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      Two Republicans Advance to a Runoff to Finish Kevin McCarthy’s Term

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      Vince Fong and Mike Boudreaux, who advanced to a special election in May, will also face each other in November to fill the former House speaker’s seat for a full, two-year term.California’s most conservative congressional district just experienced its own version of the “Groundhog Day” time loop. After two elections, held two weeks apart, the same two candidates have advanced to two subsequent elections.Vince Fong and Mike Boudreaux, both Republicans, have qualified for a runoff election in the state’s 20th Congressional District to determine who will finish the term of the former House speaker Kevin McCarthy, who resigned from Congress last year not long after being ousted from his leadership post.Both Mr. Fong and Mr. Boudreaux had already won a chance to vie in the November general election for a full, two-year term, starting in January 2025. That was determined in an earlier primary election on March 5, Super Tuesday.But in a special election on Tuesday, Mr. Fong, a state lawmaker and onetime aide to Mr. McCarthy who was endorsed by former President Donald J. Trump, won more than 42 percent of the vote. Mr. Boudreaux, the longtime sheriff of Tulare County, finished with about 26 percent of the vote. As the top two finishers — and with neither candidate taking 50 percent of the vote — they will compete again on May 21 to determine who completes Mr. McCarthy’s term.Marisa Wood, a Democrat, finished third on Tuesday, with about 23 percent of the vote. (Ms. Wood also finished third in the primary on March 5.) The race was not called by The Associated Press until Friday.Voters in the district, which is in California’s Central Valley, will now have two months before they are asked to cast ballots once again for Mr. Fong or Mr. Boudreaux. They will then get a more than five-month break before they vote for either of the Republicans in November. Whoever wins the runoff in May will head into the November election with the advantage of incumbency, albeit a relatively new one.Turnout was significantly lower in Tuesday’s special election than it was on March 5, with tens of thousands of voters opting to stay home, but that appeared to do little to change the result. More

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      California Approves Prop. 1, a Mental Health Plan Aimed at Addressing Homelessness

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      The measure known as Proposition 1, which includes $6.38 billion for treatment and housing, was a top priority for Gov. Gavin Newsom to reduce homelessness in the state.A key piece of California’s strategy to address its homelessness crisis was narrowly approved by voters in the state, The Associated Press determined on Wednesday, in a stunningly close margin that had Democrats on edge for more than two weeks.The measure, known as Proposition 1, includes a $6.4 billion bond to fund treatment and housing for homeless people with severe mental illnesses and addiction. Last year, when Gov. Gavin Newsom and a bipartisan group of California legislators placed Proposition 1 on the spring ballot, early polls suggested that it would pass easily.Its approval was considered such a sure thing that most voters and political donors were scarcely aware that opposition existed. But after the March 5 election, it took 15 days of tallying mail-in ballots for The Associated Press to determine that the measure had squeaked by.The count took so long that Mr. Newsom decided to postpone his annual state of the state address, which was originally scheduled for Monday, because he had wanted to celebrate Proposition 1 during his speech and highlight his efforts on homelessness and mental health.On Wednesday, the governor framed the win less as a close call than a bold choice by Californians who have been frustrated for years with the scale of the state’s homelessness problem. “This is the biggest change in decades in how California tackles homelessness, and a victory for doing things radically different,” Mr. Newsom said in a statement. “Proposition 1’s passage means we can begin repairing the damage caused by decades of broken promises and political neglect to those suffering from severe mental illness.” We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Texas Migrant Law Is Latest Test of America vs. Its States

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      The partisan gridlock gumming up Washington has prompted states controlled by one party to set off on their own.The face-off between Texas and the federal government over whether the state can enforce its own immigration policy reflects a broader and recurring feature of American politics: a number of hot-button issues have become proxy battles over who gets to decide.During the Trump administration, Democratic-run states like California and blue cities like New York waged legal fights over their right to pass sanctuary laws to protect migrants. Now, the conflict over whether Texas can arrest and deport migrants is just one part of a larger campaign that red states have directed at the Biden administration.A coalition of Republican state attorneys general has also gone to court to thwart the administration’s efforts to regulate methane emissions from oil and gas drilling, to block a program that allows humanitarian entry to migrants from specific countries, and to halt an effort to crack down on gun accessories, among others.The balance of power between the national government and states has been a source of tensions in the United States since its founding, leading to the Civil War. But in the 21st century, as partisan polarization has intensified, it has morphed into a new dynamic, with states controlled by the party opposed to the president regularly testing the boundaries.The political issues run the gamut — and include topics like abortion, gun control, same-sex marriage and even marijuana legalization — but the larger pattern is clear: Whenever one party wins control of the central government, the other party uses its control of various states to try to resist national policies.“We’re seeing stuff we’ve never seen in the modern era,” said Heather K. Gerken, the dean of Yale Law School who has written about contemporary federalism. “It’s really stunning what kind of proxy war is taking place. It’s all because the vicious partisanship that has long been a feature of Washington has now filtered down to the states.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in US Politics

      US primary elections: Biden and Trump notch wins with surprises in store down ballot

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      Donald Trump and Joe Biden swept up more delegates in Tuesday’s primary elections as they set their sights on a rematch in November.Trump and Biden picked up wins in Arizona, Illinois, Kansas and Ohio. Trump also won the Republican primary in Florida, where the Democrats are not holding a primary.In Ohio, Illinois and Florida, the former South Carolina governor and presidential candidate Nikki Haley still captured a sizable fraction of the Republican vote, despite no longer being in the race.The president and former president had already won enough delegates to capture their parties’ presidential nominations, and most of their challengers have dropped out. Trump’s last Republican challenger, his former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, ended her presidential campaign after Super Tuesday. Biden’s long-shot challenger, the Democratic congressman Dean Phillips, dropped out as well.With the presidential nominating contests clinched, the candidates were focusing on campaigning in swing states they will need to win the general election in November.In recent days, Biden visited Arizona and Nevada, where he is looking to shore up the support of young and Latino voters who could be key to his re-election. Biden is touting economic policies and attacking Trump on immigration and abortion as he seeks to win over wavering voters and waning enthusiasm among groups that backed him in 2020.Democrats seeking to register frustration with Biden over his handling of the war in Gaza are urging supporters to vote for the self-help guru Marianne Williamson in Arizona – as she, unlike Biden, has called for a permanent ceasefire. Pro-Palestinian protesters in Ohio, meanwhile, are urging supporters to “Leave It Blank”.Trump, meanwhile, has continued to court controversy on the campaign trail amid ongoing legal troubles. He claimed that Jewish people voting for Democrats “hate their religion” and Israel, in an interview on Monday – drawing outrage. As he criss-crosses the country to rally supports and raise funds, he has also increasingly made the January 6 attack on the Capitol a cornerstone of his campaign, saluting rioters as heroes.In Illinois, Ohio, Illinois and California, a few key down-ballot races have been hotly contested.OhioIn Ohio, Bernie Moreno, whom Trump endorsed, has won the Republican US Senate primary, and will face the Democratic incumbent, Sherrod Brown, in November, the AP projects. Moreno, a wealthy former car dealer who has never held an elected office, was leading in polls ahead of election day, edging out the state senator Matt Dolan and the secretary of state, Frank LaRose.Dolan, whose family owns the Cleveland Guardians baseball team, had the backing of establishment Republicans, including the governor, Mike DeWine.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionMoreno’s candidacy had been weighed down by questions about his qualifications and lack of experience. Having espoused virulently anti-LGBTQ+ policies, he was also the subject of an Associated Press report that found his work email was used to create an account on an adult website seeking “men for 1-on-1 sex” in 2008. Moreno had denied the report.Republicans have targeted Brown’s seat as one they could flip in November – he is Ohio’s only statewide elected Democrat in a state that has moved dramatically to the right in recent years.IllinoisIn Illinois, the 82-year-old Democratic incumbent congressman Danny Davis will defend his seat in November after fighting off a progressive challenge, the AP projects. Davis was backed by the state’s governor, JB Pritzker, and the Chicago mayor, Brandon Johnson, but faced a tough challenge from the community organizer and gun-control advocate Kina Collins, a community organizer and gun control advocate.
      Biden v Trump: What’s in store for the US and the world?On Thursday 2 May, 8-9.15pm GMT, join Tania Branigan, David Smith, Mehdi Hasan and Tara Setmayer for the inside track on the people, the ideas and the events that might shape the US election campaign. Book tickets here or at theguardian.live More

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      in Elections

      Californians Share Their Pandemic Silver Linings, Four Years Later

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      Readers have been writing to me about ways that, despite all the tragedy, Covid brought something unexpectedly positive into their lives.An empty Santa Monica beach in March 2020, a day before Californians were ordered to stay home.Philip Cheung for The New York TimesIt was four years ago today that Gov. Gavin Newsom ordered all Californians to stay home to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus. For many people, the drastic move was the moment when the pandemic became truly, horribly real.Covid has since killed more than 1.18 million people nationwide, and the virus continues to circulate. At the peak of the recent surge in January, 2,400 people were dying of the disease each week. For many Americans, the pandemic has permanently reshaped life, as my colleague Julie Bosman wrote recently.Not all of those changes have been for the worse. Readers have been writing to me recently about pandemic silver linings — ways that, despite all the tragedy, Covid brought something unexpectedly positive into their lives. Those stories of reconnecting with far-flung friends, picking up new hobbies or slowing down for the better were touching. Thanks to all who sent them in.Feel free to email me your own pandemic silver lining story at CAtoday@nytimes.com. Please include your full name and the city where you live.Here are some, lightly edited:“My adult son, who lives in Los Angeles, gathered his remote-work tools and joined our family pod in Escondido. His sister, who had already been planning a temporary move-in during her home’s remodel, packed up her husband, two small children and two dogs and moved into our house. This is where we all rode out the early months of the pandemic. Three months. We never would have had that in the before times.” — Gretchen Pelletier, Escondido“I am an autistic adult living in a society not meant for me. It was nice that the world slowed down to a pace that I was comfortable with. I also loved teaching remotely with my adult E.S.L. [English as a second language] students. Even though I am required to teach in person again, the techniques I used to guide students made me a better blended-hybrid teacher now.” — Robert B. Gomez, SalinasWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Larry H. Parker, Famed Personal Injury Attorney, Dies at 75

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      In the Los Angeles area, Mr. Parker was a common sight on billboards and television commercials in which he promised to stand up to faceless insurance companies.Larry H. Parker, an accident and personal injury lawyer whose television commercials promised he’d “fight for you” and became staples in living rooms across Los Angeles, died on March 6 in San Juan Capistrano, Calif. He was 75.His death was confirmed by his son, Justin Parker, who did not cite the cause.Over the years, Angelenos became familiar with Mr. Parker’s personal brand of braggadocio and promise, as his face could be seen on billboards across the city and on television ads.“When it comes to the law, you want someone who carries a big stick,” a narrator says in one commercial that cuts from a hockey brawl to a shot of Mr. Parker in a suit and glasses, standing with both hands on a desk, ready for a courtroom showdown.“People sometimes ask me why I seem so angry in my television commercials,” Mr. Parker said in another ad. “Well the truth is I am angry. I’m angry when big insurance companies take advantage of little people.”His ads cultivated an image of a legal brawler whose menacing presence on the screen could be used in a plaintiff’s favor.It appeared that those who were injured were eager to engage the services of his firm, the Law Offices of Larry H. Parker. Since its founding 50 years ago, the firm has recovered more than $2 billion in verdicts and settlements, according to its website.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      in Elections

      California Proposition 1 Election Results 2024

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      Polls close at 11 p.m. Eastern time. In the 2022 state primaries, first results were reported 11 minutes later, and the last update of the night was at 6:10 a.m. Eastern time with 48 percent of votes reported. All active registered voters were mailed a ballot, which must be postmarked by Election Day and received […] More

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      Has San Francisco Lost Its Liberal Soul?

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      In a city known as a progressive bastion, voters resoundingly passed two conservative-leaning ballot measures this week, on police authority and drug screening.Department of Elections workers transported a box of ballots at the San Francisco City Hall voting center on Tuesday.Loren Elliott/ReutersHave San Francisco voters lost the bleeding hearts they have been known for — or are they just frustrated?City voters resoundingly passed two ballot measures this week that probably wouldn’t have seen the light of day a few years ago. One measure gives more power to the police, and the other requires welfare recipients who are thought to have a drug addiction to enter treatment as a condition of continuing to receive benefits.Critics of the measures said that residents had veered to the right and that billionaires had bought the city by throwing money at campaigns for the measures. But Mayor London Breed, who faces a tough race for re-election in November and who placed the two measures on the ballot, brushed off claims that the city had lost its liberal soul.In her annual State of the City address on Thursday, Breed argued that it was progressive to invest in public safety to protect vulnerable older residents and immigrants, and to push for drug treatment for those who need it.“We are a progressive, diverse city, living together, celebrating each other,” she said, standing at a podium at the city’s cruise ship terminal, apparently to highlight the rebound of San Francisco’s tourism industry. “That has not changed, and it will not change.”San Francisco’s reputation has plummeted — unfairly, many residents say — since the start of the pandemic, because of open-air drug use, property crime and the sharp drop in office occupancy downtown. Breed, a political moderate by San Francisco standards, has responded by tacking to the right, and this week voters backed her priorities.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More