After settling a Voter Rights Act lawsuit, the city of Anaheim has shifted to a district-based electoral system. Of the four districts up for election this cycle, District 3 epitomizes the conflict at the heart of the community: the pro-corporate (Disney) interests versus the working class community that helps keep the tourism-based economy of the city running.
A veritable alphabet soup of propositions crowds the ballot of SF residents next week.
It’s been four years since lawmakers passed Gov. Jerry Brown’s sweeping pension overhaul, yet we have little to show for what was supposed to be the “biggest rollback to public pension benefits in California history.”
There are several crowded fields for just a few positions in Ontario.
For the first time in the city’s 32-year history, voters will choose their Mayor. The District 1 city council race features an incumbent who recently revealed a criminal past versus a councilmember previously recalled due to corruption allegations.
Of the five city council seats up for term this year, only one will actually come down to a vote in November. However, voters will have an opportunity to remedy the “election loophole” through Measures K & L. A competitive race between two Latino Democrats is featured in the District 9 city council race, but the City Attorney’s race is the only citywide race on the ballot this year.
In Fremont, the Bay Area’s fourth largest city, seven candidates will be running for two seats on the City Council in the November election. In addition, Bill Harrison will seek re-election to the Mayor’s office against Lily Mei, who hopes to become the city’s first female mayor and the first of Chinese descent.
Controversial Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva, who has ridden the city’s emergence from bankruptcy, faces an unlikely challenge in 26 year-old Michael Tubbs.
Coming this November: a mayoral election to see who replaces four-term Mayor Tom Bates that involves a liberal pragmatist facing off against a tag team of ardent progressives. But there’s more! Berkeley City Council Districts two, three, five, and six are all up for grabs.
This year, for the first time, Garden Grove will implement district-based elections in order to comply with the California Voter Rights Act.