A few close elections remain

by Brian Leubitz

Well, another election has come and gone. And once again, California was the break against a national wave election. Sure, there were a few disappointments, and a few races that are still in question. But California is still a state where the divisive values of the extreme right represented by the Republican party do not sell.

The close ones to watch at this point are in the House of Representatives, where three Democrats are fighting to maintain their seats. Ami Bera and Jim Costa are just barely behind their Republican opponents, and Julia Brownley has a slight lead. However, the trend after election day has been favorable for all of them. It isn’t yet clear how they will turn out, but there is reason to be optimistic.

Turnout still makes elections, and you can see the state tilt back and forth like the rest of the country from mid-terms to presidential elections. But California still has demographics and tempermant that just don’t suit right-wing extremism.

As Arnold Schwarzenegger once said, the Republicans bombed at the box office, once again here in California. Jerry Brown made history by winning his fourth term in office, Gavin Newsom, Kamala Harris, and Dave Jones were re-elected, and Betty Yee, John Chiang, and Alex Padilla will join them in statewide office. Even on a day when turnout was again disappointing, Republicans couldn’t really get into spitting distance of winning a state office. It is hard to argue that they are anything other than a regional party in California. Sure, they picked up legislative seats, but with our recent supermajority reforms at the ballot box, that carries less weight than it did before.

All that being said, we must continue to hold our politicians accountable. In a state where one party dominates, there can be a tendency to backslide to wherever the money flows. We must demand transparency and follow through.

The need for transparency is nothing new. In a state this big, there is always a tension between transparency and efficiency. But with the lack of action on the federal level, Sacramento must be a center of both action and inclusion.