Whew! The primary season is over. There are some ballots to be counted, some celebrating to be done, and some wounds to be healed.

Let’s take a peek at some of what’s coming and a few things needing to be taken care of as we move on. 

The media narratives attempting to squeeze the voting results into a sound bite are all over the place.

Fox news thinks it sees the makings of a Republican resurgence in California, translating the over-participation of GOP voters in early contests into a scenario where the citizenry will rise up against overtaxed and overregulated government come November.     [Read more…]

This year I skipped going downtown to watch the election results. Instead, I watched Ugly Delicious, Chef David Chang’s Netflix show putting the food we eat into a historical and cultural context. It was a lot more fulfilling than orbiting the floor at Golden Hall watching people waiting for results.  

And now that I think of it, the term ‘ugly delicious’ is an apt metaphor for the June 2018 primary results.  I’m going to make today’s column a work in progress, posting the results as of Wednesday morning, updating them when it changes the outcome, and adding historical and cultural analysis until late in the afternoon. (So if you’re reading this in the morning and it seems sparse, come back later. I’ll be writing as fast as I can until the caffeine wears off.)

I’ll start with down-ballot contests and move up the political food chain as far as Congressional races, after a couple of general observations. Statewide races, I think, are well covered elsewhere.
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June 5th is here. It’s all over but the ballot counting. And since my subscription to the psychic hotline has lapsed, I can’t say who’ll win and who will lose.

The emergence of competitive contests for usually overlooked and down ballot offices will have a lasting impact on San Diego. A new generation of electoral activists has emerged, and the passion they’ve shown has changed the way people view local government.

There are have been some hard-fought battles among the candidates running for office, along with some impressive get-out-the-vote efforts. For those reasons, I will predict a higher turnout in this election than San Diego has seen in recent off-year elections.   [Read more…]

As the primary election season winds up in California, I want to make a pitch for voters to look past the candidates they do or don’t support and vote according to a higher standard.

I have avoided commenting too much about Donald Trump in recent months because of the need to begin rebuilding democracy at all levels of politics. For me, that meant focusing on San Diego contests. Now it’s time to draw a line between those local elections and the national political scene.

The President of the United States believes he is above the law. He’s said so on Twitter. His lawyers have said so. And apparently, the political party he represents isn’t bothered by the idea of an all-powerful executive.     [Read more…]