MadProfessah Voting Guide: June 2022 Los Angeles and California Primary Elections

Here are MadProfessah's positions on how I will be voting have voted in the June 7 2022 California Primary Elections. This post will contain  endorsements information from other organizations like the Los Angeles Times,  California Democratic Party, East Area Progressive Democrats and the Los Angeles County Democratic Party. 

The 2022 Primary Ballot is quite long. Here are my endorsements (how I am voting) along with information about how others are encouraging you to vote. This link will take you to a printable two page version of this voting guide. Names with an asterisk * are openly LGBTQ+ candidates.

Information about judges of the Superior Court were informed by these two documents by two informed insiders (a former Superior Court judge and Someone who works in the DA's office).

The information here is accurate to the best of my knowledge. YMMV.

LAist also has a very helpful voterguide here: https://laist.com/news/politics/voter-game-plan.

CITYWIDE RACES (Los Angeles)

COUNTYWIDE RACES (Los Angeles)

COUNTY JUDGES (Superior Court)

STATEWIDE RACES 

Virginia Enacts LGBT Non-Discrimination Protections!

Virginia has become the first state in the Southern United States (former member of the Confederacy) to enact comprehensive civil rights protections for LGBT people. Last night Governor Ralph Northam signed the Virginia Values Act into law. The legislation (SB 868) goes into effect July 1, 2020 and in addition to prohibiting discrimination in employment, housing and credit on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity, it also expanded public accommodations protections on the basis of these categories and others. According to the Williams Institute (at the UCLA School of Law) twenty-three states and the District of Columbia now have statutes specifically protecting LGBT civil rights.

The national LGBT advocacy organization, the Human Rights Campaign, described the new law:

In addition to sexual orientation and gender identity, the law also creates all-new protections for Virginians in private employment and places of public accommodation on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, disability, and status as a veteran. Virginia is the first state in the South to have non-discrimination protections for LGBTQ people, the first state in over a decade to add both sexual orientation and gender identity to existing non-discrimination law, and the first state since 1993 to add a prohibition on discrimination in public accommodations (protecting all Virginians) where none existed before.

Virginia Governor Northam said:

"We are building an inclusive Commonwealth where there is opportunity for everyone, and everyone is treated fairly. No longer will LGBTQ Virginians have to fear being fired, evicted, or denied service in public places because of who they are."

The bill was shepherded through the Virginia legislature by two openly gay legislators, Senator Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) and Delegate Mark Sickles (D-Fairfax). As a result of the 2019 legislative elections and the 2017 gubernatorial elections Democrats have complete control of the legislative process in Virginia for the first time in decades. Since I used to live and work in Virginia I am very excited to see this progress!

POLL: Support For Death Penalty Hits New Low In California

California Governor Gavin Newsom made headlines a few weeks ago when he announced a moratorium on the death penalty in the state along with the dismantling of the death chamber in San Quentin. Since California voters have rejected ballot measures twice in the last decade (and as recently as November 2016) to end the state's death penalty the media characterized the move as "thwarting" the will of the populace. However, new polling shows that Gov. Newsom may be more in line with public opinion in California than expected. According to the Public Policy Institute of California's March 2019 poll, voters approve of mandatory life without parole to the death penalty by a 58% to 38% margin, and when you expand to include all Californians (not just voters) support for the death penalty falls to 31%. The only  demographic group where support for the death penalty has increased is Republicans, with support at 64% while Democrats are at 21% and Independents at 36%. Thank Zeus we have so few Republicans in Deep Blue California their share of the electorate is low and falling and their impact on public policy is negligible!

Hat/tip to CalMatters

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Eric Bauman, Openly Gay Chair of CA Democratic Party, Resigns In #MeToo Furor

Eric Bauman, longtime chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and former vice-chair of the California Democratic Party under John Burton, was elected chair of the California Democratic Party in 2017 after a close and hotly contested election with Kimberly Ellis. He is the first openly gay man to lead the largest Democratic Party state organization.

This week Bauman was in the news again because he abruptly announced his intention to resign his position as party chair one day after multiple accusations of improper sexual comments and unwanted physical contact by Bauman were documented in a blockbuster Los Angeles Times story published on Wednesday November 28.

After the article came out Governor-elect Gavin Newsom and openly LGBT Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins were among the high ranking state Democratic politicians who called for Bauman's resignation.

I have known Bauman for years (and been to the annual holiday party at his house multiple times). I never witnessed any unwanted sexual comments but I would say that I have definitely seen him "tipsy." (It was a holiday party, after all!) Initially after word of the accusations were raised last week, Bauman had announced he would take a leave of absence to get treatment for "a problem with alcohol" but soon it became clear that in the current #MeToo era that response would be insufficient. I am somewhat surprised that these accusations of imroper behavior did not come to light last year when the internecine battle between the establishment party folks who backed Bauman and the progressive "Bernie-crat" folks who backed Ellis was raging.

Ricardo Lara Becomes 1st LGBT Individual Elected Statewide In California

Ricardo Lara has been declared the winner of the California Insurance Commissioner race, defeating former Republican (and current Independent) Steve Poizner. Lara is an openly LGBT state Senator and as of today he leads Poizner 52%-48% (or 400,000 votes) with nearly 10 million votes tabulated:

Lara becomes the first openly LGBT individual elected statewide in California!

Hat tip to Equality California.

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Hillary Clinton Turns 71 Today

Hillary Rodham Clinton turns 71 today. She is the wife of  former U.. President William Jefferson Clinton and the winner of the popular vote in the 2016 presidential election. The winner of the electoral  vote, President Trump was born June 17, 1946, so is 72 years old.

Happy Birthday, Hillary!

GRAPHIC: What Kind Of Voter Are You Depends On How Much Government You Want: Dismantle, Streamline, Rebuild, or Expand?

An interesting analysis of partisanship in a report from the Brooking Institution. They split all voters into four categories: dismantlers, streamliners, rebuilders and expanders. They are each defined thusly:

The report then goes on to analyze how each of the major partisan groups: democrats, republicans and independents are made up of various groupings of these four types (or ideologies) and how this has changed over time. It's worth a read!

SATURDAY POLITICS: Trump Approval Shows Disapproval By Everyone (Except Rural Voters)

Hat/tip Axios

SUNDAY POLITICS: Comparing Presidential Approval Rating Variability

Hat/tip Political Wire

SATURDAY POLITICS: Corey Johnson May Become Next NYC Council Speaker

Corey Johnson has been an openly gay city councilperson in New York City representing the 3rd district which includes the gayborhoods of Chelsea, Hell's Kitchen and the West Village along with parts of the Upper West Side since 2013. He replaced former openly lesbian NYC City Council speaker Christine Quinn who lost a Democratic primary for Mayor to Bill De Blasio.

This week comes news that Johnson, who is 35-years-old, openly gay and HIV-positive, may be following in Quinn's shoes to become the Speaker of the New York City council, the 2nd most important and powerful political position in the nation's largest city. Recently re-elected to a second term, Mayor de Blasio tweeted his support for Johnson's bid to become Speaker:

Congratulations to the next speaker of the @NYCCouncil, Corey Johnson. He’s been a force for the people of his district and I know he will bring that same commitment, passion, and energy to the speakership. I look forward to working with him on a progressive agenda for NYC.

The New York Times also reported that Johnson has the votes in the 51-member council to be elected Speaker in January.

Congratulations @CoreyinNYC!

SATURDAY POLITICS: Poll Shows Close CA-GOV Race Between Newsom and Villaraigosa

There is a recent PPIC poll on the June 2018 primary in California which demonstrates the current state of play in the race for governor (which is open due to term limits preventing 4-term Governor Jerry Brown from appearing on the ballot again) as well as the race for the United States Senate seat currently held by Diane Feinstein.

As in every public poll that has been released testing the California governor's race, Lieutenant Governor (and former San Francisco Mayor) Gavin Newsom is in the lead, with 23 percentage of respondents expressing a preference for him while former Los Angeles Mayor (and former California Assembly Speaker) Antonio Villaraigosa relatively close behind at 18 and State Treasurer and State Controller John Chiang far behind at 9 tied with the highest Republican contender John Cox. In June 2018 all gubernatorial candidates will appear on one ballot and the Top 2, regardless of party will advance to the November 2018 ballot.

In the Senate race it appears as if Senator Feinstein is well ahead of her challenger, State Senate head Kevin de León since she leads by a massive 45% to 21% with "Don't Know" at 33%.
However, as most political pundits know anytime an incumbent (especially one who has been in office since 1994(!)) is below 50%, they should be nervous. That being said it is very likely that again that the two top candidates will now will be the two top candidates in June and thus these races could last until November 2018. This is one of the main problems with state's Top 2 primary (which was put into place by a ballot measure championed by "centrist Republican" Abel Maldonado during the Schwarzenegger era of California politics in 2004). It's very possible California voters will have a chance to repeal the Top 2 Primary system in a November 2018 ballot measure.

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Theocrat Roy Moore Loses U.S. Senate Race in Alabama

Hmmm, count one electoral win for the godless in Alabama last night. Roy Moore, an unrepentant theocrat who was twice removed from his elected position as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court for his refusal to follow the law of the land (once for placing a huge monument to the Ten commandments on state property and once for refusing to enforce the same-sex marriage decision Obergefell v Hodges) lost a special election to Democrat Doug Jones last night.

Born-again and evangelical Christians voted for Moore at the astonishing rate of 80% to 13% while "everyone else" voted 76% to 22% for Jones. How does this voting pattern align with "christian" values?

Other demographics of the vote are also interesting:

This shows that white people overwhelmingly voted for Moore, despite the controversial allegations involving sexual misconduct with minors. It was Black people who were an eye-popping 30% of the electorate and voted for Jones (or against Moore) at the rate of 97 to 3 for Black women and 92 to 7 for Black men.

These exit poll data show the stark differences in the electorate. People under 40 voted for Jones, while people over 40 voted for Moore, but not in as large numbers (and voters over 40 were a large fraction of the electorate, at 75%).

Hat/tip Friendly Atheist

SATURDAY POLITICS: Toni Atkins, 1st LGBT and Female CA Senate Leader

Toni Atkins, former Speaker of the California State Assembly, has been announced as the next leader of the California State Senate when current Senate president pro tem Kevin De Leon steps down in early 2018. When that happens Atkins will become the first woman and openly LGBT person to head the United States' largest state's upper legislative house.

De León, a Los Angeles Democrat who has served as Senate leader for nearly four years, is stepping down from the leadership position as he runs against Sen. Dianne Feinstein in the 2018 election for her seat in the U.S. Senate.

“Four years ago, our caucus elected the first Latino leader in over a century to lead the California state Senate — and, next year, Sen. Atkins will become our first ever woman to be elected Senate leader,” De León said in a statement. 

“Toni is a leader of great experience, achievement and integrity, and I have every confidence that she will lead America's most accomplished legislative chamber to even greater heights,” De León added. 

Atkins, 55, brings leadership experience to the job, having previously served as speaker of the state Assembly. She will be the third person to serve both as Assembly speaker and Senate president pro tem and the first leader of the state Senate who has come out as gay. 

“Today, I am humbled by the trust my colleagues have placed in me, and I intend to earn that trust every day by working tirelessly and inclusively to keep California a place of opportunity for everyone,” Atkins said in a statement.

Congratulations to Toni!

#AD51: Carrillo Wins Assembly Seat Over Lopez 53-47 (900+ votes)

The special election in my Assembly District was held yesterday and the results are in: Wendy Carrillo, received approximately 1000 votes more than Luis Lopez in a very low turnout election (estimated to be 7.6%). Carrillo took an early large lead when absentee ballots were tallied.

This means that Carrillo will be the newest member of the Assembly.

SATURDAY POLITICS: #AD51 California Assembly District Race Heats Up!

I am a homeowner and voter in Northeast Los Angeles and thus the last year has involved participating in numerous elections (five lat last count). Due to the 2016 election which resulted in then-Attorney General Kamala Harris going to the U.S. Senate, my congressperson Xavier Becerra was appointed to replace her and then my Assemblyperson Jimmy Gomez won a special election to replace Becerra in the 34th Congressional District. Now we are just a few weeks away from the Tuesday December 5th election to replace Gomez in the Assembly.

The two candidates for the 51st Assembly district are Luis Lopez and Wendy Carrillo. Lopez has run for this seat before (losing to Gomez in 2012) and lived in the District for decades while Carrillo moved into the district when she ran unsuccessfully in the #CA34 special election.

Interestingly, despite the carpet-bagger concerns Carrillo has been endorsed by several Democratic Party establishment figures, including now-U.S. Rep. Gomez, California Senate Majority leader Kevin De Leon (who represents the area in the California Senate) and Jose Huizar who represents sections of the assembly district in the Los Angeles City Council.

As an openly gay man running for a state legislative seat, Lopez has been endorsed by several LGBT organizations (Equality California, HONOR Pac, the Victory Fund and the California LGBT Legislative Caucus).

Lopez and Carillo have faced off in multiple debates around the district. There doesn't appear to be any public polling in the race. I have already voted for my preferred candidate by mail. The election is Tuesday December 5th.

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman Reveals He Doesn't Believe In God

Jared Huffman has become one of the rare prominent U.S. politicians to publicly announce he does not believe in God.  Welcome to the growing group of Americans (such as yours truly) who are "religiously unaffiliated"! The democratic U.S. Congressman (CA-2) made the announcement he was changing his official religious affiliation to "humanist" after receiving the endorsement of the Freethought Equality Fund PAC:

"I’m honored by this endorsement because it recognizes and reinforces my efforts to ensure that everyone in this great, diverse country is treated with respect and dignity, regardless of their religious or nonreligious views. Today more than ever, we must defend the religious liberty our founders enshrined in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution.”
…
“Like many people,I’ve struggled with questions of faith and religion for most of my life. While I don’t pretend to have all the answers, I am convinced that people of all religions, as well as the nonreligious, can work together to make a positive difference in the world.”

It is a big deal that Huffman has "cmoe out" in this way. The only other out godless federal politician was Congressman Pete Stark (curiously, he also represented a Northern California district). Obviously it is very unlikely that Rep. Huffman is the only member of Congress who is godless. One question is will Huffman's action encourage any of his colleagues to join him? Stay tuned!

 Hat/tip to Friendly Atheist

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Danica Roem Elected Virginia's 1st Transgender State Legislator

Danica Roem made history on Tuesday night by becoming the first transgender person elected to the Virginia House of Delegates as a Democrat. Some news outlets falsely were claiming that Roem was the first transgender person ever elected to a state legislature, unfortunately forgetting the historical achievement of Althea Garrison who was elected as a legislator in Massachusetts in 1993 (as a Republican!). The first out transgender person to be elected to a state legislature is Stacie Laughton who was elected in New Hampshire in 2012. Even as someone who has taught LGBT history multiple times I was unaware of Laughton's or Garrison's feats prior to this week so it is hard to fault the media in their error with Roem.

Another amazing aspect of Roem's victory is that she did it by soundly (54% to 45%) defeating Bob Marshall, who was a 13-term incumbent in the Virginia legislature and who is notoriously homophobic and transphobic and referred to by the Washington Post as the state's "most socially conservative state lawmaker." He refused to debate Roem and he and his party referred to Roem by the incorrect gender.

GODLESS WEDNESDAY: Most Americans Believe In Church-State Separation

A new poll from the Pew Research Center re-affirms the notion that most Americans believe that religion and government policy should be separated. This idea is usually described as a "wall between church and state." More than twice as many support church-state separation than those that think the two should be intertwined.

When it comes to religion’s role in government policy, most Americans think the two should be kept separate from one another. About two-thirds (65%) say religion should be kept separate from government policies, compared with 32% who say government policies should support religious values and beliefs. 

A narrow majority of Republicans and Republican leaners (54%) say religion should be kept separate from government policies. However, conservative Republicans are evenly split; 49% say government policies should support religious values and beliefs, while 48% think religion should be kept separate from policy. By roughly two-to-one (67% to 31%), moderate and liberal Republicans say religion should be kept separate from government policy. 

Among Democrats and Democratic leaners, 76% think religion should be kept separate from government policies. A wide 86% majority of liberal Democrats say this; a somewhat smaller majority of conservative and moderate Democrats (69%) take this view. 

White evangelical Protestants are one group where a narrow majority says government policies should support religion: 54% say this, while 43% say religion should be kept separate from policy. In comparison, majorities of both black Protestants (55%) and white mainline Protestants (70%) think religion should be separate from government policy.

In fact the only sub-group that supports the idea that government should support religion are white Evangelical protestants. And, coincidentally, members of this group voted overwhelmingly for the Trump-Pence 2016 ticket and the Trump administration has multiple members of this group in the Cabinet (Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions, III and Vice-President Mike Pence). What impact this will have on public policy is extremely worrying to godless people like yours truly.

SATURDAY POLITICS: Republicans (Finally) Say Homosexuality Should Be Accepted

There's a new poll out from Pew and the Press which shows that societal acceptance of homosexuality is continuing to grow, with the latest numbers showing that 70% of respondents say "homosexuality should be accepted by society" while only 24% of responded says "homosexuality should be discouraged by society."

However, in this week's episode of Saturday Politics I want to call attention to the partisan differences on this question. 83% of Democrats support societal acceptance of homosexuality. A majority of Democrats have been supportive of homosexuality since (at least) 1994 while a majority of Republicans have not ever been supportive of homosexuality until this year. In the latest poll, 54% of Republicans now say they are supportive of homosexuality.

Pew summarizes the results:

While there has been an increase in acceptance of homosexuality across all partisan and demographic groups, Democrats remain more likely than Republicans to say homosexuality should be accepted by society. 

Overall, 83% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say homosexuality should be accepted by society, while only 13% say it should be discouraged. The share of Democrats who say homosexuality should be accepted by society is up 20 points since 2006 and up from 54% who held this view in 1994. 

Among Republicans and Republican leaners, more say homosexuality should be accepted (54%) than discouraged (37%) by society. This is the first time a majority of Republicans have said homosexuality should be accepted by society in Pew Research Center surveys dating to 1994. Ten years ago, just 35% of Republicans held this view, little different than the 38% who said this in 1994.

CELEBRITY FRIDAY: Kevin de León Announces Challenge to Dianne Feinstein's Re-election Bid

Whoa! Kevin de León is my State Senator and is the head of the California State Senate. The 50-year-old Latino politician from Los Angeles is termed out of the legislature next year and many people have been wondering what higher office he would seek next. This week he announced that he is running to become a U.S. Senator from California. Currently, California's Senators are Dianne Feinstein (who was elected in 1992) and Kamala Harris, who was elected in 2016. Feinstein recently announced that she would be trying to win a 6th 6-year term in 2018.

de León has announced that he will try to stop that from happening.

Since both are Democrats and California has a top 2 primary it is very likely this race will not e decided in the primary, but almost certainly go the distance to November 2018.