It's time to vote California! As per usual, sharing my votes with BlueVoterGuide and I'll provide my reasoning below 👇
https://bluevoterguide.org/view-ballot?bid20=2003b2608d7dff84c4fb7a89796387327c
The candidates I personally care about most in this race are our Sacramento locals:
Mai Vang for House. Endorsed by both DSA and Working Families party. Dorris Matsui is a fossil and needs to go, so I'm glad she's being challenged. Mai has a heavy focus on getting corporate influence out of our politics.
Dr. Flo Cofer for Board of Supervisors. Endorsed by Working Families Party. I voted for Dr. Flo when she ran for mayor. Although she was unsuccessful, I'm happy she's taking another shot.
Gregg Fishman for SMUD board. SMUD is our municipal energy utility. Incumbent Fishman wants to continue our transition to zero carbon without raising costs for customers. Challenger Slotterback is running because he strongly believes wind turbines kill birds. So this one easily goes to Fishman.
I have no recommendation for Assembly. Maggy Krell is another corporate Dem, but it doesn't seem like Jagtar Sigh is running a serious campaign. Maggy handedly won her primary, so she will win regardless
Jame Kim for insurance Commissioner because both DSA and WFP endorse her.
Xavier Becerra for Governor because Hilton is out of his fucking mind. This is not a happy vote.
There's a bunch of other candidate races I don't have strong opinions about. In these cases I usually go with Democratic Socialists or Working families part endorsements where available. In races between a Democrat and Republican, I vote for the Democrat.
This time we have a number of "Tax the Rich" propositions! DSA and WFP agree on all these
✅ Yes on 2. Makes it so we can capture more capital gains, increases the "Rainy Day Fund", and makes it harder for "excess taxes" on the rich to be refunded.
✅ Yes on 3. This amends the state constitution to solidify an existing tax that funds schools
✅ Yes on 40. This is the billionaire tax! Fuck those guys!
❌ No on 41–43. These are designed to counteract the billionaire tax.
We also have some propositions to improve elections. DSA and WFP also agree on these
✅️ Yes on 4. Changes the rules for campaign financing to allow public financing. This will reduce the influence of coroporate money in our elections and allow progressive candidates a chance.
✅️ Yes on 5. Makes recalls less appealing. In California it's too easy to trigger a recall and it's consistently used by right wingers to try to remove Democrats.
❌️ No on 39. This is Voter ID
✅️️ Yes on 1. Issues bonds for Low Income Housing
❌️️ No on 37. We have a housing shortage. I don't like making it easier to buy multiple homes.
❌️️ No on 38. I usually vote yes for bond measures, but this is being called a billionaire handout in disguise.
✅️️ Yes on M. Adds a small parcel tax for special education and exempts senior citizens and disabled folks.
✅️️ Yes on H. Issues bonds for repairs for community colleges
❌️️️ No on 44. DSA and WFP have conflicting opinions here. The sentiment I've seen from healthcare workers is that this will actually hurt clinics and make it harder to provider essential non-medical services like translation, transportation, etc.
❌️️️ No on 45. DSA and WFP agree here. This weakens environmental protections, which we will need whether Becerra or Hilton become governor.
@danirabbit the amount I wish I lived in Mai's district so that I could vote for her