Opinion

Speculation has run rampant recently about whether Gov. Gavin Newsom is getting ready to make a run for president. I don’t know exactly what’s going on in Newsom’s head, but it’s pretty hard for any governor of the nation’s largest state, with more people than Canada or Australia, to look in the mirror in the…

The delusional conspiracy theories unleashed on Americans to explain the defeat of former President Donald Trump have done more than raise the threat level to U.S. democracy and to hardworking elections supervisors. They are fracturing the Republican Party in ways its own officials would prefer to overlook while angling to regain control of Congress. But…

In the 1993 race for mayor of Los Angeles, I served as campaign communications director for then-City Councilman Michael Woo, running against a rich, White Republican businessman, Richard Riordan. The coming fall face-off between Rep. Karen Bass and billionaire shopping-center magnate Rick Caruso is giving me an uncomfortable sense of deja vue. Woo was the…

A Democrat like me needs to say something many Democrats won’t like to hear: The role of district attorneys in our criminal-justice system is to prosecute people who commit crimes. Tuesday’s overwhelming vote to recall District Attorney Chesa Boudin in deep-blue San Francisco should serve as a wake-up call for every Democrat who cares about…

California’s long-suffering Republicans, now down to less than 24 percent of registered voters, haven’t prevailed in a statewide election since 2006. But like those kids in the well-known Christmas tale, every election cycle they have visions of sugarplums dancing in their heads. This year, the top GOP fantasy appears to be capturing the office of…

With the expected blow-out win of Gov. Gavin Newsom, whose re-election was almost assured when he demolished the ill-advised recall attempt last year, pundits and political reporters – always spoiling for a good fight and a close race — now seem to be searching the other seven races for statewide office to find one that…

What is it with California and its homegrown Democratic presidential candidates? It has been the most populous state for 60 years, having displaced New York clear back in 1962. It has more people than Canada or Australia. There are more than 20 million registered voters in the state — more voters than there are people living in 47 of…

“Never strike a king unless you are sure you shall kill him,” Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in 1843. He couldn’t have foreseen the attempted recall of Gov. Gavin Newsom. But it is apropos:  The recall not only failed miserably to yank Newsom from office, but actually immeasurably strengthened his political position. The Newsom campaign, as…

Once the $276 million (in taxpayer funds) gubernatorial recall is mercifully over in September, the Democratically controlled Legislature needs to seriously address deficiencies in the recall process.In the 92 years since the provision was added to the state Constitution and 2003, there had never been a recall attempt against a sitting governor that qualified for the ballot, despite dozens…

Much of the speculation surrounding the impending recall vote on California Gov. Gavin Newsom has centered on whether another Arnold Schwarzenegger-type figure would enter the race and alter the dynamic, as happened in the 2003 recall that ripped Gov. Gray Davis from office. When Caitlyn Jenner announced her candidacy, some of the over-hyped coverage suggested she might be the Arnold of this…