Here are some quick peeks on what’s happening in politics and government this week:
- Does California have the 4th largest economy in the world? No, California currently has the 5th largest economy. But you may have seen headlines or read Governor Gavin Newsom’s press release. An opinion article in Bloomberg News states that California is poised to take the #4 spot currently held by Germany. Time will tell.
- All registered voters in California received a ballot by mail over two weeks ago. How many do you think have filled out and returned those ballots? They’re easy to return since the envelope is postage paid. Yet, we see a very low turnout so far. According to Political Data’s ballot tracker, only about 9% of the total ballots mailed to voters have been returned. We do not expect all the voters to return their ballots. Turnout in the 2018 Gubernatorial election was 59%, so arguably the ballot return percentage is closer to 15%, which is still low, but we have seen a trend of voters waiting until closer to election day to cast their ballots.
- Overlapping contested races are the peak of campaign fun. Calpeek’s campaign junkies would like to thank CalMatters for the in-depth story on races in the Central Valley. Contested Congressional, State Senate, and Assembly races overlap so the activities of one campaign impacts the other two. The winner in the CD 22 election will impact which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives. CalMatters’ Voter Guide also provides extensive voter data, fundraising numbers, and analysis on California’s state and legislative races.