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"content": "\n\u003cp>Is the California governor’s race finally heating up? New polls show that although Democrat Xavier Becerra is on track to win the November election, voters are lukewarm on him. Marisa, Guy and KQED’s Laura Fitzgerald analyze the polling and look ahead to next week’s debate between Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Then they dig into this week’s California Supreme Court ruling against Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. Attorney General Rob Bonta won that case, but he’s taking heat from his left flank for settling with Paramount and clearing the way for its $111 billion acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Check out \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/newsletters/political-breakdown\">Political Breakdown’s weekly newsletter\u003c/a>, delivered straight to your inbox.\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, September 25, 2026\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>A person was hospitalized with measles earlier this month after traveling extensively through California on Amtrak trains and buses. Now public health officials across the state are trying to find other passengers who were exposed. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>California’s Supreme Court has ruled that the Republican \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101185/republican-sheriff-illegally-seized-over-650000-ballots-california-supreme-court-rules\">sheriff in Riverside County illegally seized hundreds of thousands of ballots earlier this year\u003c/a>, and must return them. The ballots were from a vote on Proposition 50 which asked whether to redraw California’s congressional map to favor Democrats. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>Incarcerated people in Humboldt County will soon \u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/law-and-justice/2026-09-24/humboldt-county-jail-joins-others-in-banning-physical-mail-amid-contraband-concerns\">be unable to receive physical mail\u003c/a> as authorities crack down on contraband. Critics say the policy could have unintended consequences.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Health officials search for possible exposures from recent measles case \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A person was hospitalized with measles earlier this month after traveling extensively through California on Amtrak trains and buses. Now public health officials across the state are trying to find other passengers who were exposed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Jake Crawford has family in Anaheim and Oakland and he’s been riding the train back and forth a lot lately. When he heard on the news that a person traveling the same route as his was sick with measles, he was frustrated. “It’s like, man I got to be aware of something that we were kind of done with you know? It’s back on the radar,” Crawford said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The U.S. considered measles eradicated in 2000. But as vaccination rates have fallen in recent years, measles outbreaks have returned, most recently in Utah and Pennsylvania.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Crawford is vaccinated, but he knows there’s still a slim chance he can get infected. The measles virus can hang in the air of a train car for up to two hours after a sick person has coughed, sneezed, or breathed in it. Among those who are not vaccinated, it infects 9 out of 10 people who are exposed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“And then, all of a sudden, boom, you have these very large outbreaks that we’ve seen in other parts of the country, so far not yet in California,” said Dr. Nicholas Moss, health officer in Alameda County.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Local vaccination rates are high. But Moss wonders if the U.S. is returning to a 1957 pre-vaccine era, with measles sweeping through communities, infecting everyone who’s not immune. He says until immunity levels get higher, alerts of new measles exposures may be the new reality.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101185/republican-sheriff-illegally-seized-over-650000-ballots-california-supreme-court-rules\">Republican sheriff illegally seized over 650,000 ballots, California Supreme Court rules\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chad-bianco\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a> broke the law when he seized more than 650,000 ballots cast in last year’s election and ordered him to return them to county election officials. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Republican sheriff confiscated the ballots in February as part of an investigation into purported voter fraud that he launched during his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">failed bid\u003c/a> for governor. The state’s highest court ruled unanimously \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12096491/california-supreme-court-appears-skeptical-of-biancos-ballot-seizure\">in two cases\u003c/a>, saying that Bianco’s move violated rules for handling ballots outlined in state election law and that he was wrong to ignore Attorney General Rob Bonta’s order to pause the investigation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“California law long has recognized that voted ballots require special care and handling to safeguard them from alteration or tampering,” Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, wrote in the court’s opinion in Cervantes v. Bianco, a case brought by Riverside County voters.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The ruling appeared to close the door on a flashpoint in the tug-of-war between Democratic state leaders and local Republican officials over vote-by-mail and election administration. Election advocates viewed the case as a pivotal test ahead of the November midterm, as President Donald Trump has derided mail voting as a form of cheating and pushed for limits on it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a second ruling, the court found that Bonta acted within his power when he ordered Bianco to halt his investigation. “He willfully defied my direct orders, misused criminal investigative tools and created a constitutional emergency in the process,” Bonta said after the ruling. “The California Supreme Court affirmed my authority as attorney general to supervise the sheriff — an important constitutional safety valve in extraordinary circumstances like these.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a video \u003ca href=\"https://fb.watch/v/5EnWBAS9M/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">posted on Facebook\u003c/a>, Bianco said he would comply with the ruling, while “exploring options of assistance from our federal courts.” “In this case we were provided evidence of a possible crime that obviously warranted investigation — the court agreed and issued warrants,” Bianco said. “Sacramento shut it down.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bianco’s investigation was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080702/internal-emails-show-how-fringe-groups-fueled-sheriff-chad-biancos-ballot-seizure\">sparked by claims from a local conservative citizens group\u003c/a> over the ballot count in the November 2025 special election, when California voters approved Proposition 50 to redraw the state’s congressional districts in favor of Democrats amid a redistricting battle across the country. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/law-and-justice/2026-09-24/humboldt-county-jail-joins-others-in-banning-physical-mail-amid-contraband-concerns\">Humboldt County jail joins others in banning physical mail amid contraband concerns\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Beginning next month, all personal mail for incarcerated people at Humboldt County Correctional Facility must be \u003ca href=\"https://humboldtgov.org/255/Inmate-Information?fbclid=IwY2xjawUg4RlwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMTBnYWdVVDNFS0c4d3lGWUxzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe9Dl5hRnQd4Ugmh6vwqwRgLnWuJ3nei5V7J_B7vVtFoTVxsb8k98tX2u17wg_aem_xieZq2XVdKgtufZr1JdWlw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u003cu>sent to Maryland\u003c/u>\u003c/a> where it will be digitized and only available to view on a tablet.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said the change is necessary to prevent drugs from entering the jail.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Capt. Duane Christian said banning physical mail is just the latest security update following the spread of fentanyl, which can cause an overdose in small amounts. Several years ago the jail added a body scanner. Recently, officers added barriers around the facility’s recreation yard to prevent inmates from getting contraband over the fence.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Digitizing mail for those who are incarcerated is a growing trend at jails across the country, said Cara Gagliano, an attorney with the privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation. She said the practice raises privacy concerns. Companies can store scanned correspondence for years, she said, and that can have a chilling effect on speech. “We’ve talked to a lot of people, our clients included, who stopped sending mail because they didn’t want it to be scanned and put in this database,” Gagliano said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Electronic Frontier Foundation \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/03/14/san-mateo-county-sued-again-over-jail-mail-digitization-system/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u003cu>unsuccessfully sued\u003c/u>\u003c/a> San Mateo County for its banning of physical mail at jails. Gagliano said they plan to appeal. She said the policy can also have negative effects on an inmate’s mental health and even increase recidivism.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cli>California’s Supreme Court has ruled that the Republican \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101185/republican-sheriff-illegally-seized-over-650000-ballots-california-supreme-court-rules\">sheriff in Riverside County illegally seized hundreds of thousands of ballots earlier this year\u003c/a>, and must return them. The ballots were from a vote on Proposition 50 which asked whether to redraw California’s congressional map to favor Democrats. \u003c/li>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cli>Incarcerated people in Humboldt County will soon \u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/law-and-justice/2026-09-24/humboldt-county-jail-joins-others-in-banning-physical-mail-amid-contraband-concerns\">be unable to receive physical mail\u003c/a> as authorities crack down on contraband. Critics say the policy could have unintended consequences.\u003c/li>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>A person was hospitalized with measles earlier this month after traveling extensively through California on Amtrak trains and buses. Now public health officials across the state are trying to find other passengers who were exposed.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Jake Crawford has family in Anaheim and Oakland and he’s been riding the train back and forth a lot lately. When he heard on the news that a person traveling the same route as his was sick with measles, he was frustrated. “It’s like, man I got to be aware of something that we were kind of done with you know? It’s back on the radar,” Crawford said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The U.S. considered measles eradicated in 2000. But as vaccination rates have fallen in recent years, measles outbreaks have returned, most recently in Utah and Pennsylvania.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Crawford is vaccinated, but he knows there’s still a slim chance he can get infected. The measles virus can hang in the air of a train car for up to two hours after a sick person has coughed, sneezed, or breathed in it. Among those who are not vaccinated, it infects 9 out of 10 people who are exposed.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“And then, all of a sudden, boom, you have these very large outbreaks that we’ve seen in other parts of the country, so far not yet in California,” said Dr. Nicholas Moss, health officer in Alameda County.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chad-bianco\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a> broke the law when he seized more than 650,000 ballots cast in last year’s election and ordered him to return them to county election officials. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>California’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chad-bianco\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a> broke the law when he seized more than 650,000 ballots cast in last year’s election and ordered him to return them to county election officials. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Republican sheriff confiscated the ballots in February as part of an investigation into purported voter fraud that he launched during his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">failed bid\u003c/a> for governor. The state’s highest court ruled unanimously \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12096491/california-supreme-court-appears-skeptical-of-biancos-ballot-seizure\">in two cases\u003c/a>, saying that Bianco’s move violated rules for handling ballots outlined in state election law and that he was wrong to ignore Attorney General Rob Bonta’s order to pause the investigation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Republican sheriff confiscated the ballots in February as part of an investigation into purported voter fraud that he launched during his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">failed bid\u003c/a> for governor. The state’s highest court ruled unanimously \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12096491/california-supreme-court-appears-skeptical-of-biancos-ballot-seizure\">in two cases\u003c/a>, saying that Bianco’s move violated rules for handling ballots outlined in state election law and that he was wrong to ignore Attorney General Rob Bonta’s order to pause the investigation. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“California law long has recognized that voted ballots require special care and handling to safeguard them from alteration or tampering,” Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, wrote in the court’s opinion in Cervantes v. Bianco, a case brought by Riverside County voters.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“California law long has recognized that voted ballots require special care and handling to safeguard them from alteration or tampering,” Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, wrote in the court’s opinion in Cervantes v. Bianco, a case brought by Riverside County voters.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The ruling appeared to close the door on a flashpoint in the tug-of-war between Democratic state leaders and local Republican officials over vote-by-mail and election administration. Election advocates viewed the case as a pivotal test ahead of the November midterm, as President Donald Trump has derided mail voting as a form of cheating and pushed for limits on it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The ruling appeared to close the door on a flashpoint in the tug-of-war between Democratic state leaders and local Republican officials over vote-by-mail and election administration. Election advocates viewed the case as a pivotal test ahead of the November midterm, as President Donald Trump has derided mail voting as a form of cheating and pushed for limits on it. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a second ruling, the court found that Bonta acted within his power when he ordered Bianco to halt his investigation. “He willfully defied my direct orders, misused criminal investigative tools and created a constitutional emergency in the process,” Bonta said after the ruling. “The California Supreme Court affirmed my authority as attorney general to supervise the sheriff — an important constitutional safety valve in extraordinary circumstances like these.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a second ruling, the court found that Bonta acted within his power when he ordered Bianco to halt his investigation. “He willfully defied my direct orders, misused criminal investigative tools and created a constitutional emergency in the process,” Bonta said after the ruling. “The California Supreme Court affirmed my authority as attorney general to supervise the sheriff — an important constitutional safety valve in extraordinary circumstances like these.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a video \u003ca href=\"https://fb.watch/v/5EnWBAS9M/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">posted on Facebook\u003c/a>, Bianco said he would comply with the ruling, while “exploring options of assistance from our federal courts.” “In this case we were provided evidence of a possible crime that obviously warranted investigation — the court agreed and issued warrants,” Bianco said. “Sacramento shut it down.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a video \u003ca href=\"https://fb.watch/v/5EnWBAS9M/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">posted on Facebook\u003c/a>, Bianco said he would comply with the ruling, while “exploring options of assistance from our federal courts.” “In this case we were provided evidence of a possible crime that obviously warranted investigation — the court agreed and issued warrants,” Bianco said. “Sacramento shut it down.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bianco’s investigation was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080702/internal-emails-show-how-fringe-groups-fueled-sheriff-chad-biancos-ballot-seizure\">sparked by claims from a local conservative citizens group\u003c/a> over the ballot count in the November 2025 special election, when California voters approved Proposition 50 to redraw the state’s congressional districts in favor of Democrats amid a redistricting battle across the country. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Bianco’s investigation was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080702/internal-emails-show-how-fringe-groups-fueled-sheriff-chad-biancos-ballot-seizure\">sparked by claims from a local conservative citizens group\u003c/a> over the ballot count in the November 2025 special election, when California voters approved Proposition 50 to redraw the state’s congressional districts in favor of Democrats amid a redistricting battle across the country. \u003c/p>\n"
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"text": "Humboldt County jail joins others in banning physical mail amid contraband concerns",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/law-and-justice/2026-09-24/humboldt-county-jail-joins-others-in-banning-physical-mail-amid-contraband-concerns\">Humboldt County jail joins others in banning physical mail amid contraband concerns\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n",
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"\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/law-and-justice/2026-09-24/humboldt-county-jail-joins-others-in-banning-physical-mail-amid-contraband-concerns\">Humboldt County jail joins others in banning physical mail amid contraband concerns\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Beginning next month, all personal mail for incarcerated people at Humboldt County Correctional Facility must be \u003ca href=\"https://humboldtgov.org/255/Inmate-Information?fbclid=IwY2xjawUg4RlwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMTBnYWdVVDNFS0c4d3lGWUxzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe9Dl5hRnQd4Ugmh6vwqwRgLnWuJ3nei5V7J_B7vVtFoTVxsb8k98tX2u17wg_aem_xieZq2XVdKgtufZr1JdWlw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u003cu>sent to Maryland\u003c/u>\u003c/a> where it will be digitized and only available to view on a tablet.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Beginning next month, all personal mail for incarcerated people at Humboldt County Correctional Facility must be \u003ca href=\"https://humboldtgov.org/255/Inmate-Information?fbclid=IwY2xjawUg4RlwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMTBnYWdVVDNFS0c4d3lGWUxzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe9Dl5hRnQd4Ugmh6vwqwRgLnWuJ3nei5V7J_B7vVtFoTVxsb8k98tX2u17wg_aem_xieZq2XVdKgtufZr1JdWlw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u003cu>sent to Maryland\u003c/u>\u003c/a> where it will be digitized and only available to view on a tablet.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said the change is necessary to prevent drugs from entering the jail.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Capt. Duane Christian said banning physical mail is just the latest security update following the spread of fentanyl, which can cause an overdose in small amounts. Several years ago the jail added a body scanner. Recently, officers added barriers around the facility’s recreation yard to prevent inmates from getting contraband over the fence.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Capt. Duane Christian said banning physical mail is just the latest security update following the spread of fentanyl, which can cause an overdose in small amounts. Several years ago the jail added a body scanner. Recently, officers added barriers around the facility’s recreation yard to prevent inmates from getting contraband over the fence.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Digitizing mail for those who are incarcerated is a growing trend at jails across the country, said Cara Gagliano, an attorney with the privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation. She said the practice raises privacy concerns. Companies can store scanned correspondence for years, she said, and that can have a chilling effect on speech. “We’ve talked to a lot of people, our clients included, who stopped sending mail because they didn’t want it to be scanned and put in this database,” Gagliano said.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>Digitizing mail for those who are incarcerated is a growing trend at jails across the country, said Cara Gagliano, an attorney with the privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation. She said the practice raises privacy concerns. Companies can store scanned correspondence for years, she said, and that can have a chilling effect on speech. “We’ve talked to a lot of people, our clients included, who stopped sending mail because they didn’t want it to be scanned and put in this database,” Gagliano said.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Electronic Frontier Foundation \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/03/14/san-mateo-county-sued-again-over-jail-mail-digitization-system/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u003cu>unsuccessfully sued\u003c/u>\u003c/a> San Mateo County for its banning of physical mail at jails. Gagliano said they plan to appeal. She said the policy can also have negative effects on an inmate’s mental health and even increase recidivism.\u003c/p>\n",
"innerContent": [
"\n\u003cp>The Electronic Frontier Foundation \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/03/14/san-mateo-county-sued-again-over-jail-mail-digitization-system/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u003cu>unsuccessfully sued\u003c/u>\u003c/a> San Mateo County for its banning of physical mail at jails. Gagliano said they plan to appeal. She said the policy can also have negative effects on an inmate’s mental health and even increase recidivism.\u003c/p>\n"
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"title": "Recent Measles Case Highlights Difficulty in Tracking Disease | KQED",
"description": "Here are the morning's top stories on Friday, September 25, 2026 Health officials search for possible exposures from recent measles case A person was hospitalized with measles earlier this month after traveling extensively through California on Amtrak trains and buses. Now public health officials across the state are trying to find other passengers who were exposed. Jake Crawford has family in Anaheim and Oakland and he's been riding the train back and forth a lot lately. When he heard on the news that a person traveling the same route as his was sick with measles, he was frustrated. "It's like,",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Here are the morning’s top stories on Friday, September 25, 2026\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n\u003cli>A person was hospitalized with measles earlier this month after traveling extensively through California on Amtrak trains and buses. Now public health officials across the state are trying to find other passengers who were exposed. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>California’s Supreme Court has ruled that the Republican \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101185/republican-sheriff-illegally-seized-over-650000-ballots-california-supreme-court-rules\">sheriff in Riverside County illegally seized hundreds of thousands of ballots earlier this year\u003c/a>, and must return them. The ballots were from a vote on Proposition 50 which asked whether to redraw California’s congressional map to favor Democrats. \u003c/li>\n\n\n\n\u003cli>Incarcerated people in Humboldt County will soon \u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/law-and-justice/2026-09-24/humboldt-county-jail-joins-others-in-banning-physical-mail-amid-contraband-concerns\">be unable to receive physical mail\u003c/a> as authorities crack down on contraband. Critics say the policy could have unintended consequences.\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>Health officials search for possible exposures from recent measles case \u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>A person was hospitalized with measles earlier this month after traveling extensively through California on Amtrak trains and buses. Now public health officials across the state are trying to find other passengers who were exposed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Jake Crawford has family in Anaheim and Oakland and he’s been riding the train back and forth a lot lately. When he heard on the news that a person traveling the same route as his was sick with measles, he was frustrated. “It’s like, man I got to be aware of something that we were kind of done with you know? It’s back on the radar,” Crawford said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The U.S. considered measles eradicated in 2000. But as vaccination rates have fallen in recent years, measles outbreaks have returned, most recently in Utah and Pennsylvania.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Crawford is vaccinated, but he knows there’s still a slim chance he can get infected. The measles virus can hang in the air of a train car for up to two hours after a sick person has coughed, sneezed, or breathed in it. Among those who are not vaccinated, it infects 9 out of 10 people who are exposed.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“And then, all of a sudden, boom, you have these very large outbreaks that we’ve seen in other parts of the country, so far not yet in California,” said Dr. Nicholas Moss, health officer in Alameda County.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Local vaccination rates are high. But Moss wonders if the U.S. is returning to a 1957 pre-vaccine era, with measles sweeping through communities, infecting everyone who’s not immune. He says until immunity levels get higher, alerts of new measles exposures may be the new reality.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12101185/republican-sheriff-illegally-seized-over-650000-ballots-california-supreme-court-rules\">Republican sheriff illegally seized over 650,000 ballots, California Supreme Court rules\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chad-bianco\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a> broke the law when he seized more than 650,000 ballots cast in last year’s election and ordered him to return them to county election officials. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Republican sheriff confiscated the ballots in February as part of an investigation into purported voter fraud that he launched during his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">failed bid\u003c/a> for governor. The state’s highest court ruled unanimously \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12096491/california-supreme-court-appears-skeptical-of-biancos-ballot-seizure\">in two cases\u003c/a>, saying that Bianco’s move violated rules for handling ballots outlined in state election law and that he was wrong to ignore Attorney General Rob Bonta’s order to pause the investigation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“California law long has recognized that voted ballots require special care and handling to safeguard them from alteration or tampering,” Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, wrote in the court’s opinion in Cervantes v. Bianco, a case brought by Riverside County voters.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The ruling appeared to close the door on a flashpoint in the tug-of-war between Democratic state leaders and local Republican officials over vote-by-mail and election administration. Election advocates viewed the case as a pivotal test ahead of the November midterm, as President Donald Trump has derided mail voting as a form of cheating and pushed for limits on it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a second ruling, the court found that Bonta acted within his power when he ordered Bianco to halt his investigation. “He willfully defied my direct orders, misused criminal investigative tools and created a constitutional emergency in the process,” Bonta said after the ruling. “The California Supreme Court affirmed my authority as attorney general to supervise the sheriff — an important constitutional safety valve in extraordinary circumstances like these.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a video \u003ca href=\"https://fb.watch/v/5EnWBAS9M/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">posted on Facebook\u003c/a>, Bianco said he would comply with the ruling, while “exploring options of assistance from our federal courts.” “In this case we were provided evidence of a possible crime that obviously warranted investigation — the court agreed and issued warrants,” Bianco said. “Sacramento shut it down.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bianco’s investigation was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080702/internal-emails-show-how-fringe-groups-fueled-sheriff-chad-biancos-ballot-seizure\">sparked by claims from a local conservative citizens group\u003c/a> over the ballot count in the November 2025 special election, when California voters approved Proposition 50 to redraw the state’s congressional districts in favor of Democrats amid a redistricting battle across the country. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003ch2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">\u003cstrong>\u003ca href=\"https://www.ijpr.org/law-and-justice/2026-09-24/humboldt-county-jail-joins-others-in-banning-physical-mail-amid-contraband-concerns\">Humboldt County jail joins others in banning physical mail amid contraband concerns\u003c/a>\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Beginning next month, all personal mail for incarcerated people at Humboldt County Correctional Facility must be \u003ca href=\"https://humboldtgov.org/255/Inmate-Information?fbclid=IwY2xjawUg4RlwZG9mBWV4dG4DYWVtAjEwAGJyaWQRMTBnYWdVVDNFS0c4d3lGWUxzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEe9Dl5hRnQd4Ugmh6vwqwRgLnWuJ3nei5V7J_B7vVtFoTVxsb8k98tX2u17wg_aem_xieZq2XVdKgtufZr1JdWlw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u003cu>sent to Maryland\u003c/u>\u003c/a> where it will be digitized and only available to view on a tablet.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office said the change is necessary to prevent drugs from entering the jail.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Capt. Duane Christian said banning physical mail is just the latest security update following the spread of fentanyl, which can cause an overdose in small amounts. Several years ago the jail added a body scanner. Recently, officers added barriers around the facility’s recreation yard to prevent inmates from getting contraband over the fence.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Digitizing mail for those who are incarcerated is a growing trend at jails across the country, said Cara Gagliano, an attorney with the privacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation. She said the practice raises privacy concerns. Companies can store scanned correspondence for years, she said, and that can have a chilling effect on speech. “We’ve talked to a lot of people, our clients included, who stopped sending mail because they didn’t want it to be scanned and put in this database,” Gagliano said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Electronic Frontier Foundation \u003ca href=\"https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/03/14/san-mateo-county-sued-again-over-jail-mail-digitization-system/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u003cu>unsuccessfully sued\u003c/u>\u003c/a> San Mateo County for its banning of physical mail at jails. Gagliano said they plan to appeal. She said the policy can also have negative effects on an inmate’s mental health and even increase recidivism.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"title": "Republican Sheriff Illegally Seized Over 650,000 Ballots, California Supreme Court Rules",
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"content": "\n\u003cp>California’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chad-bianco\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a> broke the law when he seized more than 650,000 ballots cast in last year’s election and ordered him to return them to county election officials. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Republican sheriff confiscated the ballots in February as part of an investigation into purported voter fraud that he launched during his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">failed bid\u003c/a> for governor. The state’s highest court ruled unanimously \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12096491/california-supreme-court-appears-skeptical-of-biancos-ballot-seizure\">in two cases\u003c/a>, saying that Bianco’s move violated rules for handling ballots outlined in state election law and that he was wrong to ignore Attorney General Rob Bonta’s order to pause the investigation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“California law long has recognized that voted ballots require special care and handling to safeguard them from alteration or tampering,” Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, wrote in the court’s opinion in Cervantes v. Bianco, a case brought by Riverside County voters.\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/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096595\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Clarissa Cervantes, Riverside City Councilmember and plaintiff, speaks during a press conference following oral arguments in Cervantes et al. v. Bianco, a case challenging Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November special election, at the steps of the Earl Warren Building at the California Supreme Court on Aug. 24, 2026. (Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The ruling appeared to close the door on a flashpoint in the tug-of-war between Democratic state leaders and local Republican officials over vote-by-mail and election administration. Election advocates viewed the case as a pivotal test ahead of the November midterm, as President Donald Trump has derided mail voting as a form of cheating and pushed for limits on it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a second ruling, the court found that Bonta acted within his power when he ordered Bianco to halt his investigation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“He willfully defied my direct orders, misused criminal investigative tools and created a constitutional emergency in the process,” Bonta said after the ruling. “The California Supreme Court affirmed my authority as attorney general to supervise the sheriff — an important constitutional safety valve in extraordinary circumstances like these.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a video \u003ca href=\"https://fb.watch/v/5EnWBAS9M/\">posted on Facebook\u003c/a>, Bianco said he would comply with the ruling, while “exploring options of assistance from our federal courts.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“In this case we were provided evidence of a possible crime that obviously warranted investigation — the court agreed and issued warrants,” Bianco said. “Sacramento shut it down.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bianco’s investigation was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080702/internal-emails-show-how-fringe-groups-fueled-sheriff-chad-biancos-ballot-seizure\">sparked by claims from a local conservative citizens group\u003c/a> over the ballot count in the November 2025 special election, when California voters approved Proposition 50 to redraw the state’s congressional districts in favor of Democrats amid a redistricting battle across the country. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The citizens group, known as the Riverside Election Integrity Team, said the final vote count did not match forms filled out by election workers who conducted hand tallies of ballots arriving at voting locations. \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/10/2026/03/GettyImages-2267789591-scaled-e1775847167430.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12077855\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gubernatorial Candidate Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco speaks at an event in downtown Los Angeles on March 24, 2026. (Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>According to Riverside County’s registrar of voters, those hand tallies were unreliable estimates, not a definitive count meant to be compared to the final vote. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bianco ordered deputies to seize the ballots in February, with the purpose of conducting a recount of ballot envelopes. In April, the Supreme Court blocked Bianco’s investigation from moving forward while it considered the dual legal challenges. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The court’s opinion in the ballot case, Cervantes v. Bianco, hinged on a provision in state election law that prohibits ballots from being taken from election officials, even in the course of a criminal prosecution. Bianco had argued that the law wouldn’t apply to an investigation like his, but the justices shot that down. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Guerrero concluded that election law “unambiguously prohibits the removal of ballots from an elections official’s custody, notwithstanding the existence of a search warrant authorizing their seizure.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As he launched his ballot investigation, Bianco ignored multiple directives from Bonta to halt his inquiry. In the high court’s second case, Bonta v. Bianco, justices weighed the limits of the attorney general’s power to supervise local law enforcement officials. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California voters approved a ballot measure in 1934, backed by future Attorney General and Gov. Earl Warren, that granted the attorney general broad law enforcement powers. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Guerrero wrote that the law allows the attorney general to “direct” the activities of a sheriff relating to an investigation. Thus, the chief justice concluded, “the Attorney General can issue binding instructions to sheriffs regarding a criminal investigation.”\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/10/2026/04/AP26099736212917-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12081682\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AP26099736212917-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AP26099736212917-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AP26099736212917-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California Attorney General Rob Bonta announces the dismantling of a major hospice fraud scheme that defrauded the state of $267 million in Los Angeles on April 9, 2026. (Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The court did not set an outer boundary on the attorney general’s authority over local law enforcement. Because Bonta only directed Bianco to pause his investigation, the court declined to rule on whether the attorney general could have terminated the inquiry altogether — but left open the possibility. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bianco blasted the opinion for opening the door to an expansion of the state attorney general’s powers over county sheriffs and prosecutors. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This ruling will have wide-reaching consequences for the future of public safety in California,” Bianco said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Asked how the ruling would affect his interactions with county law enforcement, Bonta said the power affirmed by the court “is rarely used, because it’s rarely needed.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“You should expect us to exercise our authority in precisely the types of rare, extraordinary circumstances like this,” Bonta said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The ballot seizure controversy sparked fears among Democrats in the state legislature that local officials in red counties could interfere in the administration of November’s midterm elections. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In May, just ahead of the primary election, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/05/california-ballot-seizure-law/\">signed a law\u003c/a> blocking local election officials from handing over ballots to law enforcement agents.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The Republican sheriff confiscated the ballots in February as part of an investigation into purported voter fraud that he launched during his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">failed bid\u003c/a> for governor. The state’s highest court ruled unanimously \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12096491/california-supreme-court-appears-skeptical-of-biancos-ballot-seizure\">in two cases\u003c/a>, saying that Bianco’s move violated rules for handling ballots outlined in state election law and that he was wrong to ignore Attorney General Rob Bonta’s order to pause the investigation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The Republican sheriff confiscated the ballots in February as part of an investigation into purported voter fraud that he launched during his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">failed bid\u003c/a> for governor. The state’s highest court ruled unanimously \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12096491/california-supreme-court-appears-skeptical-of-biancos-ballot-seizure\">in two cases\u003c/a>, saying that Bianco’s move violated rules for handling ballots outlined in state election law and that he was wrong to ignore Attorney General Rob Bonta’s order to pause the investigation. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“California law long has recognized that voted ballots require special care and handling to safeguard them from alteration or tampering,” Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, wrote in the court’s opinion in Cervantes v. Bianco, a case brought by Riverside County voters.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“California law long has recognized that voted ballots require special care and handling to safeguard them from alteration or tampering,” Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, wrote in the court’s opinion in Cervantes v. Bianco, a case brought by Riverside County voters.\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/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096595\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Clarissa Cervantes, Riverside City Councilmember and plaintiff, speaks during a press conference following oral arguments in Cervantes et al. v. Bianco, a case challenging Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November special election, at the steps of the Earl Warren Building at the California Supreme Court on Aug. 24, 2026.\u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The ruling appeared to close the door on a flashpoint in the tug-of-war between Democratic state leaders and local Republican officials over vote-by-mail and election administration. Election advocates viewed the case as a pivotal test ahead of the November midterm, as President Donald Trump has derided mail voting as a form of cheating and pushed for limits on it. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a second ruling, the court found that Bonta acted within his power when he ordered Bianco to halt his investigation. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“He willfully defied my direct orders, misused criminal investigative tools and created a constitutional emergency in the process,” Bonta said after the ruling. “The California Supreme Court affirmed my authority as attorney general to supervise the sheriff — an important constitutional safety valve in extraordinary circumstances like these.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“He willfully defied my direct orders, misused criminal investigative tools and created a constitutional emergency in the process,” Bonta said after the ruling. “The California Supreme Court affirmed my authority as attorney general to supervise the sheriff — an important constitutional safety valve in extraordinary circumstances like these.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In a video \u003ca href=\"https://fb.watch/v/5EnWBAS9M/\">posted on Facebook\u003c/a>, Bianco said he would comply with the ruling, while “exploring options of assistance from our federal courts.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In a video \u003ca href=\"https://fb.watch/v/5EnWBAS9M/\">posted on Facebook\u003c/a>, Bianco said he would comply with the ruling, while “exploring options of assistance from our federal courts.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“In this case we were provided evidence of a possible crime that obviously warranted investigation — the court agreed and issued warrants,” Bianco said. “Sacramento shut it down.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“In this case we were provided evidence of a possible crime that obviously warranted investigation — the court agreed and issued warrants,” Bianco said. “Sacramento shut it down.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bianco’s investigation was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080702/internal-emails-show-how-fringe-groups-fueled-sheriff-chad-biancos-ballot-seizure\">sparked by claims from a local conservative citizens group\u003c/a> over the ballot count in the November 2025 special election, when California voters approved Proposition 50 to redraw the state’s congressional districts in favor of Democrats amid a redistricting battle across the country. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Bianco’s investigation was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080702/internal-emails-show-how-fringe-groups-fueled-sheriff-chad-biancos-ballot-seizure\">sparked by claims from a local conservative citizens group\u003c/a> over the ballot count in the November 2025 special election, when California voters approved Proposition 50 to redraw the state’s congressional districts in favor of Democrats amid a redistricting battle across the country. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The citizens group, known as the Riverside Election Integrity Team, said the final vote count did not match forms filled out by election workers who conducted hand tallies of ballots arriving at voting locations. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The citizens group, known as the Riverside Election Integrity Team, said the final vote count did not match forms filled out by election workers who conducted hand tallies of ballots arriving at voting locations. \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/10/2026/03/GettyImages-2267789591-scaled-e1775847167430.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12077855\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gubernatorial Candidate Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco speaks at an event in downtown Los Angeles on March 24, 2026. \u003ccite class=\"wp-inline-image-credit\"> (Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>According to Riverside County’s registrar of voters, those hand tallies were unreliable estimates, not a definitive count meant to be compared to the final vote. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bianco ordered deputies to seize the ballots in February, with the purpose of conducting a recount of ballot envelopes. In April, the Supreme Court blocked Bianco’s investigation from moving forward while it considered the dual legal challenges. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Bianco ordered deputies to seize the ballots in February, with the purpose of conducting a recount of ballot envelopes. In April, the Supreme Court blocked Bianco’s investigation from moving forward while it considered the dual legal challenges. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The court’s opinion in the ballot case, Cervantes v. Bianco, hinged on a provision in state election law that prohibits ballots from being taken from election officials, even in the course of a criminal prosecution. Bianco had argued that the law wouldn’t apply to an investigation like his, but the justices shot that down. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The court’s opinion in the ballot case, Cervantes v. Bianco, hinged on a provision in state election law that prohibits ballots from being taken from election officials, even in the course of a criminal prosecution. Bianco had argued that the law wouldn’t apply to an investigation like his, but the justices shot that down. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Guerrero concluded that election law “unambiguously prohibits the removal of ballots from an elections official’s custody, notwithstanding the existence of a search warrant authorizing their seizure.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Guerrero concluded that election law “unambiguously prohibits the removal of ballots from an elections official’s custody, notwithstanding the existence of a search warrant authorizing their seizure.” \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>As he launched his ballot investigation, Bianco ignored multiple directives from Bonta to halt his inquiry. In the high court’s second case, Bonta v. Bianco, justices weighed the limits of the attorney general’s power to supervise local law enforcement officials. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>As he launched his ballot investigation, Bianco ignored multiple directives from Bonta to halt his inquiry. In the high court’s second case, Bonta v. Bianco, justices weighed the limits of the attorney general’s power to supervise local law enforcement officials. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California voters approved a ballot measure in 1934, backed by future Attorney General and Gov. Earl Warren, that granted the attorney general broad law enforcement powers. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Guerrero wrote that the law allows the attorney general to “direct” the activities of a sheriff relating to an investigation. Thus, the chief justice concluded, “the Attorney General can issue binding instructions to sheriffs regarding a criminal investigation.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Guerrero wrote that the law allows the attorney general to “direct” the activities of a sheriff relating to an investigation. Thus, the chief justice concluded, “the Attorney General can issue binding instructions to sheriffs regarding a criminal investigation.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The court did not set an outer boundary on the attorney general’s authority over local law enforcement. Because Bonta only directed Bianco to pause his investigation, the court declined to rule on whether the attorney general could have terminated the inquiry altogether — but left open the possibility. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The court did not set an outer boundary on the attorney general’s authority over local law enforcement. Because Bonta only directed Bianco to pause his investigation, the court declined to rule on whether the attorney general could have terminated the inquiry altogether — but left open the possibility. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bianco blasted the opinion for opening the door to an expansion of the state attorney general’s powers over county sheriffs and prosecutors. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“This ruling will have wide-reaching consequences for the future of public safety in California,” Bianco said.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Asked how the ruling would affect his interactions with county law enforcement, Bonta said the power affirmed by the court “is rarely used, because it’s rarely needed.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“You should expect us to exercise our authority in precisely the types of rare, extraordinary circumstances like this,” Bonta said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The ballot seizure controversy sparked fears among Democrats in the state legislature that local officials in red counties could interfere in the administration of November’s midterm elections. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In May, just ahead of the primary election, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/05/california-ballot-seizure-law/\">signed a law\u003c/a> blocking local election officials from handing over ballots to law enforcement agents.\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "In a unanimous ruling, the justices said Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco broke the law when he seized ballots cast in the November 2025 special election and ordered him to return them.",
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"title": "Republican Sheriff Illegally Seized Over 650,000 Ballots, California Supreme Court Rules | KQED",
"description": "In a unanimous ruling, the justices said Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco broke the law when he seized ballots cast in the November 2025 special election and ordered him to return them.",
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"headline": "Republican Sheriff Illegally Seized Over 650,000 Ballots, California Supreme Court Rules",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\n\u003cp>California’s Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chad-bianco\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a> broke the law when he seized more than 650,000 ballots cast in last year’s election and ordered him to return them to county election officials. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The Republican sheriff confiscated the ballots in February as part of an investigation into purported voter fraud that he launched during his \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">failed bid\u003c/a> for governor. The state’s highest court ruled unanimously \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12096491/california-supreme-court-appears-skeptical-of-biancos-ballot-seizure\">in two cases\u003c/a>, saying that Bianco’s move violated rules for handling ballots outlined in state election law and that he was wrong to ignore Attorney General Rob Bonta’s order to pause the investigation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“California law long has recognized that voted ballots require special care and handling to safeguard them from alteration or tampering,” Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero, an appointee of Gov. Gavin Newsom, wrote in the court’s opinion in Cervantes v. Bianco, a case brought by Riverside County voters.\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/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096595\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Clarissa Cervantes, Riverside City Councilmember and plaintiff, speaks during a press conference following oral arguments in Cervantes et al. v. Bianco, a case challenging Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November special election, at the steps of the Earl Warren Building at the California Supreme Court on Aug. 24, 2026. (Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The ruling appeared to close the door on a flashpoint in the tug-of-war between Democratic state leaders and local Republican officials over vote-by-mail and election administration. Election advocates viewed the case as a pivotal test ahead of the November midterm, as President Donald Trump has derided mail voting as a form of cheating and pushed for limits on it. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a second ruling, the court found that Bonta acted within his power when he ordered Bianco to halt his investigation. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“He willfully defied my direct orders, misused criminal investigative tools and created a constitutional emergency in the process,” Bonta said after the ruling. “The California Supreme Court affirmed my authority as attorney general to supervise the sheriff — an important constitutional safety valve in extraordinary circumstances like these.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In a video \u003ca href=\"https://fb.watch/v/5EnWBAS9M/\">posted on Facebook\u003c/a>, Bianco said he would comply with the ruling, while “exploring options of assistance from our federal courts.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“In this case we were provided evidence of a possible crime that obviously warranted investigation — the court agreed and issued warrants,” Bianco said. “Sacramento shut it down.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bianco’s investigation was \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080702/internal-emails-show-how-fringe-groups-fueled-sheriff-chad-biancos-ballot-seizure\">sparked by claims from a local conservative citizens group\u003c/a> over the ballot count in the November 2025 special election, when California voters approved Proposition 50 to redraw the state’s congressional districts in favor of Democrats amid a redistricting battle across the country. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The citizens group, known as the Riverside Election Integrity Team, said the final vote count did not match forms filled out by election workers who conducted hand tallies of ballots arriving at voting locations. \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/10/2026/03/GettyImages-2267789591-scaled-e1775847167430.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12077855\"/>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Gubernatorial Candidate Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco speaks at an event in downtown Los Angeles on March 24, 2026. (Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>According to Riverside County’s registrar of voters, those hand tallies were unreliable estimates, not a definitive count meant to be compared to the final vote. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bianco ordered deputies to seize the ballots in February, with the purpose of conducting a recount of ballot envelopes. In April, the Supreme Court blocked Bianco’s investigation from moving forward while it considered the dual legal challenges. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The court’s opinion in the ballot case, Cervantes v. Bianco, hinged on a provision in state election law that prohibits ballots from being taken from election officials, even in the course of a criminal prosecution. Bianco had argued that the law wouldn’t apply to an investigation like his, but the justices shot that down. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Guerrero concluded that election law “unambiguously prohibits the removal of ballots from an elections official’s custody, notwithstanding the existence of a search warrant authorizing their seizure.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>As he launched his ballot investigation, Bianco ignored multiple directives from Bonta to halt his inquiry. In the high court’s second case, Bonta v. Bianco, justices weighed the limits of the attorney general’s power to supervise local law enforcement officials. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California voters approved a ballot measure in 1934, backed by future Attorney General and Gov. Earl Warren, that granted the attorney general broad law enforcement powers. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Guerrero wrote that the law allows the attorney general to “direct” the activities of a sheriff relating to an investigation. Thus, the chief justice concluded, “the Attorney General can issue binding instructions to sheriffs regarding a criminal investigation.”\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/10/2026/04/AP26099736212917-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12081682\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AP26099736212917-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AP26099736212917-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/AP26099736212917-KQED-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">California Attorney General Rob Bonta announces the dismantling of a major hospice fraud scheme that defrauded the state of $267 million in Los Angeles on April 9, 2026. (Damian Dovarganes/AP Photo)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The court did not set an outer boundary on the attorney general’s authority over local law enforcement. Because Bonta only directed Bianco to pause his investigation, the court declined to rule on whether the attorney general could have terminated the inquiry altogether — but left open the possibility. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bianco blasted the opinion for opening the door to an expansion of the state attorney general’s powers over county sheriffs and prosecutors. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“This ruling will have wide-reaching consequences for the future of public safety in California,” Bianco said.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Asked how the ruling would affect his interactions with county law enforcement, Bonta said the power affirmed by the court “is rarely used, because it’s rarely needed.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“You should expect us to exercise our authority in precisely the types of rare, extraordinary circumstances like this,” Bonta said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The ballot seizure controversy sparked fears among Democrats in the state legislature that local officials in red counties could interfere in the administration of November’s midterm elections. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In May, just ahead of the primary election, Newsom \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/05/california-ballot-seizure-law/\">signed a law\u003c/a> blocking local election officials from handing over ballots to law enforcement agents.\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "california-supreme-court-appears-skeptical-of-biancos-ballot-seizure",
"title": "California Supreme Court Appears Skeptical of Bianco’s Ballot Seizure",
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"headTitle": "California Supreme Court Appears Skeptical of Bianco’s Ballot Seizure | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>California Supreme Court justices on Monday appeared skeptical of Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chad-bianco\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a>’s unprecedented seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in last November’s special election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bianco, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran for governor in this year’s June primary, has said that his actions were part of an investigation into potential voter fraud in the election on California’s redistricting measure. But his move set off \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077491/california-vote-by-mail-faces-legal-political-challenges-from-trump-allies\">alarm bells\u003c/a> among Democratic leaders who worried the ballot seizure was a local outcrop of conservative efforts to undermine vote-by-mail. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During oral arguments in San Francisco, the court’s justices peppered Bianco’s attorney, Bradley Hertz, with questions as to why the sheriff was not bound by state laws that restrict access to ballots during a criminal prosecution. \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/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-23-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096590\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-23-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-23-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-23-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Xavier Becerra, senior adviser to the UCLA VRP and attorney on file in the case, speaks during a press conference following oral arguments in Cervantes et al. v. Bianco, a case challenging Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November special election, at the steps of the Earl Warren Building at the California Supreme Court on Aug. 24, 2026. (Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It says in no event shall the packet or its content be taken from the custody of the elections official,” Justice Kelli Evans said. “So I’m just not following your argument.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Justice Joshua Groban questioned whether the case presented by Bianco would open the door for the seizure of ballots during an ongoing election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Under your broad view of the warrant power, pursuant to a lawful warrant, the sheriff could seize ballots even before Election Day, right?” Groban said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Hertz said that state law limits access to ballots only during prosecutions — not investigations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It cannot be a universal prohibition against all legal processes,” Hertz said. “If it were, you’d basically have a complete category of documents that might be evidence of a crime that are immunized from investigation.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The showdown comes as California’s expansive system of vote-by-mail \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077846/threats-to-californias-vote-by-mail-mount-before-june-primary\">faces attacks\u003c/a> not only from President Donald Trump, who has labeled mail balloting a form of cheating, but also from local election officials aligned with the president. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bonta and California Secretary of State Shirley Weber have sued Shasta County to block the implementation of a measure passed by voters in June that would curtail vote-by-mail. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And in May, Newsom signed a new law that \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/05/california-ballot-seizure-law/\">makes it illegal\u003c/a> for local election officials to hand over ballots to law enforcement agents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The state Supreme Court — made up of five justices appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom or his predecessor Jerry Brown, one appointed by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, and one who joined the court temporarily to fill a vacancy — heard two cases challenging Bianco’s move. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the first, a group of Riverside County citizens accused Bianco of violating state election law by taking their ballots and attempting to count them outside of the prescribed chain-of-custody. \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/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096595\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Clarissa Cervantes, Riverside City Council member and plaintiff, speaks during a press conference following oral arguments in Cervantes et al. v. Bianco, a case challenging Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November special election, at the steps of the Earl Warren Building at the California Supreme Court on Aug. 24, 2026. (Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California Attorney General Rob Bonta brought a second suit, arguing that Bianco illegally ignored his direction as the state’s top law enforcement official to halt the investigation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Riverside County sheriff’s deputies began seizing boxes of ballots in late February, in response to a complaint from a citizens group.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That group, the Riverside County Election Integrity Team, had conducted an audit of ballot intake forms — sheets filled out by election workers detailing how many ballots had arrived at their vote center. The audit concluded that the ballot intake forms had only detailed 611,426 ballots — 45,896 short of the county’s final count of 657,322 votes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Art Tinoco, the county’s registrar of voters, described the intake forms as an unrefined count that does not provide an apples-to-apples comparison to the final count of ballots. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“These are completed in the field by election officers during long workdays — let’s keep that in mind; folks get tired,” Tinoco told the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. “It’s very possible that the staff may not have recorded the numbers accurately on these daily mail intake forms.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bianco said his deputies would be recounting ballot envelopes, but not reviewing the votes inside, in order to determine the reason for the discrepancy with the intake forms. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It looks like well-meaning officers essentially trying to build a vote-counting airplane while they’re flying it,” said Chad Dunn, an attorney for the Riverside County voters who brought the suit against Bianco’s actions. \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/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-30-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096592\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-30-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-30-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-30-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Xavier Becerra, senior adviser to the UCLA VRP and attorney on file in the case, center, speaks to Dr. Matt Baretto, faculty director at UCLA VRP, left, and Chad Dunn, legal director at UCLA VRP, right, following a press conference regarding Cervantes et al. v. Bianco, a case challenging Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November special election, at the steps of the Earl Warren Building at the California Supreme Court on Aug. 24, 2026. (Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In April, the Supreme Court blocked Bianco’s investigation from moving forward while it considered Bonta’s challenge. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Justices questioned California Solicitor General Sam Harbourt, who said the power for Bonta to supervise the actions of county sheriffs “was intended to be expansive.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“That to me says if he wants to drop into a particular county and say, ‘Cease this prosecution for shoplifting,’ it shall be done’ … as long as he deems it in the public interest,” Groban said. “That sounds almost unlimited.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Hertz said that Bonta’s powers are much more curtailed — that the attorney general has an “advise and consent” relationship with local sheriffs, and can only voice his displeasure with local law enforcement actions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Direct supervision does not mean absolute control, and sheriffs are not employees of the attorney general,” Hertz said.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bianco, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran for governor in this year’s June primary, has said that his actions were part of an investigation into potential voter fraud in the election on California’s redistricting measure. But his move set off \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077491/california-vote-by-mail-faces-legal-political-challenges-from-trump-allies\">alarm bells\u003c/a> among Democratic leaders who worried the ballot seizure was a local outcrop of conservative efforts to undermine vote-by-mail. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>During oral arguments in San Francisco, the court’s justices peppered Bianco’s attorney, Bradley Hertz, with questions as to why the sheriff was not bound by state laws that restrict access to ballots during a criminal prosecution. \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/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-23-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096590\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-23-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-23-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-23-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Xavier Becerra, senior adviser to the UCLA VRP and attorney on file in the case, speaks during a press conference following oral arguments in Cervantes et al. v. Bianco, a case challenging Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November special election, at the steps of the Earl Warren Building at the California Supreme Court on Aug. 24, 2026.\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/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-23-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096590\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Xavier Becerra, senior adviser to the UCLA VRP and attorney on file in the case, speaks during a press conference following oral arguments in Cervantes et al. v. Bianco, a case challenging Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November special election, at the steps of the Earl Warren Building at the California Supreme Court on Aug. 24, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It says in no event shall the packet or its content be taken from the custody of the elections official,” Justice Kelli Evans said. “So I’m just not following your argument.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Justice Joshua Groban questioned whether the case presented by Bianco would open the door for the seizure of ballots during an ongoing election. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“Under your broad view of the warrant power, pursuant to a lawful warrant, the sheriff could seize ballots even before Election Day, right?” Groban said. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Hertz said that state law limits access to ballots only during prosecutions — not investigations.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It cannot be a universal prohibition against all legal processes,” Hertz said. “If it were, you’d basically have a complete category of documents that might be evidence of a crime that are immunized from investigation.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>“It cannot be a universal prohibition against all legal processes,” Hertz said. “If it were, you’d basically have a complete category of documents that might be evidence of a crime that are immunized from investigation.”\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The showdown comes as California’s expansive system of vote-by-mail \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077846/threats-to-californias-vote-by-mail-mount-before-june-primary\">faces attacks\u003c/a> not only from President Donald Trump, who has labeled mail balloting a form of cheating, but also from local election officials aligned with the president. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bonta and California Secretary of State Shirley Weber have sued Shasta County to block the implementation of a measure passed by voters in June that would curtail vote-by-mail. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>Bonta and California Secretary of State Shirley Weber have sued Shasta County to block the implementation of a measure passed by voters in June that would curtail vote-by-mail. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>And in May, Newsom signed a new law that \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/05/california-ballot-seizure-law/\">makes it illegal\u003c/a> for local election officials to hand over ballots to law enforcement agents. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>And in May, Newsom signed a new law that \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/05/california-ballot-seizure-law/\">makes it illegal\u003c/a> for local election officials to hand over ballots to law enforcement agents. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>The state Supreme Court — made up of five justices appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom or his predecessor Jerry Brown, one appointed by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, and one who joined the court temporarily to fill a vacancy — heard two cases challenging Bianco’s move. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>The state Supreme Court — made up of five justices appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom or his predecessor Jerry Brown, one appointed by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, and one who joined the court temporarily to fill a vacancy — heard two cases challenging Bianco’s move. \u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In the first, a group of Riverside County citizens accused Bianco of violating state election law by taking their ballots and attempting to count them outside of the prescribed chain-of-custody. \u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>In the first, a group of Riverside County citizens accused Bianco of violating state election law by taking their ballots and attempting to count them outside of the prescribed chain-of-custody. \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/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096595\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 992px) min(100vw, 1536px), (min-width: 768px) min(100vw, 1280px), min(100vw, 1020px)\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Clarissa Cervantes, Riverside City Council member and plaintiff, speaks during a press conference following oral arguments in Cervantes et al. v. Bianco, a case challenging Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November special election, at the steps of the Earl Warren Building at the California Supreme Court on Aug. 24, 2026.\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/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096595\" />\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Clarissa Cervantes, Riverside City Council member and plaintiff, speaks during a press conference following oral arguments in Cervantes et al. v. Bianco, a case challenging Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November special election, at the steps of the Earl Warren Building at the California Supreme Court on Aug. 24, 2026.\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>California Attorney General Rob Bonta brought a second suit, arguing that Bianco illegally ignored his direction as the state’s top law enforcement official to halt the investigation.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Riverside County sheriff’s deputies began seizing boxes of ballots in late February, in response to a complaint from a citizens group.\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>That group, the Riverside County Election Integrity Team, had conducted an audit of ballot intake forms — sheets filled out by election workers detailing how many ballots had arrived at their vote center. The audit concluded that the ballot intake forms had only detailed 611,426 ballots — 45,896 short of the county’s final count of 657,322 votes.\u003c/p>\n",
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"\n\u003cp>That group, the Riverside County Election Integrity Team, had conducted an audit of ballot intake forms — sheets filled out by election workers detailing how many ballots had arrived at their vote center. The audit concluded that the ballot intake forms had only detailed 611,426 ballots — 45,896 short of the county’s final count of 657,322 votes.\u003c/p>\n"
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Art Tinoco, the county’s registrar of voters, described the intake forms as an unrefined count that does not provide an apples-to-apples comparison to the final count of ballots. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“These are completed in the field by election officers during long workdays — let’s keep that in mind; folks get tired,” Tinoco told the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. “It’s very possible that the staff may not have recorded the numbers accurately on these daily mail intake forms.”\u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Bianco said his deputies would be recounting ballot envelopes, but not reviewing the votes inside, in order to determine the reason for the discrepancy with the intake forms. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“It looks like well-meaning officers essentially trying to build a vote-counting airplane while they’re flying it,” said Chad Dunn, an attorney for the Riverside County voters who brought the suit against Bianco’s actions. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>In April, the Supreme Court blocked Bianco’s investigation from moving forward while it considered Bonta’s challenge. \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Justices questioned California Solicitor General Sam Harbourt, who said the power for Bonta to supervise the actions of county sheriffs “was intended to be expansive.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>“That to me says if he wants to drop into a particular county and say, ‘Cease this prosecution for shoplifting,’ it shall be done’ … as long as he deems it in the public interest,” Groban said. “That sounds almost unlimited.” \u003c/p>\n",
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"innerHTML": "\n\u003cp>Hertz said that Bonta’s powers are much more curtailed — that the attorney general has an “advise and consent” relationship with local sheriffs, and can only voice his displeasure with local law enforcement actions. \u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "During oral arguments in San Francisco, justices questioned the Republican Riverside County sheriff’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November election. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>California Supreme Court justices on Monday appeared skeptical of Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chad-bianco\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a>’s unprecedented seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in last November’s special election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bianco, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran for governor in this year’s June primary, has said that his actions were part of an investigation into potential voter fraud in the election on California’s redistricting measure. But his move set off \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077491/california-vote-by-mail-faces-legal-political-challenges-from-trump-allies\">alarm bells\u003c/a> among Democratic leaders who worried the ballot seizure was a local outcrop of conservative efforts to undermine vote-by-mail. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>During oral arguments in San Francisco, the court’s justices peppered Bianco’s attorney, Bradley Hertz, with questions as to why the sheriff was not bound by state laws that restrict access to ballots during a criminal prosecution. \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/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-23-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096590\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-23-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-23-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-23-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Xavier Becerra, senior adviser to the UCLA VRP and attorney on file in the case, speaks during a press conference following oral arguments in Cervantes et al. v. Bianco, a case challenging Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November special election, at the steps of the Earl Warren Building at the California Supreme Court on Aug. 24, 2026. (Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It says in no event shall the packet or its content be taken from the custody of the elections official,” Justice Kelli Evans said. “So I’m just not following your argument.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Justice Joshua Groban questioned whether the case presented by Bianco would open the door for the seizure of ballots during an ongoing election. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Under your broad view of the warrant power, pursuant to a lawful warrant, the sheriff could seize ballots even before Election Day, right?” Groban said. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Hertz said that state law limits access to ballots only during prosecutions — not investigations.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It cannot be a universal prohibition against all legal processes,” Hertz said. “If it were, you’d basically have a complete category of documents that might be evidence of a crime that are immunized from investigation.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The showdown comes as California’s expansive system of vote-by-mail \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077846/threats-to-californias-vote-by-mail-mount-before-june-primary\">faces attacks\u003c/a> not only from President Donald Trump, who has labeled mail balloting a form of cheating, but also from local election officials aligned with the president. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bonta and California Secretary of State Shirley Weber have sued Shasta County to block the implementation of a measure passed by voters in June that would curtail vote-by-mail. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>And in May, Newsom signed a new law that \u003ca href=\"https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/05/california-ballot-seizure-law/\">makes it illegal\u003c/a> for local election officials to hand over ballots to law enforcement agents. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>The state Supreme Court — made up of five justices appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom or his predecessor Jerry Brown, one appointed by Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger, and one who joined the court temporarily to fill a vacancy — heard two cases challenging Bianco’s move. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In the first, a group of Riverside County citizens accused Bianco of violating state election law by taking their ballots and attempting to count them outside of the prescribed chain-of-custody. \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/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096595\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-13-KQED-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Clarissa Cervantes, Riverside City Council member and plaintiff, speaks during a press conference following oral arguments in Cervantes et al. v. Bianco, a case challenging Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November special election, at the steps of the Earl Warren Building at the California Supreme Court on Aug. 24, 2026. (Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>California Attorney General Rob Bonta brought a second suit, arguing that Bianco illegally ignored his direction as the state’s top law enforcement official to halt the investigation.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Riverside County sheriff’s deputies began seizing boxes of ballots in late February, in response to a complaint from a citizens group.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>That group, the Riverside County Election Integrity Team, had conducted an audit of ballot intake forms — sheets filled out by election workers detailing how many ballots had arrived at their vote center. The audit concluded that the ballot intake forms had only detailed 611,426 ballots — 45,896 short of the county’s final count of 657,322 votes.\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Art Tinoco, the county’s registrar of voters, described the intake forms as an unrefined count that does not provide an apples-to-apples comparison to the final count of ballots. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“These are completed in the field by election officers during long workdays — let’s keep that in mind; folks get tired,” Tinoco told the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. “It’s very possible that the staff may not have recorded the numbers accurately on these daily mail intake forms.”\u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Bianco said his deputies would be recounting ballot envelopes, but not reviewing the votes inside, in order to determine the reason for the discrepancy with the intake forms. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“It looks like well-meaning officers essentially trying to build a vote-counting airplane while they’re flying it,” said Chad Dunn, an attorney for the Riverside County voters who brought the suit against Bianco’s actions. \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/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-30-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-12096592\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-30-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-30-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/08/20260824_CASCBIANCOBALLOTS_GC-30-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Xavier Becerra, senior adviser to the UCLA VRP and attorney on file in the case, center, speaks to Dr. Matt Baretto, faculty director at UCLA VRP, left, and Chad Dunn, legal director at UCLA VRP, right, following a press conference regarding Cervantes et al. v. Bianco, a case challenging Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco’s seizure of more than 650,000 ballots cast in the November special election, at the steps of the Earl Warren Building at the California Supreme Court on Aug. 24, 2026. (Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>In April, the Supreme Court blocked Bianco’s investigation from moving forward while it considered Bonta’s challenge. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Justices questioned California Solicitor General Sam Harbourt, who said the power for Bonta to supervise the actions of county sheriffs “was intended to be expansive.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>“That to me says if he wants to drop into a particular county and say, ‘Cease this prosecution for shoplifting,’ it shall be done’ … as long as he deems it in the public interest,” Groban said. “That sounds almost unlimited.” \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>Hertz said that Bonta’s powers are much more curtailed — that the attorney general has an “advise and consent” relationship with local sheriffs, and can only voice his displeasure with local law enforcement actions. \u003c/p>\n\n\n\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp class=\"e-10223-text encore-text-body-medium\" data-encore-id=\"text\" data-slate-node=\"element\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-hHOBiw iVhMEe\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">Riverside County Sheriff \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003ca class=\"e-10223-text-link e-10223-overflow-wrap-anywhere encore-internal-color-text-announcement e-10223-text-link--use-focus sc-kzqdkY fnwgHd\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12084065/chad-bianco-pitches-deregulation-and-a-focus-on-fraud-at-kqed-governor-town-hall\" data-encore-id=\"textLink\" data-slate-node=\"element\" data-slate-inline=\"true\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-hHOBiw iVhMEe\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">Chad Bianco\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-hHOBiw iVhMEe\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\"> promises that if elected governor, he will cut taxes, shrink government and root out fraud. At a KQED town hall earlier this week moderated by Marisa Lagos, Bianco took wide-ranging questions from a live audience on topics including public schools, housing shortages, road conditions and immigration. \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp class=\"e-10223-text encore-text-body-medium\" data-encore-id=\"text\" data-slate-node=\"element\" data-slate-fragment=\"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\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-hHOBiw iVhMEe\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">For more information on the races and ballot measures in California’s June 2 primary election, check out \u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003ca class=\"e-10223-text-link e-10223-overflow-wrap-anywhere encore-internal-color-text-announcement e-10223-text-link--use-focus sc-kzqdkY fnwgHd\" href=\"https://www.kqed.org/elections/results\" data-encore-id=\"textLink\" data-slate-node=\"element\" data-slate-inline=\"true\">\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-hHOBiw iVhMEe\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">KQED’s Voter Guide\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/a>\u003cspan data-slate-node=\"text\">\u003cspan class=\"sc-hHOBiw iVhMEe\" data-slate-leaf=\"true\">.\u003c/span>\u003c/span>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Republican gubernatorial candidate Chad Bianco wants to roll back regulations he says are driving up the cost of gasoline, homebuilding and road construction in the state. \"The regulatory environment is easy to fix as the governor. You can do it with a signature.\" ",
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"slug": "chad-bianco-pitches-deregulation-and-a-focus-on-fraud-at-kqed-governor-town-hall",
"title": "Chad Bianco Pitches Deregulation and a Focus on Fraud at KQED Governor Town Hall",
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"content": "\u003cp>Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a>, who has held on as a contender in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/2026-governors-race\">race for California governor\u003c/a>, laid out a deregulatory agenda at a KQED town hall on Monday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Day one priority is immediately making our lives better,” the Republican sheriff said. “There are so many things that are hampering that, that are making our lives difficult, and the majority of them are regulatory.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When pressed for specifics, Bianco said he would aim to lower gasoline prices by eliminating the state gas tax and regulatory fees at the pump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco has consistently polled in the double digits, even as his numbers dip approaching the wide-open June 2 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12083839/what-is-californias-jungle-primary-and-why-does-it-matter-so-much-for-the-governors-race\">primary election\u003c/a>. Despite being a longtime Donald Trump supporter, Bianco lost the president’s endorsement \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078793/trump-endorses-steve-hilton-for-california-governor-giving-gop-a-front-runner\">to Steve Hilton\u003c/a> last month — and on Monday, he warned that the former Fox News host’s lack of elected experience should concern voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To be very frank, he’s for me more dangerous than the other Democrats that are running because we have an example of what they’ll do,” Bianco said. “But with him, he’s always behind the scenes. So he’s never run for elected office, he’s never had an elected office that there’s proof of concept with. And that really is what separates me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco also took questions from Bay Area residents on public schools, housing shortages, road conditions, government fraud, the homeowner insurance crisis and immigration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are three highlights from the town hall, moderated by KQED’s Marisa Lagos:\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A vow to end sanctuary policy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Bianco was raised in a military family in Utah and moved in 1989 to California, where he’s spent more than three decades in law enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said public safety should be the number one priority for the governor and took aim at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016037/california-is-a-sanctuary-state-how-much-protection-will-that-give-immigrants-from-trumps-deportation-plans\">the state’s sanctuary policies\u003c/a>, which he said have made California less safe.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Vus2mYPQ4\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco argued that if local law enforcement is barred from coordinating with U.S. immigration enforcement about people in their custody, federal agents are forced to take their enforcement operations into communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Trump took office, he said, immigrants’ trust in law enforcement has waned, leading to a “drastic decrease in calls for service” from them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re not reporting crime anymore because the media, the politicians and everything else have now convinced them that deputies and police officers are the enemy and you have to avoid us,” he said. “And now we know they are being victimized, and they’re afraid to report it to us. That is a failure of politicians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If elected governor, Bianco said he would eliminate sanctuary policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It absolutely must be taken away because it makes us less safe,” he said. “It doesn’t make me safer. It doesn’t make you safer. And it does nothing to prevent or keep safe people who are in this country illegally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Less regulation, more homes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Bianco kept returning to his promise to reduce government regulation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Breanna Shaw, a student at San Francisco State University, said she’s been unhoused or housing-insecure her whole life. She asked Bianco how he would “address the growing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/64314/unhoused-students-face-unique-challenges-how-can-schools-help\">student housing insecurity\u003c/a> and its effect on our educated workforce.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBSOWwP4rFg\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco blamed California’s regulatory environment, saying it takes three to five years to build a home in the state, compared with 90 days elsewhere. Much of the price of a home, he said, goes toward recovering fees and permits, driving builders away from affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are no homes, affordable homes, for kids or first-time buyers,” he said. “That’s not like that in any other state. It’s only California because of the regulatory environment. And as the governor, I can remove that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Allegations of waste, fraud and abuse\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Bianco said California has “never had a money problem,” but instead has a “horrific spending problem and a lack-of-accountability problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rose Usher, a disabled senior who could not make it to the event, submitted a question in advance about government fraud, saying it concerns her because it reduces the funding and availability of services she relies on. She asked what Bianco would do about issues like senior housing fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1K0MSe6EmA\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In response, Bianco said he would audit “every single dollar” that flows from the governor’s budget for fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our own state Finance [Department] has said that we are the most corrupt government in the country as far as fraud, waste and abuse is concerned because we do nothing to track fraud, find fraud, stop fraud, and we just keep letting it happen,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He went after the state Department of Justice for failing in its responsibility to root out fraud, accusing the department of spending too much of its budget on attorneys instead of investigators.[aside postID=news_12083839 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3319_1_qed.jpg']“Life should not be about suing people, it should be about going and finding the fraud,” Bianco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco’s focus on fraud has extended beyond state spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080702/internal-emails-show-how-fringe-groups-fueled-sheriff-chad-biancos-ballot-seizure\">seized hundreds of thousands of ballots\u003c/a> from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, launching an investigation into allegations of election fraud in the November special election on Proposition 50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Bianco ignored objections to the investigation from state Attorney General Rob Bonta, the California Supreme Court in April ordered him to halt the investigation and took up Bonta’s case, questioning whether the seizure and investigation were lawful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Here’s the dishonesty from the attorney general: They want you to believe I did something wrong,” Bianco said. “There is absolutely nothing wrong of what I did.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco told \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/04/07/chad-bianco-riverside-ballot-seizure/\">the \u003cem>Washington Post\u003c/em>\u003c/a> he would also consider seizing ballots in the primary election if there are allegations of misconduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco presented a gubernatorial agenda focused on shrinking government, rooting out fraud and ending California's sanctuary policy.",
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"title": "Chad Bianco Pitches Deregulation and a Focus on Fraud at KQED Governor Town Hall | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a>, who has held on as a contender in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/2026-governors-race\">race for California governor\u003c/a>, laid out a deregulatory agenda at a KQED town hall on Monday night.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Day one priority is immediately making our lives better,” the Republican sheriff said. “There are so many things that are hampering that, that are making our lives difficult, and the majority of them are regulatory.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When pressed for specifics, Bianco said he would aim to lower gasoline prices by eliminating the state gas tax and regulatory fees at the pump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco has consistently polled in the double digits, even as his numbers dip approaching the wide-open June 2 \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12083839/what-is-californias-jungle-primary-and-why-does-it-matter-so-much-for-the-governors-race\">primary election\u003c/a>. Despite being a longtime Donald Trump supporter, Bianco lost the president’s endorsement \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078793/trump-endorses-steve-hilton-for-california-governor-giving-gop-a-front-runner\">to Steve Hilton\u003c/a> last month — and on Monday, he warned that the former Fox News host’s lack of elected experience should concern voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“To be very frank, he’s for me more dangerous than the other Democrats that are running because we have an example of what they’ll do,” Bianco said. “But with him, he’s always behind the scenes. So he’s never run for elected office, he’s never had an elected office that there’s proof of concept with. And that really is what separates me.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco also took questions from Bay Area residents on public schools, housing shortages, road conditions, government fraud, the homeowner insurance crisis and immigration.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Here are three highlights from the town hall, moderated by KQED’s Marisa Lagos:\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A vow to end sanctuary policy\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Bianco was raised in a military family in Utah and moved in 1989 to California, where he’s spent more than three decades in law enforcement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He said public safety should be the number one priority for the governor and took aim at \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12016037/california-is-a-sanctuary-state-how-much-protection-will-that-give-immigrants-from-trumps-deportation-plans\">the state’s sanctuary policies\u003c/a>, which he said have made California less safe.\u003c/p>\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/1-Vus2mYPQ4'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/1-Vus2mYPQ4'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Bianco argued that if local law enforcement is barred from coordinating with U.S. immigration enforcement about people in their custody, federal agents are forced to take their enforcement operations into communities.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since Trump took office, he said, immigrants’ trust in law enforcement has waned, leading to a “drastic decrease in calls for service” from them.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“They’re not reporting crime anymore because the media, the politicians and everything else have now convinced them that deputies and police officers are the enemy and you have to avoid us,” he said. “And now we know they are being victimized, and they’re afraid to report it to us. That is a failure of politicians.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>If elected governor, Bianco said he would eliminate sanctuary policy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It absolutely must be taken away because it makes us less safe,” he said. “It doesn’t make me safer. It doesn’t make you safer. And it does nothing to prevent or keep safe people who are in this country illegally.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Less regulation, more homes\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Bianco kept returning to his promise to reduce government regulation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Breanna Shaw, a student at San Francisco State University, said she’s been unhoused or housing-insecure her whole life. She asked Bianco how he would “address the growing \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/mindshift/64314/unhoused-students-face-unique-challenges-how-can-schools-help\">student housing insecurity\u003c/a> and its effect on our educated workforce.”\u003c/p>\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/GBSOWwP4rFg'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/GBSOWwP4rFg'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>Bianco blamed California’s regulatory environment, saying it takes three to five years to build a home in the state, compared with 90 days elsewhere. Much of the price of a home, he said, goes toward recovering fees and permits, driving builders away from affordable housing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“There are no homes, affordable homes, for kids or first-time buyers,” he said. “That’s not like that in any other state. It’s only California because of the regulatory environment. And as the governor, I can remove that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Allegations of waste, fraud and abuse\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Bianco said California has “never had a money problem,” but instead has a “horrific spending problem and a lack-of-accountability problem.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Rose Usher, a disabled senior who could not make it to the event, submitted a question in advance about government fraud, saying it concerns her because it reduces the funding and availability of services she relies on. She asked what Bianco would do about issues like senior housing fraud.\u003c/p>\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/t1K0MSe6EmA'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/t1K0MSe6EmA'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>In response, Bianco said he would audit “every single dollar” that flows from the governor’s budget for fraud.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Our own state Finance [Department] has said that we are the most corrupt government in the country as far as fraud, waste and abuse is concerned because we do nothing to track fraud, find fraud, stop fraud, and we just keep letting it happen,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He went after the state Department of Justice for failing in its responsibility to root out fraud, accusing the department of spending too much of its budget on attorneys instead of investigators.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“Life should not be about suing people, it should be about going and finding the fraud,” Bianco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco’s focus on fraud has extended beyond state spending.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In March, he \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080702/internal-emails-show-how-fringe-groups-fueled-sheriff-chad-biancos-ballot-seizure\">seized hundreds of thousands of ballots\u003c/a> from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, launching an investigation into allegations of election fraud in the November special election on Proposition 50.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After Bianco ignored objections to the investigation from state Attorney General Rob Bonta, the California Supreme Court in April ordered him to halt the investigation and took up Bonta’s case, questioning whether the seizure and investigation were lawful.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Here’s the dishonesty from the attorney general: They want you to believe I did something wrong,” Bianco said. “There is absolutely nothing wrong of what I did.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco told \u003ca href=\"https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/04/07/chad-bianco-riverside-ballot-seizure/\">the \u003cem>Washington Post\u003c/em>\u003c/a> he would also consider seizing ballots in the primary election if there are allegations of misconduct.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "what-is-californias-jungle-primary-and-why-does-it-matter-so-much-for-the-governors-race",
"title": "What Is California's ‘Jungle Primary’ — and Why Does It Matter so Much for the Governor’s Race?",
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"headTitle": "What Is California’s ‘Jungle Primary’ — and Why Does It Matter so Much for the Governor’s Race? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>In California’s upcoming \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide\">June primary election\u003c/a>, you’ll have the opportunity to cast your ballot for any of the candidates for governor, regardless of which party you’re registered with. The top two vote-getters advance to the general election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Known as a “jungle primary,” this system is different from how most states handle their primary elections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year,\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075174/democratic-candidates-for-california-governor-defy-pressure-to-end-campaigns\"> Democrats raised the alarm\u003c/a> that two Republican gubernatorial candidates may move to the general election, locking out Democrats despite outnumbering Republican registered voters almost two to one. That’s because the crowded field of Democratic candidates threatens to split the party’s vote. Until recently, multiple polls have shown the two Republicans, former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, polling at the top of the race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Driven in part by these concerns, critics of the top-two primary have now filed a ballot initiative that would repeal this system and return California to party-based primaries, potentially as early as 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But how does this top-two arrangement work? Why does California do things this way? And what are the chances of voters choosing between two GOP candidates for governor in November?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How does California’s top-two primary system work?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a traditional closed primary, such as in presidential races, voters can only choose among candidates from their own party: That is, say, registered Democrats could only vote for Democratic candidates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in a top-two primary, all candidates from all parties appear on a single ballot open to any registered voter. The two candidates with the most votes in that primary then move on to the general election, even if they’re from the same party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070752\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070752\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GettyImages-2255038550-scaled-e1775501165458.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1586\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Candidates for California’s next governor listen to a question from a union worker during the 2026 Gubernatorial Candidate Forum in Los Angeles on Jan. 10, 2026. \u003ccite>(Christina House/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kim Alexander, president and founder of the California Voter Foundation, said this is an even bigger concern for third parties in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the unfortunate byproducts” of California’s jungle primary system, Alexander said, is how “it’s really shut out a lot of minor parties from the general election and they run the risk of being kicked off the ballot altogether.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because if you don’t have candidates appearing on ballots at a certain pace, then you can’t remain an official party,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Does this really mean Californians might not get a Republican vs. Democrat race for governor in November?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That’s correct: Under the top-two primary system, the November contest could be an intraparty fight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That scenario has worried many California Democrats. With seven top Democrats crowding the field, there’s a risk of fracturing their party’s vote. Meanwhile, if enough Republican voters back both Hilton and Bianco to push them both into the top two, California could be locked into an all-Republican general election for governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081068\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081068\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3287_1_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3287_1_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3287_1_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3287_1_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Hilton, Republican gubernatorial candidate for California, left, and Tom Steyer, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for California, fist-bump prior to a gubernatorial debate at KRON Studios in San Francisco, California, on April 22, 2026. California will hold its primary election on June 2, where the top two finishers advance to the general election in November regardless of party affiliation. \u003ccite>(Jason Henry/Nexstar via Bloomberg)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In March, state Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks urged politicians in his party to take a hard look at the viability of their campaigns and drop out before the filing deadline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s leadership on the world stage is significantly harder if a Democrat is not elected as our next Governor,” Hicks wrote in an \u003ca href=\"https://cadem.org/open-letter-to-the-democratic-candidates-for-governor/\">open letter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the contenders heeded his plea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071100\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071100\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260226-GOVRACEFORUM-04-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260226-GOVRACEFORUM-04-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260226-GOVRACEFORUM-04-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260226-GOVRACEFORUM-04-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra speaks during a gubernatorial candidate forum at the UCSF Mission Bay campus in San Francisco on Jan. 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, the likelihood of Republicans shutting Democrats out of the November election \u003cem>has \u003c/em>decreased since President Donald \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078793/trump-endorses-steve-hilton-for-california-governor-giving-gop-a-front-runner\">Trump endorsed Hilton\u003c/a> in April. A clear front-runner could unify Republican voters behind Hilton and open the door for a Democrat to claim the second spot in the runoff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, the most \u003ca href=\"https://emersoncollegepolling.com/california-2026-poll-becerra-continues-to-surge-steyer-and-hilton-compete-for-second-spot/\">recent Emerson poll\u003c/a> now shows former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in the lead with 19% of likely voters for the first time in the race. Hilton and Democrat Tom Steyer are tied for second with 17%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Becerra’s surge came after former East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell — who was regarded as a front-runner for the gubernatorial primary — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079583/eric-swalwell-ends-california-governor-campaign-after-sexual-assault-allegations\">exited the race \u003c/a>last month amid sexual assault and misconduct allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why does California have this top-two system?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Historically, California required a two-thirds vote in the Legislature to pass the state budget instead of a simple majority vote.[aside label=\"From the 2026 Voter Guide\" link1='https://www.kqed.org/voterguide/governor,Learn about the California Governor Election' hero=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/80/2026/04/Aside-California-Governor-2026-Primary-Election-1200x1200@2x.png]In 2009, Democrats needed to court Republican votes to pass the state budget. Then-state Sen. Abel Maldonado, a Republican, agreed to vote yes — but only if the Legislature put a measure on the ballot to create the top-two primary system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voters approved that measure, \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/ballot/2010/14_06_2010.aspx\">Proposition 14\u003c/a>, in 2010, amending the state constitution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger backed the measure as a way to transform state politics, forcing candidates to appeal to voters across party lines and ultimately boost more moderate politicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He liked to talk about living in a post-partisan political climate,” Alexander said. “He liked the idea of candidates having to appeal to more voters than just voters of their own party, and to face competition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The system was also designed to give more influence to California’s \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ror/60day-primary-2026/historical-reg-stats.pdf\">no party preference\u003c/a> voters, who make up 23% of registered voters in the state, just behind Republicans at 25%.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Which political offices in California are decided using this system?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The top-two primary applies to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/primary-elections-california\">“voter-nominated”\u003c/a> offices: governor and other statewide positions like lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state treasurer, state controller, insurance commissioner and state board of equalization members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also covers state Senate and Assembly seats and U.S. congressional offices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jungle primary system does not apply to presidential elections, local and nonpartisan offices such as city council, school boards, judges, district attorneys or the superintendent of public instruction.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Which other states use this system?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Washington state was the first to adopt a top-two primary for congressional and state-level elections in 2004, but not for governor.[aside postID=news_12082926 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/260326-KATIE-PORTER-ON-PB-MD-03-KQED.jpg']Unlike California, Washington allows write-in candidates in the general election — a safety valve for scenarios where one party is locked out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A handful of other states use variations of the system. Nebraska’s legislature is nonpartisan, so it uses a top-two primary for state legislative races.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Louisiana uses a majority-vote system for statewide executive offices, state legislative seats and local offices. If a candidate receives a majority of the vote in the primary, they win outright. If not, there is a second round of voting with the top two vote-getters in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alaska adopted a top-four primary in 2020 for state executive, state legislative and congressional races. An effort to \u003ca href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/Alaska_Ballot_Measure_2,_Repeal_Top-Four_Ranked-Choice_Voting_Initiative_(2024)\">repeal\u003c/a> the state’s top-four primaries was narrowly defeated by voters in 2024 but will be on the \u003ca href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/Alaska_Repeal_Top-Four_Ranked-Choice_Voting_Initiative_(2026)\">ballot again\u003c/a> this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>If I’m a ‘no party preference’ voter, can I even vote in the California primary?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Yes: Any registered voter, including those with no party preference, can vote for any candidate in voter-nominated races like the governor’s contest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The top-two primary system draws no distinction based on a voter’s party registration.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Are there any efforts to get rid of California’s jungle primary?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Driven in part by concerns that Democrats could be locked out of this year’s governor’s race, a new ballot initiative seeks to repeal California’s top-two primary system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democratic strategist Steven Maviglio \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/26-0004%20%28%26quot%3BUndo%20the%20Top-Two%26quot%3B%29.pdf\">filed the initiative\u003c/a>, called “Undo the Top Two,” with the attorney general on May 8.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079476\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079476\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260226-GovRaceForum-49-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260226-GovRaceForum-49-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260226-GovRaceForum-49-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260226-GovRaceForum-49-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A state gubernatorial candidate forum at the UCSF Mission Bay campus in San Francisco on Jan. 26, 2026. The Urban League of the Bay Area hosted the forum. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He called the jungle primary a “failed experiment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The prospect of having to vote for a candidate who’s not from your party in November has really woken up a lot of voters in the state about the dangers of the top-two primary,” Maviglio said. “The chance that a Democrat would have to choose between Chad Bianco or Steve Hilton is sending a chill up the spine of a lot of Democrats.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, even if successful, Maviglio’s initiative won’t impact the 2026 election — since he hopes to place the measure on the 2028 ballot, with any changes taking effect no earlier than the 2030 elections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "The top-two primary means that, despite Democrats’ voter registration advantage in the state, California could have an all-Republican governor’s race in November.",
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"title": "What Is California's ‘Jungle Primary’ — and Why Does It Matter so Much for the Governor’s Race? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In California’s upcoming \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/voterguide\">June primary election\u003c/a>, you’ll have the opportunity to cast your ballot for any of the candidates for governor, regardless of which party you’re registered with. The top two vote-getters advance to the general election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Known as a “jungle primary,” this system is different from how most states handle their primary elections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This year,\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075174/democratic-candidates-for-california-governor-defy-pressure-to-end-campaigns\"> Democrats raised the alarm\u003c/a> that two Republican gubernatorial candidates may move to the general election, locking out Democrats despite outnumbering Republican registered voters almost two to one. That’s because the crowded field of Democratic candidates threatens to split the party’s vote. Until recently, multiple polls have shown the two Republicans, former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, polling at the top of the race.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Driven in part by these concerns, critics of the top-two primary have now filed a ballot initiative that would repeal this system and return California to party-based primaries, potentially as early as 2030.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But how does this top-two arrangement work? Why does California do things this way? And what are the chances of voters choosing between two GOP candidates for governor in November?\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>How does California’s top-two primary system work?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>In a traditional closed primary, such as in presidential races, voters can only choose among candidates from their own party: That is, say, registered Democrats could only vote for Democratic candidates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in a top-two primary, all candidates from all parties appear on a single ballot open to any registered voter. The two candidates with the most votes in that primary then move on to the general election, even if they’re from the same party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12070752\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12070752\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GettyImages-2255038550-scaled-e1775501165458.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1586\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Candidates for California’s next governor listen to a question from a union worker during the 2026 Gubernatorial Candidate Forum in Los Angeles on Jan. 10, 2026. \u003ccite>(Christina House/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Kim Alexander, president and founder of the California Voter Foundation, said this is an even bigger concern for third parties in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“One of the unfortunate byproducts” of California’s jungle primary system, Alexander said, is how “it’s really shut out a lot of minor parties from the general election and they run the risk of being kicked off the ballot altogether.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Because if you don’t have candidates appearing on ballots at a certain pace, then you can’t remain an official party,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Does this really mean Californians might not get a Republican vs. Democrat race for governor in November?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>That’s correct: Under the top-two primary system, the November contest could be an intraparty fight.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That scenario has worried many California Democrats. With seven top Democrats crowding the field, there’s a risk of fracturing their party’s vote. Meanwhile, if enough Republican voters back both Hilton and Bianco to push them both into the top two, California could be locked into an all-Republican general election for governor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081068\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081068\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3287_1_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3287_1_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3287_1_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3287_1_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Hilton, Republican gubernatorial candidate for California, left, and Tom Steyer, Democratic gubernatorial candidate for California, fist-bump prior to a gubernatorial debate at KRON Studios in San Francisco, California, on April 22, 2026. California will hold its primary election on June 2, where the top two finishers advance to the general election in November regardless of party affiliation. \u003ccite>(Jason Henry/Nexstar via Bloomberg)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>In March, state Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks urged politicians in his party to take a hard look at the viability of their campaigns and drop out before the filing deadline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California’s leadership on the world stage is significantly harder if a Democrat is not elected as our next Governor,” Hicks wrote in an \u003ca href=\"https://cadem.org/open-letter-to-the-democratic-candidates-for-governor/\">open letter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the contenders heeded his plea.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071100\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071100\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260226-GOVRACEFORUM-04-BL-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260226-GOVRACEFORUM-04-BL-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260226-GOVRACEFORUM-04-BL-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260226-GOVRACEFORUM-04-BL-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra speaks during a gubernatorial candidate forum at the UCSF Mission Bay campus in San Francisco on Jan. 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>However, the likelihood of Republicans shutting Democrats out of the November election \u003cem>has \u003c/em>decreased since President Donald \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078793/trump-endorses-steve-hilton-for-california-governor-giving-gop-a-front-runner\">Trump endorsed Hilton\u003c/a> in April. A clear front-runner could unify Republican voters behind Hilton and open the door for a Democrat to claim the second spot in the runoff.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Plus, the most \u003ca href=\"https://emersoncollegepolling.com/california-2026-poll-becerra-continues-to-surge-steyer-and-hilton-compete-for-second-spot/\">recent Emerson poll\u003c/a> now shows former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in the lead with 19% of likely voters for the first time in the race. Hilton and Democrat Tom Steyer are tied for second with 17%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Becerra’s surge came after former East Bay Rep. Eric Swalwell — who was regarded as a front-runner for the gubernatorial primary — \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079583/eric-swalwell-ends-california-governor-campaign-after-sexual-assault-allegations\">exited the race \u003c/a>last month amid sexual assault and misconduct allegations.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Why does California have this top-two system?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Historically, California required a two-thirds vote in the Legislature to pass the state budget instead of a simple majority vote.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>In 2009, Democrats needed to court Republican votes to pass the state budget. Then-state Sen. Abel Maldonado, a Republican, agreed to vote yes — but only if the Legislature put a measure on the ballot to create the top-two primary system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voters approved that measure, \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/ballot/2010/14_06_2010.aspx\">Proposition 14\u003c/a>, in 2010, amending the state constitution.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger backed the measure as a way to transform state politics, forcing candidates to appeal to voters across party lines and ultimately boost more moderate politicians.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He liked to talk about living in a post-partisan political climate,” Alexander said. “He liked the idea of candidates having to appeal to more voters than just voters of their own party, and to face competition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The system was also designed to give more influence to California’s \u003ca href=\"https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/ror/60day-primary-2026/historical-reg-stats.pdf\">no party preference\u003c/a> voters, who make up 23% of registered voters in the state, just behind Republicans at 25%.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Which political offices in California are decided using this system?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The top-two primary applies to \u003ca href=\"https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/primary-elections-california\">“voter-nominated”\u003c/a> offices: governor and other statewide positions like lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state, state treasurer, state controller, insurance commissioner and state board of equalization members.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It also covers state Senate and Assembly seats and U.S. congressional offices.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The jungle primary system does not apply to presidential elections, local and nonpartisan offices such as city council, school boards, judges, district attorneys or the superintendent of public instruction.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Which other states use this system?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Washington state was the first to adopt a top-two primary for congressional and state-level elections in 2004, but not for governor.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Unlike California, Washington allows write-in candidates in the general election — a safety valve for scenarios where one party is locked out.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A handful of other states use variations of the system. Nebraska’s legislature is nonpartisan, so it uses a top-two primary for state legislative races.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Louisiana uses a majority-vote system for statewide executive offices, state legislative seats and local offices. If a candidate receives a majority of the vote in the primary, they win outright. If not, there is a second round of voting with the top two vote-getters in November.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Alaska adopted a top-four primary in 2020 for state executive, state legislative and congressional races. An effort to \u003ca href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/Alaska_Ballot_Measure_2,_Repeal_Top-Four_Ranked-Choice_Voting_Initiative_(2024)\">repeal\u003c/a> the state’s top-four primaries was narrowly defeated by voters in 2024 but will be on the \u003ca href=\"https://ballotpedia.org/Alaska_Repeal_Top-Four_Ranked-Choice_Voting_Initiative_(2026)\">ballot again\u003c/a> this year.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>If I’m a ‘no party preference’ voter, can I even vote in the California primary?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Yes: Any registered voter, including those with no party preference, can vote for any candidate in voter-nominated races like the governor’s contest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The top-two primary system draws no distinction based on a voter’s party registration.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Are there any efforts to get rid of California’s jungle primary?\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Driven in part by concerns that Democrats could be locked out of this year’s governor’s race, a new ballot initiative seeks to repeal California’s top-two primary system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democratic strategist Steven Maviglio \u003ca href=\"https://oag.ca.gov/system/files/initiatives/pdfs/26-0004%20%28%26quot%3BUndo%20the%20Top-Two%26quot%3B%29.pdf\">filed the initiative\u003c/a>, called “Undo the Top Two,” with the attorney general on May 8.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12079476\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12079476\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260226-GovRaceForum-49-BL_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260226-GovRaceForum-49-BL_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260226-GovRaceForum-49-BL_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/260226-GovRaceForum-49-BL_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A state gubernatorial candidate forum at the UCSF Mission Bay campus in San Francisco on Jan. 26, 2026. The Urban League of the Bay Area hosted the forum. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>He called the jungle primary a “failed experiment.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The prospect of having to vote for a candidate who’s not from your party in November has really woken up a lot of voters in the state about the dangers of the top-two primary,” Maviglio said. “The chance that a Democrat would have to choose between Chad Bianco or Steve Hilton is sending a chill up the spine of a lot of Democrats.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, even if successful, Maviglio’s initiative won’t impact the 2026 election — since he hopes to place the measure on the 2028 ballot, with any changes taking effect no earlier than the 2030 elections.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, May 13, 2026\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the crowded field of mostly Democratic candidates vying to be California’s next governor, one MAGA Republican has had surprising staying power. That’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.\u003c/a> He’s recently been in national headlines for seizing hundreds of thousands of ballots, among other controversies. Bianco has built his profile on bashing the state’s Democrats and Governor Gavin Newsom. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The World Cup is officially one month away. And \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/los-angeles-activities/world-cup-la-advocates-say-human-rights-are-an-afterthought\">some LA advocates\u003c/a> aren’t happy about how organizers plan to address human rights. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Riverside County Sheriff stays consistent in attack on Democrats as race for governor winds down\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a> has consistently polled in the top 4-5 candidates since he entered the race for California governor. In the final month before the June primary, he continues his attacks on Democrats in Sacramento and Governor Gavin Newsom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want government out of the way of growth in California so we can once again finally prosper. It’s going to be like California will be more prosperous than at any time in its history, and I will liken it to the Gold Rush years,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco blames Democrats for ruining the state he said he fell in love with as a kid visiting from Utah. “Our businesses are leaving. Our workers are leaving. Our kids can’t afford to live here. There’s nothing good coming from the current Democrat Party,” Bianco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco’s campaign has not been without controversy. He’s an ardent supporter of President Trump and recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.kvcrnews.org/local-news/2026-03-20/riverside-sheriff-says-ag-is-interfering-in-election-investigation\">seized hundreds of thousands of ballots\u003c/a> from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, based on a tip from a citizens group that alleged election fraud. Election officials have said the claims are baseless, but Bianco said he has to investigate crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco said one of his top priorities as governor would be to kill the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. He’d also get rid of the Coastal Commission and the California Air Resources Board. Those are some of the state’s bedrock environmental protections.\u003cbr>\n“Those are the issues that cause our cost of living to go up,” Bianco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"ArticlePage-headline\">\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/los-angeles-activities/world-cup-la-advocates-say-human-rights-are-an-afterthought\">\u003cstrong>A month out from World Cup, LA advocates say human rights are an afterthought\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Los Angeles World Cup host committee has quietly posted its guidance on human rights after months of speculation over where the plan was and when it would be published.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates had pushed the committee, an arm of the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission, to produce its plan. But now that it’s out, they’re not satisfied with what they’re seeing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The human rights guidance\u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/04/29/nx-s1-5787871/world-cup-cities-slow-to-reveal-fifa-required-human-rights-protection-plans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu> is required by FIFA\u003c/u>\u003c/a> and outlined on \u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://losangelesfwc26.com/human-rights/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu>the host committee’s website\u003c/u>\u003c/a>. It includes a list of online resources including where to file complaints with various local and state level agencies and a summary of local, state and federal laws protecting human and civil rights. The committee is also touting a partnership with L.A. County in which people can \u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://211la.org/humanrights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu>call 211 to report a concern during the tournament\u003c/u>\u003c/a>. “Los Angeles is weeks away from hosting one of the largest sporting events in the world, and yet what has been posted is not a plan,” Stephanie Richard, director of the Sunita Jain Anti‑Trafficking Initiative at Loyola Law School, said in a statement. “It is a list of laws and hotline numbers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The human rights document also skirts fears around ICE and its potential presence at the tournament and surrounding celebrations. Todd Lyons, the agency’s head, said earlier this year that ICE’s investigatory branch \u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://laist.com/news/ice-confirms-at-world-cup-la-advocates-raise-alarm-over-human-rights\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu>will play a key role in security for the tournament. \u003c/u>\u003c/a>But ICE and immigration enforcement aren’t mentioned on the host committee’s web page on human rights or in its outline of its approach to human rights. “Immigration status” only gets a mention in the list of existing anti-discrimination laws. “It certainly could have been much stronger,” Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, said of the plan. She added that her organization participated in a roundtable on the plan, and she was disappointed ICE and recent immigration sweeps weren’t mentioned in the resulting document.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LAist reached out to spokespeople for the host committee for comment via email, phone and text, but did not hear back in time for publication. FIFA’s press team also did not respond to an email from LAist. According to the host committee’s website, the human rights plan is the result of coordination with the city and county of Los Angeles, the city of Inglewood, and 14 roundtable discussions held in the fall of 2025.\u003c/p>\n\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cb>Here are the morning’s top stories on Wednesday, May 13, 2026\u003c/b>\u003c/p>\n\u003cul>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">In the crowded field of mostly Democratic candidates vying to be California’s next governor, one MAGA Republican has had surprising staying power. That’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.\u003c/a> He’s recently been in national headlines for seizing hundreds of thousands of ballots, among other controversies. Bianco has built his profile on bashing the state’s Democrats and Governor Gavin Newsom. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003cli style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u003cspan style=\"font-weight: 400\">The World Cup is officially one month away. And \u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/los-angeles-activities/world-cup-la-advocates-say-human-rights-are-an-afterthought\">some LA advocates\u003c/a> aren’t happy about how organizers plan to address human rights. \u003c/span>\u003c/li>\n\u003c/ul>\n\u003ch2>\u003cstrong>Riverside County Sheriff stays consistent in attack on Democrats as race for governor winds down\u003c/strong>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a> has consistently polled in the top 4-5 candidates since he entered the race for California governor. In the final month before the June primary, he continues his attacks on Democrats in Sacramento and Governor Gavin Newsom.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I want government out of the way of growth in California so we can once again finally prosper. It’s going to be like California will be more prosperous than at any time in its history, and I will liken it to the Gold Rush years,” he said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco blames Democrats for ruining the state he said he fell in love with as a kid visiting from Utah. “Our businesses are leaving. Our workers are leaving. Our kids can’t afford to live here. There’s nothing good coming from the current Democrat Party,” Bianco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco’s campaign has not been without controversy. He’s an ardent supporter of President Trump and recently \u003ca href=\"https://www.kvcrnews.org/local-news/2026-03-20/riverside-sheriff-says-ag-is-interfering-in-election-investigation\">seized hundreds of thousands of ballots\u003c/a> from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters, based on a tip from a citizens group that alleged election fraud. Election officials have said the claims are baseless, but Bianco said he has to investigate crime.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco said one of his top priorities as governor would be to kill the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA. He’d also get rid of the Coastal Commission and the California Air Resources Board. Those are some of the state’s bedrock environmental protections.\u003cbr>\n“Those are the issues that cause our cost of living to go up,” Bianco said.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2 class=\"ArticlePage-headline\">\u003ca href=\"https://laist.com/news/los-angeles-activities/world-cup-la-advocates-say-human-rights-are-an-afterthought\">\u003cstrong>A month out from World Cup, LA advocates say human rights are an afterthought\u003c/strong>\u003c/a>\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>The Los Angeles World Cup host committee has quietly posted its guidance on human rights after months of speculation over where the plan was and when it would be published.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Advocates had pushed the committee, an arm of the Los Angeles Sports & Entertainment Commission, to produce its plan. But now that it’s out, they’re not satisfied with what they’re seeing.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The human rights guidance\u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://www.npr.org/2026/04/29/nx-s1-5787871/world-cup-cities-slow-to-reveal-fifa-required-human-rights-protection-plans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu> is required by FIFA\u003c/u>\u003c/a> and outlined on \u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://losangelesfwc26.com/human-rights/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu>the host committee’s website\u003c/u>\u003c/a>. It includes a list of online resources including where to file complaints with various local and state level agencies and a summary of local, state and federal laws protecting human and civil rights. The committee is also touting a partnership with L.A. County in which people can \u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://211la.org/humanrights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu>call 211 to report a concern during the tournament\u003c/u>\u003c/a>. “Los Angeles is weeks away from hosting one of the largest sporting events in the world, and yet what has been posted is not a plan,” Stephanie Richard, director of the Sunita Jain Anti‑Trafficking Initiative at Loyola Law School, said in a statement. “It is a list of laws and hotline numbers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The human rights document also skirts fears around ICE and its potential presence at the tournament and surrounding celebrations. Todd Lyons, the agency’s head, said earlier this year that ICE’s investigatory branch \u003ca class=\"Link\" href=\"https://laist.com/news/ice-confirms-at-world-cup-la-advocates-raise-alarm-over-human-rights\" data-cms-ai=\"0\">\u003cu>will play a key role in security for the tournament. \u003c/u>\u003c/a>But ICE and immigration enforcement aren’t mentioned on the host committee’s web page on human rights or in its outline of its approach to human rights. “Immigration status” only gets a mention in the list of existing anti-discrimination laws. “It certainly could have been much stronger,” Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles, said of the plan. She added that her organization participated in a roundtable on the plan, and she was disappointed ICE and recent immigration sweeps weren’t mentioned in the resulting document.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>LAist reached out to spokespeople for the host committee for comment via email, phone and text, but did not hear back in time for publication. FIFA’s press team also did not respond to an email from LAist. According to the host committee’s website, the human rights plan is the result of coordination with the city and county of Los Angeles, the city of Inglewood, and 14 roundtable discussions held in the fall of 2025.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "heres-how-the-candidates-for-governor-would-make-california-more-affordable",
"title": "Here’s How the Candidates for Governor Would Make California More Affordable",
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"content": "\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cem>How We Get By\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cem>full series here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s next governor will inherit an affordability crisis that defies easy fixes: housing costs that have outpaced incomes for years, electricity rates among the highest in the nation, and gas prices nearly $2 above the national average — all in a state whose economy remains the envy of the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074132/xavier-becerra-on-why-his-upbringing-and-career-give-him-an-edge-over-other-gubernatorial-candidates\">Xavier Becerra\u003c/a>, the former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary and a Democratic candidate for governor, rattled off some of the biggest cost pressures as he spoke to more than 300 people in a high school gym in Concord last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The cost of affording a home, your health care, groceries, gasoline,” he said. “That cost of living crisis that we face here — it becomes existential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The price of housing and energy has been unaffordable for Californians long before a post-pandemic surge in inflation made the cost of living the top concern for voters across America — and a potent political cudgel for politicians from President Donald Trump to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it’s no surprise that, in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082125/inside-californias-billionaire-tax-fight-and-the-wide-open-governors-race\">most competitive primary\u003c/a> for California governor in a generation, candidates from both parties are making affordability central to their campaigns, vowing to ease a cost crunch fueled in part by the state’s top-heavy economy, strict land-use policies and complicated transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is often leading the nation — most of the time, that’s for good,” said Neale Mahoney, director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. “But on some of these issues, we’ve been the canary in the coal mine for some of the problems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082334\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082334 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260423_-XAVIERBECERRA_EG_004-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260423_-XAVIERBECERRA_EG_004-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260423_-XAVIERBECERRA_EG_004-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260423_-XAVIERBECERRA_EG_004-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mark Murphy, center-left, and friend Kimberley J. Rodler, hold handmade signs in support of Xavier Becerra’s gubernatorial bid during a campaign event at Mount Diablo High School in Concord on Thursday, April 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The challenge: affordability has come to encompass such a wide range of cost pressures that the next governor could struggle to even define success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While leading candidates in both parties agree that housing costs are the greatest strain on residents’ budgets, other affordability proposals run the gamut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the Democrats, Becerra is vowing to freeze utility rates and home insurance premiums; investor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075769/tom-steyer-lays-out-vision-for-a-more-affordable-california-in-run-for-governor\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a> wants to return windfall oil profits to residents; San José Mayor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075490/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-positions-himself-as-a-change-candidate-in-governors-race\">Matt Mahan\u003c/a> would pause the gas tax, and former congressmember \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078450/katie-porters-run-for-governor-centers-tax-cuts-corporate-accountability\">Katie Porter\u003c/a> is promising free child care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the Republican side, former Fox News commentator \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071133/former-fox-news-host-steve-hilton-lays-out-vision-for-california-governorship\">Steve Hilton\u003c/a> wants to cut taxes and car registration fees, while Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a> vows to bring down gas prices by encouraging oil production in the state.[aside label=\"From the 2026 Voter Guide\" link1='https://www.kqed.org/voterguide/governor,Learn about the California Governor Election' hero=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/80/2026/04/Aside-California-Governor-2026-Primary-Election-1200x1200@2x.png]The specifics may differ, but the political upside of running a campaign focused on affordability is undeniable. Trump hammered former Vice President Kamala Harris over inflation on his way to victory in 2024. The following year, Mamdani made the cost of rent and transit a centerpiece of his successful campaign for mayor — while fellow Democrats won governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia on affordability platforms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the California governor’s race, candidates have leaned into their own personal histories as they attempt to connect with voters struggling with rising costs. Becerra has shared stories of his immigrant parents saving up to buy a house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahan has recounted his working-class upbringing in the farming town of Watsonville. Hilton has pointed to his humble beginnings as the son of Hungarian refugees in London, and Porter has openly discussed the struggle of raising a family in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m the single mom of three teenagers who believe they will not be able to buy houses here in California,” Porter said at a debate hosted by CBS in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voters like Luis Hernandez, who attended Becerra’s event in Concord, are looking for more than just campaign rhetoric. Hernandez is self-employed and buys health insurance through the Covered California exchange. He bemoaned rising premiums that are eating into his earnings and wants to know how the former attorney general plans to lower costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Home insurance, car insurance and the worst is health insurance,” Hernandez said. “Everything is going up, so it’s tough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Traditional metrics for measuring affordability don’t neatly capture voter angst about cost pressures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082354\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082354\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260504_KATIEPORTERTOWNHALL_GC-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1307\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260504_KATIEPORTERTOWNHALL_GC-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260504_KATIEPORTERTOWNHALL_GC-11-KQED-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260504_KATIEPORTERTOWNHALL_GC-11-KQED-1536x1004.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter (D) speaks during a town hall at KQED on May 4, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A longstanding gauge of purchasing power is real income, which measures pay after taking into account price increases. Real personal income \u003ca href=\"https://www.bea.gov/data/income-saving/real-personal-income-states\">increased by\u003c/a> 5.5% in California between 2023 and 2024 — the largest jump in the nation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. And real income for the median household in the state has \u003ca href=\"https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSCAA672N\">risen to new highs\u003c/a> after a post-pandemic decline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies \u003ca href=\"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8dj134w8\">survey\u003c/a> last month found a whopping 40% of likely voters picked “reducing the cost of living” as a top priority of California’s next governor. No other issue came close — and voters also prioritized specific cost-related solutions, such as building affordable housing (12%), lowering gas prices (10%), reducing health care costs (7%) and cutting utility rates (4%).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What the macroeconomic statistics miss is that the most acute price pressures are on essential goods and services that are hardest for Californians to substitute, Mahoney said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe the price of a flat screen TV has decreased, and that’s great,” Mahoney said. “But the price for health care, the price for housing … these are really essentials and price increases there hit in a really inescapable way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081062\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081062\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3852_1_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3852_1_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3852_1_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3852_1_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chad Bianco, Republican gubernatorial candidate for California, speaks during a gubernatorial debate at KRON Studios in San Francisco, California, US, on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. California will hold its primary election on June 2, where the top two finishers advance to the general election in November regardless of party affiliation. \u003ccite>(Jason Henry/Nexstar/Bloomberg)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nowhere is that more evident than the cost of housing. The median home value in California is more than twice the national average, putting homeownership, long a key pathway to middle-class financial security, increasingly out of reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/793\">new report\u003c/a> from the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office found that a mid-tier home in California (a house with a value in the 35th to 65th percentile) costs about $775,000. Since 2020, the income needed to qualify for a mortgage on a mid-tier home has increased far more quickly than median household income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While home prices have stabilized, housing has become less affordable for most Californians in recent years,” the report found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The leading contenders for governor share a focus on the supply side of the housing equation: finding ways to increase development and construction by streamlining or removing regulations and easing local zoning restrictions.[aside label=\"2026 California Voter Guide\" link1='https://www.kqed.org/voterguide,Learn everything you need to cast an informed ballot for the 2026 primary election' hero=https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/80/2026/04/Aside-California-Voter-Guide-2026-Primary-Election-1200x1200@2x.png]While Democrats Becerra, Porter and Steyer said they will focus their efforts on promoting denser housing near transit, Republicans Bianco and Hilton have argued for extending the growth of single-family neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do not have a land problem in California,” Bianco said in an April debate hosted by Nexstar. “We have a management problem, we have a government problem that we absolutely must take away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But affordability concerns in the state extend beyond the price of renting or buying a home, said Evan White, executive director of the California Policy Lab at the University of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On average, Californians pay about twice as much for housing as the average American, they pay 60% more for utilities than the average American, they pay 40% more for gas than the average American, they pay 11% more for groceries than the average American,” he said. “We’re the most expensive state by far.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of those cost pressures reflect California’s perilous position in the midst of a complicated transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. Californians are being hit with the costs of damaging wildfires fueled by years of climate pollution, while the state’s carbon-intensive oil and gas industry faces an uncertain future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gas prices in the state currently average $6.16 a gallon, per AAA — the highest in the nation. The gap between California and the national average is due in part to the cost of state fuel blend requirements, environmental regulations and what UC Berkeley professor Severin Borenstein has \u003ca href=\"https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2023/01/09/whats-the-matter-with-californias-gasoline-prices/\">dubbed\u003c/a> the “mystery gasoline surcharge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco has proposed eliminating the state’s 61-cent-per-gallon gas tax, which funds road repair and transit. Hilton wants to reduce the gas tax and suspend the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which adds about eight to 10 cents per gallon. Steyer, by contrast, said he would seek to impose a cap on refinery profits and return any profits above the cap to residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there are electricity prices, which have increased dramatically in recent years — in large part due to investments made by investor-owned utilities to prevent future wildfires. The costs of those mitigation measures, such as undergrounding wires and trimming trees, were passed along to customers of PG&E, SoCal Edison and SDG&E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082331\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082331 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/043006TOMSTEYER_GH_007-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/043006TOMSTEYER_GH_007-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/043006TOMSTEYER_GH_007-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/043006TOMSTEYER_GH_007-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer speaks during a town hall event on April 30, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Steyer has proposed cutting the utilities’ guaranteed rate of return for capital projects and making it easier for cities and counties to form publicly owned power providers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to have a different rule at the Public Utilities Commission about how they get paid,” Steyer told KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjXvKfldFlI&t=346s\">Political Breakdown\u003c/a>. “And we’re going to introduce local competition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilton is also a supporter of locally-owned utilities. He is proposing to reclassify hydropower from large dams as “renewable energy,” which he argues will reduce what utilities need to spend on wind and solar power to meet the state’s climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the next governor has the ability to make progress on reducing these cost burdens, White cautioned that the challenges won’t be fixed overnight — or alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078808\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078808\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SteveHiltonAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SteveHiltonAP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SteveHiltonAP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SteveHiltonAP-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Hilton speaks during the California gubernatorial candidate debate on Feb. 3, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Laure Andrillon/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The governor could do a lot to improve not only housing costs, but utility costs and other high costs in the state,” he said. “But they do need to be able to work with the Legislature effectively to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And even before polls close in the June 2 primary, many Californians struggling to afford life in the state have already voted with their feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White \u003ca href=\"https://capolicylab.org/priced-out-relocation-amidst-californias-affordability-crisis/\">studied the migration trends\u003c/a> of California households over the past decade. Forty-two states send fewer people to California than they did 10 years ago. And families who decided to leave California are improving their financial conditions and becoming more likely to own a home in the years after their relocation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s clear that when they move,” White said. “They’re moving to much, much, much more affordable places.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "With the cost of living ranking high on the list of concerns for Californians heading into the June 2 primary, gubernatorial candidates from both parties are centering their campaigns on affordability.",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>\u003cem>This story is part of \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cem>How We Get By\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>, a KQED series exploring how people are coping with rising costs in the Bay Area and California. Find the \u003c/em>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/affordability\">\u003cem>full series here\u003c/em>\u003c/a>\u003cem>.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>California’s next governor will inherit an affordability crisis that defies easy fixes: housing costs that have outpaced incomes for years, electricity rates among the highest in the nation, and gas prices nearly $2 above the national average — all in a state whose economy remains the envy of the country.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12074132/xavier-becerra-on-why-his-upbringing-and-career-give-him-an-edge-over-other-gubernatorial-candidates\">Xavier Becerra\u003c/a>, the former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary and a Democratic candidate for governor, rattled off some of the biggest cost pressures as he spoke to more than 300 people in a high school gym in Concord last month.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The cost of affording a home, your health care, groceries, gasoline,” he said. “That cost of living crisis that we face here — it becomes existential.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The price of housing and energy has been unaffordable for Californians long before a post-pandemic surge in inflation made the cost of living the top concern for voters across America — and a potent political cudgel for politicians from President Donald Trump to New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So it’s no surprise that, in the \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12082125/inside-californias-billionaire-tax-fight-and-the-wide-open-governors-race\">most competitive primary\u003c/a> for California governor in a generation, candidates from both parties are making affordability central to their campaigns, vowing to ease a cost crunch fueled in part by the state’s top-heavy economy, strict land-use policies and complicated transition from fossil fuels to clean energy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“California is often leading the nation — most of the time, that’s for good,” said Neale Mahoney, director of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research. “But on some of these issues, we’ve been the canary in the coal mine for some of the problems.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082334\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082334 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260423_-XAVIERBECERRA_EG_004-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260423_-XAVIERBECERRA_EG_004-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260423_-XAVIERBECERRA_EG_004-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260423_-XAVIERBECERRA_EG_004-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Mark Murphy, center-left, and friend Kimberley J. Rodler, hold handmade signs in support of Xavier Becerra’s gubernatorial bid during a campaign event at Mount Diablo High School in Concord on Thursday, April 23, 2026. \u003ccite>(Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The challenge: affordability has come to encompass such a wide range of cost pressures that the next governor could struggle to even define success.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While leading candidates in both parties agree that housing costs are the greatest strain on residents’ budgets, other affordability proposals run the gamut.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the Democrats, Becerra is vowing to freeze utility rates and home insurance premiums; investor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075769/tom-steyer-lays-out-vision-for-a-more-affordable-california-in-run-for-governor\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a> wants to return windfall oil profits to residents; San José Mayor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12075490/san-jose-mayor-matt-mahan-positions-himself-as-a-change-candidate-in-governors-race\">Matt Mahan\u003c/a> would pause the gas tax, and former congressmember \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078450/katie-porters-run-for-governor-centers-tax-cuts-corporate-accountability\">Katie Porter\u003c/a> is promising free child care.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On the Republican side, former Fox News commentator \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12071133/former-fox-news-host-steve-hilton-lays-out-vision-for-california-governorship\">Steve Hilton\u003c/a> wants to cut taxes and car registration fees, while Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12081096/riverside-county-sheriff-chad-bianco-on-his-faith-cutting-taxes-and-ballot-seizure\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a> vows to bring down gas prices by encouraging oil production in the state.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>The specifics may differ, but the political upside of running a campaign focused on affordability is undeniable. Trump hammered former Vice President Kamala Harris over inflation on his way to victory in 2024. The following year, Mamdani made the cost of rent and transit a centerpiece of his successful campaign for mayor — while fellow Democrats won governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia on affordability platforms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the California governor’s race, candidates have leaned into their own personal histories as they attempt to connect with voters struggling with rising costs. Becerra has shared stories of his immigrant parents saving up to buy a house.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mahan has recounted his working-class upbringing in the farming town of Watsonville. Hilton has pointed to his humble beginnings as the son of Hungarian refugees in London, and Porter has openly discussed the struggle of raising a family in the state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’m the single mom of three teenagers who believe they will not be able to buy houses here in California,” Porter said at a debate hosted by CBS in April.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voters like Luis Hernandez, who attended Becerra’s event in Concord, are looking for more than just campaign rhetoric. Hernandez is self-employed and buys health insurance through the Covered California exchange. He bemoaned rising premiums that are eating into his earnings and wants to know how the former attorney general plans to lower costs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Home insurance, car insurance and the worst is health insurance,” Hernandez said. “Everything is going up, so it’s tough.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Traditional metrics for measuring affordability don’t neatly capture voter angst about cost pressures.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082354\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12082354\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260504_KATIEPORTERTOWNHALL_GC-11-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1307\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260504_KATIEPORTERTOWNHALL_GC-11-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260504_KATIEPORTERTOWNHALL_GC-11-KQED-160x105.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/20260504_KATIEPORTERTOWNHALL_GC-11-KQED-1536x1004.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter (D) speaks during a town hall at KQED on May 4, 2026. \u003ccite>(Gina Castro for KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>A longstanding gauge of purchasing power is real income, which measures pay after taking into account price increases. Real personal income \u003ca href=\"https://www.bea.gov/data/income-saving/real-personal-income-states\">increased by\u003c/a> 5.5% in California between 2023 and 2024 — the largest jump in the nation, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. And real income for the median household in the state has \u003ca href=\"https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/MEHOINUSCAA672N\">risen to new highs\u003c/a> after a post-pandemic decline.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Yet a UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies \u003ca href=\"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8dj134w8\">survey\u003c/a> last month found a whopping 40% of likely voters picked “reducing the cost of living” as a top priority of California’s next governor. No other issue came close — and voters also prioritized specific cost-related solutions, such as building affordable housing (12%), lowering gas prices (10%), reducing health care costs (7%) and cutting utility rates (4%).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>What the macroeconomic statistics miss is that the most acute price pressures are on essential goods and services that are hardest for Californians to substitute, Mahoney said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Maybe the price of a flat screen TV has decreased, and that’s great,” Mahoney said. “But the price for health care, the price for housing … these are really essentials and price increases there hit in a really inescapable way.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12081062\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12081062\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3852_1_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3852_1_qed.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3852_1_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/FTP_9P3A3852_1_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Chad Bianco, Republican gubernatorial candidate for California, speaks during a gubernatorial debate at KRON Studios in San Francisco, California, US, on Wednesday, April 22, 2026. California will hold its primary election on June 2, where the top two finishers advance to the general election in November regardless of party affiliation. \u003ccite>(Jason Henry/Nexstar/Bloomberg)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Nowhere is that more evident than the cost of housing. The median home value in California is more than twice the national average, putting homeownership, long a key pathway to middle-class financial security, increasingly out of reach.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/LAOEconTax/Article/Detail/793\">new report\u003c/a> from the state’s Legislative Analyst’s Office found that a mid-tier home in California (a house with a value in the 35th to 65th percentile) costs about $775,000. Since 2020, the income needed to qualify for a mortgage on a mid-tier home has increased far more quickly than median household income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“While home prices have stabilized, housing has become less affordable for most Californians in recent years,” the report found.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The leading contenders for governor share a focus on the supply side of the housing equation: finding ways to increase development and construction by streamlining or removing regulations and easing local zoning restrictions.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>While Democrats Becerra, Porter and Steyer said they will focus their efforts on promoting denser housing near transit, Republicans Bianco and Hilton have argued for extending the growth of single-family neighborhoods.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We do not have a land problem in California,” Bianco said in an April debate hosted by Nexstar. “We have a management problem, we have a government problem that we absolutely must take away.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But affordability concerns in the state extend beyond the price of renting or buying a home, said Evan White, executive director of the California Policy Lab at the University of California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“On average, Californians pay about twice as much for housing as the average American, they pay 60% more for utilities than the average American, they pay 40% more for gas than the average American, they pay 11% more for groceries than the average American,” he said. “We’re the most expensive state by far.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Many of those cost pressures reflect California’s perilous position in the midst of a complicated transition from fossil fuels to clean energy. Californians are being hit with the costs of damaging wildfires fueled by years of climate pollution, while the state’s carbon-intensive oil and gas industry faces an uncertain future.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Gas prices in the state currently average $6.16 a gallon, per AAA — the highest in the nation. The gap between California and the national average is due in part to the cost of state fuel blend requirements, environmental regulations and what UC Berkeley professor Severin Borenstein has \u003ca href=\"https://energyathaas.wordpress.com/2023/01/09/whats-the-matter-with-californias-gasoline-prices/\">dubbed\u003c/a> the “mystery gasoline surcharge.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco has proposed eliminating the state’s 61-cent-per-gallon gas tax, which funds road repair and transit. Hilton wants to reduce the gas tax and suspend the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which adds about eight to 10 cents per gallon. Steyer, by contrast, said he would seek to impose a cap on refinery profits and return any profits above the cap to residents.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then there are electricity prices, which have increased dramatically in recent years — in large part due to investments made by investor-owned utilities to prevent future wildfires. The costs of those mitigation measures, such as undergrounding wires and trimming trees, were passed along to customers of PG&E, SoCal Edison and SDG&E.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12082331\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-12082331 size-full\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/043006TOMSTEYER_GH_007-KQED.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/043006TOMSTEYER_GH_007-KQED.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/043006TOMSTEYER_GH_007-KQED-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/05/043006TOMSTEYER_GH_007-KQED-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer speaks during a town hall event on April 30, 2026, in San José. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Steyer has proposed cutting the utilities’ guaranteed rate of return for capital projects and making it easier for cities and counties to form publicly owned power providers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“We’re going to have a different rule at the Public Utilities Commission about how they get paid,” Steyer told KQED’s \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjXvKfldFlI&t=346s\">Political Breakdown\u003c/a>. “And we’re going to introduce local competition.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilton is also a supporter of locally-owned utilities. He is proposing to reclassify hydropower from large dams as “renewable energy,” which he argues will reduce what utilities need to spend on wind and solar power to meet the state’s climate goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>While the next governor has the ability to make progress on reducing these cost burdens, White cautioned that the challenges won’t be fixed overnight — or alone.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12078808\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12078808\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SteveHiltonAP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SteveHiltonAP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SteveHiltonAP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/SteveHiltonAP-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Hilton speaks during the California gubernatorial candidate debate on Feb. 3, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Laure Andrillon/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“The governor could do a lot to improve not only housing costs, but utility costs and other high costs in the state,” he said. “But they do need to be able to work with the Legislature effectively to do that.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And even before polls close in the June 2 primary, many Californians struggling to afford life in the state have already voted with their feet.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>White \u003ca href=\"https://capolicylab.org/priced-out-relocation-amidst-californias-affordability-crisis/\">studied the migration trends\u003c/a> of California households over the past decade. Forty-two states send fewer people to California than they did 10 years ago. And families who decided to leave California are improving their financial conditions and becoming more likely to own a home in the years after their relocation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“It’s clear that when they move,” White said. “They’re moving to much, much, much more affordable places.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is one of the top polling candidates in the race for California governor. The Republican contender has spent his career in law enforcement, and despite being a longtime supporter of President Donald Trump, Bianco did not win the president’s endorsement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco sits down with Marisa to talk about his pledge to cut taxes and spending. They discuss his being “raised by a town of men” in Utah, how his evangelical faith shapes his approach to public service and how his experience as a sheriff equips him to govern the state. He also addresses his past membership in the Oath Keepers militia group and why his office \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080702/internal-emails-show-how-fringe-groups-fueled-sheriff-chad-biancos-ballot-seizure\">seized hundreds of thousands of ballots\u003c/a> from the 2025 election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KygOFVgDmPU\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This interview is part of a series of conversations with the 2026 gubernatorial candidates for California. The primary election is June 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Check out \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/newsletters/political-breakdown\">Political Breakdown’s weekly newsletter\u003c/a>, delivered straight to your inbox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is one of the top polling candidates in the race for California governor. The Republican contender has spent his career in law enforcement, and despite being a longtime supporter of President Donald Trump, Bianco did not win the president’s endorsement.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco sits down with Marisa to talk about his pledge to cut taxes and spending. They discuss his being “raised by a town of men” in Utah, how his evangelical faith shapes his approach to public service and how his experience as a sheriff equips him to govern the state. He also addresses his past membership in the Oath Keepers militia group and why his office \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12080702/internal-emails-show-how-fringe-groups-fueled-sheriff-chad-biancos-ballot-seizure\">seized hundreds of thousands of ballots\u003c/a> from the 2025 election.\u003c/p>\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/KygOFVgDmPU'\n title='//www.youtube.com/embed/KygOFVgDmPU'\n allowfullscreen='true'\n style='border:0;'>\u003c/iframe>\n \u003c/span>\n \u003c/span>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003cp>This interview is part of a series of conversations with the 2026 gubernatorial candidates for California. The primary election is June 2.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Check out \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/newsletters/political-breakdown\">Political Breakdown’s weekly newsletter\u003c/a>, delivered straight to your inbox.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cp>Before former Rep. Eric Swalwell \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079583\">ended his campaign\u003c/a> for California governor and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079746/rep-eric-swalwell-says-he-is-resigning-from-congress-amid-sexual-assault-allegations\">resigned\u003c/a> from his seat in Congress, the Dublin native was consolidating support among Bay Area voters ahead of the June 2 primary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That all changed when former staff members \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079502/rep-eric-swalwell-candidate-for-california-governor-is-accused-of-sexual-assault\">accused\u003c/a> Swalwell of sexual assault and inappropriate sexual behavior in a pair of bombshell reports from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/eric-swalwell-allegations-22198271.php\">\u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/10/us/eric-swalwell-sexual-misconduct-allegations-invs\">CNN\u003c/a>. With the disgraced congressmember now out of the race, the other Democrats running for governor are redoubling their efforts to attract support in the progressive, vote-rich Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swalwell was scheduled to answer questions from residents in a KQED town hall on May 13. We reached out to locals who had signed up to see how they are viewing the race now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dion Coakley of San Francisco had initially supported \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034105/xavier-becerra-enters-california-governors-race-citing-break-glass-moment\">Xavier Becerra\u003c/a>, the former state attorney general and U.S. Health and Human Services secretary. But Becerra hadn’t gained serious traction in the polls, and Coakley feared a fractured Democratic vote could \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073986/california-democrats-descend-on-sf-as-party-rifts-emerge\">allow two Republicans to advance\u003c/a> from the top-two primary to the general election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Which is kind of how I was coming to Swalwell — just the fact that he might be able to beat out one of these Republicans,” Coakley said. “Thank God this didn’t come out six weeks from now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In public polling before the scandal, Swalwell was running neck-and-neck with two other Democrats — former Rep. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078450/katie-porters-run-for-governor-centers-tax-cuts-corporate-accountability\">Katie Porter\u003c/a> and billionaire investor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064558/billionaire-climate-activist-tom-steyer-enters-2026-california-governors-race\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a> — and two Republicans: Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chad-bianco\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/steve-hilton\">Steve Hilton\u003c/a>, a conservative political commentator and former Fox News host. In California, all candidates appear on the ballot together, regardless of party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080156\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080156\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9314_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9314_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9314_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9314_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supporters of Tom Steyer hold campaign signs during the California Democratic Party 2026 State Convention on Feb. 21, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Swalwell had built an edge on his home turf.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a survey released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California, 28% of likely voters in the Bay Area supported Swalwell — more than double the support of Steyer (12%), Hilton (11%), Mahan (11%) and Porter (10%).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swalwell is a former Alameda County prosecutor and Dublin city councilmember who has represented the East Bay in Congress since 2013. The seat he held until Tuesday, California’s 14th Congressional District, includes Hayward, Fremont, Dublin and Pleasanton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier \u003ca href=\"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2h95684f\">surveys\u003c/a> by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and the firm Evitarus \u003ca href=\"https://cadem.org/california-voter-index/\">on behalf of the California Democratic Party\u003c/a> also found Swalwell leading among Bay Area voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cynthia Robbins-Roth of San Mateo was initially drawn to Porter, who entered Congress in the “Blue Wave” election of 2018 midterms alongside fellow Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill.[aside postID=news_12079800 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/EricSwalwellAP1.jpg']“They were prepared, they were informed and they were pretty used to dealing with being in rooms with a bunch of old guys who felt like they could push women around,” Robbins-Roth said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she said her vote wasn’t set in stone. Swalwell had caught her eye when he served as a House manager during the second impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was one of the folks I was so impressed with,” Robbins-Roth said. “I was just kind of bummed that he turned out to be one more guy who let the power of his situation determine how he was going to behave towards other people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Honestly, I’m back at Katie Porter,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the immediate aftermath of Swalwell’s exit from the race, the Porter and Steyer campaigns each pointed to recent polling to argue that their candidate was best positioned to benefit from Swalwell’s downfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.threads.com/@jcpolls/post/DW93tFWEo5R?xmt=AQF0owPVqfzmYxbIo1mhwyjzcZ2te1isItwVxg0QNBvT9w\">March survey\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley’s Jack Citrin Center and Politico found 39% of Swalwell voters picking Porter as their second choice, and 15% preferring Steyer. An April poll by Global Strategy Group for the Steyer campaign found Swalwell supporters more closely divided on their second choice, with 31% backing Porter and 25% supporting Steyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shekhar Sakhalkar, of San José, said he is backing Steyer because of the billionaire investor’s early support for impeaching Donald Trump. Steyer launched the “Need to Impeach” campaign to remove Trump from office less than a year into his first term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought that he was trying to do the right thing in calling out the right problems,” Sakhalkar said. “So I was impressed with that part from the beginning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berkeley resident Susanna Porte also likes Steyer, along with former state Controller \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073301/former-state-controller-betty-yee-says-shes-the-best-gubernatorial-candidate-to-fix-californias-budget-deficit\">Betty Yee\u003c/a>. She said both have focused on her top issues of the environment and economic justice and have “decided to challenge PG&E.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080159\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080159\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9196_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9196_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9196_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9196_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supporters of Betty T. Yee cheer during the California Democratic Party 2026 State Convention on Feb. 21, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are currently seven notable Democrats in the race, including former Los Angeles Mayor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077747/antonio-villaraigosas-second-act-can-a-pragmatist-lead-california\">Antonio Villaraigosa\u003c/a> and State Superintendent of Public Instruction \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077118/tony-thurmond-carves-out-a-progressive-path-in-the-race-for-california-governor\">Tony Thurmond\u003c/a>. Porte said a smaller field could help voters focus on the strongest candidates, but she doesn’t want to see Yee exit just yet — despite Yee polling in the low single-digits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since she does seem to represent a lot of my views, I hope she’ll stay in, and perhaps someone else will jump out of the race,” Porte said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the seven notable Democrats left in the race all see an opportunity to make inroads with Bay Area voters now that Swalwell is out of the campaign. On Wednesday, Mahan launched a $3 million ad buy that included broadcast television in the region — while Becerra touted an influx of first-time donors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coakley said he’s taking his support back to Becerra — and has started to engage more deeply in the race since the Swalwell scandal broke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve gone to the [candidate] websites,” he said. “I hadn’t really done that before all this had happened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Before he ended his campaign, Swalwell was the top choice of Bay Area voters. Now his supporters are up for grabs ahead of the June 2 primary.",
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"title": "With Swalwell Out, Who Will Bay Area Voters Support for California Governor? | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Before former Rep. Eric Swalwell \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079583\">ended his campaign\u003c/a> for California governor and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079746/rep-eric-swalwell-says-he-is-resigning-from-congress-amid-sexual-assault-allegations\">resigned\u003c/a> from his seat in Congress, the Dublin native was consolidating support among Bay Area voters ahead of the June 2 primary.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That all changed when former staff members \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12079502/rep-eric-swalwell-candidate-for-california-governor-is-accused-of-sexual-assault\">accused\u003c/a> Swalwell of sexual assault and inappropriate sexual behavior in a pair of bombshell reports from the \u003ca href=\"https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/eric-swalwell-allegations-22198271.php\">\u003cem>San Francisco Chronicle\u003c/em>\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/10/us/eric-swalwell-sexual-misconduct-allegations-invs\">CNN\u003c/a>. With the disgraced congressmember now out of the race, the other Democrats running for governor are redoubling their efforts to attract support in the progressive, vote-rich Bay Area.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swalwell was scheduled to answer questions from residents in a KQED town hall on May 13. We reached out to locals who had signed up to see how they are viewing the race now.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Dion Coakley of San Francisco had initially supported \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12034105/xavier-becerra-enters-california-governors-race-citing-break-glass-moment\">Xavier Becerra\u003c/a>, the former state attorney general and U.S. Health and Human Services secretary. But Becerra hadn’t gained serious traction in the polls, and Coakley feared a fractured Democratic vote could \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073986/california-democrats-descend-on-sf-as-party-rifts-emerge\">allow two Republicans to advance\u003c/a> from the top-two primary to the general election.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Which is kind of how I was coming to Swalwell — just the fact that he might be able to beat out one of these Republicans,” Coakley said. “Thank God this didn’t come out six weeks from now.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In public polling before the scandal, Swalwell was running neck-and-neck with two other Democrats — former Rep. \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078450/katie-porters-run-for-governor-centers-tax-cuts-corporate-accountability\">Katie Porter\u003c/a> and billionaire investor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12064558/billionaire-climate-activist-tom-steyer-enters-2026-california-governors-race\">Tom Steyer\u003c/a> — and two Republicans: Riverside County Sheriff \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/chad-bianco\">Chad Bianco\u003c/a> and \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/steve-hilton\">Steve Hilton\u003c/a>, a conservative political commentator and former Fox News host. In California, all candidates appear on the ballot together, regardless of party.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080156\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080156\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9314_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9314_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9314_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9314_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supporters of Tom Steyer hold campaign signs during the California Democratic Party 2026 State Convention on Feb. 21, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>But Swalwell had built an edge on his home turf.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a survey released Wednesday by the Public Policy Institute of California, 28% of likely voters in the Bay Area supported Swalwell — more than double the support of Steyer (12%), Hilton (11%), Mahan (11%) and Porter (10%).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Swalwell is a former Alameda County prosecutor and Dublin city councilmember who has represented the East Bay in Congress since 2013. The seat he held until Tuesday, California’s 14th Congressional District, includes Hayward, Fremont, Dublin and Pleasanton.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earlier \u003ca href=\"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2h95684f\">surveys\u003c/a> by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and the firm Evitarus \u003ca href=\"https://cadem.org/california-voter-index/\">on behalf of the California Democratic Party\u003c/a> also found Swalwell leading among Bay Area voters.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cynthia Robbins-Roth of San Mateo was initially drawn to Porter, who entered Congress in the “Blue Wave” election of 2018 midterms alongside fellow Democrats Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>“They were prepared, they were informed and they were pretty used to dealing with being in rooms with a bunch of old guys who felt like they could push women around,” Robbins-Roth said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But she said her vote wasn’t set in stone. Swalwell had caught her eye when he served as a House manager during the second impeachment trial of President Donald Trump.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He was one of the folks I was so impressed with,” Robbins-Roth said. “I was just kind of bummed that he turned out to be one more guy who let the power of his situation determine how he was going to behave towards other people.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Honestly, I’m back at Katie Porter,” she said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the immediate aftermath of Swalwell’s exit from the race, the Porter and Steyer campaigns each pointed to recent polling to argue that their candidate was best positioned to benefit from Swalwell’s downfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A \u003ca href=\"https://www.threads.com/@jcpolls/post/DW93tFWEo5R?xmt=AQF0owPVqfzmYxbIo1mhwyjzcZ2te1isItwVxg0QNBvT9w\">March survey\u003c/a> from UC Berkeley’s Jack Citrin Center and Politico found 39% of Swalwell voters picking Porter as their second choice, and 15% preferring Steyer. An April poll by Global Strategy Group for the Steyer campaign found Swalwell supporters more closely divided on their second choice, with 31% backing Porter and 25% supporting Steyer.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Shekhar Sakhalkar, of San José, said he is backing Steyer because of the billionaire investor’s early support for impeaching Donald Trump. Steyer launched the “Need to Impeach” campaign to remove Trump from office less than a year into his first term.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I thought that he was trying to do the right thing in calling out the right problems,” Sakhalkar said. “So I was impressed with that part from the beginning.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Berkeley resident Susanna Porte also likes Steyer, along with former state Controller \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12073301/former-state-controller-betty-yee-says-shes-the-best-gubernatorial-candidate-to-fix-californias-budget-deficit\">Betty Yee\u003c/a>. She said both have focused on her top issues of the environment and economic justice and have “decided to challenge PG&E.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12080159\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12080159\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9196_qed.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9196_qed.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9196_qed-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/04/7I8A9196_qed-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Supporters of Betty T. Yee cheer during the California Democratic Party 2026 State Convention on Feb. 21, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Gustavo Hernandez/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are currently seven notable Democrats in the race, including former Los Angeles Mayor \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077747/antonio-villaraigosas-second-act-can-a-pragmatist-lead-california\">Antonio Villaraigosa\u003c/a> and State Superintendent of Public Instruction \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12077118/tony-thurmond-carves-out-a-progressive-path-in-the-race-for-california-governor\">Tony Thurmond\u003c/a>. Porte said a smaller field could help voters focus on the strongest candidates, but she doesn’t want to see Yee exit just yet — despite Yee polling in the low single-digits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Since she does seem to represent a lot of my views, I hope she’ll stay in, and perhaps someone else will jump out of the race,” Porte said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the seven notable Democrats left in the race all see an opportunity to make inroads with Bay Area voters now that Swalwell is out of the campaign. On Wednesday, Mahan launched a $3 million ad buy that included broadcast television in the region — while Becerra touted an influx of first-time donors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Coakley said he’s taking his support back to Becerra — and has started to engage more deeply in the race since the Swalwell scandal broke.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I’ve gone to the [candidate] websites,” he said. “I hadn’t really done that before all this had happened.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>",
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"slug": "heres-how-californias-next-governor-will-change-your-taxes",
"title": "Here’s How California’s Next Governor Will Change Your Taxes",
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"headTitle": "Here’s How California’s Next Governor Will Change Your Taxes | KQED",
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"content": "\u003cp>As Californians rush to file their taxes before the April 15 deadline, the candidates vying to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>’s next governor have laid out competing visions for the future of taxation in the nation’s largest state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leading candidates have proposed eliminating income taxes, cutting taxes for businesses, increasing taxes on corporations and raising taxes on commercial properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not on that list: taxing billionaires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the candidates polling in double digits has embraced the tax proposal, sending shockwaves through California politics: a one-time tax on the wealth of billionaires that a health care union is trying to qualify for the November ballot. But while Gov. Gavin Newsom has spent his final year in office arguing that the state has a spending problem, not a revenue problem, the Democrats most likely to succeed him are eyeing ways to bring new money into the state’s coffers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democrats Katie Porter and Tom Steyer have proposed new taxes on large corporations — albeit in different forms — to offset federal health care cuts, boost education funding and help fill structural budget deficits \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2025/5091/2026-27_Fiscal_Outlook_111925.pdf\">projected\u003c/a> to reach $35 billion in the coming years. Porter has also aligned with Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco in promising to cut taxes for working families and businesses, though the Republicans’ plans would go much further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the leading candidates has indicated which state programs they would cut to make up for lost tax revenue. But in a year when affordability is the \u003ca href=\"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8dj134w8\">dominant voter concern\u003c/a>, taxes are top of mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re gonna talk about affordability — and affordability is the main kind of buzzword of the campaign — well, you gotta start with taxes,” said Tim Anaya of the Sacramento-based Pacific Research Institute, a libertarian, free-market think tank.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A tax code ‘frozen in amber’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s tax code has been largely frozen in amber for the past century. When voters limited property tax increases through Proposition 13 in 1978, they made the state more dependent on a progressive income tax that relies disproportionately on the high incomes and capital gains of a relatively small number of residents. As a result, California tax revenues fluctuate wildly based on how tech and other large companies perform in the stock market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past 40 years, \u003ca href=\"https://sco.ca.gov/Files-EO/Appendices_cea.pdf\">efforts\u003c/a> to change California’s tax law have largely nibbled around the edges. No one has proposed a wholesale reform of the system, Anaya said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069108\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069108\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1337\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP-1536x1027.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during his State of the State address on Jan. 8, 2026, in Sacramento, California. \u003ccite>(Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The governor’s race is playing out against the backdrop of negotiations to shave billions of dollars off state spending next year to close the state’s growing structural deficit. In budget hearings this spring, finance officials in Newsom’s administration have made clear that the governor is not interested in pursuing any new taxes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like his predecessor, Jerry Brown, Newsom has bemoaned the annual swings between surpluses and deficits driven by gyrations in personal income tax and capital gains revenue. But he has done little to either broaden the tax base or bring in new forms of revenue, said Chris Hoene, executive director of the left-leaning California Budget & Policy Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He has not done very much on the tax front,” Hoene said. “He’s been more inclined to actually give away new or expanded tax credits — like he became a big proponent of expanding the film tax credit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The top Democratic candidates for governor — Porter and Steyer — are vowing to boost state revenues, primarily by honing in on big business.[aside postID=news_12072234 hero='https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/CAGovDebateAP1.jpg']Hoene said it’s no surprise that their proposals lean into familiar ideas such as raising taxes on corporate profits or property, rather than the relatively novel approach of taxing overall wealth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of these newer ideas, like taxing wealth … those are things that need to be cooked a bit longer,” Hoene said. “If I were a gubernatorial candidate, I’d be saying, ‘hey, there’s some low-hanging fruit we should be going after first.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s also some unlikely overlap. Porter and Hilton both propose eliminating state income tax on earnings less than $100,000, a change that would affect \u003ca href=\"https://lab.data.ca.gov/dataset/pit-annual-report-2024\">more than 70% of California residents who file tax returns\u003c/a>. (Porter’s proposal focuses on \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/katieporterca/status/2032495138384322988\">families\u003c/a>, while \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdP6OxD9flY&t=3s\">Hilton said\u003c/a> he would extend the exemption to all filers.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilton also proposed reducing the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/business/types/corporations/index.html\">$800 minimum franchise tax\u003c/a> that businesses have to pay, regardless of their profits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the lower-polling candidates, San José Mayor Matt Mahan and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond — both Democrats — have offered tax plans on opposite ends of the party’s ideological spectrum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thurmond supports the one-time 5% tax on the wealth of billionaires, which could raise up to $100 billion for health care and food assistance. Mahan vows to oppose all tax increases until oversight measures are in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other candidates have not released detailed tax proposals.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Here’s what we know about the leading candidate’s tax plans so far:\u003c/h2>\n\u003ch2>Tom Steyer\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Steyer argued that while the richest Californians should pay more, the state should focus on taxing corporations. He supports a proposal to close the so-called “water’s edge” loophole that allows \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1790\">multinational corporations\u003c/a> to shelter their profits in countries with low tax rates to shield their international profits from state taxes. The proposal would require these corporations to pay taxes based on a share of their global income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s an idea that progressives have floated for years but never managed to pass. This year, ahead of the November governor’s race, \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook-pm/2026/02/10/waters-edge-tax-loophole-00774699\">Sacramento legislators will debate\u003c/a> closing the loophole again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072288\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072288\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/CAGovDebateAP3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/CAGovDebateAP3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/CAGovDebateAP3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/CAGovDebateAP3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left to right, Matt Mahan, Tom Steyer and Tony Thurmond participate in the California gubernatorial candidate debate on Feb. 3, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Laure Andrillon/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Steyer also \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/18/tom-steyer-wants-a-special-election-to-hike-corporate-taxes-in-2027-00786876\">floated a special election in 2027\u003c/a> to pass an increase on commercial property taxes, which were capped by Proposition 13.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steyer and other progressives have long wanted to split off commercial properties from Proposition 13 protections, an idea known as “split roll.” In 2020, state voters \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11844592/voters-reject-proposition-15-a-ballot-question-to-partially-dismantle-a-cap-on-property-taxes\">rejected\u003c/a> a measure to do just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am proposing closing a corporate real estate tax loophole that’s existed for over 40 years,” Steyer \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjXvKfldFlI&t=1s\">told KQED’s \u003cem>Political Breakdown\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. “That brings in more money to the state, that is permanent, that is completely fair.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Steve Hilton\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Hilton argued California’s budget problems are due to overspending, noting that the state budget has nearly doubled since 2017. He also said the state’s affordability problem is tied to how expensive it is to do business in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilton noted that California, the nation’s most populous state, has more people in poverty than any other state, \u003ca href=\"https://hdpulse.nimhd.nih.gov/data-portal/social/table?age=001&age_options=ageall_1&demo=00007&demo_options=poverty_3&race=00&race_options=race_7&sex=0&sex_options=sexboth_1&socialtopic=080&socialtopic_options=social_6&statefips=00&statefips_options=area_states\">according to federal government statistics\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071399\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071399\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-04-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-04-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-04-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-04-KQED-1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Hilton at KQED in San Francisco on Jan. 22, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Why?” he \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdP6OxD9flY&t=3s\">said on \u003cem>Political Breakdown\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. “Because of all these combinations of the spending and the policies that are making it so difficult to start and grow businesses. As a result of that, costs go up. As a result of that, we increase welfare payments because people are struggling. That means taxes go higher. That means it becomes even more expensive. And we’ve got to get out of that cycle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilton said he will make the state more affordable by eliminating state income tax for Californians earning less than $100,000 and imposing a flat 7.5% tax on earnings over $100,000. Currently, the income tax tops out at 12.3% for individuals making more than $722,000 a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He opposed any changes to Proposition 13 and wants to eliminate the minimum franchise tax, which is about $800 annually for all businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilton believes the tax cuts will grow California’s economy, which could result in more tax revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Katie Porter\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Porter framed her tax plan as key to tackling affordability. At its center: eliminating state income taxes for families who make under $100,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The state takes a chunk of many people’s paychecks,” she \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078450/katie-porters-run-for-governor-centers-tax-cuts-corporate-accountability\">said on \u003cem>Political Breakdown\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. “$100,000 allows people to make ends meet, but also to do the things we need them to do: To save for retirement. To be able to get a house, to be able to put a little money away for college.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074712\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074712\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260226-GovRaceForum-56-BL_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260226-GovRaceForum-56-BL_qed-1.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260226-GovRaceForum-56-BL_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260226-GovRaceForum-56-BL_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter speaks during a gubernatorial candidate forum at the UCSF Mission Bay campus in San Francisco on Jan. 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Porter said she would pay for that tax cut by changing California’s corporate tax, which is currently a flat 8.84%, no matter how much a company makes. She wants to increase it gradually, with the highest-earning corporations paying up to 9.75%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That would generate enough revenue … to deliver on my promise of free college tuition,” Porter said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her free college tuition plan would allow Californians to attend two years of community college for free, then transfer to a University of California or California State University campus, where the state would cover their tuition.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Chad Bianco\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Bianco’s campaign said his tax priorities are “straightforward”: he wants to cut them and make up for lost revenue with undefined “wasteful spending” cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco proposed eliminating the state income tax entirely, opposing any new taxes and reducing “cost drivers like the gas tax,” according to a campaign spokesperson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recent interview with KVCR, Bianco accused Democratic leaders of “bilking” the state for billions of dollars, pointing toward state contracts with nonprofits. He estimated annual waste and fraud at up to $50 billion — without providing specifics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077855\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077855\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GettyImages-2267789591-scaled-e1775847167430.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gubernatorial Candidate Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco speaks at an event in downtown Los Angeles on March 24, 2026. \u003ccite>(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“California government is broken,” he said. “Number one, we absolutely have to stop the waste, the fraud, and the abuse going on in our government … So you eliminate all of the fraud, you become oil independent and use that to fund government, and now we don’t have to pay income taxes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also would “provide targeted relief, including reducing or eliminating state taxes on tips.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in a debate with Hilton April 4 at the Lincoln Club of Coachella Valley, Bianco suggested that upending the state’s tax system would be more difficult than repealing regulations enacted by previous governors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Regulations are easy, we sign all of those away…all of those boards and commissions can be suspended, the regulations can be suspended,” Bianco said. “The taxes are going to be a different story.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KVCR’s Madison Aument contributed reporting to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n",
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"excerpt": "Leading gubernatorial candidates Chad Bianco, Steve Hilton, Katie Porter and Tom Steyer can’t agree on who should pay more or less. Here’s where they stand. ",
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"title": "Here’s How California’s Next Governor Will Change Your Taxes | KQED",
"description": "Leading gubernatorial candidates Chad Bianco, Steve Hilton, Katie Porter and Tom Steyer can’t agree on who should pay more or less. Here’s where they stand. ",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As Californians rush to file their taxes before the April 15 deadline, the candidates vying to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/tag/california\">California\u003c/a>’s next governor have laid out competing visions for the future of taxation in the nation’s largest state.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Leading candidates have proposed eliminating income taxes, cutting taxes for businesses, increasing taxes on corporations and raising taxes on commercial properties.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not on that list: taxing billionaires.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the candidates polling in double digits has embraced the tax proposal, sending shockwaves through California politics: a one-time tax on the wealth of billionaires that a health care union is trying to qualify for the November ballot. But while Gov. Gavin Newsom has spent his final year in office arguing that the state has a spending problem, not a revenue problem, the Democrats most likely to succeed him are eyeing ways to bring new money into the state’s coffers.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Democrats Katie Porter and Tom Steyer have proposed new taxes on large corporations — albeit in different forms — to offset federal health care cuts, boost education funding and help fill structural budget deficits \u003ca href=\"https://lao.ca.gov/reports/2025/5091/2026-27_Fiscal_Outlook_111925.pdf\">projected\u003c/a> to reach $35 billion in the coming years. Porter has also aligned with Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco in promising to cut taxes for working families and businesses, though the Republicans’ plans would go much further.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>None of the leading candidates has indicated which state programs they would cut to make up for lost tax revenue. But in a year when affordability is the \u003ca href=\"https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8dj134w8\">dominant voter concern\u003c/a>, taxes are top of mind.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“If you’re gonna talk about affordability — and affordability is the main kind of buzzword of the campaign — well, you gotta start with taxes,” said Tim Anaya of the Sacramento-based Pacific Research Institute, a libertarian, free-market think tank.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>A tax code ‘frozen in amber’\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>California’s tax code has been largely frozen in amber for the past century. When voters limited property tax increases through Proposition 13 in 1978, they made the state more dependent on a progressive income tax that relies disproportionately on the high incomes and capital gains of a relatively small number of residents. As a result, California tax revenues fluctuate wildly based on how tech and other large companies perform in the stock market.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the past 40 years, \u003ca href=\"https://sco.ca.gov/Files-EO/Appendices_cea.pdf\">efforts\u003c/a> to change California’s tax law have largely nibbled around the edges. No one has proposed a wholesale reform of the system, Anaya said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12069108\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12069108\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1337\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/GavinNewsomStateoftheState2026AP-1536x1027.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks during his State of the State address on Jan. 8, 2026, in Sacramento, California. \u003ccite>(Godofredo A. Vásquez/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The governor’s race is playing out against the backdrop of negotiations to shave billions of dollars off state spending next year to close the state’s growing structural deficit. In budget hearings this spring, finance officials in Newsom’s administration have made clear that the governor is not interested in pursuing any new taxes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Like his predecessor, Jerry Brown, Newsom has bemoaned the annual swings between surpluses and deficits driven by gyrations in personal income tax and capital gains revenue. But he has done little to either broaden the tax base or bring in new forms of revenue, said Chris Hoene, executive director of the left-leaning California Budget & Policy Center.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“He has not done very much on the tax front,” Hoene said. “He’s been more inclined to actually give away new or expanded tax credits — like he became a big proponent of expanding the film tax credit.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The top Democratic candidates for governor — Porter and Steyer — are vowing to boost state revenues, primarily by honing in on big business.\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"content": "\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>Hoene said it’s no surprise that their proposals lean into familiar ideas such as raising taxes on corporate profits or property, rather than the relatively novel approach of taxing overall wealth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Some of these newer ideas, like taxing wealth … those are things that need to be cooked a bit longer,” Hoene said. “If I were a gubernatorial candidate, I’d be saying, ‘hey, there’s some low-hanging fruit we should be going after first.’”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>There’s also some unlikely overlap. Porter and Hilton both propose eliminating state income tax on earnings less than $100,000, a change that would affect \u003ca href=\"https://lab.data.ca.gov/dataset/pit-annual-report-2024\">more than 70% of California residents who file tax returns\u003c/a>. (Porter’s proposal focuses on \u003ca href=\"https://x.com/katieporterca/status/2032495138384322988\">families\u003c/a>, while \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdP6OxD9flY&t=3s\">Hilton said\u003c/a> he would extend the exemption to all filers.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilton also proposed reducing the \u003ca href=\"https://www.ftb.ca.gov/file/business/types/corporations/index.html\">$800 minimum franchise tax\u003c/a> that businesses have to pay, regardless of their profits.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Among the lower-polling candidates, San José Mayor Matt Mahan and Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond — both Democrats — have offered tax plans on opposite ends of the party’s ideological spectrum.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Thurmond supports the one-time 5% tax on the wealth of billionaires, which could raise up to $100 billion for health care and food assistance. Mahan vows to oppose all tax increases until oversight measures are in place.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The other candidates have not released detailed tax proposals.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Here’s what we know about the leading candidate’s tax plans so far:\u003c/h2>\n\u003ch2>Tom Steyer\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Steyer argued that while the richest Californians should pay more, the state should focus on taxing corporations. He supports a proposal to close the so-called “water’s edge” loophole that allows \u003ca href=\"https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1790\">multinational corporations\u003c/a> to shelter their profits in countries with low tax rates to shield their international profits from state taxes. The proposal would require these corporations to pay taxes based on a share of their global income.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s an idea that progressives have floated for years but never managed to pass. This year, ahead of the November governor’s race, \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/newsletters/california-playbook-pm/2026/02/10/waters-edge-tax-loophole-00774699\">Sacramento legislators will debate\u003c/a> closing the loophole again.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12072288\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12072288\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/CAGovDebateAP3.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/CAGovDebateAP3.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/CAGovDebateAP3-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/CAGovDebateAP3-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">From left to right, Matt Mahan, Tom Steyer and Tony Thurmond participate in the California gubernatorial candidate debate on Feb. 3, 2026, in San Francisco. \u003ccite>(Laure Andrillon/AP Photo)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Steyer also \u003ca href=\"https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/18/tom-steyer-wants-a-special-election-to-hike-corporate-taxes-in-2027-00786876\">floated a special election in 2027\u003c/a> to pass an increase on commercial property taxes, which were capped by Proposition 13.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Steyer and other progressives have long wanted to split off commercial properties from Proposition 13 protections, an idea known as “split roll.” In 2020, state voters \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/11844592/voters-reject-proposition-15-a-ballot-question-to-partially-dismantle-a-cap-on-property-taxes\">rejected\u003c/a> a measure to do just that.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“I am proposing closing a corporate real estate tax loophole that’s existed for over 40 years,” Steyer \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjXvKfldFlI&t=1s\">told KQED’s \u003cem>Political Breakdown\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. “That brings in more money to the state, that is permanent, that is completely fair.”\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Steve Hilton\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Hilton argued California’s budget problems are due to overspending, noting that the state budget has nearly doubled since 2017. He also said the state’s affordability problem is tied to how expensive it is to do business in California.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilton noted that California, the nation’s most populous state, has more people in poverty than any other state, \u003ca href=\"https://hdpulse.nimhd.nih.gov/data-portal/social/table?age=001&age_options=ageall_1&demo=00007&demo_options=poverty_3&race=00&race_options=race_7&sex=0&sex_options=sexboth_1&socialtopic=080&socialtopic_options=social_6&statefips=00&statefips_options=area_states\">according to federal government statistics\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12071399\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12071399\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-04-KQED-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-04-KQED-1.jpg 2000w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-04-KQED-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/01/260122-STEVE-HILTON-ON-PB-MD-04-KQED-1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Steve Hilton at KQED in San Francisco on Jan. 22, 2026. \u003ccite>(Martin do Nascimento/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“Why?” he \u003ca href=\"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdP6OxD9flY&t=3s\">said on \u003cem>Political Breakdown\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. “Because of all these combinations of the spending and the policies that are making it so difficult to start and grow businesses. As a result of that, costs go up. As a result of that, we increase welfare payments because people are struggling. That means taxes go higher. That means it becomes even more expensive. And we’ve got to get out of that cycle.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilton said he will make the state more affordable by eliminating state income tax for Californians earning less than $100,000 and imposing a flat 7.5% tax on earnings over $100,000. Currently, the income tax tops out at 12.3% for individuals making more than $722,000 a year.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He opposed any changes to Proposition 13 and wants to eliminate the minimum franchise tax, which is about $800 annually for all businesses.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hilton believes the tax cuts will grow California’s economy, which could result in more tax revenue.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Katie Porter\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Porter framed her tax plan as key to tackling affordability. At its center: eliminating state income taxes for families who make under $100,000.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“The state takes a chunk of many people’s paychecks,” she \u003ca href=\"https://www.kqed.org/news/12078450/katie-porters-run-for-governor-centers-tax-cuts-corporate-accountability\">said on \u003cem>Political Breakdown\u003c/em>\u003c/a>. “$100,000 allows people to make ends meet, but also to do the things we need them to do: To save for retirement. To be able to get a house, to be able to put a little money away for college.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12074712\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1999px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12074712\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260226-GovRaceForum-56-BL_qed-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1999\" height=\"1333\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260226-GovRaceForum-56-BL_qed-1.jpg 1999w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260226-GovRaceForum-56-BL_qed-1-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/02/260226-GovRaceForum-56-BL_qed-1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1999px) 100vw, 1999px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter speaks during a gubernatorial candidate forum at the UCSF Mission Bay campus in San Francisco on Jan. 26, 2026. \u003ccite>(Beth LaBerge/KQED)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Porter said she would pay for that tax cut by changing California’s corporate tax, which is currently a flat 8.84%, no matter how much a company makes. She wants to increase it gradually, with the highest-earning corporations paying up to 9.75%.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“That would generate enough revenue … to deliver on my promise of free college tuition,” Porter said.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Her free college tuition plan would allow Californians to attend two years of community college for free, then transfer to a University of California or California State University campus, where the state would cover their tuition.\u003c/p>\n\u003ch2>Chad Bianco\u003c/h2>\n\u003cp>Bianco’s campaign said his tax priorities are “straightforward”: he wants to cut them and make up for lost revenue with undefined “wasteful spending” cuts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Bianco proposed eliminating the state income tax entirely, opposing any new taxes and reducing “cost drivers like the gas tax,” according to a campaign spokesperson.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In a recent interview with KVCR, Bianco accused Democratic leaders of “bilking” the state for billions of dollars, pointing toward state contracts with nonprofits. He estimated annual waste and fraud at up to $50 billion — without providing specifics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_12077855\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 2000px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12077855\" src=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/10/2026/03/GettyImages-2267789591-scaled-e1775847167430.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1334\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gubernatorial Candidate Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco speaks at an event in downtown Los Angeles on March 24, 2026. \u003ccite>(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>“California government is broken,” he said. “Number one, we absolutely have to stop the waste, the fraud, and the abuse going on in our government … So you eliminate all of the fraud, you become oil independent and use that to fund government, and now we don’t have to pay income taxes.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>He also would “provide targeted relief, including reducing or eliminating state taxes on tips.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But in a debate with Hilton April 4 at the Lincoln Club of Coachella Valley, Bianco suggested that upending the state’s tax system would be more difficult than repealing regulations enacted by previous governors.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Regulations are easy, we sign all of those away…all of those boards and commissions can be suspended, the regulations can be suspended,” Bianco said. “The taxes are going to be a different story.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cem>KVCR’s Madison Aument contributed reporting to this story.\u003c/em>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>",
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"order": 9
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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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"info": "The Political Mind of Jerry Brown brings listeners the wisdom of the former Governor, Mayor, and presidential candidate. Scott Shafer interviewed Brown for more than 40 hours, covering the former governor's life and half-century in the political game – and Brown has some lessons he'd like to share. ",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/The-Political-Mind-of-Jerry-Brown-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 18
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"marketplace": {
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"title": "Marketplace",
"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.",
"airtime": "MON-FRI 4pm-4:30pm, MON-WED 6:30pm-7pm",
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"masters-of-scale": {
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"title": "Masters of Scale",
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"airtime": "Every other Wednesday June 12 through October 16 at 8pm (repeats Thursdays at 2am)",
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},
"mindshift": {
"id": "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": {
"id": "morning-edition",
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"info": "\u003cem>Morning Edition\u003c/em> takes listeners around the country and the world with multi-faceted stories and commentaries every weekday. Hosts Steve Inskeep, David Greene and Rachel Martin bring you the latest breaking news and features to prepare you for the day.",
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"onourwatch": {
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"title": "On Our Watch",
"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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"order": 11
},
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"on-the-media": {
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"title": "On The Media",
"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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"politicalbreakdown": {
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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",
"imageSrc": "https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Political-Breakdown-2024-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg",
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"order": 5
},
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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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