If you are registered to vote in California, you probably have received your ballot in the mail – or will any day – and are now thinking: Who are all these people, and how do I figure out which candidate is the best in their race?
Once upon a time, voters could get answers from the Los Angeles Times editorial board, of which I was a member. But alas, there is no longer a functioning board made up of principled, veteran journalists, and no deeply reported endorsements are forthcoming.
I wish I could offer my personal recommendations, but IRS rules prohibit nonprofit publications and their leaders from publicly backing candidates. But what I can do is offer a list of some of the nonpartisan, journalism-driven voting guides and endorsements available, along with insider information I have gleaned from my long career in editorial writing at various California newspapers.
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Old-fashioned newspaper endorsements
San Francisco Chronicle endorsements
What to know: The editorial board, headed by my esteemed former L.A. Times colleague Matthew Fleischer, leans left, though not quite so much by uber-progressive San Francisco standards. (In 2024, the board endorsed moderate Democrat Daniel Lurie for mayor, for example.)
Sacramento Bee endorsements
What to know: The board seems to lean moderately liberal. For what it’s worth, I served on this board more than a decade ago. It has completely changed over since then, but its politics have remained the same, as far as I can tell.
Southern California News Group endorsements
What to know: This editorial board serves 11 newspapers in the chain, including the L.A. Daily News, Orange County Register and Riverside Press-Enterprise. (And yes, I have a connection here as well. I was editorial page editor for the Daily News for three years and later served as Opinion editor for nine newspapers in the group.) It leans right, but tending toward libertarianism rather than MAGAtude. For example, the board has endorsed both Republican Sonja Shaw for state superintendent of public instruction and Kenneth Mejia, Los Angeles’ progressive city controller, in the June 2 primary.
Dvir Yogev
Neutral candidate guides
Here are sources for folks who don’t want recommendations but need more information than the self-interested candidate statements in the official voter guide.
For state and legislative races: CalMatters, the excellent nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization, has put together the go-to guide for statewide races, Assembly, Senate and Board of Equalization candidates. CalMatters is never paywalled, making this an extra-special public service.
For Los Angeles city races: Check out the comprehensive and smart-looking guide put together by Los Angeles Times reporters.
For L.A. County and Orange County races: The “Voter Game Plan” on LAist.com (the website for the 89.3 public radio station) has information on races in select cities in Los Angeles County. It also covers the L.A. Unified School District board, Orange and L.A. county races and statewide contests. No paywall.
Oscar Garza
OMG, what about the judges?
The L.A. Times used to endorse in the judicial races for Los Angeles County Superior Court, much of the work done by the inimitable Robert Greene. But there is no functioning editorial board, and Greene has moved on to other things (including working on the LAist voter guide mentioned above).
However, the L.A. Times was smart enough to hire freelance journalist, and Golden State contributor, Jon Regardie to research the candidates and write a very helpful primer. Read his guide to find out which sitting judge is facing questions about possible misconduct and which candidate wouldn’t bother to answer questions.
(If you are curious about why we even vote on judges, I suggest this excellent explainer written by Greene shortly before the March 2024 primary.)
More help is on the way
Stay tuned for our own assessments (not endorsements!) of candidates in the governor’s race and the Los Angeles mayoral and City Council races.
We hope you are enjoying the first Wednesday edition of the Golden State Report newsletter. We're making it free for all readers for the first two weeks, but after that it will be available only to paid subscribers.
Noted, with comment
Squeezing the ebrakes: Electric bikes are finally starting to prove their worth as a transportation solution. New legislation in Sacramento could stall that progress, warns transportation researcher Stephen Zoepf in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Some hope? In L.A? Broken sidewalks, darkened streetlights, dead trees and so many other infrastructure woes – until Monday, Los Angeles didn't have a plan to fix and maintain just about anything you see that needs fixing and maintaining. At Torched.la, Alissa Walker hails the overdue arrival of a capital infrastructure program in the nation's second-largest city.
Defend your ass(ets): Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, champion of the wealth tax headed for the November ballot, writes in the Los Angeles Times that he wants to hear California billionaires honestly defend their wealth accumulation. In a separate piece, columnist Robin Abcarian spotlights one mega-billionaire who appears unbothered by a wealth tax.
Scare 'em off: The Washington Post editorial board (reorganized last year by newspaper owner Jeff Bezos) says it might not be enough for California voters merely to reject the wealth tax at the ballot by a simple majority. “California’s best hope for keeping its tax base is for voters to reject the ballot measure so decisively that would-be wealth-taxers are afraid to ever try it again,” says its editorial.
Reverse extinction: Infamously, the grizzly bear exists in California only as a symbol. But that could change. In the Sacramento Bee, officials with two Indian tribes in California welcome a bill in Sacramento to study reintroducing the keystone species, which was hunted to extinction in the state by the mid-1920s.
Mariel Garza
Shocked, shocked: In the California Post, a Bay Area-based commentator bemoans the regulations and taxes that he says have made the Golden State “uniquely vulnerable to supply shocks like the current Middle East disruptions.” That last bit there does a lot of heavy lifting, because it’s the closest the piece comes to mentioning this “disruption” is a war of choice in Iran started by an American president.
It’s the housing, stupid: USA Today commentary editor Blake Fontenay says that Florida and California may have more in common than their leaders think. He warns Gov. Ron DeSantis that it isn’t taxes and liberal politics driving people out of California, but the rising cost of housing – which is coming to Florida as part of a population boom.
Public park mythology: Normally, artists shouldn’t use public open spaces as their personal canvases. That said, Anna Holmes’ piece in L.A. Material on the artist behind those “Hiding Man” posters that originally appeared in Griffith Park – and the mythology surrounding them – is a fun read.
Paul Thornton
Mariel Garza
