Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Candidates Make Final Appeals to California's Lopsided Electorate
gvw_ap_news
By Associated Press
Published 7 years ago on
November 6, 2018

Share

LOS ANGELES — Thousands of volunteers knocked on doors and dialed phones Monday while candidates across California made their final arguments to voters in an election where Democrats look to keep their stranglehold on state offices and add to their advantage in the 53-seat congressional delegation.

Polls will be open statewide from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, and early voters must have their ballots postmarked by Tuesday to have them counted. The secretary of state’s office says 19.7 million people are registered to vote.

Democrats have chased Republicans from many California offices and are poised to hold that ground and perhaps gain more.

Democratic Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom is the strong favorite over Republican businessman John Cox to succeed Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown. For the second consecutive general election, there isn’t even a Republican on the ballot for U.S. Senate. This time, Sen. Dianne Feinstein has coasted against Democratic state Sen. Kevin de Leon.

State Senate Supermajority on Horizon?

In the Legislature, the question isn’t whether Democrats will control the Assembly and Senate again — no one doubts that. It’s whether Democrats get a veto-proof supermajority in the state Senate to add to their supermajority in the Assembly.

The status would allow them to raise taxes, suspend legislative rules and override vetoes without needing GOP votes.

Republicans hold just 14 congressional seats statewide, but seven of those districts were carried by Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election and are battlegrounds this time around. Democrats don’t appear in danger in any of the 39 districts they hold.

Era of One Party State

The trajectory of the election appears headed toward “the era of being a one-party state and the interesting internal conflicts that come with that,” University of California, San Diego political scientist Thad Kousser said Monday.

He pointed out that the drama in the governor’s race this year was during the primary between Newsom and fellow Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa, with Cox seen as a longshot from the start.

“What happens when you have one-party states? What you see is these fights within parties,” Kousser said.

In San Francisco, Feinstein dropped off her ballot at City Hall, where the 85-year-old Democrat urged residents to vote.

“Of course, I hope more Democrats vote than Republicans, but in any event, everyone should vote,” she said.

California’s Generational Shift

Democrats hold a 3.7 million edge in voter registrations, and Republicans are also outnumbered by independents, who in California tend to vote like Democrats.

Of 1.4 million new registrations this year, only 187,000 signed up as Republicans, or roughly 14 percent, according to an analysis by the nonpartisan research firm Political Data Inc. The largest group of new voters signed up as independents.

Just a generation ago, California was a reliably Republican state in presidential contests. But a surge in immigrants transformed the state and its voting patterns. The number of Hispanics, blacks and Asians combined has outnumbered whites in the state since 1998. New voters, largely Latinos and Asians, lean Democratic.

DON'T MISS

What Are Fresno Real Estate Experts Predicting for 2025 and Beyond?

DON'T MISS

First California EV Mandates Hit Automakers This Year. Most Are Not Even Close

DON'T MISS

test

DON'T MISS

World’s Largest Almond Processor Will Shutter Sacramento Plant. 600 Workers Impacted

DON'T MISS

Trump Eyes Major Funding Cuts for California, Including All Public Universities

DON'T MISS

Farming Regulation Costs Rise 1,300% Since 2006: Cal Poly

DON'T MISS

Southern California Air Regulators Weigh a Plan to Phase Out Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters

DON'T MISS

US Supreme Court Allows DOGE Broad Access to Social Security Data

DON'T MISS

Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up.

DON'T MISS

Abrego Garcia Is Returned to US From El Salvador

DON'T MISS

Proud Boys Convicted in Jan. 6 Attack Sue Government on Claims of ‘Political Persecution’

DON'T MISS

FDA’s AI Assistant ‘Elsa’ Fails Its First Day on the Job

UP NEXT

Trump Eyes Major Funding Cuts for California, Including All Public Universities

UP NEXT

Southern California Air Regulators Weigh a Plan to Phase Out Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters

UP NEXT

Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up.

UP NEXT

FDA’s AI Assistant ‘Elsa’ Fails Its First Day on the Job

UP NEXT

Newsom Promises Funding to Jump-Start ‘Science of Reading’

UP NEXT

Rancho Cucamonga Prepares for First US Bullet Train Hub in 2028

UP NEXT

8 Ways Musk and Trump Could Inflict Pain on Each Other

UP NEXT

D-Day Veterans Return to Normandy to Mark 81st Anniversary of Landings

UP NEXT

Lambda Legal, a Nonprofit Supporting LGBTQ+ Rights, Exceeded Fundraising Goal by $105M

UP NEXT

Trump Threatens Musk’s Government Deals as Feud Explodes Over Tax-Cut Bill

Farming Regulation Costs Rise 1,300% Since 2006: Cal Poly

1 hour ago

Southern California Air Regulators Weigh a Plan to Phase Out Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters

2 hours ago

US Supreme Court Allows DOGE Broad Access to Social Security Data

2 hours ago

Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up.

3 hours ago

Abrego Garcia Is Returned to US From El Salvador

3 hours ago

Proud Boys Convicted in Jan. 6 Attack Sue Government on Claims of ‘Political Persecution’

3 hours ago

FDA’s AI Assistant ‘Elsa’ Fails Its First Day on the Job

3 hours ago

Documentary Series Goes Inside Trump’s Bubble

4 hours ago

Tulare County Gang Member Convicted of Trying to a Murder Police Officer

4 hours ago

Newsom Promises Funding to Jump-Start ‘Science of Reading’

4 hours ago

11 minutes ago

test

54 minutes ago

World’s Largest Almond Processor Will Shutter Sacramento Plant. 600 Workers Impacted

2 hours ago

Trump Eyes Major Funding Cuts for California, Including All Public Universities

2 hours ago

Farming Regulation Costs Rise 1,300% Since 2006: Cal Poly

3 hours ago

Southern California Air Regulators Weigh a Plan to Phase Out Gas Furnaces and Water Heaters

3 hours ago

US Supreme Court Allows DOGE Broad Access to Social Security Data

4 hours ago

Doctors Were Preparing to Remove Their Organs. Then They Woke Up.

4 hours ago

Abrego Garcia Is Returned to US From El Salvador

Help continue the work that gets you the news that matters most.

Search

Send this to a friend