What a week. I’ll devote a full post to the court ruling in a couple days. In the meantime, the press coverage has been fairly accurate, and I’ve compiled some of it here.
I’ll leave it to others to make sense of what’s going on nationally. Here are my initial thoughts on the results yesterday in California. Simply put, it was the best election in a long time.
My Race: It would appear I have been reelected. Thank you! What I’m most proud of is our campaign was powered by thousands of grassroots contributors – several times more than any Legislator in the State. You made this victory possible, and my gratitude is inexpressible.
The Propositions: I’ve updated my Proposition summaries with the current vote totals here. All four that I described as “dystopian” appear headed for defeat.
California voters have emphatically rebuked Gavin Newsom and the Legislature. With Prop. 22, voters have kept Uber and Lyft in California and overridden the most corrupt law in state history; I’ll be immediately introducing legislation to repeal what remains of AB 5. Voters also rejected three others acts of the Legislature: a law abolishing cash bail and measures to bring back affirmative action and let some 17-year-olds vote.
But that’s not all. The special interests that are ruining our state suffered several more devastating defeats. The attack on Prop. 13, backed by Newsom, appears to have failed, though the outcome has not been called. Huge majorities rejected both a disgusting union ploy that would have put dialysis patients’ lives at risk as well as another Bernie Sanders-backed rent control scheme.
The Legislature: This election appears to have reversed a years-long trend, with the partisan gap narrowing in the Assembly. Republicans are going to pick up one and possibly two seats. The Senate is less certain, with a few races too close to call. Meanwhile, up to three Congressional seats might flip from blue to red.
A few months ago, I said California is about due for a major political re-alignment. Yesterday’s election may have provided the first glimpse of it.