WhatMatters

Between July and October last year, Google spent $120,000 on lobbying California’s government. In those same three months this year, the tech giant put in a lot more — $10.7 million. The big difference? The Legislature was debating a major bill with direct impact on Google’s bottom line — a media funding proposal — explain […]

Immigration advocates are sounding the alarm over the prospect of mass deportations upending California immigrant communities, which Donald Trump has vowed to initiate when he returns to the White House in January. But smaller programs are also at risk, writes CalMatters Capitol reporter Jeanne Kuang. To ensure that labor laws are being enforced, a federal […]

Scheduling note: WhatMatters is honoring our veterans on Monday and will return to your inboxes on Tuesday. California Democrats and their allies are battening down the hatches for Donald Trump’s return to the White House in January. On Thursday Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a special session to prepare the state for likely legal challenges […]

Politicians and pundits are reading the tea leaves from the sweeping Democratic defeats nationally, as well as the California election results. To California Republicans, the passage of Proposition 36 — coupled with the recall of Alameda County’s district attorney and the defeat of Los Angeles County’s district attorney — offers clear evidence that voters reject […]

Election Day has come and gone, but the suspense is far from over. Voting went relatively smoothly, as election officials across California reported they were confident about counting votes in the face of minor technical challenges. A new survey by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found that only 14% of Californians planned to […]

It’s Election Day in California! Today’s the last day to vote in person or return ballots by mail, though Californians have been voting for a month. As of Monday, more than 8 million ballots are already in of the 22.8 million sent out (the percentage returned is down from the same point in 2020). Here […]

There are only two more days to vote in California, and more than 7.6 million Californians have cast their ballots. But the counting will last for days, if not weeks, before news outlets declare all the winners or candidates concede.  The delays and uncertainty — which have grown since California started sending mail ballots to […]

Californians have five more days to vote, and as of Thursday, more than 5.8 million of the 22.6 million registered voters had returned their ballots. In the final stretch, campaigns are amping up outreach efforts and some of the stakes in the election are coming into sharper focus: Legislative races: Democrats hold two-thirds supermajorities in […]

California is a sure thing for Democrats in the presidential race. So some supporters of Vice President Kamala Harris are heading to Arizona and Nevada — two neighboring states where the outcome is uncertain and could help determine who wins.  CalMatters’ Ana B. Ibarra spoke with volunteers from Los Angeles who traveled to Las Vegas […]

In the political world, there has been a lot of discussion lately about newspaper endorsements — or non-endorsements — and whether they matter for voters. They don’t for those who pick candidates based on party. But can they influence voters on ballot propositions? CalMatters politics intern Jenna Peterson looks at where California’s six leading newspaper […]