources. Sydney Johnson is around.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:51]\u003c/em> Reporter for KTVU. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:01:51]\u003c/em> That was a huge thing that, you know, Nancy Pelosi talked about. And I think why she earned the reputation that she did was she brought it back to San Francisco. It wasn’t just about those like flashy moments in Washington, but it was about showing the people in San Francisco that, hey, I’m working for you, you know, whether or not you agreed with what she was doing. And so, whoever goes on to represent San Francisco and Washington right now… Is going to have a big fight ahead of them to help the city get a lot of the funding that it has lost in recent years.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:02:29]\u003c/em> I mean, I think maybe we sort of have taken for granted having such a powerful national figure who has spent decades working up to the career that she has to have brought so much resources back to San Francisco. And now there’s this historic shift that’s happening. And it’s historic also because both of the candidates in this election would be historic firsts in their own ways. So I wanna talk about them, starting with Connie Chan. Who is she and what kind of candidate is she shaping up to be in this race? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:05]\u003c/em> Yeah, Connie Chan is a supervisor in San Francisco. She represents the Richmond district. She was born in Hong Kong. She lived part of her early childhood in Taiwan and immigrated to San Francisco and grew up in Chinatown. And she’s really positioned herself as a working mom, as someone who is not taking money from billionaires in this race. Someone who’s looking out for the little guy, tenants. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:37]\u003c/em> We’ve been building that coalition in San Francisco, the Working People’s Coalition. We know how to fight, and we know how win. And we now will take this fight from San Francisco all the way to Washington, D.C. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:03:50]\u003c/em> She has sort of worked her way up in civil and public service. And she talks a lot about her experience on the board of supervisors as the budget chair, the person who brings all parties and interests together and tries to strike a deal. If Chan were to win, it would be the first time that we had someone who’s Chinese-American represent San Francisco in Congress. I think those are sort of the elements of the picture that she’s trying to paint of like. If you elect me, you’re electing the everyday San Franciscan.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:04:33]\u003c/em> And then there’s your challenger, Scott Wiener. Remind us a little bit of his story and who he is as a candidate in this race. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:04:43]\u003c/em> Scott Wiener is a state senator representing San Francisco. Scott Wieter has really been pointing to his experience as a lawmaker, as this kind of bull in Sacramento, where he has passed tons of legislation. He’s kind of characterized as this policy wonk, but someone who’s going to work across the aisle in order to get things done. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:09]\u003c/em> And we need leaders in Congress who do not just accept the status quo, but who demand change, even when it’s hard. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:19]\u003c/em> He would also be a historic first. He would be the first out gay man to represent San Francisco, which as we know has a huge history of being on the forefront of LGBTQ rights and gay marriage. And that is totally historic in its own right as well. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:38]\u003c/em> Well Sydney, we’re gonna dive into their stance on some of these big issues, but how different are these candidates really and what do we know about how they might vote if they do get to Congress? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:05:51]\u003c/em> So, yeah, they will probably agree on the vast majority of issues in Congress that are applicable to a national scale. But here in San Francisco, you know, they are quite different. You know, Connie Chan gets kind of pegged as further left or more progressive in this race, even though she does have the endorsement of Nancy Pelosi herself, which we’ll get into. I think… The difference between these two, you know, one really lies in who’s supporting them and kind of the money that’s supporting, but also what they see as the definition of progress in San Francisco. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:34]\u003c/em> Let’s get into the nitty gritty, where I think most San Francisco voters are probably sitting right now as they’re looking at their ballots and all the different ways that these candidates differ, starting with housing, which is of course a huge issue in San Francisco, in California. In what big ways do these two candidates differ in their approach to the housing crisis.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:06:59]\u003c/em> Yeah, I think housing is probably one of the areas where there’s the most stark difference between these two candidates. We’ll start with Senator Wiener. He has been known for passing a tremendous amount of legislation directed at housing at the state level, specifically to make it easier to build housing and also to increase pressure on cities to build housing. I mean, he supports more housing at all levels. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:07:27]\u003c/em> I went to Sacramento and as a result of our work, thousands of affordable homes have been built in San Francisco with thousands more in the pipeline. We need to go big and build millions of homes in this country.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:07:40]\u003c/em> Senator Wiener has received a lot of support for the work that he’s done at the state level from pro-housing activists with Yimbi. And Chan, Wiener, has sort of painted her as an obstructionist, not only to what he sees as progress, but to literal housing projects and public transit projects in the city. He points to a project in Soma that Chan was part of a group of supervisors who oppose the development. She also opposed the mayor’s rezoning plan, which makes it easier to build taller and more dense buildings around the city. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:18]\u003c/em> We need to build housing, and we need to build housing that people can afford. We also need to help people to have rental subsidies so they can stay housed. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:27]\u003c/em> Her defense to this, she says she is looking out for tenants, that she’s looking out for small businesses that could be displaced by rents rising, by market rate developments. And she has said that those projects did not come with enough protections baked in. That’s the reason why she’s opposed a lot of projects. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:08:55]\u003c/em> We’re gonna take a quick break, but when we come back, where the two candidates stand on AI, the billionaire tax, and Gaza. By the way, if you appreciate the work that we do here on the Bay, consider becoming a sustaining KQED member. That’s one of the best ways you can help support the journalism that we bring you here on this show. Just go to donate.kqed.org/podcasts. We’ll be right back.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:09:29]\u003c/em> Another big issue in this race, Sydney, is AI. How do these two differ on that? They’re in all the ads! \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:09:38]\u003c/em> For sure. They are dominating the ads in this race. Senator Wiener, he actually authored a A.I. Safety bill several years ago that Newsom vetoed. He came back the next year, and he got an AI transparency bill passed that Newsom did sign. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:09:57]\u003c/em> But Congress has failed in a huge way around tech regulation. We have almost no federal regulation of AI.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:05]\u003c/em> Wiener has been talking a lot about this kill switch, this idea that when something really bad happens that AI is doing, there would be this kind of magical button that we could press to just shut it all off. But Chan has said that we shouldn’t wait until a catastrophe to have more regulation. In fact, we should wait before we move forward with the technology to figure out how to avoid that situation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:32]\u003c/em> It is important to have human oversight during the developmental phase of the technology. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:10:38]\u003c/em> She’s taken kind of what one academic expert described to me as a more populist approach in this race when it comes to AI. She has called for a full moratorium on data centers until the technology is reined in and legislated. Wiener doesn’t support a full-on moratorium like that. He says that communities should decide where and when data centers get built. Another element to this, where the two have differed, is Wiener also just has more support, I think, from AI companies in general that are looking for regulation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:15]\u003c/em> We as San Franciscans, but really all across the nation trust you to be able to regulate AI with integrity and that is not going to just placate to the industry. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:28]\u003c/em> You know, he has said that he has their support because they trust that he’s the guy who can get regulation done. Chan has pointed to legislation she’s supported locally to stop an AI-driven rent-fixing tool. But she does have a bit less experience in the lawmaking area than Wiener does around AI. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:11:49]\u003c/em> And so we have a lot more work to do on AI regulation, and the reality is I’m the only candidate on this stage who has ever regulated AI full stop. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:04]\u003c/em> I know these two also differ on the billionaire tax and wealth taxation, including in their support for Prop 40, the billionaire wealth tax. How are these two talking about that issue? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:19]\u003c/em> Wiener previously opposed the local overpaid CEO tax in San Francisco, which was defeated. And he is also opposing Prop 40. He has said that he supports taxing the wealthy, but that this one-time tax in particular is not the solution that he thinks is going to give Californians what we need. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Scott Wiener:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:42]\u003c/em> We already have an unstable boom bust budget. This will make it dramatically worse, and that’s why I don’t support it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:12:48]\u003c/em> But he has said he supports things like Elizabeth Warren’s ultramillionaire tax. So I don’t think it’s fair to say that he doesn’t support wealth taxes full stop. But the ones that we are voting on here in San Francisco and California, he has opposed. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Connie Chan:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:07]\u003c/em> No billionaire should be paying less taxes than our teachers and nurses. And simple as that. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:14]\u003c/em> Chan has supported all of the above and has kind of used it to draw a line in the sand between her and Wiener. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:27]\u003c/em> Okay, and then lastly on the issues, I wanna talk about foreign policy. They do seem similar on a few things here, but notably they differ around the issue of Israel and Gaza. How do these two differ in terms of their opinions on the U.S.’s relationship with Israel and Israel’s siege of Gaza?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:13:53]\u003c/em> Yeah I mean, just to go back to the early days of this race, there was a debate. Saikat Chakrabarti was still in the race at this time. The three candidates were asked if what’s happening in Gaza, what Israel is doing in Gaza is a genocide. And Chan and Chakrabarti held up their sign that said yes. And Wiener kind of twirled his sign. He didn’t answer the question. And the room erupted. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Protester:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:31]\u003c/em> Answer the question Scott! \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:14:31]\u003c/em> Days later, Senator Wiener made a public announcement that he does consider what’s happening in Gaza to be a genocide. But I think for some voters, for whom this is their big issue that they’re maybe choosing their candidate on even, that that wasn’t totally satisfying. And Wieners does not support sending offensive arms to an Israeli government, but he does support defensive systems, such as the Iron Dome and David’s sling. But Chan talks about how she supports a full arms embargo to Israel. So there’s still some gray area between these two candidates on this. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:15:15]\u003c/em> I wanna talk about how the campaign has been going so far. How are the candidates doing in this race? And have there been any other sort of pivotal moments that seem to be swaying voters in one direction or another?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:15:30]\u003c/em> Another thing I want to bring up, actually, that has been pretty pivotal in this race. Earlier this year, Scott Wiener’s campaign released an AI chatbot that people could go and ask a question and the responses were supposed to look like they were coming from Connie Chan. The idea was to basically create this interactive tool that you could go see why Connie Chan wants to block all of your housing. But it immediately fell flat. The reaction was pretty negative, pretty quick. And Connie Chan said that she felt that this was unfair, that she was being mocked. And Nancy Pelosi also stepped in and said, this is putting words in women’s mouths, something that women in politics have had to deal with for a long time. And they took it down. And they also took down the physical billboards that they had purchased to advertise his chat bot. And Scott Wiener publicly apologized. Even though it was not a good look, Wiener still has the lead in the polls. It doesn’t seem to have haunted his campaign in any lasting way.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:16:49]\u003c/em> You talked a little bit about this already, Sydney, but can you summarize for me what the money is looking like in this race? Who’s funding both candidates here?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:16:58]\u003c/em> Well Wiener has raised far more than Chan has in this race, but Chan has significantly increased the amount that she’s raised, you know, specifically in this final stretch of the race. Chan has gotten money from labor groups, from Chinese American groups, and from Pelosi’s own family members. Wieners has received money from PACs that have contributions from AI companies and has received donations from people like crypto billionaire Chris Larson. He actually told Mission Local that he returned a donation from a Palantir executive. So he’s got the attention of tech for sure. But Wiener has also gotten union support. The last one to point out maybe is just that Grow USA, which is tied to the moderate political group in San Francisco called Grow SF, also contributed to Scott Wieners’ campaign. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:18:00]\u003c/em> And what are you gonna be watching out for in the next couple of days?\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:18:03]\u003c/em> You know, the last few days are always some of the most intense, I think, in terms of just the emotion, the feelings. You know obviously the polls are looking good for Scott Wiener, but we didn’t expect Connie Chan to do as well in the primary as she did. So it’ll be really interesting to see just what that final outcome looks like, how different neighborhoods vote in this race also. And yeah, we’ll be looking out for all of it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Ericka Cruz Guevarra:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:18:38]\u003c/em> Well, Sydney Johnson, thank you so much as always. Appreciate it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cstrong>Sydney Johnson:\u003c/strong> \u003cem>[00:18:41]\u003c/em> Thank you, Ericka. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>Some members of the KQED podcast team are represented by The Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, San Francisco-Northern California Local.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "judge-says-trump-could-disenfranchise-voters-in-purge-of-noncitizens-from-election-rolls",
"title": "Judge Says Trump Could Disenfranchise Voters in Purge of Noncitizens From Election Rolls",
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"headTitle": "Judge Says Trump Could Disenfranchise Voters in Purge of Noncitizens From Election Rolls | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saying he had concerns it could disenfranchise voters during the midterm election, a federal judge on Tuesday seemed skeptical of the Trump administration’s demands that California election officials set aside 20,000 ballots that it claimed could have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106418/santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe\">mailed to noncitizens\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Some of these may be very valid voters, and that’s my concern about disenfranchisement,” said U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, an appointee of President Bill Clinton.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carter said he would issue a formal ruling by Wednesday, but he told the courtroom he was likely going to appoint a special master to weigh the evidence both sides present at a hearing in two weeks. That means his final ruling might not come until after the election.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said he didn’t want to “just wing it with a ruling” based on last-minute evidence the federal government submitted to the court the night before Tuesday’s hearing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carter also suggested that his ruling would order federal authorities to stop telling election officials that they could face criminal charges if they didn’t comply with the Trump administration’s demands. The Trump administration on Friday \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106247/doj-orders-contra-costa-other-california-counties-to-verify-ballots\">sent letters to California election officials\u003c/a> telling them to set aside ballots from suspected noncitizens, and threatened them with criminal charges if they allowed those people to vote.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“This court believes it would be wise that any threats to state or county (election) employees cease immediately,” Carter told the courtroom.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carter’s remarks point to yet another likely legal blow to the Trump administration as it seeks to validate President Donald Trump’s longstanding claims of widespread election fraud favoring Democrats. Experts and election officials say those claims are meritless. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, acknowledged that the government’s list of 20,000 people may contain citizens, but he said the possibility that noncitizens were voting illegally was too great a threat.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GettyImages-2277856381.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12085438\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GettyImages-2277856381.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GettyImages-2277856381-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GettyImages-2277856381-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Election workers sort ballots at Contra Costa County’s election operations facility on May 27, 2026, in Martinez, California. (Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I would ask the state how many illegal votes is OK for them?” Essayli said. “It cannot be that the state has a right to facilitate the counting and tabulation of noncitizen votes. There’s no right to that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">sued California earlier this month\u003c/a> saying election officials refused to comply with a 48-hour federal deadline to set aside the ballots of up to 20,000 people the administration had flagged as possible noncitizens until the voters’ citizenship could be verified.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The administration sought a temporary restraining order forcing the state to comply.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California officials argued there was no way they could since they were busy overseeing the election. They also called the demand an illegal effort to meddle in state-run elections that could disenfranchise legal voters.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“I just want to make sure the stakes are clear: that what we’re talking about is stripping voting rights from thousands of people until proven otherwise,” said Anne Bellows, a deputy attorney general with the California Department of Justice. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Judge points to immigrant arrests\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">State and county officials also have questioned the methodology the federal government used to flag possible noncitizens.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a court filing, Los Angeles County officials said that a sampling of 200 names from the federal list, which included people from all over California, found that many of them were likely citizens and that most had not voted before and were not sent ballots. Federal investigators re-reviewed those 200 names and found that only four were citizens, Essayli told the judge.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“We stand by the reliability of the information,” he said. “We take our obligations and ethics very seriously.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carter noted that, last week, federal prosecutors charged \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/california-federal-arrests-voter-fraud/\">28 California green card holders\u003c/a> for allegedly voting or registering to vote in violation of laws prohibiting noncitizens from participating in elections. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said that if noncitizens really are voting in as large of numbers as the Trump administration claims, there’s nothing stopping federal prosecutors from finding them and charging them without the risk of blocking legal voters from having their ballots counted.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“If it’s this big, you’ve got a remedy for goodness sakes,” Carter told Essayli. “Go out and indict.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the hearing, Essayli said from the courthouse steps that the state could “resolve this today.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“They just seem disinterested in getting to the bottom of this,” Essayli said, noting that the number of ballots in question could tip smaller elections. “A lot of elections are decided by tens of votes or hundreds of votes.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">9th Circuit ruled against Trump\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hearing came a day after two judges on a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106418/santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe\">rejected an emergency effort\u003c/a> from the Trump administration to bypass Carter’s courtroom. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration sought an emergency order from the appellate court, claiming that Carter didn’t schedule a hearing fast enough. The two judges said prosecutors’ arguments about urgency didn’t hold up.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their ruling noted that the prosecutors have been making claims about illegal voters on California’s voter rolls since July and could have taken action any time since, so their “claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, noted in a concurring opinion that he had “serious doubts” about the federal government’s claims that prosecutors could “superintend or intervene in a state’s election administration.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He wrote that Congress granted states — not the executive branch — authority over elections.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>In a dissenting opinion, Judge Patrick Bumatay, another Trump appointee, argued that “federal law precludes California from commingling ballots likely cast by aliens with legitimate ballots, because it encourages and induces illegal voting.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Stopping that practice for those identified as likely noncitizens is the bare minimum,” Bumatay wrote.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/trump-noncitizen-voting-court/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Saying he had concerns it could disenfranchise voters during the midterm election, a federal judge on Tuesday seemed skeptical of the Trump administration’s demands that California election officials set aside 20,000 ballots that it claimed could have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106418/santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe\">mailed to noncitizens\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Saying he had concerns it could disenfranchise voters during the midterm election, a federal judge on Tuesday seemed skeptical of the Trump administration’s demands that California election officials set aside 20,000 ballots that it claimed could have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106418/santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe\">mailed to noncitizens\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Some of these may be very valid voters, and that’s my concern about disenfranchisement,” said U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, an appointee of President Bill Clinton.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Some of these may be very valid voters, and that’s my concern about disenfranchisement,” said U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, an appointee of President Bill Clinton.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Carter said he would issue a formal ruling by Wednesday, but he told the courtroom he was likely going to appoint a special master to weigh the evidence both sides present at a hearing in two weeks. That means his final ruling might not come until after the election.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Carter said he would issue a formal ruling by Wednesday, but he told the courtroom he was likely going to appoint a special master to weigh the evidence both sides present at a hearing in two weeks. That means his final ruling might not come until after the election.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He said he didn’t want to “just wing it with a ruling” based on last-minute evidence the federal government submitted to the court the night before Tuesday’s hearing.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Carter also suggested that his ruling would order federal authorities to stop telling election officials that they could face criminal charges if they didn’t comply with the Trump administration’s demands. The Trump administration on Friday \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106247/doj-orders-contra-costa-other-california-counties-to-verify-ballots\">sent letters to California election officials\u003c/a> telling them to set aside ballots from suspected noncitizens, and threatened them with criminal charges if they allowed those people to vote.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“This court believes it would be wise that any threats to state or county (election) employees cease immediately,” Carter told the courtroom.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Carter also suggested that his ruling would order federal authorities to stop telling election officials that they could face criminal charges if they didn’t comply with the Trump administration’s demands. The Trump administration on Friday \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106247/doj-orders-contra-costa-other-california-counties-to-verify-ballots\">sent letters to California election officials\u003c/a> telling them to set aside ballots from suspected noncitizens, and threatened them with criminal charges if they allowed those people to vote.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“This court believes it would be wise that any threats to state or county (election) employees cease immediately,” Carter told the courtroom.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Carter’s remarks point to yet another likely legal blow to the Trump administration as it seeks to validate President Donald Trump’s longstanding claims of widespread election fraud favoring Democrats. Experts and election officials say those claims are meritless. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Carter’s remarks point to yet another likely legal blow to the Trump administration as it seeks to validate President Donald Trump’s longstanding claims of widespread election fraud favoring Democrats. Experts and election officials say those claims are meritless. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, acknowledged that the government’s list of 20,000 people may contain citizens, but he said the possibility that noncitizens were voting illegally was too great a threat.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, acknowledged that the government’s list of 20,000 people may contain citizens, but he said the possibility that noncitizens were voting illegally was too great a threat.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I would ask the state how many illegal votes is OK for them?” Essayli said. “It cannot be that the state has a right to facilitate the counting and tabulation of noncitizen votes. There’s no right to that.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I would ask the state how many illegal votes is OK for them?” Essayli said. “It cannot be that the state has a right to facilitate the counting and tabulation of noncitizen votes. There’s no right to that.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Trump administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">sued California earlier this month\u003c/a> saying election officials refused to comply with a 48-hour federal deadline to set aside the ballots of up to 20,000 people the administration had flagged as possible noncitizens until the voters’ citizenship could be verified.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Trump administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">sued California earlier this month\u003c/a> saying election officials refused to comply with a 48-hour federal deadline to set aside the ballots of up to 20,000 people the administration had flagged as possible noncitizens until the voters’ citizenship could be verified.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The administration sought a temporary restraining order forcing the state to comply.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California officials argued there was no way they could since they were busy overseeing the election. They also called the demand an illegal effort to meddle in state-run elections that could disenfranchise legal voters.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“I just want to make sure the stakes are clear: that what we’re talking about is stripping voting rights from thousands of people until proven otherwise,” said Anne Bellows, a deputy attorney general with the California Department of Justice. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>California officials argued there was no way they could since they were busy overseeing the election. They also called the demand an illegal effort to meddle in state-run elections that could disenfranchise legal voters.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“I just want to make sure the stakes are clear: that what we’re talking about is stripping voting rights from thousands of people until proven otherwise,” said Anne Bellows, a deputy attorney general with the California Department of Justice. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>State and county officials also have questioned the methodology the federal government used to flag possible noncitizens.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a court filing, Los Angeles County officials said that a sampling of 200 names from the federal list, which included people from all over California, found that many of them were likely citizens and that most had not voted before and were not sent ballots. Federal investigators re-reviewed those 200 names and found that only four were citizens, Essayli told the judge.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“We stand by the reliability of the information,” he said. “We take our obligations and ethics very seriously.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a court filing, Los Angeles County officials said that a sampling of 200 names from the federal list, which included people from all over California, found that many of them were likely citizens and that most had not voted before and were not sent ballots. Federal investigators re-reviewed those 200 names and found that only four were citizens, Essayli told the judge.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“We stand by the reliability of the information,” he said. “We take our obligations and ethics very seriously.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Carter noted that, last week, federal prosecutors charged \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/california-federal-arrests-voter-fraud/\">28 California green card holders\u003c/a> for allegedly voting or registering to vote in violation of laws prohibiting noncitizens from participating in elections. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Carter noted that, last week, federal prosecutors charged \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/california-federal-arrests-voter-fraud/\">28 California green card holders\u003c/a> for allegedly voting or registering to vote in violation of laws prohibiting noncitizens from participating in elections. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He said that if noncitizens really are voting in as large of numbers as the Trump administration claims, there’s nothing stopping federal prosecutors from finding them and charging them without the risk of blocking legal voters from having their ballots counted.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>He said that if noncitizens really are voting in as large of numbers as the Trump administration claims, there’s nothing stopping federal prosecutors from finding them and charging them without the risk of blocking legal voters from having their ballots counted.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“If it’s this big, you’ve got a remedy for goodness sakes,” Carter told Essayli. “Go out and indict.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“If it’s this big, you’ve got a remedy for goodness sakes,” Carter told Essayli. “Go out and indict.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>After the hearing, Essayli said from the courthouse steps that the state could “resolve this today.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“They just seem disinterested in getting to the bottom of this,” Essayli said, noting that the number of ballots in question could tip smaller elections. “A lot of elections are decided by tens of votes or hundreds of votes.”\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>“They just seem disinterested in getting to the bottom of this,” Essayli said, noting that the number of ballots in question could tip smaller elections. “A lot of elections are decided by tens of votes or hundreds of votes.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The hearing came a day after two judges on a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106418/santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe\">rejected an emergency effort\u003c/a> from the Trump administration to bypass Carter’s courtroom. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The hearing came a day after two judges on a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106418/santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe\">rejected an emergency effort\u003c/a> from the Trump administration to bypass Carter’s courtroom. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Trump administration sought an emergency order from the appellate court, claiming that Carter didn’t schedule a hearing fast enough. The two judges said prosecutors’ arguments about urgency didn’t hold up.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>The Trump administration sought an emergency order from the appellate court, claiming that Carter didn’t schedule a hearing fast enough. The two judges said prosecutors’ arguments about urgency didn’t hold up.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Their ruling noted that the prosecutors have been making claims about illegal voters on California’s voter rolls since July and could have taken action any time since, so their “claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, noted in a concurring opinion that he had “serious doubts” about the federal government’s claims that prosecutors could “superintend or intervene in a state’s election administration.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Their ruling noted that the prosecutors have been making claims about illegal voters on California’s voter rolls since July and could have taken action any time since, so their “claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, noted in a concurring opinion that he had “serious doubts” about the federal government’s claims that prosecutors could “superintend or intervene in a state’s election administration.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>He wrote that Congress granted states — not the executive branch — authority over elections.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>In a dissenting opinion, Judge Patrick Bumatay, another Trump appointee, argued that “federal law precludes California from commingling ballots likely cast by aliens with legitimate ballots, because it encourages and induces illegal voting.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>He wrote that Congress granted states — not the executive branch — authority over elections.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>In a dissenting opinion, Judge Patrick Bumatay, another Trump appointee, argued that “federal law precludes California from commingling ballots likely cast by aliens with legitimate ballots, because it encourages and induces illegal voting.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Stopping that practice for those identified as likely noncitizens is the bare minimum,” Bumatay wrote.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/trump-noncitizen-voting-court/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "A federal judge is unlikely to issue a final ruling on the Trump administration’s claim that 20,000 possible noncitizens are registered to vote in California until after Election Day.",
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"title": "Judge Says Trump Could Disenfranchise Voters in Purge of Noncitizens From Election Rolls | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This story was originally published by \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/\">CalMatters\u003c/a>. \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/\">Sign up\u003c/a> for their newsletters.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saying he had concerns it could disenfranchise voters during the midterm election, a federal judge on Tuesday seemed skeptical of the Trump administration’s demands that California election officials set aside 20,000 ballots that it claimed could have been \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106418/santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe\">mailed to noncitizens\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Some of these may be very valid voters, and that’s my concern about disenfranchisement,” said U.S. District Judge David O. Carter, an appointee of President Bill Clinton.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carter said he would issue a formal ruling by Wednesday, but he told the courtroom he was likely going to appoint a special master to weigh the evidence both sides present at a hearing in two weeks. That means his final ruling might not come until after the election.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said he didn’t want to “just wing it with a ruling” based on last-minute evidence the federal government submitted to the court the night before Tuesday’s hearing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carter also suggested that his ruling would order federal authorities to stop telling election officials that they could face criminal charges if they didn’t comply with the Trump administration’s demands. The Trump administration on Friday \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106247/doj-orders-contra-costa-other-california-counties-to-verify-ballots\">sent letters to California election officials\u003c/a> telling them to set aside ballots from suspected noncitizens, and threatened them with criminal charges if they allowed those people to vote.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“This court believes it would be wise that any threats to state or county (election) employees cease immediately,” Carter told the courtroom.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carter’s remarks point to yet another likely legal blow to the Trump administration as it seeks to validate President Donald Trump’s longstanding claims of widespread election fraud favoring Democrats. Experts and election officials say those claims are meritless. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney in Los Angeles, acknowledged that the government’s list of 20,000 people may contain citizens, but he said the possibility that noncitizens were voting illegally was too great a threat.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GettyImages-2277856381.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12085438\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GettyImages-2277856381.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GettyImages-2277856381-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/GettyImages-2277856381-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Election workers sort ballots at Contra Costa County’s election operations facility on May 27, 2026, in Martinez, California. (Benjamin Fanjoy/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I would ask the state how many illegal votes is OK for them?” Essayli said. “It cannot be that the state has a right to facilitate the counting and tabulation of noncitizen votes. There’s no right to that.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">sued California earlier this month\u003c/a> saying election officials refused to comply with a 48-hour federal deadline to set aside the ballots of up to 20,000 people the administration had flagged as possible noncitizens until the voters’ citizenship could be verified.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The administration sought a temporary restraining order forcing the state to comply.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California officials argued there was no way they could since they were busy overseeing the election. They also called the demand an illegal effort to meddle in state-run elections that could disenfranchise legal voters.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“I just want to make sure the stakes are clear: that what we’re talking about is stripping voting rights from thousands of people until proven otherwise,” said Anne Bellows, a deputy attorney general with the California Department of Justice. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Judge points to immigrant arrests\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">State and county officials also have questioned the methodology the federal government used to flag possible noncitizens.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a court filing, Los Angeles County officials said that a sampling of 200 names from the federal list, which included people from all over California, found that many of them were likely citizens and that most had not voted before and were not sent ballots. Federal investigators re-reviewed those 200 names and found that only four were citizens, Essayli told the judge.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>“We stand by the reliability of the information,” he said. “We take our obligations and ethics very seriously.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Carter noted that, last week, federal prosecutors charged \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/california-federal-arrests-voter-fraud/\">28 California green card holders\u003c/a> for allegedly voting or registering to vote in violation of laws prohibiting noncitizens from participating in elections. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said that if noncitizens really are voting in as large of numbers as the Trump administration claims, there’s nothing stopping federal prosecutors from finding them and charging them without the risk of blocking legal voters from having their ballots counted.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“If it’s this big, you’ve got a remedy for goodness sakes,” Carter told Essayli. “Go out and indict.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After the hearing, Essayli said from the courthouse steps that the state could “resolve this today.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“They just seem disinterested in getting to the bottom of this,” Essayli said, noting that the number of ballots in question could tip smaller elections. “A lot of elections are decided by tens of votes or hundreds of votes.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">9th Circuit ruled against Trump\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The hearing came a day after two judges on a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106418/santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe\">rejected an emergency effort\u003c/a> from the Trump administration to bypass Carter’s courtroom. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration sought an emergency order from the appellate court, claiming that Carter didn’t schedule a hearing fast enough. The two judges said prosecutors’ arguments about urgency didn’t hold up.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Their ruling noted that the prosecutors have been making claims about illegal voters on California’s voter rolls since July and could have taken action any time since, so their “claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.”\u003cbr>\u003cbr>Judge Mark Bennett, a Trump appointee, noted in a concurring opinion that he had “serious doubts” about the federal government’s claims that prosecutors could “superintend or intervene in a state’s election administration.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He wrote that Congress granted states — not the executive branch — authority over elections.\u003cbr>\u003cbr>In a dissenting opinion, Judge Patrick Bumatay, another Trump appointee, argued that “federal law precludes California from commingling ballots likely cast by aliens with legitimate ballots, because it encourages and induces illegal voting.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Stopping that practice for those identified as likely noncitizens is the bare minimum,” Bumatay wrote.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This article was \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/10/trump-noncitizen-voting-court/\">originally published on CalMatters\u003c/a> and was republished under the \u003ca href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/\">Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives\u003c/a> license.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "santa-clara-county-rejects-trump-administration-voter-probe",
"title": "Santa Clara County Rejects Trump Administration Voter Probe",
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"headTitle": "Santa Clara County Rejects Trump Administration Voter Probe | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Santa Clara County officials on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s demand to set aside hundreds of ballots and vet the voters’ names amid an unprecedented \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106247/doj-orders-contra-costa-other-california-counties-to-verify-ballots\">investigation\u003c/a> of purported noncitizens on county voter rolls. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The defiant response comes as a legal battle between California and the federal government over the voter rolls escalates just over two weeks before Election Day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Department of Justice had sent letters to all of California’s county registrars this month directing them to provide information verifying the flagged voters’ citizenship and hold off on counting ballots from those voters in the meantime. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A district court judge in Los Angeles will hear the federal government’s request to expedite enforcement of the demand on Tuesday, after a federal appeals court ruled Monday that it was too soon for the higher court to step in. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Echoing the response of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106053/at-a-contra-costa-county-elections-office-workers-say-security-is-paramount\">local officials\u003c/a> facing similar demands across the state, Santa Clara County Executive James Williams said the DOJ had no authority to conscript local election officials in such an effort.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“A letter like that, and one that makes threats to election officials concerning criminal and other legal sanctions, is deeply disturbing and entirely inappropriate,” Williams said in an interview. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103669\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A vote-by-mail ballot for the Nov. 3, 2026, general election on Oct. 8, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration is ramping up its pressure on California in what federal officials have called a campaign to root out potential noncitizens registered to vote. Earlier this month, the Justice Department \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">sued California and Los Angeles County\u003c/a> elections officials over the list of voters who the federal government “believes are likely noncitizens.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a rare Sunday hearing, lawyers for the federal government asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to halt ballot counting for 20,000 voters on that list. Election experts questioned the legality of the Trump administration’s move, which came as nearly 3 million Californians have already cast a ballot in the Nov. 3 midterm election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“What they say they’re trying to do is enforce a federal law that makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote in federal elections,” Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at the UCLA School of Law, said on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101915782/bracing-for-the-coming-wave-of-legal-challenges-to-midterm-voting\">KQED’s Forum\u003c/a>. “What I think they’re actually trying to do is to project the image that there’s a widespread voter fraud problem in this country, and to kind of mimic the claims that President Trump has made, that noncitizens are voting in droves and affecting the outcome of elections.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In letters to the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Sunday, Williams and Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti argued that state and federal law prohibit the county’s registrar of voters from complying with the federal government’s request. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They argued that the Department of Justice has not presented the county with a warrant for the Social Security numbers and driver’s license information they are seeking. And they cited the National Voter Registration Act, which prevents systematic purges of ineligible voters from registration rolls within 90 days of an election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williams also questioned how the federal government produced the list of 902 names that it categorized as “likely aliens” on the county’s voter rolls, echoing doubts cast by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and others over the data and methodology behind the federal investigation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“There were three duplicates on the first page alone; the data looks very messy,” Williams said. “A significant number of random names appear not to be voters in Santa Clara County at all.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The county’s move won praise from Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, who said the Trump administration’s actions were intended to distract local election officials who are in the midst of administering California’s early voting period. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Our elections officials need to continue focusing on what they’re doing,” he said. “Our state Department of Justice will defend the system and push back against it in court and be successful.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 902 names are a subset of the 20,000-name roster that the U.S. Department of Justice sent to California’s secretary of state this month. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Sunday’s hearing before the 9th Circuit, attorneys with the DOJ called the probe an effort to prevent noncitizens from violating federal law by casting a ballot — and accused California officials of resisting partnership on the issue. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/voter-registration-and-citizenship\">like most states\u003c/a>, asks that residents registering to vote attest under penalty of perjury that they are citizens. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Attestation is not verification,” Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/USAttyEssayli/status/2114509118702854448\">wrote\u003c/a> Sunday in a post on the social media platform X. “Ensuring only citizens vote isn’t political, it’s enforcing state and federal law.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But cases of actual voter fraud are incredibly rare. Last week, federal agents charged 28 noncitizen Californians, all of them legal residents, with illegally voting or registering to vote. None has been convicted, but those accused represent just 0.0001% of registered voters in the state.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In its ruling rejecting the Justice Department’s request for an injunction, Judges Mark J. Bennett and Gabriel P. Sanchez concluded that the federal government “failed to allow the district court adequate opportunity to consider its application for a Temporary Restraining Order.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Highlighting that the Trump administration has levied allegations that California’s voter rolls contain noncitizens since the summer, the judges wrote that the government’s “claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“At least part of the delay here is attributable to the United States’s own delay in filing suit,” they said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A district court judge in Los Angeles will hear the federal government’s request to expedite enforcement of the demand on Tuesday, after a federal appeals court ruled Monday that it was too soon for the higher court to step in. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“A letter like that, and one that makes threats to election officials concerning criminal and other legal sanctions, is deeply disturbing and entirely inappropriate,” Williams said in an interview. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103669\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A vote-by-mail ballot for the Nov. 3, 2026, general election on Oct. 8, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Trump administration is ramping up its pressure on California in what federal officials have called a campaign to root out potential noncitizens registered to vote. Earlier this month, the Justice Department \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">sued California and Los Angeles County\u003c/a> elections officials over the list of voters who the federal government “believes are likely noncitizens.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Trump administration is ramping up its pressure on California in what federal officials have called a campaign to root out potential noncitizens registered to vote. Earlier this month, the Justice Department \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">sued California and Los Angeles County\u003c/a> elections officials over the list of voters who the federal government “believes are likely noncitizens.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a rare Sunday hearing, lawyers for the federal government asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to halt ballot counting for 20,000 voters on that list. Election experts questioned the legality of the Trump administration’s move, which came as nearly 3 million Californians have already cast a ballot in the Nov. 3 midterm election. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a rare Sunday hearing, lawyers for the federal government asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to halt ballot counting for 20,000 voters on that list. Election experts questioned the legality of the Trump administration’s move, which came as nearly 3 million Californians have already cast a ballot in the Nov. 3 midterm election. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“What they say they’re trying to do is enforce a federal law that makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote in federal elections,” Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at the UCLA School of Law, said on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101915782/bracing-for-the-coming-wave-of-legal-challenges-to-midterm-voting\">KQED’s Forum\u003c/a>. “What I think they’re actually trying to do is to project the image that there’s a widespread voter fraud problem in this country, and to kind of mimic the claims that President Trump has made, that noncitizens are voting in droves and affecting the outcome of elections.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In letters to the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Sunday, Williams and Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti argued that state and federal law prohibit the county’s registrar of voters from complying with the federal government’s request. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In letters to the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Sunday, Williams and Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti argued that state and federal law prohibit the county’s registrar of voters from complying with the federal government’s request. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>They argued that the Department of Justice has not presented the county with a warrant for the Social Security numbers and driver’s license information they are seeking. And they cited the National Voter Registration Act, which prevents systematic purges of ineligible voters from registration rolls within 90 days of an election. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>They argued that the Department of Justice has not presented the county with a warrant for the Social Security numbers and driver’s license information they are seeking. And they cited the National Voter Registration Act, which prevents systematic purges of ineligible voters from registration rolls within 90 days of an election. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Williams also questioned how the federal government produced the list of 902 names that it categorized as “likely aliens” on the county’s voter rolls, echoing doubts cast by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and others over the data and methodology behind the federal investigation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Williams also questioned how the federal government produced the list of 902 names that it categorized as “likely aliens” on the county’s voter rolls, echoing doubts cast by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and others over the data and methodology behind the federal investigation. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“There were three duplicates on the first page alone; the data looks very messy,” Williams said. “A significant number of random names appear not to be voters in Santa Clara County at all.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“There were three duplicates on the first page alone; the data looks very messy,” Williams said. “A significant number of random names appear not to be voters in Santa Clara County at all.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The county’s move won praise from Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, who said the Trump administration’s actions were intended to distract local election officials who are in the midst of administering California’s early voting period. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Our elections officials need to continue focusing on what they’re doing,” he said. “Our state Department of Justice will defend the system and push back against it in court and be successful.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The 902 names are a subset of the 20,000-name roster that the U.S. Department of Justice sent to California’s secretary of state this month. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In Sunday’s hearing before the 9th Circuit, attorneys with the DOJ called the probe an effort to prevent noncitizens from violating federal law by casting a ballot — and accused California officials of resisting partnership on the issue. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In Sunday’s hearing before the 9th Circuit, attorneys with the DOJ called the probe an effort to prevent noncitizens from violating federal law by casting a ballot — and accused California officials of resisting partnership on the issue. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/voter-registration-and-citizenship\">like most states\u003c/a>, asks that residents registering to vote attest under penalty of perjury that they are citizens. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Attestation is not verification,” Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/USAttyEssayli/status/2114509118702854448\">wrote\u003c/a> Sunday in a post on the social media platform X. “Ensuring only citizens vote isn’t political, it’s enforcing state and federal law.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Attestation is not verification,” Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/USAttyEssayli/status/2114509118702854448\">wrote\u003c/a> Sunday in a post on the social media platform X. “Ensuring only citizens vote isn’t political, it’s enforcing state and federal law.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But cases of actual voter fraud are incredibly rare. Last week, federal agents charged 28 noncitizen Californians, all of them legal residents, with illegally voting or registering to vote. None has been convicted, but those accused represent just 0.0001% of registered voters in the state.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But cases of actual voter fraud are incredibly rare. Last week, federal agents charged 28 noncitizen Californians, all of them legal residents, with illegally voting or registering to vote. None has been convicted, but those accused represent just 0.0001% of registered voters in the state.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In its ruling rejecting the Justice Department’s request for an injunction, Judges Mark J. Bennett and Gabriel P. Sanchez concluded that the federal government “failed to allow the district court adequate opportunity to consider its application for a Temporary Restraining Order.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In its ruling rejecting the Justice Department’s request for an injunction, Judges Mark J. Bennett and Gabriel P. Sanchez concluded that the federal government “failed to allow the district court adequate opportunity to consider its application for a Temporary Restraining Order.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Highlighting that the Trump administration has levied allegations that California’s voter rolls contain noncitizens since the summer, the judges wrote that the government’s “claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Highlighting that the Trump administration has levied allegations that California’s voter rolls contain noncitizens since the summer, the judges wrote that the government’s “claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“At least part of the delay here is attributable to the United States’s own delay in filing suit,” they said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The county executive called federal demands to set aside hundreds of ballots and vet the voters’ citizenship “entirely inappropriate” just days before the Nov. 3 election.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Santa Clara County officials on Monday rejected the Trump administration’s demand to set aside hundreds of ballots and vet the voters’ names amid an unprecedented \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106247/doj-orders-contra-costa-other-california-counties-to-verify-ballots\">investigation\u003c/a> of purported noncitizens on county voter rolls. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The defiant response comes as a legal battle between California and the federal government over the voter rolls escalates just over two weeks before Election Day. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.S. Department of Justice had sent letters to all of California’s county registrars this month directing them to provide information verifying the flagged voters’ citizenship and hold off on counting ballots from those voters in the meantime. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A district court judge in Los Angeles will hear the federal government’s request to expedite enforcement of the demand on Tuesday, after a federal appeals court ruled Monday that it was too soon for the higher court to step in. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Echoing the response of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12106053/at-a-contra-costa-county-elections-office-workers-say-security-is-paramount\">local officials\u003c/a> facing similar demands across the state, Santa Clara County Executive James Williams said the DOJ had no authority to conscript local election officials in such an effort.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“A letter like that, and one that makes threats to election officials concerning criminal and other legal sanctions, is deeply disturbing and entirely inappropriate,” Williams said in an interview. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-image\">\n\u003cfigure class=\"aligncenter size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12103669\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261008-ELECTIONSTOCKIMAGERY-14-BL-KQED-25395098-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A vote-by-mail ballot for the Nov. 3, 2026, general election on Oct. 8, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003c/div>\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration is ramping up its pressure on California in what federal officials have called a campaign to root out potential noncitizens registered to vote. Earlier this month, the Justice Department \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">sued California and Los Angeles County\u003c/a> elections officials over the list of voters who the federal government “believes are likely noncitizens.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a rare Sunday hearing, lawyers for the federal government asked the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to halt ballot counting for 20,000 voters on that list. Election experts questioned the legality of the Trump administration’s move, which came as nearly 3 million Californians have already cast a ballot in the Nov. 3 midterm election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“What they say they’re trying to do is enforce a federal law that makes it a crime for noncitizens to vote in federal elections,” Rick Hasen, director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at the UCLA School of Law, said on \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/forum/2010101915782/bracing-for-the-coming-wave-of-legal-challenges-to-midterm-voting\">KQED’s Forum\u003c/a>. “What I think they’re actually trying to do is to project the image that there’s a widespread voter fraud problem in this country, and to kind of mimic the claims that President Trump has made, that noncitizens are voting in droves and affecting the outcome of elections.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In letters to the U.S. Attorney’s Office on Sunday, Williams and Santa Clara County Counsel Tony LoPresti argued that state and federal law prohibit the county’s registrar of voters from complying with the federal government’s request. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They argued that the Department of Justice has not presented the county with a warrant for the Social Security numbers and driver’s license information they are seeking. And they cited the National Voter Registration Act, which prevents systematic purges of ineligible voters from registration rolls within 90 days of an election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williams also questioned how the federal government produced the list of 902 names that it categorized as “likely aliens” on the county’s voter rolls, echoing doubts cast by California Secretary of State Shirley Weber and others over the data and methodology behind the federal investigation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“There were three duplicates on the first page alone; the data looks very messy,” Williams said. “A significant number of random names appear not to be voters in Santa Clara County at all.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The county’s move won praise from Assemblymember Marc Berman, D-Menlo Park, who said the Trump administration’s actions were intended to distract local election officials who are in the midst of administering California’s early voting period. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Our elections officials need to continue focusing on what they’re doing,” he said. “Our state Department of Justice will defend the system and push back against it in court and be successful.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The 902 names are a subset of the 20,000-name roster that the U.S. Department of Justice sent to California’s secretary of state this month. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In Sunday’s hearing before the 9th Circuit, attorneys with the DOJ called the probe an effort to prevent noncitizens from violating federal law by casting a ballot — and accused California officials of resisting partnership on the issue. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.ncsl.org/elections-and-campaigns/voter-registration-and-citizenship\">like most states\u003c/a>, asks that residents registering to vote attest under penalty of perjury that they are citizens. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Attestation is not verification,” Bill Essayli, the first assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/USAttyEssayli/status/2114509118702854448\">wrote\u003c/a> Sunday in a post on the social media platform X. “Ensuring only citizens vote isn’t political, it’s enforcing state and federal law.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But cases of actual voter fraud are incredibly rare. Last week, federal agents charged 28 noncitizen Californians, all of them legal residents, with illegally voting or registering to vote. None has been convicted, but those accused represent just 0.0001% of registered voters in the state.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In its ruling rejecting the Justice Department’s request for an injunction, Judges Mark J. Bennett and Gabriel P. Sanchez concluded that the federal government “failed to allow the district court adequate opportunity to consider its application for a Temporary Restraining Order.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Highlighting that the Trump administration has levied allegations that California’s voter rolls contain noncitizens since the summer, the judges wrote that the government’s “claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“At least part of the delay here is attributable to the United States’s own delay in filing suit,” they said.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "The Political Calculus Behind Newsom’s Opposition to California’s Billionaire Tax",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To hear \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> talk about billionaires and inequality, you’d think he would be squarely behind a proposal on California’s November ballot that would levy a wealth tax on the richest Californians to help pay for healthcare.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a \u003ca href=\"https://gavinnewsom.substack.com/p/its-time-for-a-national-billionaires\">video\u003c/a> posted to his Substack and YouTube channel in June, Newsom argued that the country’s tax system is “fundamentally broken.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Think about this: Just 10% of the people, 10% of the people in the country, own two-thirds of the wealth. A 30-year-old, for the first time in American history, is not doing better than his or her parents. That’s a five-alarm fire,” he said. “It’s time for an economic reset, a true minimum tax. A true minimum tax on billionaires that ensures the people at the very top pay at least the tax rate their own workers pay.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But like many high-profile Democrats and some of their strongest allies in this deep blue state, the governor is opposed to Proposition 40.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1349\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/Prop40BillionairesTaxGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12097035\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/Prop40BillionairesTaxGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/Prop40BillionairesTaxGetty-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/Prop40BillionairesTaxGetty-1536x1036.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A supporter with the Billionaire Tax Now coalition holds a placard during a media briefing in Los Angeles on April 27, 2026. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ballot measure, proposed by a healthcare union, would impose a one-time, 5% tax on the overall wealth of the state’s approximately 200 billionaires. The money would be used to backfill deep federal budget cuts to Medicaid, which provides health insurance to low-income Americans — including nearly 15 million Californians.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Newsom has argued Proposition 40 is bad for California. He said this kind of tax should be imposed on the national level, so billionaires won’t just pack up and leave the state. And he insisted that the tax will ultimately hurt the state’s budget more than it will help, by chasing wealthy entrepreneurs and their businesses to other states with lower tax burdens. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some progressives think the governor — who is eyeing a possible 2028 presidential run — is just wary of angering a donor class with deep pockets. Tech industry billionaires like Chris Larsen, Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen have become increasingly involved in funding campaigns in recent years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“There are a lot of elected officials who are so afraid of this billionaire class,” said California Federation of Labor Unions President Lorena Gonzalez, who supports Proposition 40. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saikat Chakrabarti, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in San Francisco this year, went farther. Chakrabarti is co-founder and president of the progressive think tank New Consensus. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“He’s made no secret of it — he’s going to run for president. And that’s why he’s not just opposed to Prop. 40. He’s vehemently campaigning against it because he needs those billionaires on his side,” Chakrabarti said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the billionaires may not be Newsom’s only audience. Fernando Guerra, a political science professor at Loyola Marymount University, said he thinks Newsom’s opposition to the billionaire tax will help him with centrist Democrats he would need to capture the Democratic nomination in 2028.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It defuses him being the total lefty from California,” said Guerra, who predicted that the tax will get defeated. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12085913\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti addresses supporters during an election night event at The Chapel on June 3, 2026, in San Francisco. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If it loses, Guerra said, that only gives Newsom more fuel — especially because the coalition opposing the tax includes the California Teachers Association and some other big unions with political muscle. Guerra said that coalition allows Newsom to make a credibility argument and not just with moderate Democrats. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If it loses, “he’s going to say, as he did with the (unsuccessful 2021 gubernatorial) recall and other things, hey, the voters have spoken, and they defeated this thing. And I was on the right side. I was on the side of the majority of the voters in California, just like I’ll be on the right side with you,” he said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jim Kessler at the center-left think tank Third Way said that while more left-leaning candidates could attack Newsom in a presidential primary for opposing Proposition 40, those critiques could backfire.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“That might help him, even in a Democratic primary, because the top issue for Democratic primary voters in presidential elections is, is this person electable? And they don’t think someone overly progressive is electable,” Kessler said. “No one believes that California is an under-taxed state. So there isn’t a belief out there that, oh, there’s all sorts of tax breaks for people and wealthy people in California.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the billionaires who plans to support Newsom in 2028 is Chris Larsen, who’s donated over $12 million to oppose Proposition 40. Larsen said on KQED’s Political Breakdown podcast that he thinks the AI explosion is one of Newsom’s biggest assets in a presidential run. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-CHRIS-LARSEN-ON-PB-MD-01-KQED-4442b2c5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104545\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-CHRIS-LARSEN-ON-PB-MD-01-KQED-4442b2c5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-CHRIS-LARSEN-ON-PB-MD-01-KQED-4442b2c5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-CHRIS-LARSEN-ON-PB-MD-01-KQED-4442b2c5-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Chris Larsen speaks with Marisa Lagos on Political Breakdown at KQED in San Francisco on Oct. 15, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“You mean that he comes from the fourth largest economy in the world that’s had the highest number of job growth?” he said, joking that the state is “so messed up that this is the center of the most powerful technology ever created.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those AI founders could have gone to Miami or Austin, he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“They’re not there. They’re all here,” he said. “California is kicking ass.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the politics of the proposition do appear to be more complicated than either side is letting on: Some high-profile California Democrats have \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/pelosi-harris-prop-40-california-22476930.php\">purposefully stayed mum on the tax\u003c/a> — including former Vice President Kamala Harris and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, seeming to want to stay out of a fight between deep-pocketed donors and labor unions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while polls indicate a tight race, some billionaires seem to be preparing for the possibility of the tax passing: Just last week, Meta struck a new deal with CEO Mark Zuckerberg to keep him in California after he had warned he was considering leaving the state if Proposition 40 passes — offering him a new non-voting class of shares he can sell to foot a multibillion-dollar tax bill.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, backers of Proposition 40 are becoming increasingly aggressive about their disappointment with the governor — and their sense that his opposition to the tax is politically motivated.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Friday, the Yes on Prop. 40 campaign announced new TV and digital ads calling out Newsom. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12035915\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg (center), attends the inauguration ceremony of Donald Trump as he swears in as the 47th U.S. President in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. (Kenny Holston/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But those ads aren’t running in California, where the yes side is being heavily outspent: They’re running in key early presidential primary states, including South Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, Virginia and New Hampshire.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dave Regan is president of SEIU-UHW West and the architect of the billionaire tax. In a July interview with KQED’s \u003cem>Political Breakdown\u003c/em>, he noted reports that Google co-founder Sergey Brin — who’s been the most prolific contributor among the tech billionaires who oppose Proposition 40 — \u003ca href=\"https://fortune.com/2026/04/26/california-billionaire-tax-ballot-measure-sergey-brin-gavin-newsom-political-war/\">confronted Newsom about the wealth tax in a treehouse\u003c/a> at Larsen’s holiday party last winter. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I don’t go to treehouse parties with billionaires. I think most Californians don’t go to tree house parties with billionaires,” Regan said. “He is not living in the same world, and he is trying to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from these folks … he is acting like a politician with a campaign problem and not a governor with a healthcare problem.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>To hear \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> talk about billionaires and inequality, you’d think he would be squarely behind a proposal on California’s November ballot that would levy a wealth tax on the richest Californians to help pay for healthcare.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://gavinnewsom.substack.com/p/its-time-for-a-national-billionaires\">video\u003c/a> posted to his Substack and YouTube channel in June, Newsom argued that the country’s tax system is “fundamentally broken.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a \u003ca href=\"https://gavinnewsom.substack.com/p/its-time-for-a-national-billionaires\">video\u003c/a> posted to his Substack and YouTube channel in June, Newsom argued that the country’s tax system is “fundamentally broken.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Think about this: Just 10% of the people, 10% of the people in the country, own two-thirds of the wealth. A 30-year-old, for the first time in American history, is not doing better than his or her parents. That’s a five-alarm fire,” he said. “It’s time for an economic reset, a true minimum tax. A true minimum tax on billionaires that ensures the people at the very top pay at least the tax rate their own workers pay.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Think about this: Just 10% of the people, 10% of the people in the country, own two-thirds of the wealth. A 30-year-old, for the first time in American history, is not doing better than his or her parents. That’s a five-alarm fire,” he said. “It’s time for an economic reset, a true minimum tax. A true minimum tax on billionaires that ensures the people at the very top pay at least the tax rate their own workers pay.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But like many high-profile Democrats and some of their strongest allies in this deep blue state, the governor is opposed to Proposition 40.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But like many high-profile Democrats and some of their strongest allies in this deep blue state, the governor is opposed to Proposition 40.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/Prop40BillionairesTaxGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12097035\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/Prop40BillionairesTaxGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/Prop40BillionairesTaxGetty-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/Prop40BillionairesTaxGetty-1536x1036.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A supporter with the Billionaire Tax Now coalition holds a placard during a media briefing in Los Angeles on April 27, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The ballot measure, proposed by a healthcare union, would impose a one-time, 5% tax on the overall wealth of the state’s approximately 200 billionaires. The money would be used to backfill deep federal budget cuts to Medicaid, which provides health insurance to low-income Americans — including nearly 15 million Californians.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The ballot measure, proposed by a healthcare union, would impose a one-time, 5% tax on the overall wealth of the state’s approximately 200 billionaires. The money would be used to backfill deep federal budget cuts to Medicaid, which provides health insurance to low-income Americans — including nearly 15 million Californians.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Newsom has argued Proposition 40 is bad for California. He said this kind of tax should be imposed on the national level, so billionaires won’t just pack up and leave the state. And he insisted that the tax will ultimately hurt the state’s budget more than it will help, by chasing wealthy entrepreneurs and their businesses to other states with lower tax burdens. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Newsom has argued Proposition 40 is bad for California. He said this kind of tax should be imposed on the national level, so billionaires won’t just pack up and leave the state. And he insisted that the tax will ultimately hurt the state’s budget more than it will help, by chasing wealthy entrepreneurs and their businesses to other states with lower tax burdens. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Some progressives think the governor — who is eyeing a possible 2028 presidential run — is just wary of angering a donor class with deep pockets. Tech industry billionaires like Chris Larsen, Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen have become increasingly involved in funding campaigns in recent years. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Some progressives think the governor — who is eyeing a possible 2028 presidential run — is just wary of angering a donor class with deep pockets. Tech industry billionaires like Chris Larsen, Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen have become increasingly involved in funding campaigns in recent years. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of elected officials who are so afraid of this billionaire class,” said California Federation of Labor Unions President Lorena Gonzalez, who supports Proposition 40. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“There are a lot of elected officials who are so afraid of this billionaire class,” said California Federation of Labor Unions President Lorena Gonzalez, who supports Proposition 40. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Saikat Chakrabarti, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in San Francisco this year, went farther. Chakrabarti is co-founder and president of the progressive think tank New Consensus. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Saikat Chakrabarti, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in San Francisco this year, went farther. Chakrabarti is co-founder and president of the progressive think tank New Consensus. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“He’s made no secret of it — he’s going to run for president. And that’s why he’s not just opposed to Prop. 40. He’s vehemently campaigning against it because he needs those billionaires on his side,” Chakrabarti said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“He’s made no secret of it — he’s going to run for president. And that’s why he’s not just opposed to Prop. 40. He’s vehemently campaigning against it because he needs those billionaires on his side,” Chakrabarti said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But the billionaires may not be Newsom’s only audience. Fernando Guerra, a political science professor at Loyola Marymount University, said he thinks Newsom’s opposition to the billionaire tax will help him with centrist Democrats he would need to capture the Democratic nomination in 2028.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But the billionaires may not be Newsom’s only audience. Fernando Guerra, a political science professor at Loyola Marymount University, said he thinks Newsom’s opposition to the billionaire tax will help him with centrist Democrats he would need to capture the Democratic nomination in 2028.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It defuses him being the total lefty from California,” said Guerra, who predicted that the tax will get defeated. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It defuses him being the total lefty from California,” said Guerra, who predicted that the tax will get defeated. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>If it loses, Guerra said, that only gives Newsom more fuel — especially because the coalition opposing the tax includes the California Teachers Association and some other big unions with political muscle. Guerra said that coalition allows Newsom to make a credibility argument and not just with moderate Democrats. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>If it loses, Guerra said, that only gives Newsom more fuel — especially because the coalition opposing the tax includes the California Teachers Association and some other big unions with political muscle. Guerra said that coalition allows Newsom to make a credibility argument and not just with moderate Democrats. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>If it loses, “he’s going to say, as he did with the (unsuccessful 2021 gubernatorial) recall and other things, hey, the voters have spoken, and they defeated this thing. And I was on the right side. I was on the side of the majority of the voters in California, just like I’ll be on the right side with you,” he said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>If it loses, “he’s going to say, as he did with the (unsuccessful 2021 gubernatorial) recall and other things, hey, the voters have spoken, and they defeated this thing. And I was on the right side. I was on the side of the majority of the voters in California, just like I’ll be on the right side with you,” he said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Jim Kessler at the center-left think tank Third Way said that while more left-leaning candidates could attack Newsom in a presidential primary for opposing Proposition 40, those critiques could backfire.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Jim Kessler at the center-left think tank Third Way said that while more left-leaning candidates could attack Newsom in a presidential primary for opposing Proposition 40, those critiques could backfire.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“That might help him, even in a Democratic primary, because the top issue for Democratic primary voters in presidential elections is, is this person electable? And they don’t think someone overly progressive is electable,” Kessler said. “No one believes that California is an under-taxed state. So there isn’t a belief out there that, oh, there’s all sorts of tax breaks for people and wealthy people in California.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“That might help him, even in a Democratic primary, because the top issue for Democratic primary voters in presidential elections is, is this person electable? And they don’t think someone overly progressive is electable,” Kessler said. “No one believes that California is an under-taxed state. So there isn’t a belief out there that, oh, there’s all sorts of tax breaks for people and wealthy people in California.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>One of the billionaires who plans to support Newsom in 2028 is Chris Larsen, who’s donated over $12 million to oppose Proposition 40. Larsen said on KQED’s Political Breakdown podcast that he thinks the AI explosion is one of Newsom’s biggest assets in a presidential run. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>One of the billionaires who plans to support Newsom in 2028 is Chris Larsen, who’s donated over $12 million to oppose Proposition 40. Larsen said on KQED’s Political Breakdown podcast that he thinks the AI explosion is one of Newsom’s biggest assets in a presidential run. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-CHRIS-LARSEN-ON-PB-MD-01-KQED-4442b2c5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104545\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-CHRIS-LARSEN-ON-PB-MD-01-KQED-4442b2c5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-CHRIS-LARSEN-ON-PB-MD-01-KQED-4442b2c5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-CHRIS-LARSEN-ON-PB-MD-01-KQED-4442b2c5-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Chris Larsen speaks with Marisa Lagos on Political Breakdown at KQED in San Francisco on Oct. 15, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-CHRIS-LARSEN-ON-PB-MD-01-KQED-4442b2c5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104545\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Chris Larsen speaks with Marisa Lagos on Political Breakdown at KQED in San Francisco on Oct. 15, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“You mean that he comes from the fourth largest economy in the world that’s had the highest number of job growth?” he said, joking that the state is “so messed up that this is the center of the most powerful technology ever created.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“You mean that he comes from the fourth largest economy in the world that’s had the highest number of job growth?” he said, joking that the state is “so messed up that this is the center of the most powerful technology ever created.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Those AI founders could have gone to Miami or Austin, he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“They’re not there. They’re all here,” he said. “California is kicking ass.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“They’re not there. They’re all here,” he said. “California is kicking ass.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But the politics of the proposition do appear to be more complicated than either side is letting on: Some high-profile California Democrats have \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/pelosi-harris-prop-40-california-22476930.php\">purposefully stayed mum on the tax\u003c/a> — including former Vice President Kamala Harris and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, seeming to want to stay out of a fight between deep-pocketed donors and labor unions. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And while polls indicate a tight race, some billionaires seem to be preparing for the possibility of the tax passing: Just last week, Meta struck a new deal with CEO Mark Zuckerberg to keep him in California after he had warned he was considering leaving the state if Proposition 40 passes — offering him a new non-voting class of shares he can sell to foot a multibillion-dollar tax bill.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And while polls indicate a tight race, some billionaires seem to be preparing for the possibility of the tax passing: Just last week, Meta struck a new deal with CEO Mark Zuckerberg to keep him in California after he had warned he was considering leaving the state if Proposition 40 passes — offering him a new non-voting class of shares he can sell to foot a multibillion-dollar tax bill.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, backers of Proposition 40 are becoming increasingly aggressive about their disappointment with the governor — and their sense that his opposition to the tax is politically motivated.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Meanwhile, backers of Proposition 40 are becoming increasingly aggressive about their disappointment with the governor — and their sense that his opposition to the tax is politically motivated.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Friday, the Yes on Prop. 40 campaign announced new TV and digital ads calling out Newsom. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But those ads aren’t running in California, where the yes side is being heavily outspent: They’re running in key early presidential primary states, including South Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, Virginia and New Hampshire.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Dave Regan is president of SEIU-UHW West and the architect of the billionaire tax. In a July interview with KQED’s \u003cem>Political Breakdown\u003c/em>, he noted reports that Google co-founder Sergey Brin — who’s been the most prolific contributor among the tech billionaires who oppose Proposition 40 — \u003ca href=\"https://fortune.com/2026/04/26/california-billionaire-tax-ballot-measure-sergey-brin-gavin-newsom-political-war/\">confronted Newsom about the wealth tax in a treehouse\u003c/a> at Larsen’s holiday party last winter. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Dave Regan is president of SEIU-UHW West and the architect of the billionaire tax. In a July interview with KQED’s \u003cem>Political Breakdown\u003c/em>, he noted reports that Google co-founder Sergey Brin — who’s been the most prolific contributor among the tech billionaires who oppose Proposition 40 — \u003ca href=\"https://fortune.com/2026/04/26/california-billionaire-tax-ballot-measure-sergey-brin-gavin-newsom-political-war/\">confronted Newsom about the wealth tax in a treehouse\u003c/a> at Larsen’s holiday party last winter. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I don’t go to treehouse parties with billionaires. I think most Californians don’t go to tree house parties with billionaires,” Regan said. “He is not living in the same world, and he is trying to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from these folks … he is acting like a politician with a campaign problem and not a governor with a healthcare problem.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Proposition 40 proponents say the tax would help backfill federal Medical cuts. But as Newsom weighs a presidential run, is he also looking ahead to how it might play to donors and voters?",
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"title": "The Political Calculus Behind Newsom’s Opposition to California’s Billionaire Tax | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To hear \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gov. Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> talk about billionaires and inequality, you’d think he would be squarely behind a proposal on California’s November ballot that would levy a wealth tax on the richest Californians to help pay for healthcare.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a \u003ca href=\"https://gavinnewsom.substack.com/p/its-time-for-a-national-billionaires\">video\u003c/a> posted to his Substack and YouTube channel in June, Newsom argued that the country’s tax system is “fundamentally broken.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Think about this: Just 10% of the people, 10% of the people in the country, own two-thirds of the wealth. A 30-year-old, for the first time in American history, is not doing better than his or her parents. That’s a five-alarm fire,” he said. “It’s time for an economic reset, a true minimum tax. A true minimum tax on billionaires that ensures the people at the very top pay at least the tax rate their own workers pay.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But like many high-profile Democrats and some of their strongest allies in this deep blue state, the governor is opposed to Proposition 40.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1349\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/Prop40BillionairesTaxGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12097035\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/Prop40BillionairesTaxGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/Prop40BillionairesTaxGetty-160x108.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/Prop40BillionairesTaxGetty-1536x1036.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A supporter with the Billionaire Tax Now coalition holds a placard during a media briefing in Los Angeles on April 27, 2026. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The ballot measure, proposed by a healthcare union, would impose a one-time, 5% tax on the overall wealth of the state’s approximately 200 billionaires. The money would be used to backfill deep federal budget cuts to Medicaid, which provides health insurance to low-income Americans — including nearly 15 million Californians.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Newsom has argued Proposition 40 is bad for California. He said this kind of tax should be imposed on the national level, so billionaires won’t just pack up and leave the state. And he insisted that the tax will ultimately hurt the state’s budget more than it will help, by chasing wealthy entrepreneurs and their businesses to other states with lower tax burdens. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some progressives think the governor — who is eyeing a possible 2028 presidential run — is just wary of angering a donor class with deep pockets. Tech industry billionaires like Chris Larsen, Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen have become increasingly involved in funding campaigns in recent years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“There are a lot of elected officials who are so afraid of this billionaire class,” said California Federation of Labor Unions President Lorena Gonzalez, who supports Proposition 40. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Saikat Chakrabarti, who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in San Francisco this year, went farther. Chakrabarti is co-founder and president of the progressive think tank New Consensus. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“He’s made no secret of it — he’s going to run for president. And that’s why he’s not just opposed to Prop. 40. He’s vehemently campaigning against it because he needs those billionaires on his side,” Chakrabarti said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the billionaires may not be Newsom’s only audience. Fernando Guerra, a political science professor at Loyola Marymount University, said he thinks Newsom’s opposition to the billionaire tax will help him with centrist Democrats he would need to capture the Democratic nomination in 2028.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It defuses him being the total lefty from California,” said Guerra, who predicted that the tax will get defeated. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12085913\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/060226CHAKRABARTI_GH_007-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Congressional candidate Saikat Chakrabarti addresses supporters during an election night event at The Chapel on June 3, 2026, in San Francisco. (Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If it loses, Guerra said, that only gives Newsom more fuel — especially because the coalition opposing the tax includes the California Teachers Association and some other big unions with political muscle. Guerra said that coalition allows Newsom to make a credibility argument and not just with moderate Democrats. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If it loses, “he’s going to say, as he did with the (unsuccessful 2021 gubernatorial) recall and other things, hey, the voters have spoken, and they defeated this thing. And I was on the right side. I was on the side of the majority of the voters in California, just like I’ll be on the right side with you,” he said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jim Kessler at the center-left think tank Third Way said that while more left-leaning candidates could attack Newsom in a presidential primary for opposing Proposition 40, those critiques could backfire.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“That might help him, even in a Democratic primary, because the top issue for Democratic primary voters in presidential elections is, is this person electable? And they don’t think someone overly progressive is electable,” Kessler said. “No one believes that California is an under-taxed state. So there isn’t a belief out there that, oh, there’s all sorts of tax breaks for people and wealthy people in California.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the billionaires who plans to support Newsom in 2028 is Chris Larsen, who’s donated over $12 million to oppose Proposition 40. Larsen said on KQED’s Political Breakdown podcast that he thinks the AI explosion is one of Newsom’s biggest assets in a presidential run. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-CHRIS-LARSEN-ON-PB-MD-01-KQED-4442b2c5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12104545\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-CHRIS-LARSEN-ON-PB-MD-01-KQED-4442b2c5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-CHRIS-LARSEN-ON-PB-MD-01-KQED-4442b2c5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261015-CHRIS-LARSEN-ON-PB-MD-01-KQED-4442b2c5-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Chris Larsen speaks with Marisa Lagos on Political Breakdown at KQED in San Francisco on Oct. 15, 2026. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“You mean that he comes from the fourth largest economy in the world that’s had the highest number of job growth?” he said, joking that the state is “so messed up that this is the center of the most powerful technology ever created.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Those AI founders could have gone to Miami or Austin, he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“They’re not there. They’re all here,” he said. “California is kicking ass.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the politics of the proposition do appear to be more complicated than either side is letting on: Some high-profile California Democrats have \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/joegarofoli/article/pelosi-harris-prop-40-california-22476930.php\">purposefully stayed mum on the tax\u003c/a> — including former Vice President Kamala Harris and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, seeming to want to stay out of a fight between deep-pocketed donors and labor unions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And while polls indicate a tight race, some billionaires seem to be preparing for the possibility of the tax passing: Just last week, Meta struck a new deal with CEO Mark Zuckerberg to keep him in California after he had warned he was considering leaving the state if Proposition 40 passes — offering him a new non-voting class of shares he can sell to foot a multibillion-dollar tax bill.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Meanwhile, backers of Proposition 40 are becoming increasingly aggressive about their disappointment with the governor — and their sense that his opposition to the tax is politically motivated.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Friday, the Yes on Prop. 40 campaign announced new TV and digital ads calling out Newsom. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12035915\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/04/MetaGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg (center), attends the inauguration ceremony of Donald Trump as he swears in as the 47th U.S. President in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20, 2025. (Kenny Holston/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But those ads aren’t running in California, where the yes side is being heavily outspent: They’re running in key early presidential primary states, including South Carolina, Nevada, New Mexico, Virginia and New Hampshire.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dave Regan is president of SEIU-UHW West and the architect of the billionaire tax. In a July interview with KQED’s \u003cem>Political Breakdown\u003c/em>, he noted reports that Google co-founder Sergey Brin — who’s been the most prolific contributor among the tech billionaires who oppose Proposition 40 — \u003ca href=\"https://fortune.com/2026/04/26/california-billionaire-tax-ballot-measure-sergey-brin-gavin-newsom-political-war/\">confronted Newsom about the wealth tax in a treehouse\u003c/a> at Larsen’s holiday party last winter. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I don’t go to treehouse parties with billionaires. I think most Californians don’t go to tree house parties with billionaires,” Regan said. “He is not living in the same world, and he is trying to raise hundreds of millions of dollars from these folks … he is acting like a politician with a campaign problem and not a governor with a healthcare problem.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "at-a-contra-costa-county-elections-office-workers-say-security-is-paramount",
"title": "At a Contra Costa County Elections Office, Workers Say Security Is ‘Paramount’",
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"headTitle": "At a Contra Costa County Elections Office, Workers Say Security Is ‘Paramount’ | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On a Friday morning at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/contra-costa-county\">Contra Costa County\u003c/a> Clerk-Recorder’s Office in Martinez, dozens of people were at work answering the phones or hand-counting ballots. In an adjoining warehouse, dozens more fed tally machines and operated behemoth mail sorters. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The workers — a mix of temporary, full-time, and volunteer staff — were of all ages and backgrounds. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It’s the same thing we’ve always been doing, we haven’t changed,” said Melinda McGee, an election services technician since 2022. McGee and others in her role are responsible for voter registrations, sending out vote-by-mail ballots, and verifying signatures. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240305-MARTINEZ-VOTING-FILE-MD-04_qed-51570973.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240305-MARTINEZ-VOTING-FILE-MD-04_qed-51570973.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240305-MARTINEZ-VOTING-FILE-MD-04_qed-51570973-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240305-MARTINEZ-VOTING-FILE-MD-04_qed-51570973-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A poll worker prepares mail-in ballots for sorting at the Contra Costa County Elections Operation Center in Martinez on March 5, 2024. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Of course, as a county agency, we are following the guidelines of the election code … so all we can do is relay the messages given to us and make sure the voters are fully informed of the information we have.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A big part, McGee said, of the election workers’ job starts before the votes even come in, handling tasks like answering questions from voters and offering assurances.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She said she’s hearing the usual worries that they receive every year, like questions about registering, or if a ballot was received. But in recent elections, more people have also asked to come to the office and physically observe the ballot count — something available to the public. She said there’s been more interest lately, with discussion of voter fraud and stolen ballots in the news and online. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We’re here for you. We’re working for you. We want you to know what you want to know, and there’s nothing to hide,” McGee said. “You want to come in and observe? By all means, I’ll take you myself. You want to see all the steps? I’ll be happy to show you what’s going on.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Understanding election security is always important,” McGee added. “It’s paramount to our business.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the vote just over a week away, elections officials in Contra Costa County and across the country are preparing for everything — ranging from skepticism to outright legal challenges. President Donald Trump has \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/us/politics/documents-china-2020-election-trump.html\">warned\u003c/a> that our nation’s voting systems are vulnerable to foreign interference. Meanwhile, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12105068/judge-blocks-dhs-from-sending-armed-agents-to-question-voters-in-search-for-noncitizens\">armed federal agents\u003c/a> are scouring state voter registrations, trying to find proof of noncitizen voters. Just last week, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/10/19/nx-s1-6007908/election-tensions-escalate-in-california-as-doj-charges-28-people-with-voting-crimes\">DOJ charged 28 people in California\u003c/a> with voting-related crimes, and claimed many “likely non-citizens” on the state’s voting rolls. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“All those developments affect the conduct of the election,” said Travis Ebbert, a supervisor with the elections department for 15 years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“What could happen, what potential law changes … what effect that will have on voters’ behavior, their turnout, their voting patterns. Will they distrust the mail? Will they use dropboxes or show up in person more? All of that goes into our planning process,” Ebbert said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/161108_ConcordPolling_bhs02.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11999255\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/161108_ConcordPolling_bhs02.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/161108_ConcordPolling_bhs02-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/161108_ConcordPolling_bhs02-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/161108_ConcordPolling_bhs02-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/161108_ConcordPolling_bhs02-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A polling station in the city of Concord in 2024. (Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While some Contra Costa County residents expressed worry to election workers about federal agents arresting people at polling places around Election Day, Ebbert said local law enforcement has assured them that’s not happening. They’re prepared with a contingency plan anyway, drafted with the help of local sheriffs, county council and the regional FBI coordinator. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ebbert and other election workers at the office say that they leave politics at the door, but when speaking to the public about concerns around elections integrity, that can be hard.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nena Manuel has worked elections there for two years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We are very nonpartisan, and so what we do is focus on what the election code book says, and we follow it to a T,” Manuel said. “It doesn’t matter what political party anyone affiliates with, we are going to serve you just as we would everyone else. Everyone come as you are and we will accept you and assist you and get you to vote if you are eligible.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ebbert says since 2016, officials have faced more skepticism from the public about their elections process — but more appreciation, too.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“For the last 6 to 8 years, I get ‘Thank you for your service’ like I’m a veteran or something,” said Ebbert, with a laugh. “I show up to work at a government job everyday in an office building and sit at my computer. I thought that was very strange, but I appreciate the sentiment.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Manuel said when she answers the phones, she’s been told the same thing. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“They are very thankful, because I think when they hear what the process is, and that you have a genuine interest in ensuring that their ballots are being processed in a safe manner, they are happy to hear that,” Manuel said. “It’s very interesting to get that kind of reaction.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McGee, who used to work for a political lobbying group, said she started working in elections to get away from politics. She noted a clear throughline in her career. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Service. It’s about service,” she said. “That is basically my mission in life, helping people. Whether it’s here in this office or outside in my private life, I’m always going to try and help someone. So it’s just lucky I get paid to do it now.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240305-MARTINEZ-VOTING-FILE-MD-04_qed-51570973.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240305-MARTINEZ-VOTING-FILE-MD-04_qed-51570973.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240305-MARTINEZ-VOTING-FILE-MD-04_qed-51570973-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240305-MARTINEZ-VOTING-FILE-MD-04_qed-51570973-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A poll worker prepares mail-in ballots for sorting at the Contra Costa County Elections Operation Center in Martinez on March 5, 2024.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We’re here for you. We’re working for you. We want you to know what you want to know, and there’s nothing to hide,” McGee said. “You want to come in and observe? By all means, I’ll take you myself. You want to see all the steps? I’ll be happy to show you what’s going on.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Understanding election security is always important,” McGee added. “It’s paramount to our business.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>With the vote just over a week away, elections officials in Contra Costa County and across the country are preparing for everything — ranging from skepticism to outright legal challenges. President Donald Trump has \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/us/politics/documents-china-2020-election-trump.html\">warned\u003c/a> that our nation’s voting systems are vulnerable to foreign interference. Meanwhile, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12105068/judge-blocks-dhs-from-sending-armed-agents-to-question-voters-in-search-for-noncitizens\">armed federal agents\u003c/a> are scouring state voter registrations, trying to find proof of noncitizen voters. Just last week, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/10/19/nx-s1-6007908/election-tensions-escalate-in-california-as-doj-charges-28-people-with-voting-crimes\">DOJ charged 28 people in California\u003c/a> with voting-related crimes, and claimed many “likely non-citizens” on the state’s voting rolls. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>With the vote just over a week away, elections officials in Contra Costa County and across the country are preparing for everything — ranging from skepticism to outright legal challenges. President Donald Trump has \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/us/politics/documents-china-2020-election-trump.html\">warned\u003c/a> that our nation’s voting systems are vulnerable to foreign interference. Meanwhile, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12105068/judge-blocks-dhs-from-sending-armed-agents-to-question-voters-in-search-for-noncitizens\">armed federal agents\u003c/a> are scouring state voter registrations, trying to find proof of noncitizen voters. Just last week, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/10/19/nx-s1-6007908/election-tensions-escalate-in-california-as-doj-charges-28-people-with-voting-crimes\">DOJ charged 28 people in California\u003c/a> with voting-related crimes, and claimed many “likely non-citizens” on the state’s voting rolls. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“All those developments affect the conduct of the election,” said Travis Ebbert, a supervisor with the elections department for 15 years. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“What could happen, what potential law changes … what effect that will have on voters’ behavior, their turnout, their voting patterns. Will they distrust the mail? Will they use dropboxes or show up in person more? All of that goes into our planning process,” Ebbert said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>While some Contra Costa County residents expressed worry to election workers about federal agents arresting people at polling places around Election Day, Ebbert said local law enforcement has assured them that’s not happening. They’re prepared with a contingency plan anyway, drafted with the help of local sheriffs, county council and the regional FBI coordinator. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nena Manuel has worked elections there for two years. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We are very nonpartisan, and so what we do is focus on what the election code book says, and we follow it to a T,” Manuel said. “It doesn’t matter what political party anyone affiliates with, we are going to serve you just as we would everyone else. Everyone come as you are and we will accept you and assist you and get you to vote if you are eligible.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Ebbert says since 2016, officials have faced more skepticism from the public about their elections process — but more appreciation, too.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“For the last 6 to 8 years, I get ‘Thank you for your service’ like I’m a veteran or something,” said Ebbert, with a laugh. “I show up to work at a government job everyday in an office building and sit at my computer. I thought that was very strange, but I appreciate the sentiment.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Manuel said when she answers the phones, she’s been told the same thing. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“They are very thankful, because I think when they hear what the process is, and that you have a genuine interest in ensuring that their ballots are being processed in a safe manner, they are happy to hear that,” Manuel said. “It’s very interesting to get that kind of reaction.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“They are very thankful, because I think when they hear what the process is, and that you have a genuine interest in ensuring that their ballots are being processed in a safe manner, they are happy to hear that,” Manuel said. “It’s very interesting to get that kind of reaction.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>McGee, who used to work for a political lobbying group, said she started working in elections to get away from politics. She noted a clear throughline in her career. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Service. It’s about service,” she said. “That is basically my mission in life, helping people. Whether it’s here in this office or outside in my private life, I’m always going to try and help someone. So it’s just lucky I get paid to do it now.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On a Friday morning at the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/contra-costa-county\">Contra Costa County\u003c/a> Clerk-Recorder’s Office in Martinez, dozens of people were at work answering the phones or hand-counting ballots. In an adjoining warehouse, dozens more fed tally machines and operated behemoth mail sorters. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The workers — a mix of temporary, full-time, and volunteer staff — were of all ages and backgrounds. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It’s the same thing we’ve always been doing, we haven’t changed,” said Melinda McGee, an election services technician since 2022. McGee and others in her role are responsible for voter registrations, sending out vote-by-mail ballots, and verifying signatures. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240305-MARTINEZ-VOTING-FILE-MD-04_qed-51570973.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106278\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240305-MARTINEZ-VOTING-FILE-MD-04_qed-51570973.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240305-MARTINEZ-VOTING-FILE-MD-04_qed-51570973-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/240305-MARTINEZ-VOTING-FILE-MD-04_qed-51570973-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A poll worker prepares mail-in ballots for sorting at the Contra Costa County Elections Operation Center in Martinez on March 5, 2024. (Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Of course, as a county agency, we are following the guidelines of the election code … so all we can do is relay the messages given to us and make sure the voters are fully informed of the information we have.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A big part, McGee said, of the election workers’ job starts before the votes even come in, handling tasks like answering questions from voters and offering assurances.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">She said she’s hearing the usual worries that they receive every year, like questions about registering, or if a ballot was received. But in recent elections, more people have also asked to come to the office and physically observe the ballot count — something available to the public. She said there’s been more interest lately, with discussion of voter fraud and stolen ballots in the news and online. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We’re here for you. We’re working for you. We want you to know what you want to know, and there’s nothing to hide,” McGee said. “You want to come in and observe? By all means, I’ll take you myself. You want to see all the steps? I’ll be happy to show you what’s going on.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Understanding election security is always important,” McGee added. “It’s paramount to our business.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With the vote just over a week away, elections officials in Contra Costa County and across the country are preparing for everything — ranging from skepticism to outright legal challenges. President Donald Trump has \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/16/us/politics/documents-china-2020-election-trump.html\">warned\u003c/a> that our nation’s voting systems are vulnerable to foreign interference. Meanwhile, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12105068/judge-blocks-dhs-from-sending-armed-agents-to-question-voters-in-search-for-noncitizens\">armed federal agents\u003c/a> are scouring state voter registrations, trying to find proof of noncitizen voters. Just last week, the \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/10/19/nx-s1-6007908/election-tensions-escalate-in-california-as-doj-charges-28-people-with-voting-crimes\">DOJ charged 28 people in California\u003c/a> with voting-related crimes, and claimed many “likely non-citizens” on the state’s voting rolls. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“All those developments affect the conduct of the election,” said Travis Ebbert, a supervisor with the elections department for 15 years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“What could happen, what potential law changes … what effect that will have on voters’ behavior, their turnout, their voting patterns. Will they distrust the mail? Will they use dropboxes or show up in person more? All of that goes into our planning process,” Ebbert said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1440\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/161108_ConcordPolling_bhs02.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11999255\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/161108_ConcordPolling_bhs02.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/161108_ConcordPolling_bhs02-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/161108_ConcordPolling_bhs02-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/161108_ConcordPolling_bhs02-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/08/161108_ConcordPolling_bhs02-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1920px) 100vw, 1920px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A polling station in the city of Concord in 2024. (Brittany Hosea-Small/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While some Contra Costa County residents expressed worry to election workers about federal agents arresting people at polling places around Election Day, Ebbert said local law enforcement has assured them that’s not happening. They’re prepared with a contingency plan anyway, drafted with the help of local sheriffs, county council and the regional FBI coordinator. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ebbert and other election workers at the office say that they leave politics at the door, but when speaking to the public about concerns around elections integrity, that can be hard.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nena Manuel has worked elections there for two years. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We are very nonpartisan, and so what we do is focus on what the election code book says, and we follow it to a T,” Manuel said. “It doesn’t matter what political party anyone affiliates with, we are going to serve you just as we would everyone else. Everyone come as you are and we will accept you and assist you and get you to vote if you are eligible.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ebbert says since 2016, officials have faced more skepticism from the public about their elections process — but more appreciation, too.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“For the last 6 to 8 years, I get ‘Thank you for your service’ like I’m a veteran or something,” said Ebbert, with a laugh. “I show up to work at a government job everyday in an office building and sit at my computer. I thought that was very strange, but I appreciate the sentiment.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Manuel said when she answers the phones, she’s been told the same thing. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“They are very thankful, because I think when they hear what the process is, and that you have a genuine interest in ensuring that their ballots are being processed in a safe manner, they are happy to hear that,” Manuel said. “It’s very interesting to get that kind of reaction.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">McGee, who used to work for a political lobbying group, said she started working in elections to get away from politics. She noted a clear throughline in her career. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Service. It’s about service,” she said. “That is basically my mission in life, helping people. Whether it’s here in this office or outside in my private life, I’m always going to try and help someone. So it’s just lucky I get paid to do it now.” \u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "doj-orders-contra-costa-other-california-counties-to-verify-ballots",
"title": "DOJ Orders Contra Costa, Other California Counties to Verify Ballots",
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"headTitle": "DOJ Orders Contra Costa, Other California Counties to Verify Ballots | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Federal prosecutors sent letters to county registrars across California on Friday demanding that local officials set aside and verify ballots that the Department of Justice said \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">may belong to noncitizens\u003c/a>, according to the Los Angeles County registrar and a letter obtained by The Associated Press.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The letters are the latest escalation in a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/doj-california-elections-e08ec04efdb1110c0e3f815f2ce6a3db\">legal battle\u003c/a> between California and President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, which has recently focused on the state in its efforts to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/homeland-security-justice-department-midterms-noncitizen-voting-09b8391612fc87676267a254c55eaee8\">root out noncitizen voting\u003c/a> ahead of the midterm elections. Data shows illegal voting by people who aren’t U.S. citizens is \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/noncitizens-voting-republicans-election-2024-immigration-09b86e6768f755fd875f3c51b0e8ea70\">incredibly rare\u003c/a>, difficult to prove and has not been shown to change the outcome of races.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this month, the federal government targeted \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-justice-department-voting-noncitizens-lawsuit-12c62cf12a7db6480c60975b6dea49b8\">Los Angeles County and the California Secretary of State’s office\u003c/a> in a lawsuit that aimed to block them from counting the votes of roughly 20,000 people who are “likely” noncitizen voters. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12087182\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ballots sit in crates before being counted at the City Hall Voting Center in San Francisco on Oct. 30, 2025, ahead of last year’s statewide special election. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration asked the 9th Circuit court of appeals to rule on the lawsuit barring a decision from the district judge assigned to the case. They set a deadline for Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, according to the LA County registrar’s office, at least 18 counties across the state have received similar letters. They have been given a 48 hour deadline from Friday to provide identifying information corresponding with ballots that the federal government believes were sent to noncitizens illegally registered to vote. The letter requests that county officials also sequester any ballots where citizenship cannot be verified.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen is opening themselves to legal jeopardy,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">East Bay Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, whose district includes parts of Contra Costa County, said in a statement that Contra Costa election officials were among those that received a letter.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12014671\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) speaks during a House Rules Committee hearing on the impeachment against President Donald Trump on Dec. 17, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Patrick Semansky-Pool/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I have confidence that local elections officials are conducting this election in accordance with all state and federal laws and working to protect the Constitutional rights guaranteed to American citizens, including ensuring that every eligible voter who wants to participate in the upcoming election has the opportunity to do so,” DeSaulnier said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Justice Department is asking counties to send information about the voters it suspects are noncitizens including social security numbers, ID information, a copy of their registration and more.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That information can help the government and state quickly assess each person suspected of illegally registering to vote, said the letter sent to San Bernardino County voting officials. The letter says the government’s list of suspected noncitizen voters includes 1,133 people from the inland Southern California county.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California’s secretary of state and the Los Angeles County registrar have opposed the federal government’s demands. In legal filings, lawyers for California say the request threatens to delay the certification of the vote and undermine the legitimacy of the November midterms. They have also argued that the federal government’s data is unreliable and that their demands risk disenfranchisement of citizens.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Voting is underway in California, with the state’s more than 23 million registered voters receiving ballots in the mail earlier this month. The state said in legal filings that over 330,000 mail-in ballots have already been counted.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The letters came on the heels of \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-election-naturalization-voting-62ebeea82da863d93ee4e112e5b9f86e\">statewide sweep by federal authorities\u003c/a> earlier in the week, where 28 people from the list of 20,000 were charged with illegally registering to vote. Some were also charged with illegally voting and lying on naturalization paperwork. Those charges could lead to years in prison.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sen. Alex Padilla, ranking member of the U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee with oversight over federal elections, said in a statement that the Trump administration is “afraid and desperate” and attempting to interfere in the state’s elections.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Trump’s DOJ has not provided any evidence for their claims of massive voter fraud. They’ve admitted that the data they point to is inaccurate and unreliable,” Padilla said. “No matter how many lawsuits they file or how many election officials they threaten, they do not have the authority to interfere.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/skennedy\">Samantha Kennedy\u003c/a> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Federal prosecutors sent letters to county registrars across California on Friday demanding that local officials set aside and verify ballots that the Department of Justice said \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">may belong to noncitizens\u003c/a>, according to the Los Angeles County registrar and a letter obtained by The Associated Press.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Federal prosecutors sent letters to county registrars across California on Friday demanding that local officials set aside and verify ballots that the Department of Justice said \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">may belong to noncitizens\u003c/a>, according to the Los Angeles County registrar and a letter obtained by The Associated Press.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The letters are the latest escalation in a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/doj-california-elections-e08ec04efdb1110c0e3f815f2ce6a3db\">legal battle\u003c/a> between California and President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, which has recently focused on the state in its efforts to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/homeland-security-justice-department-midterms-noncitizen-voting-09b8391612fc87676267a254c55eaee8\">root out noncitizen voting\u003c/a> ahead of the midterm elections. Data shows illegal voting by people who aren’t U.S. citizens is \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/noncitizens-voting-republicans-election-2024-immigration-09b86e6768f755fd875f3c51b0e8ea70\">incredibly rare\u003c/a>, difficult to prove and has not been shown to change the outcome of races.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The letters are the latest escalation in a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/doj-california-elections-e08ec04efdb1110c0e3f815f2ce6a3db\">legal battle\u003c/a> between California and President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, which has recently focused on the state in its efforts to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/homeland-security-justice-department-midterms-noncitizen-voting-09b8391612fc87676267a254c55eaee8\">root out noncitizen voting\u003c/a> ahead of the midterm elections. Data shows illegal voting by people who aren’t U.S. citizens is \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/noncitizens-voting-republicans-election-2024-immigration-09b86e6768f755fd875f3c51b0e8ea70\">incredibly rare\u003c/a>, difficult to prove and has not been shown to change the outcome of races.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, the federal government targeted \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-justice-department-voting-noncitizens-lawsuit-12c62cf12a7db6480c60975b6dea49b8\">Los Angeles County and the California Secretary of State’s office\u003c/a> in a lawsuit that aimed to block them from counting the votes of roughly 20,000 people who are “likely” noncitizen voters. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Earlier this month, the federal government targeted \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-justice-department-voting-noncitizens-lawsuit-12c62cf12a7db6480c60975b6dea49b8\">Los Angeles County and the California Secretary of State’s office\u003c/a> in a lawsuit that aimed to block them from counting the votes of roughly 20,000 people who are “likely” noncitizen voters. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12087182\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ballots sit in crates before being counted at the City Hall Voting Center in San Francisco on Oct. 30, 2025, ahead of last year’s statewide special election.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Trump administration asked the 9th Circuit court of appeals to rule on the lawsuit barring a decision from the district judge assigned to the case. They set a deadline for Saturday.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Trump administration asked the 9th Circuit court of appeals to rule on the lawsuit barring a decision from the district judge assigned to the case. They set a deadline for Saturday.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Now, according to the LA County registrar’s office, at least 18 counties across the state have received similar letters. They have been given a 48 hour deadline from Friday to provide identifying information corresponding with ballots that the federal government believes were sent to noncitizens illegally registered to vote. The letter requests that county officials also sequester any ballots where citizenship cannot be verified.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Now, according to the LA County registrar’s office, at least 18 counties across the state have received similar letters. They have been given a 48 hour deadline from Friday to provide identifying information corresponding with ballots that the federal government believes were sent to noncitizens illegally registered to vote. The letter requests that county officials also sequester any ballots where citizenship cannot be verified.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen is opening themselves to legal jeopardy,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen is opening themselves to legal jeopardy,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>East Bay Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, whose district includes parts of Contra Costa County, said in a statement that Contra Costa election officials were among those that received a letter.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>East Bay Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, whose district includes parts of Contra Costa County, said in a statement that Contra Costa election officials were among those that received a letter.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12014671\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) speaks during a House Rules Committee hearing on the impeachment against President Donald Trump on Dec. 17, 2019 in Washington, D.C.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Patrick Semansky-Pool/Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I have confidence that local elections officials are conducting this election in accordance with all state and federal laws and working to protect the Constitutional rights guaranteed to American citizens, including ensuring that every eligible voter who wants to participate in the upcoming election has the opportunity to do so,” DeSaulnier said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I have confidence that local elections officials are conducting this election in accordance with all state and federal laws and working to protect the Constitutional rights guaranteed to American citizens, including ensuring that every eligible voter who wants to participate in the upcoming election has the opportunity to do so,” DeSaulnier said. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Justice Department is asking counties to send information about the voters it suspects are noncitizens including social security numbers, ID information, a copy of their registration and more.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Justice Department is asking counties to send information about the voters it suspects are noncitizens including social security numbers, ID information, a copy of their registration and more.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That information can help the government and state quickly assess each person suspected of illegally registering to vote, said the letter sent to San Bernardino County voting officials. The letter says the government’s list of suspected noncitizen voters includes 1,133 people from the inland Southern California county.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>That information can help the government and state quickly assess each person suspected of illegally registering to vote, said the letter sent to San Bernardino County voting officials. The letter says the government’s list of suspected noncitizen voters includes 1,133 people from the inland Southern California county.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California’s secretary of state and the Los Angeles County registrar have opposed the federal government’s demands. In legal filings, lawyers for California say the request threatens to delay the certification of the vote and undermine the legitimacy of the November midterms. They have also argued that the federal government’s data is unreliable and that their demands risk disenfranchisement of citizens.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>California’s secretary of state and the Los Angeles County registrar have opposed the federal government’s demands. In legal filings, lawyers for California say the request threatens to delay the certification of the vote and undermine the legitimacy of the November midterms. They have also argued that the federal government’s data is unreliable and that their demands risk disenfranchisement of citizens.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Voting is underway in California, with the state’s more than 23 million registered voters receiving ballots in the mail earlier this month. The state said in legal filings that over 330,000 mail-in ballots have already been counted.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Voting is underway in California, with the state’s more than 23 million registered voters receiving ballots in the mail earlier this month. The state said in legal filings that over 330,000 mail-in ballots have already been counted.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The letters came on the heels of \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-election-naturalization-voting-62ebeea82da863d93ee4e112e5b9f86e\">statewide sweep by federal authorities\u003c/a> earlier in the week, where 28 people from the list of 20,000 were charged with illegally registering to vote. Some were also charged with illegally voting and lying on naturalization paperwork. Those charges could lead to years in prison.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The letters came on the heels of \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-election-naturalization-voting-62ebeea82da863d93ee4e112e5b9f86e\">statewide sweep by federal authorities\u003c/a> earlier in the week, where 28 people from the list of 20,000 were charged with illegally registering to vote. Some were also charged with illegally voting and lying on naturalization paperwork. Those charges could lead to years in prison.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Sen. Alex Padilla, ranking member of the U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee with oversight over federal elections, said in a statement that the Trump administration is “afraid and desperate” and attempting to interfere in the state’s elections.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Sen. Alex Padilla, ranking member of the U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee with oversight over federal elections, said in a statement that the Trump administration is “afraid and desperate” and attempting to interfere in the state’s elections.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Trump’s DOJ has not provided any evidence for their claims of massive voter fraud. They’ve admitted that the data they point to is inaccurate and unreliable,” Padilla said. “No matter how many lawsuits they file or how many election officials they threaten, they do not have the authority to interfere.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“Trump’s DOJ has not provided any evidence for their claims of massive voter fraud. They’ve admitted that the data they point to is inaccurate and unreliable,” Padilla said. “No matter how many lawsuits they file or how many election officials they threaten, they do not have the authority to interfere.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/skennedy\">Samantha Kennedy\u003c/a> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/skennedy\">Samantha Kennedy\u003c/a> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "Election officials across California, including in Contra Costa County, received letters demanding officials verify ballots that may belong to noncitizens. ",
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"title": "DOJ Orders Contra Costa, Other California Counties to Verify Ballots | KQED",
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"headline": "DOJ Orders Contra Costa, Other California Counties to Verify Ballots",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Federal prosecutors sent letters to county registrars across California on Friday demanding that local officials set aside and verify ballots that the Department of Justice said \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12104425/california-officials-denounce-trump-dojs-demands-to-prove-voters-citizenship\">may belong to noncitizens\u003c/a>, according to the Los Angeles County registrar and a letter obtained by The Associated Press.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The letters are the latest escalation in a \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/doj-california-elections-e08ec04efdb1110c0e3f815f2ce6a3db\">legal battle\u003c/a> between California and President Donald Trump’s Department of Justice, which has recently focused on the state in its efforts to \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/homeland-security-justice-department-midterms-noncitizen-voting-09b8391612fc87676267a254c55eaee8\">root out noncitizen voting\u003c/a> ahead of the midterm elections. Data shows illegal voting by people who aren’t U.S. citizens is \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/noncitizens-voting-republicans-election-2024-immigration-09b86e6768f755fd875f3c51b0e8ea70\">incredibly rare\u003c/a>, difficult to prove and has not been shown to change the outcome of races.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Earlier this month, the federal government targeted \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-justice-department-voting-noncitizens-lawsuit-12c62cf12a7db6480c60975b6dea49b8\">Los Angeles County and the California Secretary of State’s office\u003c/a> in a lawsuit that aimed to block them from counting the votes of roughly 20,000 people who are “likely” noncitizen voters. A hearing on the case is scheduled for Tuesday.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12087182\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/06/251030-BayAreaVoters-25-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Ballots sit in crates before being counted at the City Hall Voting Center in San Francisco on Oct. 30, 2025, ahead of last year’s statewide special election. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration asked the 9th Circuit court of appeals to rule on the lawsuit barring a decision from the district judge assigned to the case. They set a deadline for Saturday.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now, according to the LA County registrar’s office, at least 18 counties across the state have received similar letters. They have been given a 48 hour deadline from Friday to provide identifying information corresponding with ballots that the federal government believes were sent to noncitizens illegally registered to vote. The letter requests that county officials also sequester any ballots where citizenship cannot be verified.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen is opening themselves to legal jeopardy,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">East Bay Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, whose district includes parts of Contra Costa County, said in a statement that Contra Costa election officials were among those that received a letter.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12014671\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2024/11/MarkDeSaulnierGetty-1920x1280.jpg 1920w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rep. Mark DeSaulnier (D-CA) speaks during a House Rules Committee hearing on the impeachment against President Donald Trump on Dec. 17, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Patrick Semansky-Pool/Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I have confidence that local elections officials are conducting this election in accordance with all state and federal laws and working to protect the Constitutional rights guaranteed to American citizens, including ensuring that every eligible voter who wants to participate in the upcoming election has the opportunity to do so,” DeSaulnier said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Justice Department is asking counties to send information about the voters it suspects are noncitizens including social security numbers, ID information, a copy of their registration and more.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That information can help the government and state quickly assess each person suspected of illegally registering to vote, said the letter sent to San Bernardino County voting officials. The letter says the government’s list of suspected noncitizen voters includes 1,133 people from the inland Southern California county.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">California’s secretary of state and the Los Angeles County registrar have opposed the federal government’s demands. In legal filings, lawyers for California say the request threatens to delay the certification of the vote and undermine the legitimacy of the November midterms. They have also argued that the federal government’s data is unreliable and that their demands risk disenfranchisement of citizens.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Voting is underway in California, with the state’s more than 23 million registered voters receiving ballots in the mail earlier this month. The state said in legal filings that over 330,000 mail-in ballots have already been counted.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The letters came on the heels of \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/california-election-naturalization-voting-62ebeea82da863d93ee4e112e5b9f86e\">statewide sweep by federal authorities\u003c/a> earlier in the week, where 28 people from the list of 20,000 were charged with illegally registering to vote. Some were also charged with illegally voting and lying on naturalization paperwork. Those charges could lead to years in prison.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sen. Alex Padilla, ranking member of the U.S. Senate Rules and Administration Committee with oversight over federal elections, said in a statement that the Trump administration is “afraid and desperate” and attempting to interfere in the state’s elections.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Trump’s DOJ has not provided any evidence for their claims of massive voter fraud. They’ve admitted that the data they point to is inaccurate and unreliable,” Padilla said. “No matter how many lawsuits they file or how many election officials they threaten, they do not have the authority to interfere.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/author/skennedy\">Samantha Kennedy\u003c/a> contributed to this report. \u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "california-democrats-rally-to-deliver-on-proposition-50-was-it-really-needed",
"title": "California Democrats Rally to ‘Deliver’ on Proposition 50. Was It Really Needed?",
"publishDate": 1792857600,
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"headTitle": "California Democrats Rally to ‘Deliver’ on Proposition 50. Was It Really Needed? | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Feeling buoyant about their chances to retake the U.S. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/house-of-representatives\">House of Representatives\u003c/a> in November, California’s leading Democrats took a victory lap on Friday over the congressional maps they drew last year to flip Republican-held seats amid a nationwide redistricting battle. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Donald Trump’s presidency as we know it ends on November 3rd, as long as we do our job,” Gov. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> said at a rally in a San Francisco union hall. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064834/how-prop-50-just-rewrote-californias-2026-congressional-map\">passage of Proposition 50\u003c/a> in a special election last November won Newsom praise from Democrats across the country who saw the daring redistricting move as a powerful counterpunch against Republican gerrymanders in Texas and other states. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-25-BL-KQED-0cc8fdc5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106174\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-25-BL-KQED-0cc8fdc5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-25-BL-KQED-0cc8fdc5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-25-BL-KQED-0cc8fdc5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A crowd listens to speakers during a rally with California Democratic Party members, labor leaders, and advocates in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the time, Newsom pitched the gerrymandering measure as an existential fight: “If Californians don’t act now, Donald Trump will seize total power for two more years,” the governor wrote in the official voter guide argument.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But a year later, that outcome seems increasingly unlikely, and the gains made through what some Democrats called “emergency maps” could be rendered a mere drop in a blue wave. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nonpartisan analysts now project Democrats could capture as many as 20 Republican-held seats nationwide in the Nov. 3 midterm election — raising the possibility that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12092388/the-roadblocks-on-democrats-path-to-retaking-the-house-in-2026\">Democrats could claim a majority\u003c/a> regardless of results in California. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dragged down by President Donald Trump’s plummeting approval rating, the political environment has gotten so dire for the GOP that multiple California Republicans likely would have been endangered even under the state’s old maps. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It very well could be [Democrats] would have taken back Congress anyway, it turns out,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican strategist. “But at the time it did make a lot of political sense.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Supporters of Proposition 50 said the new maps, which paved the way for Democrats to add up to five additional seats in California, were an appropriate response to what they described as an emergency for democracy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spurred on by Trump, Republicans in Texas had launched an effort to redraw their maps to add five seats to the GOP column, followed by similar plans in North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and a handful of southern states that together could have tilted anywhere from seven to 15 seats toward Republicans.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Proposition 50 passed with over 64% of the vote. But in the process of wading into the gerrymandering battle, California voters \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12050983/californias-political-maps-are-drawn-independently-will-newsom-change-that\">cast aside political lines\u003c/a> drawn by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission — an independent panel of citizens who seek to group communities together in districts based on shared needs, not political aims.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The commission collected months of testimony about shared commute patterns, natural boundaries and local industries to inform their district lines.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“And that matters because one would hope that the elected official that a community elects would represent those issues in Congress,” redistricting commissioner Pedro Toledo told KQED last year. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12062669\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Proposition 50 sign sits on a chair during a rally with Governor Gavin Newsom, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, and local elected officials in support of Proposition 50 at IBEW Local 6 in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What’s more, the Proposition 50 lines have brought headaches for some Democratic incumbents, who suddenly were forced to run for reelection in reshaped districts. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked after Friday’s rally whether he would still consider Proposition 50 worthwhile if Democrats win a big victory in the House, Newsom said the measure signaled “a pivotal moment when we stood up, and we fought back.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We fought fire with fire, and that moment I think is coming full circle,” Newsom said. “But we’ve got to deliver on the promise and the promotion, and that’s why it’s critical that we get those five seats and not just redraw those five districts.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Defenders of Proposition 50 said the message was just as important as the math. At a time when liberal voters \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/news/12050346/will-newsoms-maps-bring-the-fight-democrats-desire\">were yearning\u003c/a> for a fight, the redistricting push showed Democrats willing to take their gloves off. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-16-BL-KQED-7b217a58.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106172\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-16-BL-KQED-7b217a58.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-16-BL-KQED-7b217a58-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-16-BL-KQED-7b217a58-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi speaks at a rally alongside California Democratic Party members, labor leaders and advocates in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I think it started that momentum,” said Jodi Hicks, CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. “It was voters having a chance to stand up and say that they want to stop what Washington is doing…. I think the whole country was looking at California.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The measure added hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters to two GOP-held seats in Northern California — and drastically reconfigured the Inland Empire district held by Republican Rep. Ken Calvert. The Proposition 50 maps also bolstered Democrats’ chances in two additional seats held by Republicans: the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12105844/randy-villegas-has-a-theory-of-how-to-win-in-the-central-valley\">22nd District in the Central Valley\u003c/a>, and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102409/local-loyalties-and-trump-opposition-collide-in-san-diego-house-race\">48th District\u003c/a>, which covers parts of San Diego and Riverside counties. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the national political climate suggests Democrats are likely to win back the House, even without the Proposition 50 redraw.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump’s approval rating has fallen below 40% in public polling as tariffs, health care cuts and rising gas prices driven by the war in Iran have roiled many voters. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nationwide, voters now prefer a generic Democratic candidate over a generic Republican by 8 points, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/state-of-the-union/generic-congressional-vote\">Real Clear Polling\u003c/a>, and nonpartisan analysts are increasingly bullish about Democrats’ chances in the House.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both the Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia have Democrats winning around 235 seats on the high end of likely outcomes — well past the 218 needed for a majority. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“At this point not only would it be a shock if Republicans held the House, but it would also be a surprise if Democrats did not at least exceed the tiny-sized majorities of the last three Congresses,” managing editor Kyle Kondik wrote in Sabato’s Crystal Ball this week. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats are running competitive races in deep red territory and continue to be hopeful about their chances to pick up seats in Iowa, Texas and Montana that Trump won by 10 points or more in 2024. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under a wave of that size, Democrats could have realistically won a handful of seats in California even without the Proposition 50 redraw, said Eric McGhee, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Bakersfield-area 22nd District held by Republican Rep. David Valadao shifted toward Trump in 2024 but would have remained competitive under the old maps. In Southern California, Trump won the old 41st District, held by Calvert, by less than 6 points in the last election and the 40th District, represented by Republican Rep. Young Kim, by less than 3 points. And in Northern California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085346/californias-3rd-congressional-district-race-pits-longtime-politician-against-progressive-newcomer\">Rep. Kevin Kiley\u003c/a> would have been tasked with defending a Sacramento-area seat that Trump won by less than 4 points. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) listens to testimony as the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight holds a field hearing on violent crime in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. In a recent interview on Morning Edition, he discusses his decision to continue showing up to work during the government shutdown, advocating for the House to resume its functions.\" class=\"wp-image-12062547\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-2000x1333.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rep. Kevin Kiley listens to testimony during a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight field hearing on violent crime on Sept. 29, 2025. Kiley responded to Proposition 50 gerrymandering by running as an independent in a neighboring district. (Nell Redmond/AP)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It’s not clear in a midterm election with an unpopular president that the Democrats wouldn’t just pick up these seats anyway,” McGhee said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, the Proposition 50 lines moved Calvert’s seat to a safe blue part of Los Angeles and forced Kim and Calvert into a head-to-head matchup that will ensure one incumbent will be leaving Congress after the election. Kiley responded to the gerrymandering of his seat by running as an independent in a neighboring district. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats running in safe blue seats were also affected by the line changes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the North Bay, Rep. Mike Thompson is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12087322/democrat-eric-jones-set-up-for-runoff-battle-against-longtime-napa-valley-congressman\">facing a challenge\u003c/a> from fellow Democrat Eric Jones in a district that lost tens of thousands of Democratic voters that Thompson had previously represented in Sonoma. Rep. Doris Matsui faces a similar dynamic as she seeks reelection in Sacramento against Democratic City Councilmember Mai Vang. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be sure, Proposition 50 did more than simply elevate Democrats’ chances of flipping Republican-held seats in 2026. The new maps also increased the party’s margins in competitive districts already held by Democrats — providing a firewall against a more unfavorable political climate in 2028 or 2030. Under current law, the independent redistricting commission won’t resume its work until after the 2030 election.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-01-BL-KQED-0891b709.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106167\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-01-BL-KQED-0891b709.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-01-BL-KQED-0891b709-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-01-BL-KQED-0891b709-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A crowd listens to speakers during a rally with California Democratic Party members, labor leaders, and advocates in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“There’s definitely opportunities for a harder year for Democrats to come along, and this plan is helpful to them for those kinds of years,” said McGhee. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And few politicians seemed to grasp the desire for a partisan scrap more than Newsom, who emerged from the Proposition 50 campaign as a leading contender for the party’s presidential nomination in 2028. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“He’s positioned himself as a fighter against Trump,” said former Democratic Assemblymember Phil Ting. “You see Democrats across the country feeling kind of helpless — they’re saying, ‘Hey Democratic leaders, who is fighting for us?’ And they see our governor fighting.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As for the prospect of a big Democratic wave washing away the relevance of Proposition 50? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Ting said. “Absolutely it was worth it because you had to set the tone … are we just going to stand and watch or are we going to fight?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Donald Trump’s presidency as we know it ends on November 3rd, as long as we do our job,” Gov. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> said at a rally in a San Francisco union hall. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064834/how-prop-50-just-rewrote-californias-2026-congressional-map\">passage of Proposition 50\u003c/a> in a special election last November won Newsom praise from Democrats across the country who saw the daring redistricting move as a powerful counterpunch against Republican gerrymanders in Texas and other states. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-25-BL-KQED-0cc8fdc5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106174\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-25-BL-KQED-0cc8fdc5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-25-BL-KQED-0cc8fdc5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-25-BL-KQED-0cc8fdc5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A crowd listens to speakers during a rally with California Democratic Party members, labor leaders, and advocates in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>At the time, Newsom pitched the gerrymandering measure as an existential fight: “If Californians don’t act now, Donald Trump will seize total power for two more years,” the governor wrote in the official voter guide argument.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>At the time, Newsom pitched the gerrymandering measure as an existential fight: “If Californians don’t act now, Donald Trump will seize total power for two more years,” the governor wrote in the official voter guide argument.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But a year later, that outcome seems increasingly unlikely, and the gains made through what some Democrats called “emergency maps” could be rendered a mere drop in a blue wave. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nonpartisan analysts now project Democrats could capture as many as 20 Republican-held seats nationwide in the Nov. 3 midterm election — raising the possibility that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12092388/the-roadblocks-on-democrats-path-to-retaking-the-house-in-2026\">Democrats could claim a majority\u003c/a> regardless of results in California. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nonpartisan analysts now project Democrats could capture as many as 20 Republican-held seats nationwide in the Nov. 3 midterm election — raising the possibility that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12092388/the-roadblocks-on-democrats-path-to-retaking-the-house-in-2026\">Democrats could claim a majority\u003c/a> regardless of results in California. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Dragged down by President Donald Trump’s plummeting approval rating, the political environment has gotten so dire for the GOP that multiple California Republicans likely would have been endangered even under the state’s old maps. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Dragged down by President Donald Trump’s plummeting approval rating, the political environment has gotten so dire for the GOP that multiple California Republicans likely would have been endangered even under the state’s old maps. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It very well could be [Democrats] would have taken back Congress anyway, it turns out,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican strategist. “But at the time it did make a lot of political sense.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It very well could be [Democrats] would have taken back Congress anyway, it turns out,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican strategist. “But at the time it did make a lot of political sense.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Supporters of Proposition 50 said the new maps, which paved the way for Democrats to add up to five additional seats in California, were an appropriate response to what they described as an emergency for democracy.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Supporters of Proposition 50 said the new maps, which paved the way for Democrats to add up to five additional seats in California, were an appropriate response to what they described as an emergency for democracy.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Spurred on by Trump, Republicans in Texas had launched an effort to redraw their maps to add five seats to the GOP column, followed by similar plans in North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and a handful of southern states that together could have tilted anywhere from seven to 15 seats toward Republicans.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Spurred on by Trump, Republicans in Texas had launched an effort to redraw their maps to add five seats to the GOP column, followed by similar plans in North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and a handful of southern states that together could have tilted anywhere from seven to 15 seats toward Republicans.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Proposition 50 passed with over 64% of the vote. But in the process of wading into the gerrymandering battle, California voters \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12050983/californias-political-maps-are-drawn-independently-will-newsom-change-that\">cast aside political lines\u003c/a> drawn by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission — an independent panel of citizens who seek to group communities together in districts based on shared needs, not political aims.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Proposition 50 passed with over 64% of the vote. But in the process of wading into the gerrymandering battle, California voters \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12050983/californias-political-maps-are-drawn-independently-will-newsom-change-that\">cast aside political lines\u003c/a> drawn by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission — an independent panel of citizens who seek to group communities together in districts based on shared needs, not political aims.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The commission collected months of testimony about shared commute patterns, natural boundaries and local industries to inform their district lines.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“And that matters because one would hope that the elected official that a community elects would represent those issues in Congress,” redistricting commissioner Pedro Toledo told KQED last year. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“And that matters because one would hope that the elected official that a community elects would represent those issues in Congress,” redistricting commissioner Pedro Toledo told KQED last year. \u003c/p>\n"
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"srcset": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12062669\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Proposition 50 sign sits on a chair during a rally with Governor Gavin Newsom, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, and local elected officials in support of Proposition 50 at IBEW Local 6 in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2025.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12062669\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Proposition 50 sign sits on a chair during a rally with Governor Gavin Newsom, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, and local elected officials in support of Proposition 50 at IBEW Local 6 in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2025.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>What’s more, the Proposition 50 lines have brought headaches for some Democratic incumbents, who suddenly were forced to run for reelection in reshaped districts. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>What’s more, the Proposition 50 lines have brought headaches for some Democratic incumbents, who suddenly were forced to run for reelection in reshaped districts. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Asked after Friday’s rally whether he would still consider Proposition 50 worthwhile if Democrats win a big victory in the House, Newsom said the measure signaled “a pivotal moment when we stood up, and we fought back.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We fought fire with fire, and that moment I think is coming full circle,” Newsom said. “But we’ve got to deliver on the promise and the promotion, and that’s why it’s critical that we get those five seats and not just redraw those five districts.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We fought fire with fire, and that moment I think is coming full circle,” Newsom said. “But we’ve got to deliver on the promise and the promotion, and that’s why it’s critical that we get those five seats and not just redraw those five districts.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Defenders of Proposition 50 said the message was just as important as the math. At a time when liberal voters \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/news/12050346/will-newsoms-maps-bring-the-fight-democrats-desire\">were yearning\u003c/a> for a fight, the redistricting push showed Democrats willing to take their gloves off. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Defenders of Proposition 50 said the message was just as important as the math. At a time when liberal voters \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/news/12050346/will-newsoms-maps-bring-the-fight-democrats-desire\">were yearning\u003c/a> for a fight, the redistricting push showed Democrats willing to take their gloves off. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-16-BL-KQED-7b217a58.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106172\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-16-BL-KQED-7b217a58.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-16-BL-KQED-7b217a58-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-16-BL-KQED-7b217a58-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi speaks at a rally alongside California Democratic Party members, labor leaders and advocates in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-16-BL-KQED-7b217a58.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106172\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi speaks at a rally alongside California Democratic Party members, labor leaders and advocates in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I think it started that momentum,” said Jodi Hicks, CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. “It was voters having a chance to stand up and say that they want to stop what Washington is doing…. I think the whole country was looking at California.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I think it started that momentum,” said Jodi Hicks, CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. “It was voters having a chance to stand up and say that they want to stop what Washington is doing…. I think the whole country was looking at California.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The measure added hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters to two GOP-held seats in Northern California — and drastically reconfigured the Inland Empire district held by Republican Rep. Ken Calvert. The Proposition 50 maps also bolstered Democrats’ chances in two additional seats held by Republicans: the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12105844/randy-villegas-has-a-theory-of-how-to-win-in-the-central-valley\">22nd District in the Central Valley\u003c/a>, and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102409/local-loyalties-and-trump-opposition-collide-in-san-diego-house-race\">48th District\u003c/a>, which covers parts of San Diego and Riverside counties. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The measure added hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters to two GOP-held seats in Northern California — and drastically reconfigured the Inland Empire district held by Republican Rep. Ken Calvert. The Proposition 50 maps also bolstered Democrats’ chances in two additional seats held by Republicans: the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12105844/randy-villegas-has-a-theory-of-how-to-win-in-the-central-valley\">22nd District in the Central Valley\u003c/a>, and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102409/local-loyalties-and-trump-opposition-collide-in-san-diego-house-race\">48th District\u003c/a>, which covers parts of San Diego and Riverside counties. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But the national political climate suggests Democrats are likely to win back the House, even without the Proposition 50 redraw.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Trump’s approval rating has fallen below 40% in public polling as tariffs, health care cuts and rising gas prices driven by the war in Iran have roiled many voters. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nationwide, voters now prefer a generic Democratic candidate over a generic Republican by 8 points, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/state-of-the-union/generic-congressional-vote\">Real Clear Polling\u003c/a>, and nonpartisan analysts are increasingly bullish about Democrats’ chances in the House.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Both the Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia have Democrats winning around 235 seats on the high end of likely outcomes — well past the 218 needed for a majority. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Both the Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia have Democrats winning around 235 seats on the high end of likely outcomes — well past the 218 needed for a majority. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“At this point not only would it be a shock if Republicans held the House, but it would also be a surprise if Democrats did not at least exceed the tiny-sized majorities of the last three Congresses,” managing editor Kyle Kondik wrote in Sabato’s Crystal Ball this week. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Democrats are running competitive races in deep red territory and continue to be hopeful about their chances to pick up seats in Iowa, Texas and Montana that Trump won by 10 points or more in 2024. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Democrats are running competitive races in deep red territory and continue to be hopeful about their chances to pick up seats in Iowa, Texas and Montana that Trump won by 10 points or more in 2024. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Under a wave of that size, Democrats could have realistically won a handful of seats in California even without the Proposition 50 redraw, said Eric McGhee, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Under a wave of that size, Democrats could have realistically won a handful of seats in California even without the Proposition 50 redraw, said Eric McGhee, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Bakersfield-area 22nd District held by Republican Rep. David Valadao shifted toward Trump in 2024 but would have remained competitive under the old maps. In Southern California, Trump won the old 41st District, held by Calvert, by less than 6 points in the last election and the 40th District, represented by Republican Rep. Young Kim, by less than 3 points. And in Northern California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085346/californias-3rd-congressional-district-race-pits-longtime-politician-against-progressive-newcomer\">Rep. Kevin Kiley\u003c/a> would have been tasked with defending a Sacramento-area seat that Trump won by less than 4 points. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Bakersfield-area 22nd District held by Republican Rep. David Valadao shifted toward Trump in 2024 but would have remained competitive under the old maps. In Southern California, Trump won the old 41st District, held by Calvert, by less than 6 points in the last election and the 40th District, represented by Republican Rep. Young Kim, by less than 3 points. And in Northern California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085346/californias-3rd-congressional-district-race-pits-longtime-politician-against-progressive-newcomer\">Rep. Kevin Kiley\u003c/a> would have been tasked with defending a Sacramento-area seat that Trump won by less than 4 points. \u003c/p>\n"
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"alt": "Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) listens to testimony as the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight holds a field hearing on violent crime in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. In a recent interview on Morning Edition, he discusses his decision to continue showing up to work during the government shutdown, advocating for the House to resume its functions.",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) listens to testimony as the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight holds a field hearing on violent crime in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. In a recent interview on Morning Edition, he discusses his decision to continue showing up to work during the government shutdown, advocating for the House to resume its functions.\" class=\"wp-image-12062547\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-2000x1333.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rep. Kevin Kiley listens to testimony during a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight field hearing on violent crime on Sept. 29, 2025. Kiley responded to Proposition 50 gerrymandering by running as an independent in a neighboring district. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Nell Redmond/AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) listens to testimony as the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight holds a field hearing on violent crime in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. In a recent interview on Morning Edition, he discusses his decision to continue showing up to work during the government shutdown, advocating for the House to resume its functions.\" class=\"wp-image-12062547\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rep. Kevin Kiley listens to testimony during a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight field hearing on violent crime on Sept. 29, 2025. Kiley responded to Proposition 50 gerrymandering by running as an independent in a neighboring district. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Nell Redmond/AP)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It’s not clear in a midterm election with an unpopular president that the Democrats wouldn’t just pick up these seats anyway,” McGhee said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Instead, the Proposition 50 lines moved Calvert’s seat to a safe blue part of Los Angeles and forced Kim and Calvert into a head-to-head matchup that will ensure one incumbent will be leaving Congress after the election. Kiley responded to the gerrymandering of his seat by running as an independent in a neighboring district. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Instead, the Proposition 50 lines moved Calvert’s seat to a safe blue part of Los Angeles and forced Kim and Calvert into a head-to-head matchup that will ensure one incumbent will be leaving Congress after the election. Kiley responded to the gerrymandering of his seat by running as an independent in a neighboring district. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Democrats running in safe blue seats were also affected by the line changes. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the North Bay, Rep. Mike Thompson is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12087322/democrat-eric-jones-set-up-for-runoff-battle-against-longtime-napa-valley-congressman\">facing a challenge\u003c/a> from fellow Democrat Eric Jones in a district that lost tens of thousands of Democratic voters that Thompson had previously represented in Sonoma. Rep. Doris Matsui faces a similar dynamic as she seeks reelection in Sacramento against Democratic City Councilmember Mai Vang. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In the North Bay, Rep. Mike Thompson is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12087322/democrat-eric-jones-set-up-for-runoff-battle-against-longtime-napa-valley-congressman\">facing a challenge\u003c/a> from fellow Democrat Eric Jones in a district that lost tens of thousands of Democratic voters that Thompson had previously represented in Sonoma. Rep. Doris Matsui faces a similar dynamic as she seeks reelection in Sacramento against Democratic City Councilmember Mai Vang. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>To be sure, Proposition 50 did more than simply elevate Democrats’ chances of flipping Republican-held seats in 2026. The new maps also increased the party’s margins in competitive districts already held by Democrats — providing a firewall against a more unfavorable political climate in 2028 or 2030. Under current law, the independent redistricting commission won’t resume its work until after the 2030 election.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>To be sure, Proposition 50 did more than simply elevate Democrats’ chances of flipping Republican-held seats in 2026. The new maps also increased the party’s margins in competitive districts already held by Democrats — providing a firewall against a more unfavorable political climate in 2028 or 2030. Under current law, the independent redistricting commission won’t resume its work until after the 2030 election.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-01-BL-KQED-0891b709.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106167\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-01-BL-KQED-0891b709.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-01-BL-KQED-0891b709-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-01-BL-KQED-0891b709-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A crowd listens to speakers during a rally with California Democratic Party members, labor leaders, and advocates in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-01-BL-KQED-0891b709.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106167\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A crowd listens to speakers during a rally with California Democratic Party members, labor leaders, and advocates in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“There’s definitely opportunities for a harder year for Democrats to come along, and this plan is helpful to them for those kinds of years,” said McGhee. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“There’s definitely opportunities for a harder year for Democrats to come along, and this plan is helpful to them for those kinds of years,” said McGhee. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And few politicians seemed to grasp the desire for a partisan scrap more than Newsom, who emerged from the Proposition 50 campaign as a leading contender for the party’s presidential nomination in 2028. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And few politicians seemed to grasp the desire for a partisan scrap more than Newsom, who emerged from the Proposition 50 campaign as a leading contender for the party’s presidential nomination in 2028. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“He’s positioned himself as a fighter against Trump,” said former Democratic Assemblymember Phil Ting. “You see Democrats across the country feeling kind of helpless — they’re saying, ‘Hey Democratic leaders, who is fighting for us?’ And they see our governor fighting.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“He’s positioned himself as a fighter against Trump,” said former Democratic Assemblymember Phil Ting. “You see Democrats across the country feeling kind of helpless — they’re saying, ‘Hey Democratic leaders, who is fighting for us?’ And they see our governor fighting.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As for the prospect of a big Democratic wave washing away the relevance of Proposition 50? \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Ting said. “Absolutely it was worth it because you had to set the tone … are we just going to stand and watch or are we going to fight?”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Ting said. “Absolutely it was worth it because you had to set the tone … are we just going to stand and watch or are we going to fight?”\u003c/p>\n"
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"excerpt": "Supporters of the redistricting measure argued the state needed “emergency maps” to counter Republican gerrymanders. But Democrats appear likely to retake the House regardless of California’s results. ",
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"title": "California Democrats Rally to ‘Deliver’ on Proposition 50. Was It Really Needed? | KQED",
"description": "Supporters of the redistricting measure argued the state needed “emergency maps” to counter Republican gerrymanders. But Democrats appear likely to retake the House regardless of California’s results. ",
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"headline": "California Democrats Rally to ‘Deliver’ on Proposition 50. Was It Really Needed?",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Feeling buoyant about their chances to retake the U.S. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/house-of-representatives\">House of Representatives\u003c/a> in November, California’s leading Democrats took a victory lap on Friday over the congressional maps they drew last year to flip Republican-held seats amid a nationwide redistricting battle. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Donald Trump’s presidency as we know it ends on November 3rd, as long as we do our job,” Gov. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/gavin-newsom\">Gavin Newsom\u003c/a> said at a rally in a San Francisco union hall. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064834/how-prop-50-just-rewrote-californias-2026-congressional-map\">passage of Proposition 50\u003c/a> in a special election last November won Newsom praise from Democrats across the country who saw the daring redistricting move as a powerful counterpunch against Republican gerrymanders in Texas and other states. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-25-BL-KQED-0cc8fdc5.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106174\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-25-BL-KQED-0cc8fdc5.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-25-BL-KQED-0cc8fdc5-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-25-BL-KQED-0cc8fdc5-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A crowd listens to speakers during a rally with California Democratic Party members, labor leaders, and advocates in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the time, Newsom pitched the gerrymandering measure as an existential fight: “If Californians don’t act now, Donald Trump will seize total power for two more years,” the governor wrote in the official voter guide argument.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But a year later, that outcome seems increasingly unlikely, and the gains made through what some Democrats called “emergency maps” could be rendered a mere drop in a blue wave. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nonpartisan analysts now project Democrats could capture as many as 20 Republican-held seats nationwide in the Nov. 3 midterm election — raising the possibility that \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12092388/the-roadblocks-on-democrats-path-to-retaking-the-house-in-2026\">Democrats could claim a majority\u003c/a> regardless of results in California. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dragged down by President Donald Trump’s plummeting approval rating, the political environment has gotten so dire for the GOP that multiple California Republicans likely would have been endangered even under the state’s old maps. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It very well could be [Democrats] would have taken back Congress anyway, it turns out,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican strategist. “But at the time it did make a lot of political sense.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Supporters of Proposition 50 said the new maps, which paved the way for Democrats to add up to five additional seats in California, were an appropriate response to what they described as an emergency for democracy.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Spurred on by Trump, Republicans in Texas had launched an effort to redraw their maps to add five seats to the GOP column, followed by similar plans in North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and a handful of southern states that together could have tilted anywhere from seven to 15 seats toward Republicans.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Proposition 50 passed with over 64% of the vote. But in the process of wading into the gerrymandering battle, California voters \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12050983/californias-political-maps-are-drawn-independently-will-newsom-change-that\">cast aside political lines\u003c/a> drawn by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission — an independent panel of citizens who seek to group communities together in districts based on shared needs, not political aims.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The commission collected months of testimony about shared commute patterns, natural boundaries and local industries to inform their district lines.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“And that matters because one would hope that the elected official that a community elects would represent those issues in Congress,” redistricting commissioner Pedro Toledo told KQED last year. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12062669\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/11/251103-NewsomProp50Rally-01-BL-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A Proposition 50 sign sits on a chair during a rally with Governor Gavin Newsom, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, and local elected officials in support of Proposition 50 at IBEW Local 6 in San Francisco on Nov. 3, 2025. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What’s more, the Proposition 50 lines have brought headaches for some Democratic incumbents, who suddenly were forced to run for reelection in reshaped districts. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Asked after Friday’s rally whether he would still consider Proposition 50 worthwhile if Democrats win a big victory in the House, Newsom said the measure signaled “a pivotal moment when we stood up, and we fought back.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We fought fire with fire, and that moment I think is coming full circle,” Newsom said. “But we’ve got to deliver on the promise and the promotion, and that’s why it’s critical that we get those five seats and not just redraw those five districts.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Defenders of Proposition 50 said the message was just as important as the math. At a time when liberal voters \u003ca href=\"http://kqed.org/news/12050346/will-newsoms-maps-bring-the-fight-democrats-desire\">were yearning\u003c/a> for a fight, the redistricting push showed Democrats willing to take their gloves off. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-16-BL-KQED-7b217a58.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106172\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-16-BL-KQED-7b217a58.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-16-BL-KQED-7b217a58-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-16-BL-KQED-7b217a58-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi speaks at a rally alongside California Democratic Party members, labor leaders and advocates in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I think it started that momentum,” said Jodi Hicks, CEO of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. “It was voters having a chance to stand up and say that they want to stop what Washington is doing…. I think the whole country was looking at California.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The measure added hundreds of thousands of Democratic voters to two GOP-held seats in Northern California — and drastically reconfigured the Inland Empire district held by Republican Rep. Ken Calvert. The Proposition 50 maps also bolstered Democrats’ chances in two additional seats held by Republicans: the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12105844/randy-villegas-has-a-theory-of-how-to-win-in-the-central-valley\">22nd District in the Central Valley\u003c/a>, and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12102409/local-loyalties-and-trump-opposition-collide-in-san-diego-house-race\">48th District\u003c/a>, which covers parts of San Diego and Riverside counties. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the national political climate suggests Democrats are likely to win back the House, even without the Proposition 50 redraw.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump’s approval rating has fallen below 40% in public polling as tariffs, health care cuts and rising gas prices driven by the war in Iran have roiled many voters. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nationwide, voters now prefer a generic Democratic candidate over a generic Republican by 8 points, according to \u003ca href=\"https://www.realclearpolling.com/polls/state-of-the-union/generic-congressional-vote\">Real Clear Polling\u003c/a>, and nonpartisan analysts are increasingly bullish about Democrats’ chances in the House.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both the Cook Political Report and Sabato’s Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia have Democrats winning around 235 seats on the high end of likely outcomes — well past the 218 needed for a majority. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“At this point not only would it be a shock if Republicans held the House, but it would also be a surprise if Democrats did not at least exceed the tiny-sized majorities of the last three Congresses,” managing editor Kyle Kondik wrote in Sabato’s Crystal Ball this week. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats are running competitive races in deep red territory and continue to be hopeful about their chances to pick up seats in Iowa, Texas and Montana that Trump won by 10 points or more in 2024. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Under a wave of that size, Democrats could have realistically won a handful of seats in California even without the Proposition 50 redraw, said Eric McGhee, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Bakersfield-area 22nd District held by Republican Rep. David Valadao shifted toward Trump in 2024 but would have remained competitive under the old maps. In Southern California, Trump won the old 41st District, held by Calvert, by less than 6 points in the last election and the 40th District, represented by Republican Rep. Young Kim, by less than 3 points. And in Northern California, \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12085346/californias-3rd-congressional-district-race-pits-longtime-politician-against-progressive-newcomer\">Rep. Kevin Kiley\u003c/a> would have been tasked with defending a Sacramento-area seat that Trump won by less than 4 points. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-scaled.jpeg\" alt=\"Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-Calif.) listens to testimony as the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight holds a field hearing on violent crime in Charlotte, N.C., Monday, Sept. 29, 2025. In a recent interview on Morning Edition, he discusses his decision to continue showing up to work during the government shutdown, advocating for the House to resume its functions.\" class=\"wp-image-12062547\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-scaled.jpeg 2560w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-2000x1333.jpeg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-160x107.jpeg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-1536x1024.jpeg 1536w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2025/10/ap25272590477547-2048x1365.jpeg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Rep. Kevin Kiley listens to testimony during a House Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight field hearing on violent crime on Sept. 29, 2025. Kiley responded to Proposition 50 gerrymandering by running as an independent in a neighboring district. (Nell Redmond/AP)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“It’s not clear in a midterm election with an unpopular president that the Democrats wouldn’t just pick up these seats anyway,” McGhee said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Instead, the Proposition 50 lines moved Calvert’s seat to a safe blue part of Los Angeles and forced Kim and Calvert into a head-to-head matchup that will ensure one incumbent will be leaving Congress after the election. Kiley responded to the gerrymandering of his seat by running as an independent in a neighboring district. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Democrats running in safe blue seats were also affected by the line changes. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the North Bay, Rep. Mike Thompson is \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12087322/democrat-eric-jones-set-up-for-runoff-battle-against-longtime-napa-valley-congressman\">facing a challenge\u003c/a> from fellow Democrat Eric Jones in a district that lost tens of thousands of Democratic voters that Thompson had previously represented in Sonoma. Rep. Doris Matsui faces a similar dynamic as she seeks reelection in Sacramento against Democratic City Councilmember Mai Vang. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To be sure, Proposition 50 did more than simply elevate Democrats’ chances of flipping Republican-held seats in 2026. The new maps also increased the party’s margins in competitive districts already held by Democrats — providing a firewall against a more unfavorable political climate in 2028 or 2030. Under current law, the independent redistricting commission won’t resume its work until after the 2030 election.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-01-BL-KQED-0891b709.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106167\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-01-BL-KQED-0891b709.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-01-BL-KQED-0891b709-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/261023-PROP50VICTORYLAP-01-BL-KQED-0891b709-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A crowd listens to speakers during a rally with California Democratic Party members, labor leaders, and advocates in San Francisco on Oct. 23, 2026. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“There’s definitely opportunities for a harder year for Democrats to come along, and this plan is helpful to them for those kinds of years,” said McGhee. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And few politicians seemed to grasp the desire for a partisan scrap more than Newsom, who emerged from the Proposition 50 campaign as a leading contender for the party’s presidential nomination in 2028. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“He’s positioned himself as a fighter against Trump,” said former Democratic Assemblymember Phil Ting. “You see Democrats across the country feeling kind of helpless — they’re saying, ‘Hey Democratic leaders, who is fighting for us?’ And they see our governor fighting.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As for the prospect of a big Democratic wave washing away the relevance of Proposition 50? \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Ting said. “Absolutely it was worth it because you had to set the tone … are we just going to stand and watch or are we going to fight?”\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "brazil-votes-for-a-new-president-on-sunday-how-bay-area-brazilians-are-following-the-race",
"title": "Brazil Votes for a New President on Sunday. How Bay Area Brazilians Are Following the Race",
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"headTitle": "Brazil Votes for a New President on Sunday. How Bay Area Brazilians Are Following the Race | KQED",
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"content": "\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Less than two weeks before Americans head to the polls for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide\">midterms\u003c/a>, the second most-populous democracy in the Western Hemisphere has its own momentous election.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Sunday, Brazil will choose its next president — the second round of voting in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/10/19/nx-s1-6004280/brazils-run-off-is-heating-up-with-large-crowds-and-an-insult-filled-debate\">closely fought race\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The final choice for more than 150 million voters — living not just in Brazil but abroad in places including the Bay Area — is between the country’s incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the leftist Workers’ Party, known as Lula, and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of convicted former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The choices are profoundly different,” said Harley Shaiken, professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, who previously led the university’s Center for Latin American Studies. Lula and Bolsonaro differ vastly in their policies around criminal justice, public spending and how to engage with the United States. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Donald Trump has publicly \u003ca href=\"https://www.trumpstruth.org/statuses/39041\">praised\u003c/a> Bolsonaro, after disagreements with Lula on \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/30/us-brazil-lula-trump-tariffs\">trade\u003c/a>, regulating \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/brazil-lula-big-techs-decree-pressure-610644693b3f0df5420f1c2a46c5db41\">U.S. tech companies\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/09/01/brazil-bolsonaro-trial-coup-trump/\">criminal trial\u003c/a> of Jair Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746278-6df0dc89.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106089\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746278-6df0dc89.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746278-6df0dc89-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746278-6df0dc89-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Brazil’s right-wing senator and presidential candidate for the Liberal Party (PL), Flavio Bolsonaro, speaks during a campaign rally in Guarulhos, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, on Oct. 21, 2026, ahead of the presidential election runoff. (Miguel Schincariol/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump to: \u003ca href=\"#presidential-vote\">I’m a Brazilian citizen living abroad. Can I still register to vote in this election?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shaiken added that the two candidates also differ widely on how to \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/10/18/world/americas/brazil-election-amazon-deforestation.html\">preserve\u003c/a> the Amazon rainforest, most of which is located in Brazil. “Whether there are environmental protections in the Amazon or not, that impacts climate change,” he said — meaning that the results of Brazil’s election “will also affect every American.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than 2 million Brazilian nationals \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/consulado-munique/noticias/estimativas-das-comunidades-brasileiras-no-exterior\">live\u003c/a> in the United States — many of them part of the Bay Area’s own Brazilian diaspora. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This community will have the chance to cast their vote on Sunday at Brazil’s San Francisco consulate, which could influence the final results in this neck-and-neck race. Keep reading for what’s at stake in this momentous election and how local voters are preparing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What’s at stake in Brazil’s election?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the campaign trail, Lula has championed major poverty reduction programs created in his previous administrations — two terms from 2003 to 2011, then his return to the presidency in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lula’s government also claims that it has \u003ca href=\"https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2026/09/27/lula-s-mixed-environmental-record-has-brought-less-deforestation-but-more-oil_6758014_114.html\">reduced\u003c/a> deforestation in the Amazon by about 50% from 2022 levels. And earlier this month, Lula secured a \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/15/brazil-cuts-work-week-to-40-hours-lula-bolsonaro-election-runoff\">policy win\u003c/a> that electrified his voter base: His allies in Congress passed a constitutional amendment that ends the six-day work week in Brazil and guarantees the country’s workers two days off per week without reducing their salary.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, polls still show the 80-year-old incumbent slightly behind Bolsonaro, who received 47% of votes during the first round on Oct. 4 — two percentage points ahead of Lula, but not a clear majority to secure the presidency. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1319\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746333-9ce03c86.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106090\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746333-9ce03c86.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746333-9ce03c86-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746333-9ce03c86-1536x1023.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Brazil’s right-wing senator and presidential candidate for the Liberal Party (PL), Flavio Bolsonaro, holds a sign reading “There are four days left until Lula retires” during a campaign rally in Guarulhos, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, on Oct. 21, 2026, ahead of the presidential election runoff. (Miguel Schincariol/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bolsonaro, the 45-year-old senator for Rio de Janeiro, champions a conservative platform similar to that of his father, prioritizing strong law enforcement, evangelical Christian values and the agricultural industry.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some political analysts even \u003ca href=\"https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220906-brazil-s-bolsonaro-still-the-bibles-bullets-and-beef-candidate\">refer to\u003c/a> these principles as “BBB”: bullets, Bibles and beef.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both candidates have accused the other of being linked to organized crime and enabling corruption in Brazil. In an onstage Oct. 18 debate, Bolsonaro claimed that 73% of prison inmates voted for Lula. In response, Lula said he wished that figure had instead been 100% — “including your father.” The elder Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup to overturn the 2022 electoral loss that ended his presidency.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the campaign enters the final stretch, hundreds of thousands of Brazilians have filled the streets of the country’s major cities not just to rally behind their preferred candidate, but also to motivate those who didn’t turn out to vote during the first round. That particular population will be key to winning on Sunday, Shaiken said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The conventional wisdom tells us now that Flavio is going to win,” he said. “But through his entire political career, Lula has a tendency to come back swinging and win when he’s been written off.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration is closely \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/internacional/trump-volta-a-dizer-que-esta-acompanhando-as-eleicoes-do-brasil-de-perto/\">following\u003c/a> the election. Bolsonaro visited the White House earlier this year and has said that if he’s elected, Brazil will \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/politica/terras-raras-se-eleito-flavio-diz-que-fara-parcerias-estrategias-com-eua/\">work more closely\u003c/a> with the U.S. to extract its deposits of critical minerals. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Bolsonaro victory would also represent another win in Latin America for a right-wing politician close to Trump — joining Javier Milei in Argentina, Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia, José Antonio Kast in Chile and most recently, Keiko Fujimori in Peru.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“There’s no ambiguity about who the Trump administration favors,” Shaiken said. “Every major economy in the region would be run by a right-wing leader, with the exception of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11988472/what-to-know-about-mexicos-historic-election-this-weekend-and-how-to-vote-from-the-us\">Mexico and Claudia Sheinbaum\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How have Brazilians in the Bay Area mobilized?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nicolas Monteiro has lived in San Francisco for a little over 20 years, thousands of miles away from his family in São Paulo. But showing up to the city’s Brazilian Consulate on the morning of Oct. 4 to cast his vote for Lula in the first round of Brazil’s election felt intensely emotional, he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The only family I have here is my mom and my sibling,” said Monteiro, a union organizer in San Francisco. “Everyone else is in Brazil. What happens in Brazilian politics — both at the national and local level — directly impacts my whole family.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other states like Florida and Massachusetts have a significantly bigger Brazilian population. But California hosts the only two Brazilian consulates on the West Coast — in San Francisco and Los Angeles — and in the Oct. 4 election, was among the states with the highest participation rates.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300873858-804f2dfd.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106091\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300873858-804f2dfd.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300873858-804f2dfd-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300873858-804f2dfd-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A woman walks past flags and towels bearing the images of Brazil’s President and presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing senator and presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro for sale in a street in Brasília on Oct. 22, 2026. Lula da Silva and Bolsonaro head to a runoff election on Oct. 25, a race that has become mired in allegations of social media malfeasance. (Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The community here also stands out for being one of the firmest bases of support for Lula in the U.S. The first-round \u003ca href=\"https://resultados.tse.jus.br/oficial/app/index.html#/eleicao/6257/uf/zz/mu/30503/cargo/1/vis/nominal/resultados\">results\u003c/a> show that out of the roughly four thousand votes cast at the San Francisco consulate, 57% were for Lula — 20% more than Bolsonaro’s share of the vote, and the biggest margin in favor of the incumbent across all U.S.-based voters. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But San Francisco is an exception to the bigger trend. More than 60% of the roughly 75,000 votes cast nationwide on Oct. 4 were for Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lula supporters in the Bay Area have spent the past few weeks mobilizing voters across the region with the hope of helping the sitting president win. But there’s one challenge: Brazilian elections use electronic voting, which has to be done in person. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And for those living abroad, that requires traveling to the closest consulate, regardless of where they live now, to cast their vote.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“When you are voting, that part is easy,” said Allanys Godke, a student living in Redwood City who grew up near the Brazilian port city of Santos. “But you have to make it in person, no matter how far you are from a consulate.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Godke and her friend Bruna Campelo manage an Instagram account called \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thoquetalk/\">Thoque Talk\u003c/a>, where they promote cultural and social events for and by the Bay Area’s Brazilian community. But they’ve also used their platform to share information on the election and how Brazilians abroad can participate. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Oct. 4, for example, Godke and Campelo \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PizAzFXD6tI\">shared\u003c/a> their experience voting at the consulate step-by-step:\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\nhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PizAzFXD6tI\n\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Our goal is to show people that they can have a normal life living abroad,” Campelo said —including retaining a voice in critical elections back home. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Getting involved in the election also helps them meet other Brazilians in the Bay Area, Godke said. “Soon you’re building a community,” she said. “It’s very organic.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other Lula supporters in the region are bringing attention to Silicon Valley’s role in the election. Bruno Matos, an entrepreneur originally from Bahia now living in San Francisco, joined a protest on Wednesday outside the headquarters of tech giant Meta in Menlo Park. He said he’s frustrated with what he believes are attempts by U.S. tech companies to favor Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In September, Meta temporarily \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/meta-tells-brazil-court-it-treats-lula-bolsonaro-campaigns-equally-2026-10-20/\">blocked\u003c/a> the Lula campaign from posting campaign ads on Facebook. Brazilian journalists soon after \u003ca href=\"https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/10/em-mensagens-internas-meta-admite-que-contas-de-lula-foram-prejudicadas-por-restricoes-engenheiros-falam-em-falhas-tecnicas.shtml\">reported\u003c/a> that internal messaging among Meta employees showed that restrictions on content from Lula favored Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We care about our democracy and Big Tech should stay out of it,” Matos said. Meta has publicly \u003ca href=\"https://about.fb.com/br/news/2026/10/a-meta-nao-esta-interferindo-nas-eleicoes-brasileiras-estes-sao-os-fatos/\">stated\u003c/a> that “allegations that we are favoring or interfering on behalf of any candidate or political group are false and unfounded.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company’s own independent oversight board, however, \u003ca href=\"https://www.oversightboard.com/news/oversight-board-statement-on-protecting-election-integrity-on-metas-platforms/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">criticized\u003c/a> how Meta moderates content during global elections, pointing to an “overenforcement that suppresses political speech and underenforcement that undermines electoral integrity.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"presidential-vote\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Can I still vote in Brazil’s Oct. 25 second-round presidential vote?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/consulado-sao-francisco/servicos-eleitorais/servicos-eleitorais\">Ministry of Foreign Relations\u003c/a>, eligible Brazilian voters had to complete their online voter registration with the Superior Electoral Court (or TSE in Portuguese) by May 6. This deadline also applies to updating your chosen voting center. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brazilians abroad can choose to vote at whichever consulate is closest to them. On Oct. 25, you can only vote at the location you have previously chosen — and only on that date.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you did not register before May 6, you will not be able to vote in this election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And if you are registered, but didn’t update your voter profile to include a voting center abroad, you won’t be able to vote at a consulate on Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And if you \u003cem>are\u003c/em> registered and your voter profile does include a voting center abroad, Brazilian law requires you to vote in the presidential election or potentially face fines. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On its website, the Ministry of Foreign Relations points out that fees are processed on a \u003ca href=\"https://www.tse.jus.br/eleitor/titulo-eleitoral/quitacao-de-multas\">TSE portal\u003c/a>, not at a consulate.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This story has been updated to reflect\u003c/em> Bruno Matos’ correct profession.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Sunday, Brazil will choose its next president — the second round of voting in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/10/19/nx-s1-6004280/brazils-run-off-is-heating-up-with-large-crowds-and-an-insult-filled-debate\">closely fought race\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The final choice for more than 150 million voters — living not just in Brazil but abroad in places including the Bay Area — is between the country’s incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the leftist Workers’ Party, known as Lula, and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of convicted former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The choices are profoundly different,” said Harley Shaiken, professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, who previously led the university’s Center for Latin American Studies. Lula and Bolsonaro differ vastly in their policies around criminal justice, public spending and how to engage with the United States. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The choices are profoundly different,” said Harley Shaiken, professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, who previously led the university’s Center for Latin American Studies. Lula and Bolsonaro differ vastly in their policies around criminal justice, public spending and how to engage with the United States. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>President Donald Trump has publicly \u003ca href=\"https://www.trumpstruth.org/statuses/39041\">praised\u003c/a> Bolsonaro, after disagreements with Lula on \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/30/us-brazil-lula-trump-tariffs\">trade\u003c/a>, regulating \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/brazil-lula-big-techs-decree-pressure-610644693b3f0df5420f1c2a46c5db41\">U.S. tech companies\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/09/01/brazil-bolsonaro-trial-coup-trump/\">criminal trial\u003c/a> of Jair Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump to: \u003ca href=\"#presidential-vote\">I’m a Brazilian citizen living abroad. Can I still register to vote in this election?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n",
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"\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump to: \u003ca href=\"#presidential-vote\">I’m a Brazilian citizen living abroad. Can I still register to vote in this election?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Shaiken added that the two candidates also differ widely on how to \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/10/18/world/americas/brazil-election-amazon-deforestation.html\">preserve\u003c/a> the Amazon rainforest, most of which is located in Brazil. “Whether there are environmental protections in the Amazon or not, that impacts climate change,” he said — meaning that the results of Brazil’s election “will also affect every American.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Shaiken added that the two candidates also differ widely on how to \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/10/18/world/americas/brazil-election-amazon-deforestation.html\">preserve\u003c/a> the Amazon rainforest, most of which is located in Brazil. “Whether there are environmental protections in the Amazon or not, that impacts climate change,” he said — meaning that the results of Brazil’s election “will also affect every American.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>More than 2 million Brazilian nationals \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/consulado-munique/noticias/estimativas-das-comunidades-brasileiras-no-exterior\">live\u003c/a> in the United States — many of them part of the Bay Area’s own Brazilian diaspora. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>More than 2 million Brazilian nationals \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/consulado-munique/noticias/estimativas-das-comunidades-brasileiras-no-exterior\">live\u003c/a> in the United States — many of them part of the Bay Area’s own Brazilian diaspora. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>This community will have the chance to cast their vote on Sunday at Brazil’s San Francisco consulate, which could influence the final results in this neck-and-neck race. Keep reading for what’s at stake in this momentous election and how local voters are preparing.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>This community will have the chance to cast their vote on Sunday at Brazil’s San Francisco consulate, which could influence the final results in this neck-and-neck race. Keep reading for what’s at stake in this momentous election and how local voters are preparing.\u003c/p>\n"
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"text": "What’s at stake in Brazil’s election?",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On the campaign trail, Lula has championed major poverty reduction programs created in his previous administrations — two terms from 2003 to 2011, then his return to the presidency in 2023.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On the campaign trail, Lula has championed major poverty reduction programs created in his previous administrations — two terms from 2003 to 2011, then his return to the presidency in 2023.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Lula’s government also claims that it has \u003ca href=\"https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2026/09/27/lula-s-mixed-environmental-record-has-brought-less-deforestation-but-more-oil_6758014_114.html\">reduced\u003c/a> deforestation in the Amazon by about 50% from 2022 levels. And earlier this month, Lula secured a \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/15/brazil-cuts-work-week-to-40-hours-lula-bolsonaro-election-runoff\">policy win\u003c/a> that electrified his voter base: His allies in Congress passed a constitutional amendment that ends the six-day work week in Brazil and guarantees the country’s workers two days off per week without reducing their salary.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Lula’s government also claims that it has \u003ca href=\"https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2026/09/27/lula-s-mixed-environmental-record-has-brought-less-deforestation-but-more-oil_6758014_114.html\">reduced\u003c/a> deforestation in the Amazon by about 50% from 2022 levels. And earlier this month, Lula secured a \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/15/brazil-cuts-work-week-to-40-hours-lula-bolsonaro-election-runoff\">policy win\u003c/a> that electrified his voter base: His allies in Congress passed a constitutional amendment that ends the six-day work week in Brazil and guarantees the country’s workers two days off per week without reducing their salary.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>However, polls still show the 80-year-old incumbent slightly behind Bolsonaro, who received 47% of votes during the first round on Oct. 4 — two percentage points ahead of Lula, but not a clear majority to secure the presidency. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>However, polls still show the 80-year-old incumbent slightly behind Bolsonaro, who received 47% of votes during the first round on Oct. 4 — two percentage points ahead of Lula, but not a clear majority to secure the presidency. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746333-9ce03c86.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106090\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746333-9ce03c86.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746333-9ce03c86-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746333-9ce03c86-1536x1023.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Brazil’s right-wing senator and presidential candidate for the Liberal Party (PL), Flavio Bolsonaro, holds a sign reading “There are four days left until Lula retires” during a campaign rally in Guarulhos, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, on Oct. 21, 2026, ahead of the presidential election runoff.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Miguel Schincariol/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746333-9ce03c86.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106090\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Brazil’s right-wing senator and presidential candidate for the Liberal Party (PL), Flavio Bolsonaro, holds a sign reading “There are four days left until Lula retires” during a campaign rally in Guarulhos, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, on Oct. 21, 2026, ahead of the presidential election runoff.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Miguel Schincariol/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bolsonaro, the 45-year-old senator for Rio de Janeiro, champions a conservative platform similar to that of his father, prioritizing strong law enforcement, evangelical Christian values and the agricultural industry.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Bolsonaro, the 45-year-old senator for Rio de Janeiro, champions a conservative platform similar to that of his father, prioritizing strong law enforcement, evangelical Christian values and the agricultural industry.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Some political analysts even \u003ca href=\"https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220906-brazil-s-bolsonaro-still-the-bibles-bullets-and-beef-candidate\">refer to\u003c/a> these principles as “BBB”: bullets, Bibles and beef.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Some political analysts even \u003ca href=\"https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220906-brazil-s-bolsonaro-still-the-bibles-bullets-and-beef-candidate\">refer to\u003c/a> these principles as “BBB”: bullets, Bibles and beef.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Both candidates have accused the other of being linked to organized crime and enabling corruption in Brazil. In an onstage Oct. 18 debate, Bolsonaro claimed that 73% of prison inmates voted for Lula. In response, Lula said he wished that figure had instead been 100% — “including your father.” The elder Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup to overturn the 2022 electoral loss that ended his presidency.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Both candidates have accused the other of being linked to organized crime and enabling corruption in Brazil. In an onstage Oct. 18 debate, Bolsonaro claimed that 73% of prison inmates voted for Lula. In response, Lula said he wished that figure had instead been 100% — “including your father.” The elder Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup to overturn the 2022 electoral loss that ended his presidency.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As the campaign enters the final stretch, hundreds of thousands of Brazilians have filled the streets of the country’s major cities not just to rally behind their preferred candidate, but also to motivate those who didn’t turn out to vote during the first round. That particular population will be key to winning on Sunday, Shaiken said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>As the campaign enters the final stretch, hundreds of thousands of Brazilians have filled the streets of the country’s major cities not just to rally behind their preferred candidate, but also to motivate those who didn’t turn out to vote during the first round. That particular population will be key to winning on Sunday, Shaiken said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The conventional wisdom tells us now that Flavio is going to win,” he said. “But through his entire political career, Lula has a tendency to come back swinging and win when he’s been written off.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The conventional wisdom tells us now that Flavio is going to win,” he said. “But through his entire political career, Lula has a tendency to come back swinging and win when he’s been written off.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Trump administration is closely \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/internacional/trump-volta-a-dizer-que-esta-acompanhando-as-eleicoes-do-brasil-de-perto/\">following\u003c/a> the election. Bolsonaro visited the White House earlier this year and has said that if he’s elected, Brazil will \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/politica/terras-raras-se-eleito-flavio-diz-que-fara-parcerias-estrategias-com-eua/\">work more closely\u003c/a> with the U.S. to extract its deposits of critical minerals. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Trump administration is closely \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/internacional/trump-volta-a-dizer-que-esta-acompanhando-as-eleicoes-do-brasil-de-perto/\">following\u003c/a> the election. Bolsonaro visited the White House earlier this year and has said that if he’s elected, Brazil will \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/politica/terras-raras-se-eleito-flavio-diz-que-fara-parcerias-estrategias-com-eua/\">work more closely\u003c/a> with the U.S. to extract its deposits of critical minerals. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A Bolsonaro victory would also represent another win in Latin America for a right-wing politician close to Trump — joining Javier Milei in Argentina, Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia, José Antonio Kast in Chile and most recently, Keiko Fujimori in Peru.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>A Bolsonaro victory would also represent another win in Latin America for a right-wing politician close to Trump — joining Javier Milei in Argentina, Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia, José Antonio Kast in Chile and most recently, Keiko Fujimori in Peru.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“There’s no ambiguity about who the Trump administration favors,” Shaiken said. “Every major economy in the region would be run by a right-wing leader, with the exception of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11988472/what-to-know-about-mexicos-historic-election-this-weekend-and-how-to-vote-from-the-us\">Mexico and Claudia Sheinbaum\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“There’s no ambiguity about who the Trump administration favors,” Shaiken said. “Every major economy in the region would be run by a right-wing leader, with the exception of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11988472/what-to-know-about-mexicos-historic-election-this-weekend-and-how-to-vote-from-the-us\">Mexico and Claudia Sheinbaum\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"text": "How have Brazilians in the Bay Area mobilized?",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Nicolas Monteiro has lived in San Francisco for a little over 20 years, thousands of miles away from his family in São Paulo. But showing up to the city’s Brazilian Consulate on the morning of Oct. 4 to cast his vote for Lula in the first round of Brazil’s election felt intensely emotional, he said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Nicolas Monteiro has lived in San Francisco for a little over 20 years, thousands of miles away from his family in São Paulo. But showing up to the city’s Brazilian Consulate on the morning of Oct. 4 to cast his vote for Lula in the first round of Brazil’s election felt intensely emotional, he said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“The only family I have here is my mom and my sibling,” said Monteiro, a union organizer in San Francisco. “Everyone else is in Brazil. What happens in Brazilian politics — both at the national and local level — directly impacts my whole family.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“The only family I have here is my mom and my sibling,” said Monteiro, a union organizer in San Francisco. “Everyone else is in Brazil. What happens in Brazilian politics — both at the national and local level — directly impacts my whole family.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Other states like Florida and Massachusetts have a significantly bigger Brazilian population. But California hosts the only two Brazilian consulates on the West Coast — in San Francisco and Los Angeles — and in the Oct. 4 election, was among the states with the highest participation rates.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Other states like Florida and Massachusetts have a significantly bigger Brazilian population. But California hosts the only two Brazilian consulates on the West Coast — in San Francisco and Los Angeles — and in the Oct. 4 election, was among the states with the highest participation rates.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300873858-804f2dfd.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106091\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300873858-804f2dfd.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300873858-804f2dfd-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300873858-804f2dfd-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A woman walks past flags and towels bearing the images of Brazil’s President and presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing senator and presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro for sale in a street in Brasília on Oct. 22, 2026. Lula da Silva and Bolsonaro head to a runoff election on Oct. 25, a race that has become mired in allegations of social media malfeasance.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The community here also stands out for being one of the firmest bases of support for Lula in the U.S. The first-round \u003ca href=\"https://resultados.tse.jus.br/oficial/app/index.html#/eleicao/6257/uf/zz/mu/30503/cargo/1/vis/nominal/resultados\">results\u003c/a> show that out of the roughly four thousand votes cast at the San Francisco consulate, 57% were for Lula — 20% more than Bolsonaro’s share of the vote, and the biggest margin in favor of the incumbent across all U.S.-based voters. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The community here also stands out for being one of the firmest bases of support for Lula in the U.S. The first-round \u003ca href=\"https://resultados.tse.jus.br/oficial/app/index.html#/eleicao/6257/uf/zz/mu/30503/cargo/1/vis/nominal/resultados\">results\u003c/a> show that out of the roughly four thousand votes cast at the San Francisco consulate, 57% were for Lula — 20% more than Bolsonaro’s share of the vote, and the biggest margin in favor of the incumbent across all U.S.-based voters. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>But San Francisco is an exception to the bigger trend. More than 60% of the roughly 75,000 votes cast nationwide on Oct. 4 were for Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>But San Francisco is an exception to the bigger trend. More than 60% of the roughly 75,000 votes cast nationwide on Oct. 4 were for Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Lula supporters in the Bay Area have spent the past few weeks mobilizing voters across the region with the hope of helping the sitting president win. But there’s one challenge: Brazilian elections use electronic voting, which has to be done in person. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Lula supporters in the Bay Area have spent the past few weeks mobilizing voters across the region with the hope of helping the sitting president win. But there’s one challenge: Brazilian elections use electronic voting, which has to be done in person. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And for those living abroad, that requires traveling to the closest consulate, regardless of where they live now, to cast their vote.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“When you are voting, that part is easy,” said Allanys Godke, a student living in Redwood City who grew up near the Brazilian port city of Santos. “But you have to make it in person, no matter how far you are from a consulate.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“When you are voting, that part is easy,” said Allanys Godke, a student living in Redwood City who grew up near the Brazilian port city of Santos. “But you have to make it in person, no matter how far you are from a consulate.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Godke and her friend Bruna Campelo manage an Instagram account called \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thoquetalk/\">Thoque Talk\u003c/a>, where they promote cultural and social events for and by the Bay Area’s Brazilian community. But they’ve also used their platform to share information on the election and how Brazilians abroad can participate. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Godke and her friend Bruna Campelo manage an Instagram account called \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thoquetalk/\">Thoque Talk\u003c/a>, where they promote cultural and social events for and by the Bay Area’s Brazilian community. But they’ve also used their platform to share information on the election and how Brazilians abroad can participate. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On Oct. 4, for example, Godke and Campelo \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PizAzFXD6tI\">shared\u003c/a> their experience voting at the consulate step-by-step:\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>On Oct. 4, for example, Godke and Campelo \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PizAzFXD6tI\">shared\u003c/a> their experience voting at the consulate step-by-step:\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Our goal is to show people that they can have a normal life living abroad,” Campelo said —including retaining a voice in critical elections back home. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Getting involved in the election also helps them meet other Brazilians in the Bay Area, Godke said. “Soon you’re building a community,” she said. “It’s very organic.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Getting involved in the election also helps them meet other Brazilians in the Bay Area, Godke said. “Soon you’re building a community,” she said. “It’s very organic.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Other Lula supporters in the region are bringing attention to Silicon Valley’s role in the election. Bruno Matos, an entrepreneur originally from Bahia now living in San Francisco, joined a protest on Wednesday outside the headquarters of tech giant Meta in Menlo Park. He said he’s frustrated with what he believes are attempts by U.S. tech companies to favor Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Other Lula supporters in the region are bringing attention to Silicon Valley’s role in the election. Bruno Matos, an entrepreneur originally from Bahia now living in San Francisco, joined a protest on Wednesday outside the headquarters of tech giant Meta in Menlo Park. He said he’s frustrated with what he believes are attempts by U.S. tech companies to favor Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In September, Meta temporarily \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/meta-tells-brazil-court-it-treats-lula-bolsonaro-campaigns-equally-2026-10-20/\">blocked\u003c/a> the Lula campaign from posting campaign ads on Facebook. Brazilian journalists soon after \u003ca href=\"https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/10/em-mensagens-internas-meta-admite-que-contas-de-lula-foram-prejudicadas-por-restricoes-engenheiros-falam-em-falhas-tecnicas.shtml\">reported\u003c/a> that internal messaging among Meta employees showed that restrictions on content from Lula favored Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In September, Meta temporarily \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/meta-tells-brazil-court-it-treats-lula-bolsonaro-campaigns-equally-2026-10-20/\">blocked\u003c/a> the Lula campaign from posting campaign ads on Facebook. Brazilian journalists soon after \u003ca href=\"https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/10/em-mensagens-internas-meta-admite-que-contas-de-lula-foram-prejudicadas-por-restricoes-engenheiros-falam-em-falhas-tecnicas.shtml\">reported\u003c/a> that internal messaging among Meta employees showed that restrictions on content from Lula favored Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“We care about our democracy and Big Tech should stay out of it,” Matos said. Meta has publicly \u003ca href=\"https://about.fb.com/br/news/2026/10/a-meta-nao-esta-interferindo-nas-eleicoes-brasileiras-estes-sao-os-fatos/\">stated\u003c/a> that “allegations that we are favoring or interfering on behalf of any candidate or political group are false and unfounded.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“We care about our democracy and Big Tech should stay out of it,” Matos said. Meta has publicly \u003ca href=\"https://about.fb.com/br/news/2026/10/a-meta-nao-esta-interferindo-nas-eleicoes-brasileiras-estes-sao-os-fatos/\">stated\u003c/a> that “allegations that we are favoring or interfering on behalf of any candidate or political group are false and unfounded.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The company’s own independent oversight board, however, \u003ca href=\"https://www.oversightboard.com/news/oversight-board-statement-on-protecting-election-integrity-on-metas-platforms/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">criticized\u003c/a> how Meta moderates content during global elections, pointing to an “overenforcement that suppresses political speech and underenforcement that undermines electoral integrity.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The company’s own independent oversight board, however, \u003ca href=\"https://www.oversightboard.com/news/oversight-board-statement-on-protecting-election-integrity-on-metas-platforms/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">criticized\u003c/a> how Meta moderates content during global elections, pointing to an “overenforcement that suppresses political speech and underenforcement that undermines electoral integrity.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"text": "Can I still vote in Brazil’s Oct. 25 second-round presidential vote?",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 id=\"presidential-vote\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Can I still vote in Brazil’s Oct. 25 second-round presidential vote?\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 id=\"presidential-vote\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Can I still vote in Brazil’s Oct. 25 second-round presidential vote?\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>According to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/consulado-sao-francisco/servicos-eleitorais/servicos-eleitorais\">Ministry of Foreign Relations\u003c/a>, eligible Brazilian voters had to complete their online voter registration with the Superior Electoral Court (or TSE in Portuguese) by May 6. This deadline also applies to updating your chosen voting center. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>According to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/consulado-sao-francisco/servicos-eleitorais/servicos-eleitorais\">Ministry of Foreign Relations\u003c/a>, eligible Brazilian voters had to complete their online voter registration with the Superior Electoral Court (or TSE in Portuguese) by May 6. This deadline also applies to updating your chosen voting center. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Brazilians abroad can choose to vote at whichever consulate is closest to them. On Oct. 25, you can only vote at the location you have previously chosen — and only on that date.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>If you did not register before May 6, you will not be able to vote in this election. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And if you are registered, but didn’t update your voter profile to include a voting center abroad, you won’t be able to vote at a consulate on Sunday.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>And if you are registered, but didn’t update your voter profile to include a voting center abroad, you won’t be able to vote at a consulate on Sunday.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And if you \u003cem>are\u003c/em> registered and your voter profile does include a voting center abroad, Brazilian law requires you to vote in the presidential election or potentially face fines. \u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>And if you \u003cem>are\u003c/em> registered and your voter profile does include a voting center abroad, Brazilian law requires you to vote in the presidential election or potentially face fines. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>On its website, the Ministry of Foreign Relations points out that fees are processed on a \u003ca href=\"https://www.tse.jus.br/eleitor/titulo-eleitoral/quitacao-de-multas\">TSE portal\u003c/a>, not at a consulate.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>On its website, the Ministry of Foreign Relations points out that fees are processed on a \u003ca href=\"https://www.tse.jus.br/eleitor/titulo-eleitoral/quitacao-de-multas\">TSE portal\u003c/a>, not at a consulate.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>\u003cem>This story has been updated to reflect\u003c/em> Bruno Matos’ correct profession.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "As the final face-off between Lula and Bolsonaro approaches, Brazilians in the Bay Area are mobilizing to make sure their community is ready to cast their vote from abroad.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Less than two weeks before Americans head to the polls for the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide\">midterms\u003c/a>, the second most-populous democracy in the Western Hemisphere has its own momentous election.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Sunday, Brazil will choose its next president — the second round of voting in a \u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/10/19/nx-s1-6004280/brazils-run-off-is-heating-up-with-large-crowds-and-an-insult-filled-debate\">closely fought race\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The final choice for more than 150 million voters — living not just in Brazil but abroad in places including the Bay Area — is between the country’s incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of the leftist Workers’ Party, known as Lula, and Sen. Flávio Bolsonaro, the son of convicted former far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The choices are profoundly different,” said Harley Shaiken, professor emeritus at UC Berkeley, who previously led the university’s Center for Latin American Studies. Lula and Bolsonaro differ vastly in their policies around criminal justice, public spending and how to engage with the United States. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">President Donald Trump has publicly \u003ca href=\"https://www.trumpstruth.org/statuses/39041\">praised\u003c/a> Bolsonaro, after disagreements with Lula on \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jul/30/us-brazil-lula-trump-tariffs\">trade\u003c/a>, regulating \u003ca href=\"https://apnews.com/article/brazil-lula-big-techs-decree-pressure-610644693b3f0df5420f1c2a46c5db41\">U.S. tech companies\u003c/a> and the \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/09/01/brazil-bolsonaro-trial-coup-trump/\">criminal trial\u003c/a> of Jair Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746278-6df0dc89.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106089\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746278-6df0dc89.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746278-6df0dc89-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746278-6df0dc89-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Brazil’s right-wing senator and presidential candidate for the Liberal Party (PL), Flavio Bolsonaro, speaks during a campaign rally in Guarulhos, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, on Oct. 21, 2026, ahead of the presidential election runoff. (Miguel Schincariol/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>\u003cstrong>Jump to: \u003ca href=\"#presidential-vote\">I’m a Brazilian citizen living abroad. Can I still register to vote in this election?\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Shaiken added that the two candidates also differ widely on how to \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/10/18/world/americas/brazil-election-amazon-deforestation.html\">preserve\u003c/a> the Amazon rainforest, most of which is located in Brazil. “Whether there are environmental protections in the Amazon or not, that impacts climate change,” he said — meaning that the results of Brazil’s election “will also affect every American.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">More than 2 million Brazilian nationals \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/consulado-munique/noticias/estimativas-das-comunidades-brasileiras-no-exterior\">live\u003c/a> in the United States — many of them part of the Bay Area’s own Brazilian diaspora. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This community will have the chance to cast their vote on Sunday at Brazil’s San Francisco consulate, which could influence the final results in this neck-and-neck race. Keep reading for what’s at stake in this momentous election and how local voters are preparing.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What’s at stake in Brazil’s election?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On the campaign trail, Lula has championed major poverty reduction programs created in his previous administrations — two terms from 2003 to 2011, then his return to the presidency in 2023.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lula’s government also claims that it has \u003ca href=\"https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2026/09/27/lula-s-mixed-environmental-record-has-brought-less-deforestation-but-more-oil_6758014_114.html\">reduced\u003c/a> deforestation in the Amazon by about 50% from 2022 levels. And earlier this month, Lula secured a \u003ca href=\"https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/oct/15/brazil-cuts-work-week-to-40-hours-lula-bolsonaro-election-runoff\">policy win\u003c/a> that electrified his voter base: His allies in Congress passed a constitutional amendment that ends the six-day work week in Brazil and guarantees the country’s workers two days off per week without reducing their salary.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, polls still show the 80-year-old incumbent slightly behind Bolsonaro, who received 47% of votes during the first round on Oct. 4 — two percentage points ahead of Lula, but not a clear majority to secure the presidency. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1319\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746333-9ce03c86.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106090\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746333-9ce03c86.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746333-9ce03c86-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300746333-9ce03c86-1536x1023.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Brazil’s right-wing senator and presidential candidate for the Liberal Party (PL), Flavio Bolsonaro, holds a sign reading “There are four days left until Lula retires” during a campaign rally in Guarulhos, Sao Paulo State, Brazil, on Oct. 21, 2026, ahead of the presidential election runoff. (Miguel Schincariol/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Bolsonaro, the 45-year-old senator for Rio de Janeiro, champions a conservative platform similar to that of his father, prioritizing strong law enforcement, evangelical Christian values and the agricultural industry.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some political analysts even \u003ca href=\"https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220906-brazil-s-bolsonaro-still-the-bibles-bullets-and-beef-candidate\">refer to\u003c/a> these principles as “BBB”: bullets, Bibles and beef.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Both candidates have accused the other of being linked to organized crime and enabling corruption in Brazil. In an onstage Oct. 18 debate, Bolsonaro claimed that 73% of prison inmates voted for Lula. In response, Lula said he wished that figure had instead been 100% — “including your father.” The elder Bolsonaro is currently serving a 27-year sentence for attempting a coup to overturn the 2022 electoral loss that ended his presidency.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As the campaign enters the final stretch, hundreds of thousands of Brazilians have filled the streets of the country’s major cities not just to rally behind their preferred candidate, but also to motivate those who didn’t turn out to vote during the first round. That particular population will be key to winning on Sunday, Shaiken said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The conventional wisdom tells us now that Flavio is going to win,” he said. “But through his entire political career, Lula has a tendency to come back swinging and win when he’s been written off.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Trump administration is closely \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/internacional/trump-volta-a-dizer-que-esta-acompanhando-as-eleicoes-do-brasil-de-perto/\">following\u003c/a> the election. Bolsonaro visited the White House earlier this year and has said that if he’s elected, Brazil will \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/politica/terras-raras-se-eleito-flavio-diz-que-fara-parcerias-estrategias-com-eua/\">work more closely\u003c/a> with the U.S. to extract its deposits of critical minerals. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Bolsonaro victory would also represent another win in Latin America for a right-wing politician close to Trump — joining Javier Milei in Argentina, Abelardo de la Espriella in Colombia, José Antonio Kast in Chile and most recently, Keiko Fujimori in Peru.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“There’s no ambiguity about who the Trump administration favors,” Shaiken said. “Every major economy in the region would be run by a right-wing leader, with the exception of \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11988472/what-to-know-about-mexicos-historic-election-this-weekend-and-how-to-vote-from-the-us\">Mexico and Claudia Sheinbaum\u003c/a>.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How have Brazilians in the Bay Area mobilized?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nicolas Monteiro has lived in San Francisco for a little over 20 years, thousands of miles away from his family in São Paulo. But showing up to the city’s Brazilian Consulate on the morning of Oct. 4 to cast his vote for Lula in the first round of Brazil’s election felt intensely emotional, he said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“The only family I have here is my mom and my sibling,” said Monteiro, a union organizer in San Francisco. “Everyone else is in Brazil. What happens in Brazilian politics — both at the national and local level — directly impacts my whole family.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other states like Florida and Massachusetts have a significantly bigger Brazilian population. But California hosts the only two Brazilian consulates on the West Coast — in San Francisco and Los Angeles — and in the Oct. 4 election, was among the states with the highest participation rates.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1980\" height=\"1320\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300873858-804f2dfd.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12106091\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300873858-804f2dfd.jpg 1980w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300873858-804f2dfd-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/10/GettyImages-2300873858-804f2dfd-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1980px) 100vw, 1980px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A woman walks past flags and towels bearing the images of Brazil’s President and presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and right-wing senator and presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro for sale in a street in Brasília on Oct. 22, 2026. Lula da Silva and Bolsonaro head to a runoff election on Oct. 25, a race that has become mired in allegations of social media malfeasance. (Evaristo Sa/AFP via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The community here also stands out for being one of the firmest bases of support for Lula in the U.S. The first-round \u003ca href=\"https://resultados.tse.jus.br/oficial/app/index.html#/eleicao/6257/uf/zz/mu/30503/cargo/1/vis/nominal/resultados\">results\u003c/a> show that out of the roughly four thousand votes cast at the San Francisco consulate, 57% were for Lula — 20% more than Bolsonaro’s share of the vote, and the biggest margin in favor of the incumbent across all U.S.-based voters. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But San Francisco is an exception to the bigger trend. More than 60% of the roughly 75,000 votes cast nationwide on Oct. 4 were for Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lula supporters in the Bay Area have spent the past few weeks mobilizing voters across the region with the hope of helping the sitting president win. But there’s one challenge: Brazilian elections use electronic voting, which has to be done in person. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And for those living abroad, that requires traveling to the closest consulate, regardless of where they live now, to cast their vote.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“When you are voting, that part is easy,” said Allanys Godke, a student living in Redwood City who grew up near the Brazilian port city of Santos. “But you have to make it in person, no matter how far you are from a consulate.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Godke and her friend Bruna Campelo manage an Instagram account called \u003ca href=\"https://www.instagram.com/thoquetalk/\">Thoque Talk\u003c/a>, where they promote cultural and social events for and by the Bay Area’s Brazilian community. But they’ve also used their platform to share information on the election and how Brazilians abroad can participate. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On Oct. 4, for example, Godke and Campelo \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PizAzFXD6tI\">shared\u003c/a> their experience voting at the consulate step-by-step:\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cfigure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\u003cdiv class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutube'>\n \u003cspan class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__embedYoutubeInside'>\n \u003ciframe\n loading='lazy'\n class='utils-parseShortcode-shortcodes-__youtubeShortcode__youtubePlayer'\n type='text/html'\n src='//www.youtube.com/embed/PizAzFXD6tI'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/PizAzFXD6tI'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/div>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“Our goal is to show people that they can have a normal life living abroad,” Campelo said —including retaining a voice in critical elections back home. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Getting involved in the election also helps them meet other Brazilians in the Bay Area, Godke said. “Soon you’re building a community,” she said. “It’s very organic.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other Lula supporters in the region are bringing attention to Silicon Valley’s role in the election. Bruno Matos, an entrepreneur originally from Bahia now living in San Francisco, joined a protest on Wednesday outside the headquarters of tech giant Meta in Menlo Park. He said he’s frustrated with what he believes are attempts by U.S. tech companies to favor Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In September, Meta temporarily \u003ca href=\"https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/meta-tells-brazil-court-it-treats-lula-bolsonaro-campaigns-equally-2026-10-20/\">blocked\u003c/a> the Lula campaign from posting campaign ads on Facebook. Brazilian journalists soon after \u003ca href=\"https://www1.folha.uol.com.br/poder/2026/10/em-mensagens-internas-meta-admite-que-contas-de-lula-foram-prejudicadas-por-restricoes-engenheiros-falam-em-falhas-tecnicas.shtml\">reported\u003c/a> that internal messaging among Meta employees showed that restrictions on content from Lula favored Bolsonaro.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">“We care about our democracy and Big Tech should stay out of it,” Matos said. Meta has publicly \u003ca href=\"https://about.fb.com/br/news/2026/10/a-meta-nao-esta-interferindo-nas-eleicoes-brasileiras-estes-sao-os-fatos/\">stated\u003c/a> that “allegations that we are favoring or interfering on behalf of any candidate or political group are false and unfounded.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The company’s own independent oversight board, however, \u003ca href=\"https://www.oversightboard.com/news/oversight-board-statement-on-protecting-election-integrity-on-metas-platforms/?utm_source=chatgpt.com\">criticized\u003c/a> how Meta moderates content during global elections, pointing to an “overenforcement that suppresses political speech and underenforcement that undermines electoral integrity.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 id=\"presidential-vote\" class=\"wp-block-heading\">Can I still vote in Brazil’s Oct. 25 second-round presidential vote?\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to the \u003ca href=\"https://www.gov.br/mre/pt-br/consulado-sao-francisco/servicos-eleitorais/servicos-eleitorais\">Ministry of Foreign Relations\u003c/a>, eligible Brazilian voters had to complete their online voter registration with the Superior Electoral Court (or TSE in Portuguese) by May 6. This deadline also applies to updating your chosen voting center. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Brazilians abroad can choose to vote at whichever consulate is closest to them. On Oct. 25, you can only vote at the location you have previously chosen — and only on that date.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you did not register before May 6, you will not be able to vote in this election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And if you are registered, but didn’t update your voter profile to include a voting center abroad, you won’t be able to vote at a consulate on Sunday.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And if you \u003cem>are\u003c/em> registered and your voter profile does include a voting center abroad, Brazilian law requires you to vote in the presidential election or potentially face fines. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">On its website, the Ministry of Foreign Relations points out that fees are processed on a \u003ca href=\"https://www.tse.jus.br/eleitor/titulo-eleitoral/quitacao-de-multas\">TSE portal\u003c/a>, not at a consulate.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u003cem>This story has been updated to reflect\u003c/em> Bruno Matos’ correct profession.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"info": "What kind of no sabo word is Hyphenación? For us, it’s about living within a hyphenation. Like being a third-gen Mexican-American from the Texas border now living that Bay Area Chicano life. Like Xorje! Each week we bring together a couple of hyphenated Latinos to talk all about personal life choices: family, careers, relationships, belonging … everything is on the table. ",
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"marketplace": {
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"info": "Our flagship program, helmed by Kai Ryssdal, examines what the day in money delivered, through stories, conversations, newsworthy numbers and more. Updated Monday through Friday at about 3:30 p.m. PT.",
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"masters-of-scale": {
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},
"mindshift": {
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"info": "The MindShift podcast explores the innovations in education that are shaping how kids learn. Hosts Ki Sung and Katrina Schwartz introduce listeners to educators, researchers, parents and students who are developing effective ways to improve how kids learn. We cover topics like how fed-up administrators are developing surprising tactics to deal with classroom disruptions; how listening to podcasts are helping kids develop reading skills; the consequences of overparenting; and why interdisciplinary learning can engage students on all ends of the traditional achievement spectrum. This podcast is part of the MindShift education site, a division of KQED News. KQED is an NPR/PBS member station based in San Francisco. You can also visit the MindShift website for episodes and supplemental blog posts or tweet us \u003ca href=\"https://twitter.com/MindShiftKQED\">@MindShiftKQED\u003c/a> or visit us at \u003ca href=\"/mindshift\">MindShift.KQED.org\u003c/a>",
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"order": 12
},
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"google": "https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5tZWdhcGhvbmUuZm0vS1FJTkM1NzY0NjAwNDI5",
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"morning-edition": {
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"onourwatch": {
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"tagline": "Deeply-reported investigative journalism",
"info": "For decades, the process for how police police themselves has been inconsistent – if not opaque. In some states, like California, these proceedings were completely hidden. After a new police transparency law unsealed scores of internal affairs files, our reporters set out to examine these cases and the shadow world of police discipline. On Our Watch brings listeners into the rooms where officers are questioned and witnesses are interrogated to find out who this system is really protecting. Is it the officers, or the public they've sworn to serve?",
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"info": "Our weekly podcast explores how the media 'sausage' is made, casts an incisive eye on fluctuations in the marketplace of ideas, and examines threats to the freedom of information and expression in America and abroad. For one hour a week, the show tries to lift the veil from the process of \"making media,\" especially news media, because it's through that lens that we see the world and the world sees us",
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},
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},
"perspectives": {
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"order": 14
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"info": "The economy explained. Imagine you could call up a friend and say, Meet me at the bar and tell me what's going on with the economy. Now imagine that's actually a fun evening.",
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"title": "Political Breakdown",
"tagline": "Politics from a personal perspective",
"info": "Political Breakdown is a new series that explores the political intersection of California and the nation. Each week hosts Scott Shafer and Marisa Lagos are joined with a new special guest to unpack politics -- with personality — and offer an insider’s glimpse at how politics happens.",
"airtime": "THU 6:30pm-7pm",
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"possible": {
"id": "possible",
"title": "Possible",
"info": "Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. Together in Possible, Hoffman and Finger lead enlightening discussions about building a brighter collective future. The show features interviews with visionary guests like Trevor Noah, Sam Altman and Janette Sadik-Khan. Possible paints an optimistic portrait of the world we can create through science, policy, business, art and our shared humanity. It asks: What if everything goes right for once? How can we get there? Each episode also includes a short fiction story generated by advanced AI GPT-4, serving as a thought-provoking springboard to speculate how humanity could leverage technology for good.",
"airtime": "SUN 2pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Possible-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
"officialWebsiteLink": "https://www.possible.fm/",
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"source": "Possible"
},
"link": "/radio/program/possible",
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"spotify": "https://open.spotify.com/show/730YpdUSNlMyPQwNnyjp4k"
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},
"pri-the-world": {
"id": "pri-the-world",
"title": "PRI's The World: Latest Edition",
"info": "Each weekday, host Marco Werman and his team of producers bring you the world's most interesting stories in an hour of radio that reminds us just how small our planet really is.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 2pm-3pm",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-World-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg",
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},
"radiolab": {
"id": "radiolab",
"title": "Radiolab",
"info": "A two-time Peabody Award-winner, Radiolab is an investigation told through sounds and stories, and centered around one big idea. In the Radiolab world, information sounds like music and science and culture collide. Hosted by Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich, the show is designed for listeners who demand skepticism, but appreciate wonder. WNYC Studios is the producer of other leading podcasts including Freakonomics Radio, Death, Sex & Money, On the Media and many more.",
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},
"reveal": {
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