Governor Newsom Says He'll Commute All Death Sentences

Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, November 6, 2026

• Governor Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that he is commuting the death sentences of all 548 inmates on death row in California. The governor’s decision would convert the sentences to life in prison without the possibility of parole – but it faces legal hurdles. 
• Nithya Raman has won the race for LA mayor. 
• Across California, county registrars reported few problems at the polls, except in Shasta County, where problems delayed the count of ballots cast in-person on Election Day.

Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Thursday that he will commute the sentences of all 548 people on California’s death row to life without the possibility of parole.

The governor, who instituted a moratorium on executions two months after he took office, said he made the move based on a moral opposition to state-sanctioned killing and a belief that it undermines the foundation of California’s legal system. He had been weighing the decision for months. “I know we cannot execute people in our imperfect legal system and remain true to our core values, first among them justice and human decency,” Newsom said in an open letter to Californians.

Newsom’s move represents the largest act of mass clemency in U.S. history, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. More than half of the cases, those involving people who were convicted of more than one felony, will require review by the California Supreme Court under the state’s Constitution. 

California has not executed anyone since 2006 as legal challenges, concerns over the state’s lethal injection protocol and, finally, Newsom’s moratorium have essentially disabled the state’s death penalty. Under Newsom, the execution chamber at San Quentin State Prison, where death sentences were once carried out, has been dismantled. Still, as Newsom considered whether to commute the remaining death sentences, opponents of capital punishment said such decisive action would have deep consequences, especially given its scale. California has more people on death row than any other state.

“We are propping up the death penalty for the entire world,” said Natasha Minsker, an attorney and consultant to anti-death penalty organizations. “And it’s time for California to be out of the business of endorsing the death penalties.”

Newsom acknowledged that commuting every death sentence would not sit well with some victims of crime and their families. He heard from them before and after he issued the moratorium in 2019. “This decision is among the most difficult of my career, not because I doubt its necessity for our state but because I know its announcement may surface excruciating memories for victims’ families,” the governor said in his open letter. “I hold this painful truth along with the belief that this is a righteous action.”

Nithya Raman, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America who offered a message of hope to a city beset by crises, has beaten Karen Bass in the race for Los Angeles mayor, the first time an incumbent has been ousted from that office in nearly a quarter century.

Raman, who is of Indian descent, becomes the first South Asian mayor of L.A. She was elected to the City Council six years ago. Bass conceded the race Thursday morning. At the time, she had 48% of the vote compared with Raman’s 52%, according to the latest vote count.

In a video statement, Raman said she was “deeply honored” to be L.A.’s next mayor, and she thanked the people who knocked on doors, sent texts and made phone calls in support of her campaign. Despite the sometimes contentious race she and Bass waged against one another, Raman commended Bass for her decades of service to the city and pledged to earn the trust of all Angelenos. “And that work starts now, so that we can build housing that people can afford, parks for our children to play in, a transit system that can get people where they need to go, a city that is safe for its working people and its families, and a city government that is actually capable of delivering on its promises,” she said in the statement.

A champion of tenants’ rights, Raman has promised she would tackle housing affordability, homelessness and police reform — the latter by removing Police Chief Jim McDonnell. She also has vowed to improve basic city services like pothole and streetlight repair.

Across California, county registrars reported few problems at the polls on Election Day. There was one exception – in Shasta County, where problems delayed the count of ballots that were cast in-person.

The Shasta Scout reports that outgoing Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis blamed delays on short staffing. The news outlet also reports that the way votes were tagged caused problems.

On election night, about an hour after results from the first batch of votes should have been released, Curtis acknowledged that his office had failed to take the necessary steps as it prepared to release results. That includes backing up results that had already been collected prior to Election Day. The first results were finally released about two hours after polls closed.

Shasta Scout managing editor Annelise Pierce said it wasn’t a complete shock to people who have been paying attention to the county’s elections, and Curtis. “I think for a lot of people who’ve been watching Shasta elections, what happened on election night felt very predictable and almost expected in some ways. He has created and or faced tremendous conflict in his office,” she said. “There have been disputes about his behavior towards staff and he’s actually faced substantiated findings of misconduct against staff. And he actually had a top staffer, who arrived the day before the election and said, I’m ready to come back to work after my extended leave. And he told her he didn’t need her help. Clint Curtis has eliminated the vast majority of drop boxes in the county. He’s changed how polls close and how ballots are processed after the close of polls. And these were changes that seemed to really directly feed into the problems we saw on election night.”

In response to Pierce’s question on what he would say to concerned voters about the delay’s Curtis responded “Who cares, it’s my last election anyway.”

Curtis was appointed by the Shasta County Board of Supervisors in 2025. He lost the June primary to Joanna Francescut, who used to work in the registrar’s office until she was fired by Curtis. Francescut will take over in January.