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mithriltabbyHere are links to the resources I used to figure out how to fill out my ballot. I give my conclusions, and I invite you to come to your own, and I hope this effort saves you a headache. $ means an order of magnitude of money backing a candidate, starting at the thousands, so $$$$ means a candidate has single-digit millions of dollars in their campaign.
I’m not thrilled with some of the candidates, but I keep in mind that a vote is not a valentine. You aren’t confessing your love for the candidate. It’s a chess move to get closer to the world you want to live in. If you would like to have a better choice of candidates, I commend your attention to FairVote and Californians for Electoral Reform.
I will not be linking to Republican candidates’ web sites. Being a member of the party that has turned against democracy— from voter suppression to sedition— should be disqualifying for any elected office, and the party needs to go the way of the Whigs. Any remaining Republicans with integrity should start putting together the infrastructure for a new party, because the current one does not look salvageable. I have voted for Republicans in the past; I do not expect to ever see a good reason to do so again.
Voter-Nominated Offices
State
Governor
- Gavin Newsom. Democrat. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, California Democratic Party, Equality California, NARAL Pro-Choice California, Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte, Progressive Voters Guide.
- Brian Dahle. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$ CalMatters. There is controversy over his endorsement taking place two days after a $40,500 transfer to the state party. Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
Lieutenant Governor
- Eleni Kounalakis. Democrat. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, California Democratic Party, California Environmental Voters, Sierra Club, Equality California, NARAL Pro-Choice California, Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte, EMILY’s List, Progressive Voters Guide.
- Angela E. Underwood Jacobs. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
Secretary of State
The office that counts the ballots. CalMatters Voter Guide.
- Shirley N. Weber. Democrat. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters, California Environmental Voters, Sierra Club, California Democratic Party, NARAL Pro-Choice California, Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte, Equality California, EMILY’s List, Progressive Voters Guide.
- Rob Bernosky. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. CalMatters. Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
Controller
- Lanhee J. Chen. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, California Republican Party. Coverage in CalMatters.
- Malia M. Cohen. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$ CalMatters. Endorsed by California Democratic Party, Sierra Club, NARAL Pro-Choice California, Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte, Equality California, California Environmental Voters, EMILY’s List, Progressive Voters Guide. Coverage in CalMatters.
Treasurer
CalMatters Voter Guide. No endorsement from the San Francisco Chronicle.
- Jack M. Guerrero. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
- Fiona Ma. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the Los Angeles Times, California Democratic Party, Equality California, NARAL Pro-Choice California, Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte, Progressive Voters Guide.
Attorney General
- Nathan Hochman. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
- Rob Bonta. Democrat. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters, California Democratic Party, Equality California, California Environmental Voters, Sierra Club, NARAL Pro-Choice California, Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte, Progressive Voters Guide.
Insurance Commissioner
- Ricardo Lara. Democrat. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, California Democratic Party, Equality California, California Environmental Voters, Sierra Club, NARAL Pro-Choice California, Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte, Progressive Voters Guide.
- Robert Howell. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
Member, State Board of Equalization, District 2
CalMatters Voter Guide. The San Francisco Chronicle recommends getting rid of the Board entirely.
- Sally J. Lieber. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$ Endorsed by the Sunnyvale Democratic Club, California Democratic Party, Equality California, California Environmental Voters, Sierra Club, NARAL Pro-Choice California, San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters. I’ve had many pleasant policy-wonk conversations with Sally at events.
- Peter Coe Verbica. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$ Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
United States Senator
CalMatters Voter Guide. Remember to vote for both terms!
Full Term
- Mark P. Meuser. Republican. Voter’s Edge. $$$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
- Alex Padilla. Democrat. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, Equality California, California Environmental Voters, NARAL Pro-Choice California, Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte, Progressive Voters Guide, San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters.
Partial/Unexpired Term
- Mark P. Meuser. Republican.
- Alex Padilla. Democrat. Incumbent.
United States Representative, District 17
- Ro Khanna. Democrat. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$ Endorsed by the California Democratic Party, Equality California, California Environmental Voters, Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte, Progressive Voters Guide.
- Ritesh Tandon. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$ Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
State Senator, District 10
- Aisha Wahab. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$ Endorsed by the Sunnyvale Democratic Club, California Democratic Party, Santa Clara County Democratic Party, Equality California, California Environmental Voters, Sierra Club, NARAL Pro-Choice California, Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte, Progressive Voters Guide.
- Lily Mei. Democrat. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$ Endorsed by the Mercury News.
Member of the State Assembly, District 26
- Evan Low. Democrat. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$ Endorsed by the Sunnyvale Democratic Club, California Democratic Party, Equality California, NARAL Pro-Choice California, Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte, Sierra Club, Progressive Voters Guide. Courage Score of C (all-time) for standing up for constituents over lobbyists.
- Tim Gorsulowsky. Republican. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $ Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
Nonpartisan Offices
Judicial
- Chief Justice of California Patricia Guerrero. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. CalMatters. Endorsed by the San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters.
- Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Goodwin Liu. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. CalMatters. Endorsed by the San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters.
- Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Martin J. Jenkins. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. CalMatters. Endorsed by the San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters.
- Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Joshua P. Groban. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. CalMatters. Endorsed by the San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters.
- Administrative Presiding Justice, Court of Appeal, Sixth District Mary J. Greenwood. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.
- Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, Sixth District Charles E. Wilson II. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.
- Associate Justice, Court of Appeal, Sixth District Cynthia C. Lie. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.
School
Superintendent of Public Instruction
This is a nonpartisan
race, which means that the candidates’ parties aren’t listed on the ballot. CalMatters Voter Guide. SF Chronicle: Schools have dominated elections for the past year. So why is the state superintendent race such a snooze?.
- Tony K. Thurmond. Former Democratic assemblyman. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, Mercury News, Los Angeles Times, California Democratic Party, Equality California, California Environmental Voters, Sierra Club, NARAL Pro-Choice California, Progressive Voters Guide, San Francisco League of Pissed Off Voters.
- Lance Ray Christensen (conservative/libertarian). Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. $$$ CalMatters. Endorsed by the California Republican Party.
Fremont Union High School District
You can see three of the candidates speaking to the Sunnyvale Democratic Club.
- Andrew Aaron Arness. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Part of the attempted MAGA school takeover.
- Linda R. Price. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Part of the attempted MAGA school takeover.
- Naomi Nakano-Matsumoto. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Sunnyvale Democratic Club, Santa Clara County Democratic Party.
- Rosa Kim. Incumbent. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Sunnyvale Democratic Club, Santa Clara County Democratic Party.
- Stanley Kou. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Sunnyvale Democratic Club, Santa Clara County Democratic Party.
County
Sheriff
- Kevin Jensen. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge.
- Robert
Bob
Jonsen. Ballotpedia. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Sunnyvale Democratic Club, Mercury News, Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte. When he came to the Sunnyvale Democratic Club, he said sensible things about use-of-force training focusing on de-escalation.
City of Sunnyvale
You can see many of the candidates speaking to the Sunnyvale Democratic Club.
Member, City Council, District 3
Either choice looks pretty good. I get the feeling Wang has a better command of policy than Srinivasan, but Srinivasan's no slouch on electrification of transport and buildings.
- Murali Srinivasan. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Mercury News, Santa Clara County League of Conservation Voters, Santa Clara County Democratic Party.
- Justin Wang. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Sunnyvale Democratic Club, Santa Clara County Democratic Party.
Member, City Council, District 5
- Satyam Davé. Voter’s Edge.
- Richard Mehlinger. Voter’s Edge. Endorsed by the Sunnyvale Democratic Club, Santa Clara County Democratic Party, Mercury News, Santa Clara County League of Conservation Voters, Equality California. I’ve had many good conversations with Richard; he is quite knowledgeable in policy matters. He answered the Seamless Bay Area candidate questionnaire.
Measures Submitted to the Voters
State
Proposition 1
Everyone should have the right to control their own body. Yes.
Proposition 26
A bill written by gambling interests to feather their nests. No.
Proposition 27
Another bill written by gambling interests to feather their nests, this time with extra opportunities to further gambling addictions. No.
Proposition 28
I’m not fond of locking in budgetary details with the ballot box; it creates an ever-growing maze of constraints that make it difficult for our legislators to maneuver during hard times. No.
Proposition 29
Yet again, the Service Employees International Union-United Healthcare Workers West is dragging the voters into their negotiations with the industry. I’m pro-union and I still want them to keep their negotiations off our ballots. No.
Proposition 30
Lyft put $45m into this one. More ballot box budgeting. No.
Proposition 31
The tobacco industry paid for a referendum to try to overturn legislation that passed in 2020. Vote Yes to tell them to stop meddling with our ballot.
Comments are screened. I’m not in a mood to argue.
