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California Policy and Politics Monday

Backlash against Trump, ICE raids, gas prices fuels changing political tide in California heartland -- Resilient Republican David Valadao in the San Joaquin Valley can’t survive Trump backlash, loses seat to Randy Villegas, a Democrat who ran on economic populism. Ian James and Nicole Nixon in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/9/26

CalMatters sues Shasta County over its refusal to disclose federal subpoena related to election ballots -- CalMatters and Shasta Scout are suing Shasta County over its refusal to comply with a public records request to release a federal subpoena served after the county’s outgoing elections chief questioned the integrity of the 2026 primary election. Lynn La Calmatters -- 11/9/26

Skelton: The comeuppance of a despot president -- Billions of words have been regurgitated analyzing how Democrats flipped so many Republican seats last week. But all that’s really needed are five: Americans flipped off the president. George Skelton in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/9/26

California picks a new insurance commissioner and she’s a San Francisco progressive -- Jane Kim, a progressive former San Francisco supervisor with no insurance experience, appears to have won the race to be California’s industry commissioner, topping veteran legislator Ben Allen, who represents the Pacific Palisades community devastated by the January 2025 wildfires. Laurence Darmiento in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/9/26

ICE

Empowered congressional Democrats gear up for battles over immigration and ICE oversight -- With Democrats set to control both chambers of Congress, lawmakers plan investigations into immigration enforcement and alleged abuses by the Department of Homeland Security. Andrea Castillo in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/9/26

Cannabis

California’s losing quest for clean weed -- A new round of tests commissioned by The Times shows that even as many major cannabis brands have cleaned up their products, others are using pesticides off the state’s radar. Paige St. John in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/9/26

Marketplace

How One Winery Is Fighting an Industry Slump -- Changing consumer tastes and high tariffs are hitting vineyards hard. Here’s how one California winery is responding. Elizabeth Garone in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 11/9/26

Workplace

Inside New Jersey’s surprising Hollywood revival -- New Jersey, birthplace of the American film industry, has become a booming production hub: spending reached $1.2 billion in 2025 as California’s fell 37% from 2021. Aggressive tax credits and major studio investments, including Netflix’s planned Fort Monmouth campus, are drawing productions and creating jobs. Meg James in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/9/26

‘You have to be delusional’: L.A. film students are prepared for a shrinking Hollywood -- Hollywood’s L.A. footprint keeps shrinking amid mergers, layoffs, AI and productions leaving the state. Film students at USC, UCLA and LMU say they worry about jobs but remain committed to industry careers. Some are willing to follow work out of L.A.; others are banking on an indie and box office revival. Cerys Davies in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/9/26

Climate

California's tides just broke century-old records. They're still rising -- Several tide gauges statewide recorded their highest readings in a century during the last week of October, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Meteorologists warn that the worst coastal flooding yet could arrive with the year’s king tides during Thanksgiving and Christmas. Anna FitzGerald Guth SFGate -- 11/9/26

Education

LAUSD uses a point system to manage waitlist for coveted magnet schools. Is it equitable? -- Carmel Levitan started submitting applications for her two kids to attend magnet schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District when they were in kindergarten. She deliberately picked schools where she knew her children wouldn’t get in. She hoped for rejection. Mallika Seshadri, Yuxuan Xie EdSource -- 11/9/26

Also

A UC Riverside scientist skied deep into the Sierra to track microplastics in snow -- Storm events spread microplastics across the environment, even to places that are nearly unreachable. A UC Riverside scientist skied into wilderness far off the beaten path, and found the polluting particles everywhere she looked. Susanne Rust in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/9/26

Sean Penn tells San Francisco crowd why he thinks Ukraine can prevail after U.S. midterms -- Penn was onstage to introduce the U.S. premiere of “Black Sunflowers,” a remarkable documentary by James Marcus Haney about a young generation of Ukrainians defiantly living life in an era of war. G. Allen Johnson in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/9/26

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Trump says his deportation agenda was ‘too tough,’ repeating interest in a deal with Dems -- President Donald Trump, in an interview that aired Sunday, said his deportation policy was “too tough” and hurt Republicans with some midterm voters. Myah Ward Politico -- 11/9/26

Democrats Promised to Fix the Economy. What Can They Really Do? -- A landslide win driven by economic frustration runs headlong into the challenge of making American life more affordable. Matt Grossman, Jeanne Whalen and Gavin Bade in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 11/9/26

Defeated Republicans Return to Washington With 55 Days Left and a Long Wish List -- Hegseth’s fate, judicial confirmations, military spending, leadership elections on agenda. Richard Rubin and Lindsay Wise in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 11/9/26

Jeffries Backs Impeaching Hegseth as Democrats Push for Accountability -- Representative Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader poised to become the next speaker of the House, said on Sunday that he would support impeaching Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, joining the growing calls to remove one of President Trump’s top cabinet secretaries after overwhelming Republican defeats in last week’s elections. Robert Jimison in the New York Times$ Liam Bowman in the Washington Post$ -- 11/9/26

 

California Policy and Politics Sunday

No, Newsom’s death penalty change won’t set murderers loose -- Prosecutors, police groups and conservatives are proclaiming that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s grant of clemency to all 548 prisoners sentenced to death in California shattered all legal limits on his authority and will release some convicted killers to the streets. They’re wrong, at least under current law. Bob Egelko in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/8/26

Raman, L.A. leaders join in condemnation after ICE officers reportedly detain two near Boyle Heights hospital -- Federal immigration agents reportedly detained two people late Friday night near an anti-ICE demonstration at a Boyle Heights hospital. Video shared on social media shows officers pinning one person, accused of “assaulting a federal agent,” onto the sidewalk. Alexandra Del Rosario and Genaro Molina in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/26

 

Inside Nithya Raman’s improbable campaign for L.A. mayor -- The first volunteers gathered in the back house of Nithya Raman’s Silver Lake home with little besides a whiteboard counting down the number of days until the June 2 primary election. Noah Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/26

New York has Mamdani. L.A. now has Raman. What path will this democratic socialist mayor take? -- Six months after Zohran Mamdani took office as mayor of New York, he said that New Yorkers no longer had to imagine what life looks like if a socialist wins. Jenny Jarvie in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/26

Bass ran on her strong relationship skills. So why did pivotal allies turn on her? -- It wasn’t that long ago that campaign strategist Estevan Montemayor was an enthusiastic booster for Karen Bass. David Zahniser and Noah Goldberg in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/26

California home insurance is poised for a drastic overhaul under Jane Kim. These are her plans -- San Francisco progressive Jane Kim, who appears poised to become the next state insurance commissioner, has pledged to pull no punches on the industry she’s about to regulate. Megan Fan Munce in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/8/26

 

Billionaire tax continues to trail as many Californians vote to spare the state’s ultra-rich stars -- Despite a nationwide blue wave in the midterm election, the much-debated billionaire tax didn’t get the support many expected in one of the country’s most liberal states. Queenie Wong and Seema Mehta in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/26

Ballot measure to streamline environmental permitting for building projects fails -- California voters have rejected Proposition 45, a bid by the California Chamber of Commerce, home-builder consortiums and some affordable housing advocates to streamline the permitting process for certain building projects through the California Environmental Quality Act. Andrew Graham in the Sacramento Bee$ -- 11/8/26

 

As Stephen Miller rises, California hopes it can blunt his force with Democratic gains -- President Trump’s appointment of Stephen Miller — the architect of the administration’s extreme crackdown on immigration — to White House chief of staff is sparking alarm among immigrant advocates and politicians across California. Grace Toohey, Suhauna Hussain and Karen Garcia in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/26

Lopez: L.A. mayors have long promised to end homelessness. Can Raman break the cycle of failure? -- More than 40,000 people are currently homeless in the city of Los Angeles. Raman wants to end Bass’ Inside Safe program and use short-term rental vouchers she claims will be far less expensive and more effective. Steve Lopez in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/26

Arellano: Forget Ohio as a bellwether. Look to Latinos to understand how Americans vote -- Latinos expect more from this country than just kvetching and corruption, blind loyalty and excuses. If we can still believe in this crazy democracy, then others should follow. Gustavo Arellano in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/26

Barabak: This sheriff crossed a line pandering to Trump. He should pay, from his own pocket -- For a time, Chad Bianco was one of the front-runners in the race for California governor — or at least as front-runnery as a Republican can get in this cobalt-blue state. Mark Z. Barabak in the Los Angeles Times$ -- 11/8/26

Hoeven: Looks like the worst California ballot measure is going to pass. Here’s who to blame and shame -- The catch: Half of the money, $4.2 billion in taxpayer funds, will go to just one research center — the untested, yet-to-be-built California Institute for Immunology & Immunotherapy. It was founded by the same group of billionaires that put Prop 38 on the ballot, including the Trump-pardoned “junk bond king” Michael Milken. Emily Hoeven in the San Francisco Chronicle$ -- 11/8/26

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For Trump and America, a Clear Election Verdict Leaves a Murky Future -- As Americans absorb a stunning new political reality, they face a gap between the time they effectively decided to be done with the president and the time he is actually done. Peter Baker in the New York Times$ -- 11/8/26

Unfazed by Midterm Rebuke, Miller Is Poised to Push the Limits of Trump’s Power -- The president’s new chief of staff has already demonstrated his intention to forge ahead with an agenda that many voters rejected. Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Hamed Aleaziz in the New York Times$ Cat Zakrzewski and Katherine Doyle in the Washington Post$ -- 11/8/26

Stephen Miller’s promotion angers industries reeling from immigration enforcement -- President Donald Trump’s naming of deportation architect as his chief of staff unleashed anger, fear and astonishment among leaders of industries that depend on immigrant labor. Lauren Kaori Gurley in the Washington Post$ -- 11/8/26

Trump’s D.C. Construction Blitz May Be About to Get Tougher -- The president has bulldozed through obstacles as he has sought to remake the face of Washington. But newly empowered Democrats and angry judges are setting up a high-stakes showdown. Luke Broadwater and Emily Badger in the New York Times$ -- 11/8/26

Hegseth Mounts Aggressive Campaign to Fight Pending Impeachment -- With a vote on his impeachment looming next week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is digging in his heels and vowing to stay at his Pentagon post for the rest of the Trump administration. Michael R. Gordon, Lara Seligman and Lindsay Wise in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 11/8/26

The New Stars and Presidential Hopefuls Shaking Up Democrats’ 2028 Field -- A dominating midterm performance gives Democrats a deep bench of talent, but that could make 2028 messy. Ken Thomas and John McCormick in the Wall Street Journal$ -- 11/8/26