The party faithful, many of whom sported ‘Trump 2028’ ball caps and paid more than $1,000 in hotel and flights to gather in sunny San Diego, split their votes relatively evenly between Steve Hilton, a businessman and former Fox News host who received the president’s endorsement, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. 

The final tally was 49% for Bianco and 44% for Hilton, both shy of the necessary 60% threshold to earn the party’s endorsement.

Hilton, a British-American who is leading all candidates in polling, entered the weekend as a relative party outsider. He called blocking Bianco’s endorsement “a major success” and said he remained “very confident” that he would secure one of the top two spots in California’s June 2 primary.

“Chad Bianco came into this convention assuming he’d got the whole thing in the bag,” Hilton said. “I think we made great progress this weekend to make it roughly even.”

The sheriff, who for months courted delegates and party insiders for the endorsement, was adamant that the final tally didn’t accurately reflect how much party support he has.

Hilton, one of the race’s top fundraisers, has raised more than $6.6 million so far, exceeding Bianco’s haul by more than $2 million.

“This changes nothing about our campaign,” Bianco said after the vote Sunday. Despite failing to garner even a majority of the votes, he also insisted, “I have the supermajority of the support from this room, way more than what that total indicated.”

“Endorsements are silly,” he added, before also acknowledging that an endorsement from the party “would have been nice.” 

Bianco made headlines last month for seizing hundreds of thousands of ballots cast in the special election for Proposition 50, the Democrats’ plan to redraw congressional districts, which voters approved. CalMatters was one of several news organizations that went to court to unseal the warrants that granted his seizure of ballots.

Uncertainty about GOP future

There was no denying that Republicans nationally could face brutal losses in the upcoming midterm elections, although the ocean breeze, harbor views and sunny mid-60s weather might have taken the edge off. Even some of the party’s conservative stalwarts acknowledged the uphill battle.

Speaking on a congressional panel moderated by former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Rep. Darrell Issa acknowledged that Republicans “may not hold the House in the midterms.” 

Issa, who chose to retire rather than seek reelection after Democrats significantly redrew his 48th District as part of their Proposition 50 redistricting plan, agreed Republicans need to focus on local issues — not just national talking points — as a way to combat what he called “Trump derangement syndrome.”

“Is our base fired up?” Spicer asked Rep. Tom McClintock, who also spoke on the panel. 

“I think maybe by summer,” McClintock said, “once we’re past all of the turbulence from Iran.”

Bashing Democrats provided some comedic relief and unity despite the bleak outlook — the president’s party almost always suffers losses in a midterm election. California Republicans reveled in the downfall of Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault and until this weekend was the Democratic frontrunner in the race for governor. His potential toppling added fuel to the Republican argument that Democrats, whose gubernatorial vote is split among eight candidates, are incapable of coherent leadership.

“It’s been a couple of hours, so I think we’re due for another Eric Swalwell ‘intern’-ruption,’” Hilton joked at the start of his remarks during a candidate forum on Saturday. “Good thing the Democrats have a great backup plan.”

Trump ‘should’ve stayed out of it.’

Political strategists theorized that Trump’s endorsement of Hilton would guarantee a Democrat’s victory in November, since it would consolidate the GOP vote and eliminate the possibility that Republicans could lock the Democrats out of the top-two primary in June.

But the party faithful in San Diego remain convinced that both Hilton and Bianco will continue to outperform a dysfunctional field of Democrats. Corrin Rankin, the California GOP chair, pointed to numerous polls that show Hilton and Bianco finishing in the top two. 

“I don’t see why that wouldn’t still be the case,” Rankin told reporters on Friday. “Californians see that these two Republicans are better than any of the candidates the Democrats are offering.”

Rankin also said she was surprised that Trump weighed in on anything California-related. “This is not something that he typically does,” she said.

Bianco said he was unbothered by Trump’s decision to endorse his opponent. Throughout the weekend he received the celebrity treatment, strutting around the resort complex with an entourage of supporters in tow. Fans stopped him for selfies and videos for their social media channels. Many of them waved flags and signs bearing his name and phrases like, “Only the sheriff can save us now!”

“This has never been about an endorsement for me,” Bianco said after Saturday’s forum, where candidates for statewide offices made their final pleas to delegates. “This momentum, that excitement, was amazing. It certainly fires me up. It proves to me that I’m doing the right thing, and we’re gonna save our state.”

The sheriff’s supporters were similarly undeterred by Trump’s endorsement of his opponent. 

“I’m not changing my vote. I don’t care who he supports. I’m voting for the best candidate for the state of California, and that’s not who he endorsed, in my opinion,” said April Huckabey, a delegate from Santa Barbara County. “He should’ve stayed out of it,” she added. “Let us run our state.”

Huckabey and her friend Leigh Collier, also from Santa Barbara, agreed the president’s endorsement would not sway Bianco supporters. But it might make some people who were on the fence consider Hilton more strongly. 

Some of Hilton’s supporters were cautiously optimistic about the president’s endorsement, but they were also clear-eyed about how his association with Trump could backfire with people who don’t like the president.

“There’s so many people that just hate our president that you wonder, ‘Could it have a negative effect?’” said Pat Frizzeli, a delegate and the treasurer of the Calaveras County Central Committee. “You just worry.”

Vicky Reinke, chair of the Calaveras County Central Committee, said she was impressed by Hilton’s background in business as a startup founder, as well as his experience working for British Prime Minister David Cameron. She also liked his can-do attitude and willingness to follow through. 

Their county’s annual Lincoln-Reagan dinner fundraiser, where Hilton was scheduled to be the keynote speaker, came on the same day as the funeral for right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. Reinke was impressed that Hilton came to their event after attending the funeral in Glendale, Arizona.

“He could have canceled,” she said. “But he made sure he was still at our event as well as going to Charlie Kirk’s. We were very impressed by that.”

“Promises made, promises kept,” echoed Frizzeli.

Hilton argued that the Trump endorsement could only help him by firing up the party base, since Democrats would try to tie a Republican candidate like him to the president regardless. And despite party leaders’ hopes, he was also confident that there wouldn’t be a top-two GOP sweep in June.

“It’s very clear that I’m going to be in the top two. I don’t know who the Democrat will be, but it’s certainly going to be a Democrat,” Hilton said.

The post Trump wanted California Republicans to back Steve Hilton. They didn’t listen appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

He said he would “fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make.”

Swalwell’s campaign collapsed Friday soon after the first report in the San Francisco Chronicle, in which the unnamed former staff member said Swalwell solicited oral sex from her while she was working for him and twice sexually assaulted her when she was too drunk to consent. The account was corroborated with medical records and by people the woman spoke with after the last incident, which she said took place in New York in 2024.

CNN later Friday published the same woman’s account, as well as those of three other women, one of whom said he kissed and touched her inappropriately and two of whom alleged he sent unsolicited nude photos and other inappropriate messages on Snapchat.

Dozens of supporters and staffers quickly dropped their support for him. Major unions and congressional candidates pulled their endorsements.

It was unclear when Swalwell would step down, but he said he would work with his congressional staff to ensure they are able to meet the needs of his San Francisco East Bay district, where he was first elected in 2013.

Because he is leaving the race after a state deadline to file for or withdraw from a race, his name will still appear on the June 2 primary ballot.

The post Eric Swalwell to resign from Congress following sex assault allegations appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco received 49% of the vote, while Trump’s pick, former Fox News Host Steve Hilton, got 44%. The remaining delegates voted to not endorse either candidate. Sixty percent of the vote was needed to gain the California GOP Party’s endorsement.

“The California Republican Party has an amazing candidate problem,” Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin said in a statement. She praised both Hilton and Bianco for being “outstanding candidates.”

The three-day event, which began Friday, was held at the Sheraton San Diego Resort, with this year’s theme of “Turning the tide, together.” More than 1,100 delegates from across the state attended dozens of professional training sessions on campaign strategy, election integrity, voter mobilization, artificial intelligence in politics and ballot-harvesting countermeasures.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was the keynote speaker Saturday night. He encouraged voter turnout in this year’s midterms, saying, “We can turn this around,” in an apparent reference to the state’s Democratic super-majority. Cruz also took aim at California Gov. Gavin Newsom and embattled Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Eric Swalwell, R-Dublin.

Other speakers included U.S. Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Bonsall, Tom McClintock, R-Modesto, Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, several state senators and assembly members, Republican National Committee Co-Chair KC Crosbie, and former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

In a video posted on social media, Hilton showed off his new campaign T-shirt with Trump’s endorsement.

“I would love every delegate here at the convention to focus on what we need to do, to leave this convention strong and united behind President Trump’s leadership, behind my leadership,” Hilton said.

Hilton said people are sick of Democrats and California’s highest cost of living in the country, highest unemployment rate, and highest property tax rate.

Bianco shrugged off the lack of an endorsement, saying Sunday that the result “didn’t mean anything. I’m not running to get endorsements. I’m running for Californians,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Delegates endorsed candidates for statewide office on the June primary ballot in other races, including Gloria Romero for lieutenant governor, Don Wagner for secretary of state, Herb Morgan for controller, Jennifer Hawks for treasurer, Michael Gates for attorney general, Stacy Korsgaden for insurance commissioner, and Sonja Shaw for superintendent of public instruction.

“California Republicans are united around a simple goal: win in November and break the Democrats’ super-majority,” Rankin said. “Our endorsed candidates will talk to Californians about how we will create safer communities, lower costs, and a government that answers to the people. We know what Californians are up against because we live it too. That is why we are going to take this fight directly to the voters.”

The California Republican Party holds 10 of the state Senate’s 40 seats and 20 of the Assembly’s 80 seats. Of the state’s 52 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, seven are held by Republicans.

The post State Republicans Fail To Endorse Candidate For Governor appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

With a sprawling field threatening to split the vote and hand the governorship to a Republican, a late-hour effort failed to persuade longshot contenders to drop out. A preeminent labor group split its coveted endorsement four ways, elevating no one. And in the most recent upheaval, a televised debate was hastily canceled after an uproar from within the party that leaving out low-polling candidates of color would produce an all-white stage.

Democratic political professionals here largely insist the field will consolidate once campaigns start running more ads and voters tune in, averting a scenario where Democrats are locked out of the general election. But a dearth of star candidates and the vagaries of California’s top-two election system have pushed California Democrats into precarious new terrain.

“We know there’s this risk ahead — a 15 percent chance of calamity. It’s not a 15 percent chance of stubbing your toe, it’s a 15 percent chance of losing the governorship, losing the down-ballot races,” said Paul Mitchell, a leading Democratic data strategist in the state.

Losing the governorship would rank among the biggest upsets in modern political history. For Democrats, who have held a monopoly on statewide office for a generation and outnumber Republicans two to one, it wouldn’t just mean ceding California’s role as a national leader in progressive policymaking. The lack of a top-of-the-ticket standard bearer could also suppress turnout and cost the party House seats, squandering Democrats’ victory last year in a hard-fought gerrymandering campaign.

Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California CEO Jodi Hicks, whose organization campaigned for Proposition 50 and echoed the party chair’s call for people to leave, called that “the worst of all scenarios.”

“What’s at stake is massive,” Hicks said. “We’re not just talking about the governor’s race. We’re talking about what that does for everything we did for Prop 50, what that does for congressional seats and what that means for the rest of the country. The country is depending on California.”

In a typical election, Democrats would be cruising. But this is not a typical year.

After heavyweights like Sen. Alex Padilla and former Vice President Kamala Harris passed on the race to succeed Gavin Newsom, no Democrat has broken away from the scrum. Now, some polls show Republicans are in position to capture the top two spots — including a survey circulated by state party Chair Rusty Hicks, whose plea for lower-tier Democrats to drop out has been met with backlash and accusations of racism.

“It’s completely dysfunctional,” said a former legislative leader granted anonymity to discuss internal dynamics. “It’s the weirdest combination.”

A Democratic lockout is still an unlikely outcome. Elected officials and political consultants pointed out that voters have largely ignored the race so far. With the exception of billionaire Tom Steyer, campaigns have not started spending serious money.

“I vote in every dang election. I haven’t gotten a single piece of mail yet,” said Democratic consultant Steve Maviglio. “When Democrats start paying attention to this race, the numbers will move.”

In recent weeks, much of the political establishment has backed Rep. Eric Swalwell, who has picked up endorsements from Sen. Adam Schiff and two of California’s most prominent labor groups. A pro-Swalwell super PAC has piled up millions of dollars from medical interests and Uber, and a well-funded anti-Steyer effort launched late last month.

But even those brushing off the concerns said the lingering possibility of Democrats committing a generational fumble has infused California’s political circles with an air of anxiety.

“Democrats need to step back and take a deep breath,” said Garry South, a Democratic consultant who has run multiple statewide campaigns. “In the final analysis this thing will sort itself out, but it’s a talking point among Democrats all around the state, no doubt about it.”

South noted that the “three major players who have the ability to step up and make sure we have a Democrat in that runoff” have not yet weighed in: Newsom, Padilla and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

While Newsom has acknowledged the risk of a lockout, he has not endorsed a candidate or tried to force consolidation. Representatives for Padilla and Pelosi declined to comment on their plans.

And for all the angst about party players not intervening more forcefully, it’s unclear anyone in California politics has both the stature and the means to coax or coerce longshot contenders out of the race.

That reflects an age in which institutions have less clout, media is more fragmented, and interest groups or wealthy individuals can propel candidates into contention with a few well-timed checks.

“The idea that there’s one person who can tell people with authority that they must get out of the race — that’s a product of a bygone era,” said Darrell Steinberg, a former state Senate leader who later served as Sacramento’s mayor. “Politics today is much more open. That old stereotype of people behind closed doors making decisions for the broader public — that was an old way of doing things.”

Practical considerations could also force the issue. Candidates who have lagged in fundraising will soon have to face the reality that they do not have the resources to communicate with voters or compete with better-funded campaigns, said Rose Kapolczynski, a political consultant whose clients included former Sen. Barbara Boxer.

“There’s no difference between a candidate dropping out and a candidate having no money to run advertising,” Kapolczynski said. “It’s the same thing.”

But leaving it to self-interested candidates strikes some as too great of a risk. Instead, they say, there needs to be a coordinated effort to forestall a catastrophe.

“It’s a crazy calamity if the iceberg is hit,” Mitchell said. “Denying there’s an iceberg isn’t a strategy.”

The post Democrats risk a historic upset in California appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

The absurdity is that Democratic voters outnumber Republicans in California by nearly 2 to 1. But the voters’ choices for governor could be restricted to just two Republicans — both disciples of President Trump, who is despised in this state.

We’d be electing our first GOP governor in 20 years.

The odds against this scenario are high. But it’s an increasing possibility.

It’s conceivable because of a crowded Democratic field of candidates and a 2010 reform placed on the ballot after a late-night deal demanded by a Republican state senator — Abel Maldonado of Santa Maria — in exchange for his vote to pass a stalled budget and tax increase.

The compromise led to voter approval of California’s unique top-two open primary. The top two vote-getters advance to the November runoff, regardless of party. It’s called an open primary because voters can choose any candidate, no matter their party.

So two Democrats or two Republicans might be the only choices in November — in statewide, congressional and legislative races. That doesn’t happen often, but it has a few times.

It doesn’t reflect the current reality of American politics, with voters sharply polarized between Democrats and Republicans. They want to vote for someone from their own party and are not interested in choosing among two perceived evils.

We should consider returning to a primary system that produces party nominees — one Democrat and one Republican — to give voters a more varied selection in November. Maybe even allow a third or fourth candidate to emerge from minority parties.

It’s too late to change for this year, but we could for future elections. It would require voter approval.

For the present, we’re saddled with the unwieldy dilemma of there being eight major Democratic candidates and just two Republicans. If the combined Democratic vote is splintered among the eight Democrats in the June 2 primary, the two Republicans could end up finishing first and second.

Political data guru Paul Mitchell, who has been running primary election simulations, pegs the chances of a Democratic lockout at 20%.

“There’s only a one-in-five chance, but you don’t want to see a one-in-five chance with something this important,” says the statistician, who works mostly for Democrats.

“To be safe, the Democratic Party needs to have a candidate polling at 20% or more. And none of the Democratic candidates are half way there. It’s scary.”

Mitchell bases his assessment on a poll released last week by state Democratic chairman Rusty Hicks, part of an effort to pressure low-polling Democratic candidates to step out of the race.

The survey showed both Republicans leading the field — former Fox News host Steve Hilton with 16% and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco at 14%. At 10% each were three Democrats: Rep. Eric Swalwell of the San Francisco Bay Area, former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter and wealthy climate activist Tom Steyer. No other Democrat registered above 3%. There were 24% undecided.

The straggling candidates need to ask themselves, Hicks says: “if you’re polling 1% to 2%, do you have a path to get to 20?

“All of these candidates are experienced. They know in their gut when they’re viable or not.”

Mitchell says, “A lot of folks are now looking at why we have a wacky system that causes [a party chair] to tell candidates they should drop out of a race.”

Yes, it does smack of being undemocratic even if it’s practical politics.

Mitchell says the top-two system should be scrapped.

Hicks agrees.

“Things that were promised [by top-two promoters] have not been delivered,” the state party chairman told me. “It’s time to consider going back to the kind of system voters like.”

Appealing to the middle

I called around and got different views from veteran Democratic strategists.

“It was sold as reform, but it’s not reform. It’s a distortion of the process,” one former political consultant told me, asking for anonymity because of his current employment. “Everybody thought it would yield more moderate, consensus candidates, but that’s not what’s happening.”

Consultant Steve Maviglito, who ran the 2010 campaign against the top-two system, says it’s undemocratic because it risks not giving voters “a chance to cast a ballot for a candidate they have some belief in. That’s what our system is built on.”

The grand theory, he notes, was that candidates would be forced to appeal to the middle.

“Just the opposite,” Maviglio argues. “Democrats want a strong Democrat and Republicans want a strong Republican. The only thing in the middle of the road is a dead armadillo.”

Moreover, he points out, the top-two system has been manipulated by Democrats — including Sen. Adam Schiff and Gov. Gavin Newsom — to boost a Republican in the primary to guarantee a non-competitive, easy election in November.

That’s a bit sleazy.

“The top-two has actually been hugely good to Democrats,” says Democratic strategist Garry South. “They need to think this through. Since the top-two primary was implemented, there have only been three same-party runoffs for state office out of 26 races — all three of them Democrats.

“The current specter of two Republicans [in November] is not the fault of the top-two primary system. It’s due to every Democrat and their brother — or sister — taking a flier and filing for governor.”

“Never,” replies consultant David Townsend when asked whether the top-two primary should be junked. He ran the ballot campaign authorizing it. Townsend insists today’s Legislature contains more moderate Democrats because of the top-two and that they provide a check on the liberal majority.

That’s true to some degree.

OK, we could leave the top-two system for the Legislature and scuttle it for statewide offices.

The thought of being limited to a choice between two Republicans — or two Democrats — for governor is unacceptable and un-American.

The post The time has come to discard California’s top-two open primary appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

The audience went wild, and Schwarzenegger went on to become governor and deliver on his promise to roll back a car tax increase, thereby blowing a $4-billion hole in the state budget.

I think it’s fair to say that in the current gubernatorial campaign season, the excitement level is several decibels below what we experienced in 2003. But once again, it’s fair to say we’ve not seen anything quite like this year’s derby.

“There’s no historical precedent in modern California history for a governor’s race with such a large field or such an amorphous field of candidates,” said longtime political observer Dan Schnur. “Unless you’re paying very close attention, it feels like a big multi-headed political blob.”

To break that down, eight Democrats and two Republicans are running in the primary, and here’s the craziest thing about that:

The two Republicans could be the top two vote-getters because the Democrats have arranged themselves into a circular firing squad. While the Dems scramble for votes in the June 2 primary, the two Republicans lead in the polls because they’re splitting the GOP vote, and under the rules of the top-two primary, they could face off in the November election.

That means that California, which is one of the bluest states in the country and has nearly twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans, could end up with a Republican governor, which would be like having a Dodgers manager who wears a Yankees jersey in the dugout.

And by the way, if it happens, the Republican would be able to shuffle regulatory boards, attempt to squeeze budgets and create a bit of chaos, but still not get much accomplished because of Democratic super-majorities in the Senate and Assembly.

And he would be targeted for recall even before he takes office. (More on that in a minute.)

There is a way for the Democrats to avoid this humiliation, but they can’t seem to agree on anything at the moment. Party leaders have all but asked the candidates at the bottom of the polls to bow out, but understandably the response has been, “Why me? I’m no worse than the others.”

USC decided to host a debate night, a simple enough proposition, but then flubbed the deal by leaving four candidates off the invitation list — four candidates of color. A kerfuffle followed, and the debate was dumped, and an attempt to let everyone into the party fell apart.

So now what?

It’s possible the Dems will huddle around one or two candidates who then move up in the polls and remove the threat of the unthinkable — two Republicans head-to-head. That would be Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco going against former Fox TV host Steve Hilton.

It’s also possible the Dems will play dirty and either spend money to promote one of the two Republican candidates or torpedo one of them. All they want, at the moment, is for a Democrat to make it past the primary, because that would all but ensure victory in November, given voter registration advantages.

And then, if that doesn’t work, there’s the recall scenario.

“You could shut it down probably within five or six months,” said Mike Madrid, a longtime California GOP political consultant.

“It would surely happen,” said Rob Stutzman, a GOP strategist who helped Schwarzenegger knock Gov. Gray Davis out of office, and take his job, in the 2003 recall.

A wealthy Democratic donor could bankroll the recall campaign, Stutzman said. Or public employee unions might put up the money, given that a Republican winner is likely to create a state version of Elon Musk’s ham-handed attempt to fire nearly everyone on the federal payroll.

“The pitch,” Stutzman said of the recall strategy in an email, would be that “Trump still looms and CA must resist, and a GOP gov is a fluke of weird election law. Difficult to imagine it wouldn’t succeed.”

I thought of one more approach the Democrats could use to make sure at least one of them is on the ballot in November. Tom Steyer, a leader for many years on one of the most critical issues in California and the world, climate change, has already spent tens of millions of dollars on TV ads that run about every two minutes, promoting him as the best candidate for governor.

They’re so repetitious, you can’t help but tune them out.

But everyone would pay close attention if Steyer instead ran ads offering incentives for either Bianco or Hilton to leave the state. Steyer could offer $10 million cash for Bianco to move to Hawaii, and maybe throw in a beach house. He could buy a private jet for Hilton to take him back to his native Britain. Every day, there could be new ads upping the ante until one of them leaves the Golden State.

Wouldn’t that be a better use of Steyer’s money? It might even get him elected.

To be honest, having some honest pushback against Democratic authority in California wouldn’t be a terrible thing. It’s not as if Gov. Gavin Newsom and other Democrats are winning the battle against homelessness, housing shortages, affordability and other big challenges, and voters understandably want more — way more — for their tax dollars.

An experienced, no-nonsense, sensible, fiscally conservative GOP candidate would do the state good.

The problem is that the two Republicans in the running, Bianco and Hilton, are Trump toadies.

In an embarrassingly amateurish political stunt, Bianco blew the president a kiss and all but begged for an endorsement by seizing 650,000 ballots from last November’s election to determine whether they were fraudulently counted.

Hilton recently said in an interview with ABC’s Eyewitness News 7 that he believes “everybody supports” Trump’s immigration policies.

Hilton might have missed the news that U.S.-born residents are carrying their passports in case they’re targeted by skin color. That Californians by the thousands have joined the resistance. That despite claims, most deportees don’t have criminal records. And that even some of the state’s GOP lawmakers have begged Trump to stop raiding industries that rely on immigrant help (and are often owned by Republicans).

And by the way, is this a smart time for a GOP candidate in California to be doing his best Trump impression?

The president’s popularity is down, consumer prices are up, he’s shamelessly pardoned drug lords and Jan. 6 barbarians, he thinks the presidency is a game of Battleship after promising to keep us out of wars, gas prices are sky high, he just said he was glad that Vietnam War hero and former FBI Director Robert Mueller had died, and he’s playing golf all day as if everything’s hunky dory.

Like I said, there’s not a big-name character like Schwarzenegger in the race, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t good options. If you like Bianco or Hilton, so be it. Otherwise I suggest you read up on the other eight:

Steyer, Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, former L.A. Mayor and legislative leader Antonio Villaraigosa, former Rep. Katie Porter, former state attorney general and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, former State Controller Betty Yee, San José Mayor Matt Mahan, and U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell.

And you better act fast.

The primary is less than 10 weeks away.

The post Yes, a Republican could be California’s next governor. And a recall would begin immediately appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Less than four months after announcing his reelection campaign, Walz said Monday that he could no longer devote the energy necessary to win another term, even as he expressed confidence that he could win.

Walz said in a statement Monday that he “can’t give a political campaign my all” after what he described as an “extraordinarily difficult year for our state.”

“Donald Trump and his allies – in Washington, in St. Paul, and online – want to make our state a colder, meaner place,” Walz said, referring to the Trump administration withholding funds for the programs. “They want to poison our people against each other by attacking our neighbors. And, ultimately, they want to take away much of what makes Minnesota the best place in America to raise a family.”

Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is considering running for governor, according to a person close to her. The person, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Klobuchar has not made a final decision.

Around a dozen Republicans are already in the race. They include MyPillow founder and chief executive Mike Lindell, an election denier who is close to Trump. They also include Minnesota House Speaker Lisa Demuth, of Cold Spring; Dr. Scott Jensen, a former state senator from Chaska who was the party’s 2022 candidate; state Rep. Kristin Robbins, of Maple Grove; defense lawyer and former federal prosecutor Chris Madel; former executive Kendall Qualls; and former Minnesota GOP Chair David Hann.

Walz is a military veteran and union supporter who helped enact an ambitious Democratic agenda for his state, including sweeping protections for abortion rights and generous aid to families.

Vice President Kamala Harris picked Walz as her running mate after his attack line against Trump and his running mate, then-Ohio Sen. JD Vance — “These guys are just weird” — spread widely.

Walz had been building up his national profile since his and Harris’ defeat in November. He was a sharp critic of Trump as he toured early caucus and primary states. In May, he called on Democrats in South Carolina to stand up to the Republican president, saying, “Maybe it’s time for us to be a little meaner.”

Through two terms as governor, Walz has moved a liberal agenda through a closely divided legislature. In his first term, he navigated a Democratic-led House and a Republican-controlled Senate that resisted his proposals to use higher taxes to boost money for schools, health care and roads. But he helped broker compromises.

He used the office’s emergency power during the COVID-19 pandemic to shutter businesses and close schools, prompting Republican pushback.

Republicans also were critical of Walz over what they saw as his slow response to sometimes violent unrest that followed the killing of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020.

In his second term, Walz worked with Democratic majorities in both legislative chambers to chart a more liberal course in state government, aided by a huge budget surplus. Minnesota eliminated nearly all of the state abortion restrictions enacted in the past by Republicans, protected gender-affirming care for transgender youth and legalized the recreational use of marijuana.

That, combined with Walz’s rural background and experience representing southern Minnesota in Congress, landed him on cHarris’ radar as she considered potential running mates in her 2024 presidential bid. After a whirlwind search, she opted for Walz over other candidates including North Carolina’s Roy Cooper, Kentucky’s Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro and former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg.

Walz got a warm welcome from Democratic voters but drew mixed reviews for his lone debate against his Vance.

Minnesota has leaned Democratic in presidential and statewide contests in recent decades. Walz won his second term in 2022 by nearly 8 percentage points, but Trump narrowed Democrats’ advantage to less than 5 points in 2024.

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