Day: May 8, 2026

Here in California (and in Los Angeles in particular), we have an election coming up. You know what that means: Every election, I do a detailed ballot analysis of my sample ballot. This is where I examine each candidate and share my conclusions, and invite you to convince me to vote for the other jerk.  Because this is a long ballot, I’m splitting this analysis into a few chunks (note: links may not be available until all segments are posted):

1. Governor of California
2. Other State and National Offices (excluding judges)
3. County and City (Los Angeles) Local Offices (excluding judges)
4. Measures (nee Propositions)
5. Judicial Offices (County and State)
6. Summary

This part provides a summary of my ballot analysis results. Please read the full explanation of why I chose who I chose in the links above. Note: This summary is presented in the order of my Sample Ballot.

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Here in California (and in Los Angeles in particular), we have an election coming up. You know what that means: Every election, I do a detailed ballot analysis of my sample ballot. This is where I examine each candidate and share my conclusions, and invite you to convince me to vote for the other jerk.  Because this is a long ballot, I’m splitting this analysis into a few chunks (note: links may not be available until all segments are posted – unposted segments are marked [PENDING]):

1. Governor of California
2. Other State and National Offices (excluding judges)
3. County and City (Los Angeles) Local Offices (excluding judges)
4. Measures (nee Propositions)
5. Judicial Offices (County and State)
6. Summary

Note: This analysis is NOT presented in the same order as the Sample Ballot (the ballot order makes no sense). I’ve attempted instead to present things in more logical order.

This part covers all the judgeships on the ballot:

• Judge of the Superior Court: Office № 2 ❦ № 14 ❦ № 39 ❦  № 60 ❦  № 64 ❦  № 65 ❦  № 66 ❦ № 81 ❦  № 87 ❦  № 116 ❦  № 131 ❦ № 141 ❦ № 176 ❦ № 181 ❦ № 196

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Here in California (and in Los Angeles in particular), we have an election coming up. You know what that means: Every election, I do a detailed ballot analysis of my sample ballot. This is where I examine each candidate and share my conclusions, and invite you to convince me to vote for the other jerk.  Because this is a long ballot, I’m splitting this analysis into a few chunks (note: links may not be available until all segments are posted – unposted segments are marked [PENDING]):

1. Governor of California
2. Other State and National Offices (excluding judges)
3. County and City (Los Angeles) Local Offices (excluding judges)
4. Measures (nee Propositions)
5. Judicial Offices (County and State)
6. Summary

Note: This analysis is NOT presented in the same order as the Sample Ballot (the ballot order makes no sense). I’ve attempted instead to present things in more logical order.

This part covers the State and Local Measures

• Los Angeles County Measures: Measure ER
• Los Angeles City Measures: Measure CB ❦ Measure TC ❦ Measure TT ❦  Streetlight Maintenance Assessment (separate ballot)

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Here in California (and in Los Angeles in particular), we have an election coming up. You know what that means: Every election, I do a detailed ballot analysis of my sample ballot. This is where I examine each candidate and share my conclusions, and invite you to convince me to vote for the other jerk.  Because this is a long ballot, I’m splitting this analysis into a few chunks (note: links may not be available until all segments are posted – unposted segments are marked [PENDING]):

1. Governor of California
2. Other State and National Offices (excluding judges)
3. County and City (Los Angeles) Local Offices (excluding judges)
4. Measures (nee Propositions)
5. Judicial Offices (County and State)
6. Summary

Note: This analysis is NOT presented in the same order as the Sample Ballot (the ballot order makes no sense). I’ve attempted instead to present things in more logical order.

This part covers the Local Offices (excluding US Congress and State Assembly)

• County of Los Angeles: Board of Supervisors, 3^rd District ❦ County Assessor ❦ County Sheriff
• City of Los Angeles: Mayor of Los Angeles ❦ City Attorney ❦ City Controller

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Here in California (and in Los Angeles in particular), we have an election coming up. You know what that means: Every election, I do a detailed ballot analysis of my sample ballot. This is where I examine each candidate and share my conclusions, and invite you to convince me to vote for the other jerk.  Because this is a long ballot, I’m splitting this analysis into a few chunks (note: links may not be available until all segments are posted – unposted segments are marked [PENDING]):

1. Governor of California
2. Other State and National Offices (excluding judges)
3. County and City (Los Angeles) Local Offices (excluding judges)
4. Measures (nee Propositions)
5. Judicial Offices (County and State)
6. Summary

Note: This analysis is NOT presented in the same order as the Sample Ballot (the ballot order makes no sense). I’ve attempted instead to present things in more logical order.

This part covers the non-Governor Federal and State races:

• Federal (Legislative): US Representative, 32^nd District
• State (Legislative): State Assembly 40^th District
• Statewide Offices: Lt. Governor ❦ Secretary of State ❦  Attorney General ❦ Insurance Commissioner ❦  Controller ❦ Board of Equalization, 3rd District ❦ Supt. of Public Instruction ❦ Treasurer

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Here in California (and in Los Angeles in particular), we have an election coming up. You know what that means: Every election, I do a detailed ballot analysis of my sample ballot. This is where I examine each candidate and share my conclusions, and invite you to convince me to vote for the other jerk.  Because this is a long ballot, I’m splitting this analysis into a few chunks (note: links may not be available until all segments are posted):

1. Governor of California
2. Other State and National Offices (excluding judges)
3. County and City (Los Angeles) Local Offices (excluding judges)
4. Measures (nee Propositions)
5. Judicial Offices (County and State)
6. Summary

Note: This analysis is NOT presented in the same order as the Sample Ballot (the ballot order makes no sense). I’ve attempted instead to present things in more logical order.

This part covers the Governor’s race, which has so many candidates it is getting it own post. We’re going to divide this into three tiers:

1. Realistic “Past The Gate” Candidates: These are the folks that are polling sufficiently high enough that they have a change of getting into the “top two” general election. Realistically, if you want your vote to have impact, you’ll pick one from this tier.
2. Valid Candidate, But No Chance, Candidates. These are the folks that are actually reasonable and sane candidate, perhaps with decent positions. However, they are polling so low that, given the jungle primary, a vote for one of these is wasted (and could, in fact, result in a problematic general election).
3. Hopefuls, Kooks and Nuts. Any election brings out a large number of folks who are running for reasons they only understand. Given the nature of the California Primary system, they have no chance. A vote for them is wasted, essentially. But, as I promise in these reviews to give consideration to everyone, they will at least get a paragraph, even if it is a paragraph of “hell no”. You’ll see why I’m saying that.

Bottom Line Up Front: Here’s the bottom line for the Governor’s Race, as the Republican Candidates are unacceptable, and all of the top tier Democratic candidates are: Vote for the top polling Democratic candidate as of May 15 or later, to ensure a Democratic candidate gets into the General election. You can’t go wrong with any of the top tier Democratic candidates. And remember: Perfect is the enemy of “Good Enough”. We can’t get a perfect candidate; good enough will do.

Now, if you push me to select a favorite candidate, it is Katie Porter. I liked her when she announced, and I still like her. Alas, she is not polling that well, and she’ll likely land below the cutoff where I’ll be able to vote for her. My second choice is Tom Steyer. I don’t like the fact that he is a billionaire or his lack of experience. But I still think he’ll be better for California than Becerra.

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