With the primaries officially underway, election workers put the first batch of test ballots through Orange County’s voting system on Thursday, Feb. 8. Inside the spacious and drafty warehouse at the Orange County Registrar of Voters headquarters in Santa Ana, around 10 workers, each with multiple stacks of test ballots, fed them one by one through the ballot scanning devices.

Related: Orange County Register’s March 5, 2024 Primary Election Voter Guide

By the end of the day on Friday, the 40 machines that had been tested this week were deemed to be working properly, according to the Registrar’s Office.

“We’ve never had any discrepancies in the vote count,” said Registrar of Voters Bob Page.

Thursday officially kicked off the testing of all ballot scanning devices that will be used in the primary election. It is called, according to the Secretary of State, the “logic and accuracy test,” mandated by the state to “ensure that every device used to tabulate ballots accurately records each vote.”

Accuracy testing of Orange County’s voting system started with the preparation of test ballots and will continue until all devices have been included in the test, said Page. The Registrar’s Office wants to ensure every device accurately counts ballots before they are put into use, he said.

If a device, during testing, is found to be counting ballots inaccurately, it won’t be put to use, Page said.

As in years past, voters have several ways to vote, Page said. Ballots can be mailed through the U.S. Postal Service, dropped off at a ballot box or delivered in person at a vote center. Voters can also vote in person at any vote center.

The 406 test ballots used in the “logic and accuracy test” this week cover every scenario in which a voter could submit a ballot, whether it’s a pre-printed ballot that is mailed out to voters or ballots created by marking devices at a vote center, Page said.

Test ballots were marked to replicate how voters could vote, and election workers fed them through the ballot scanning devices, called Hart InterCivic Verity Voting. When the ballot is inserted, the screen shows the message: “Please wait, the device is processing your ballot.”

Once the ballot has been processed, the device chimes, and the screen shows a blue background with an American flag.

At the end of the logic and accuracy test, about 400 machines will have gone through testing, said Page. There will be two ballot scanning devices at each of the 183 vote centers in the county — 37 of which will open on Feb. 24, followed by another 146 on March 2 — and at least 20 extra just in case.

Hart machines, used by 12 other California counties, allow voters to either fill out their ballot by hand or digitally and then scan and cast their ballot using a touch-screen operated ballot scanning device.

The test, along with other election activity, is open to the public to observe. Being transparent about election activity to the public allows people to see for themselves that the elections system works accurately, Page said.

“This has always been part of the process,” he said. “We will continue to make sure that conduct transparent elections.”

A lack of confidence in the election system and whether votes will be counted correctly is a concern many Republican voters hold, according to a December poll by The Associated Press – NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. The poll found that about three in 10 Republicans nationwide have a “moderate” amount of confidence and three in 10 have “only a little” or “none at all.” On the other hand, 72% of surveyed Democrats said they are confident their votes will be counted correctly.

Starting in this election, Page said, voters could return their vote-by-mail ballot at a vote center and have it “processed and counted like a nonprovisional ballot cast in person,” according to legislation signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year.

Page said the greeter at a vote center will ask every voter who comes in to deliver a vote-by-mail ballot whether they would like to simply drop off the ballot or vote it as an in-person ballot. If the voter chooses the latter, their status will be changed from a vote-by-mail voter to an in-person voter, and they will be required to sign the roster for the voting location. After, they will be given a secrecy folder and directed to a ballot scanning device, Page said.

To ensure voters know where their ballot is, the Registrar has a tool that allows voters to track their ballot. Voters can sign up at ocvote.gov/track to receive notifications about the different steps in the process, Page said. Those who are signed up now will receive a notification when their ballot has been mailed. A notification will also be sent when ballots are returned to the Registrar, and when ballots are accepted for counting, the system will notify voters who have issues with their ballot, for example, forgetting to sign the envelope.

WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday slammed the report by a Justice Department special counsel into Joe Biden’s mishandling of classified documents that raised questions about the president’s memory, calling it “politically motivated” and “gratuitous.”

The report from Robert Hur, the former Maryland U.S. Attorney selected by Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate Biden found evidence that Biden willfully held onto and shared with a ghostwriter highly classified information, but laid out why he did not believe the evidence met the standard for criminal charges, including a high probability that the Justice Department would not be able to prove Biden’s intent beyond a reasonable doubt.

The report described the 81-year-old Democrat’s memory as “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations.” It noted that Biden could not recall defining milestones in his own life such as when his son Beau died or when he served as vice president.

Taking a question from a reporter at the conclusion of a gun violence prevention event at the White House, Harris said that as a former prosecutor, she considered Hur’s comments “gratuitous, inaccurate, and inappropriate.”

She noted that Biden’s two-day sit-down with Hur occurred just after the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, where more than 1,200 people were killed and about 250 were taken hostage — including many Americans.

“It was an intense moment for the commander in chief of the United States of America,” Harris said, saying she spent countless hours with Biden and other officials in the days that followed and he was “on top of it all.”

She added that “the way that the president’s demeanor in that report was characterized could not be more wrong on the facts and clearly politically motivated, gratuitous.”

Harris concluded saying a special counsel should have a “higher level of integrity than what we saw.”

Her comments came a day after Biden insisted that his “memory is fine.” and grew visibly angry at the White House, as he denied forgetting when his son died. Beau Biden died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46.

The state’s homelessness crisis is closely intertwined with its shortage of affordable housing. About 90% of unhoused Californians cite the cost of housing as the main reason they cannot escape homelessness, according to UCSF’s report, California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness.

Politicians have long tried, and failed, to stymie the growth of the state’s unhoused population, which now numbers more than 170,000.

So, how would the four leading senate candidates — Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank), former Dodger Steve Garvey, Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) — address homelessness?

Schiff, who is currently leading the polls with about 25% of the vote, released a detailed affordable housing and homelessness plan on Friday . It calls for a $100 billion increase in federal funding for people experiencing homelessness, a dramatic expansion of Section 8 Housing vouchers for renters and tax incentives to build more housing.

Garvey, on the other hand, does not want to start by doling out more money to solve the problem. He seeks to begin with an audit of all federal homelessness programs to gauge how efficiently money is being spent, he told the Daily News in an interview. He calls for investing in proven affordable housing, mental health and substance use solutions.

The sole Republican out of the top four candidates is tied with Porter for second place and has approximately 15% of the vote, according to recent polls.

Porter sees the state’s homelessness crisis as a direct result of its housing crisis and released a ten point plan on Wednesday outlining how she would rapidly build more homes, lower rent costs and increase homeownership opportunities.

Lee seeks to invest more than $1 trillion in the National Affordable Housing Trust Fund to build millions of affordable units, offer assistance for first-time home buyers and provide rent relief for lower-income renters, according to her campaign website. The Oakland congresswoman currently trails the other three candidates with 8% of the vote.

Here is a closer look at each of the top four candidates’ plans:

Rep. Adam Schiff calls for rapid housing production, rental subsidies

Dramatically increasing the supply of affordable units is Schiff’s top priority for addressing homelessness, he said in an interview with the Daily News.

“There’s no way we’re going to solve the problem of affordability when people can’t afford to live anywhere near where they work, or that of homelessness when people are can’t afford any home whatsoever,” he said.

He seeks to dramatically expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit enabling developers to rapidly produce 230,000 affordable homes. He also hopes to create federal low-interest loans for building multifamily housing projects. Lastly, he calls for converting unused government land into housing and funding studies on faster, cost-effective building techniques.

“We can’t take four years to build housing if we’re ever going to solve this problem,” he said.

Schiff also wants to see greater investment in preventing homelessness.

He wants to make the Federal Section 8 Housing program an entitlement program, meaning that every low-income household eligible for a rental subsidy voucher would automatically receive one. He also seeks to establish a tax credit to assist renters who are paying more than 30% of their income toward housing.

“Keeping people housed is also part of the solution,” he said. “With rents going up as dramatically as they are and most renters getting no help with their rent — that’s a prescription for disaster.”

When it comes to getting people off the street he believes in the “housing first” model, meaning the first step is putting a roof over their heads and the second step is providing them with mental health, substance use and job assistance services.

Steve Garvey wants more efficient spending on homeless services

While Steve Garvey is a political newcomer, he has been studying the homelessness crisis by visiting encampments and talking to people about the barriers they face in getting back into housing, he told the Daily News in an interview.

“It really is the mental illness and drugs that put most of them in this situation,” he said. “Do they need a roof over their head? Absolutely, but if you don’t get to the real crux of the issue, then you don’t get that person on a pathway back into society.”

A 2023 state report found that California spent about $10 billion over three years to halt homelessness. Garvey wants to know exactly where that money went.

If elected, his first step to address homelessness would be to order an audit of all federal spending on homelessness.

“Let’s find out first where all that money went to and find out how it has been wasted,” he said, “And how we can best put government money to use to help these people get off the streets.”

After the audit is complete he wants to drive investment into affordable housing, substance use and mental health programs that have a track record of successfully keeping people off of the streets, he said. He also wants to engage private sector business leaders as philanthropic funders of these programs.

Lastly, Garvey calls for a crackdown against drug dealers, saying the widespread availability of street drugs is part of what traps people in cycles of addiction and homelessness.

“Let’s start with crime on the streets and get the drug lords, so to speak, away from influencing these people,” he said.

Katie Porter seeks to solve homelessness with housing

Similar to her Democratic competitors Schiff and Lee, Porter believes that building more housing is the most important step to solving the homelessness crisis.

“I don’t want my kids to leave California just because they can’t afford to live here. As California’s senator, I’ll shake up the Senate and get Washington focused on California’s housing challenges,” she said in a statement on her plan to tackle California’s housing affordability crisis.

Porter wants to create a select committee in Congress focused on increasing housing and reducing costs.

She hopes to incentivize the production of multifamily housing developments with tax credits and government loan guarantees. She seeks to keep renters housed through rental vouchers and government-backed leases for seniors and college students.

In addition, she wants to lower the barriers to homeownership by offering federal assistance with down payments.

Porter also supports investments in permanent supportive housing and in mental health and substance use disorder treatment, including funding more treatment beds, Lindsay Reilly, a spokesperson for her campaign, said.

Barbara Lee calls for funding affordable housing, mental health

Lee is the sole candidate who has lived homeless. After fleeing an abusive marriage, she was unhoused for a period and “knows how bad it can get.”

“That is why it is a top priority for me to solve California’s homelessness crisis,” she said in a statement provided to the Daily News. “It’s going to take a multi-pronged approach—investing in affordable housing, defending renters’ rights, prioritizing mental health care, and fighting for greater affordability and economic equity across the board.”

She is currently fighting to pass the the Ending Homelessness Act, which would provide $10 billion in federal funding to construct affordable housing nationwide. She supports converting government-owned land into housing developments.

Her plan also calls for providing Californians with federal assistance for home down payments and apartment security deposits. In addition, she seeks to raise the federal minimum wage so working people can afford housing.

“At the same time, we have to get to some of the other root causes of homelessness,” she said. “We need to fight for affordable health care that includes mental health care.”

Lee is a proud supporter of Medicare for All and said she will continue to push for it in the Senate.

“I have been a voice for renters, working people, and unhoused people my entire career,” she said, “and I will be their strong advocate in the Senate.”

All four leading Senate candidates will have another opportunity to present their policy platforms on Monday during KTLA’s televised U.S. Senate debate from 7 to 8 p.m.

Vote by mail ballots have already been sent to registered voters and early vote center will open on Feb. 24. The top-two vote getters in the March 5 primary will proceed to a runoff in the November General Election.

Unlike the OC Board of Supervisors District 1 race, in which one of five candidates has to secure a majority of the votes to avoid a November runoff, only a tie would leave District 3 without a winner.

District 3 represents all or at least parts of Anaheim Hills, Irvine, Lake Forest, Tustin, North Tustin, Villa Park, Orange, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Yorba Linda and the other eastern unincorporated areas. Ballots are making their way into the mailboxes of registered voters this week.

Read more: Follow the links on each candidate’s name to see how they responded to our 2024 voter guide questions, and check out the entire guide here. 

The five-member Board of Supervisors sets policy and direction and oversees the county’s $9.3 billion budget, 18,000 employees and various departments including animal care, landfills, public works, social services and public health.

Khan was elected to the Irvine City Council in 2018 and then as the city’s mayor in 2020. Among the top issues she said she’d like to address as a county supervisor are homelessness, housing and climate change.

Wagner was first elected to the Board of Supervisors in 2019 in a special election. He previously served six years in the State Assembly, and was mayor of Irvine from 2016 to 2019. He said if he wins he would continue to prioritize public safety and addressing homelessness.

Khan called homelessness and housing the most pressing issues in the county. The county’s support of local nonprofits and organizations that address homelessness has been good, she said, but thinks the focus should move away from traditional shelters.

“We have to really dive in and take care of our unhoused,” she said. “That means making sure that we’re putting funding into areas like social services and creating a case management program where there’s one-on-one support to learn what the needs are of the community.”

Traditional shelters “don’t work.” she has said. “It’s critical to understand the needs of unhoused individuals. They may include mental health needs, some being critical enough for us to utilize CARE courts, the legislation I advocated and spoke in favor of. There may be substance abuse issues, medical needs or just financial instability.”

By redirecting funds from creating more traditional shelters toward “case management-based temporary housing — a ‘wellness center’ — we can reduce our homeless population,” she said. “This is a system that can work in any city, especially those that have been resistant to traditional shelters.”

When it comes to meeting housing needs, Khan said the county and cities are doing their best, but there needs to be a way to make sure what’s being built offers an affordable entry point for families into homeownership and doesn’t become investment properties.

“How do we limit corporate investors from basically buying out homes that are available for our families and pushing them out so they can’t even compete with them? We need real reform to make sure that we’re providing housing for our community, not for corporations,” Khan said. “As we build out, and as we provide more affordable housing, we also need to make sure that the housing that we build isn’t going to be taken up by corporations and not individuals and families.”

She also called collaboration with cities “crucial for promoting the development of affordable housing in Orange County, going beyond the management of unincorporated areas. The county needs to actively seek ways to incentivize new developments and engage with cities.”

Wagner wants to maintain the county’s focus on addressing homelessness, he said, including expanding efforts beyond providing housing to also providing support for people to get help in other ways such as with substance use and mental illness.

“I want to make sure that we, as a government, give to the people who want the help they need, because ultimately, that’s how we’re going to be successful in reducing our homeless issue and get people stabilized,” he said. “Then, they’re able to live in a housing situation.

“I don’t believe the answer is just to build houses or rent hotel rooms, because if you haven’t fixed the underlying issue that is troubling someone, that’s not a long-term solution.”

He said “gaps in care and in enforcement tools remain that frustrate our ability to continue progress. I am working with the county to undo the misguided court decision in the Boise case that unwisely limits our ability to enforce anti-camping and anti-vagrancy laws. I also am working with South County cities in my district to further efforts to help address homelessness, especially with short-term inclement weather facilities.”

When it comes to public spending, Wagner said public safety has taken a front seat as one of the concerns he wants addressed.

“Especially in California, when we’re seeing a legislature that is not as tough on crime as it should be, when we’re seeing surrounding communities, L.A., with these smash-and-grabs, they’re bleeding down into Orange County,” Wagner said. “When we’re seeing some of those issues out there, I would say a priority, if not a top priority, has to be maintaining public safety.”

Wagner said he wants to ensure that law enforcement and departments such as the Orange County Fire Authority continue to be properly funded to have the tools and technology needed to respond to emergencies quickly and effectively.

With his background in government, Wagner said he is confident in himself as a public servant.

“I’ve been in this business for an awfully long time, and I have done my best to think through the issues, come up with a view of the appropriate role of government, and then vote that role,” Wagner said. “I’m quite comfortable explaining to the public why I do what I do and let the public decide, because the way this government works is, we ultimately are responsive to the public. I’m going to do what I think is in the absolute best interest of the public.”

In her campaigning, Khan said she has been visiting constituents outside of Irvine, meeting folks in Rancho Santa Margarita, Lake Forest, in the canyons and elsewhere to find out each city’s individual needs.

“It’s really just letting people know that I’m here, and listening to what their needs are. The district is so diverse with their needs,” Khan said. “What’s really key here is having that open dialog, letting them know that I’m here to listen to them and to deliver.”

The Registrar of Voters will open the first wave of vote centers on Feb. 24 and more will open as election day on March 5 draws nearer. Secure drop boxes are available 24/7 in various locations and ballots may also be mailed back. For more information visit ocvote.gov.

NEW YORK — The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday outlawed robocalls that contain voices generated by artificial intelligence, a decision that sends a clear message that exploiting the technology to scam people and mislead voters won’t be tolerated.

The unanimous ruling targets robocalls made with AI voice-cloning tools under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a 1991 law restricting junk calls that use artificial and prerecorded voice messages.

The announcement comes as New Hampshire authorities are advancing their investigation into AI-generated robocalls that mimicked President Joe Biden’s voice to discourage people from voting in the state’s first-in-the-nation primary last month.

Effective immediately, the regulation empowers the FCC to fine companies that use AI voices in their calls or block the service providers that carry them. It also opens the door for call recipients to file lawsuits and gives state attorneys general a new mechanism to crack down on violators, according to the FCC.

The agency’s chairwoman, Jessica Rosenworcel, said bad actors have been using AI-generated voices in robocalls to misinform voters, impersonate celebrities and extort family members.

RELATED: Fake Biden robocalls in New Hampshire traced to Texas company, criminal investigation underway

“It seems like something from the far-off future, but this threat is already here,” Rosenworcel told The Associated Press on Wednesday as the commission was considering the regulations. “All of us could be on the receiving end of these faked calls, so that’s why we felt the time to act was now.”

Under the consumer protection law, telemarketers generally cannot use automated dialers or artificial or prerecorded voice messages to call cellphones, and they cannot make such calls to landlines without prior written consent from the call recipient.

The new ruling classifies AI-generated voices in robocalls as “artificial” and thus enforceable by the same standards, the FCC said.

Those who break the law can face steep fines, with a maximum of more than $23,000 per call, the FCC said. The agency has previously used the consumer law to clamp down on robocallers interfering in elections, including imposing a $5 million fine on two conservative hoaxers for falsely warning people in predominantly Black areas that voting by mail could heighten their risk of arrest, debt collection and forced vaccination.

The law also gives call recipients the right to take legal action and potentially recover up to $1,500 in damages for each unwanted call.

Josh Lawson, director of AI and democracy at the Aspen Institute, said even with the FCC’s ruling, voters should prepare themselves for personalized spam to target them by phone, text and social media.

“The true dark hats tend to disregard the stakes and they know what they’re doing is unlawful,” he said. “We have to understand that bad actors are going to continue to rattle the cages and push the limits.”

Kathleen Carley, a Carnegie Mellon professor who specializes in computational disinformation, said that in order to detect AI abuse of voice technology, one needs to be able to clearly identify that the audio was AI generated.

That is possible now, she said, “because the technology for generating these calls has existed for awhile. It’s well understood and it makes standard mistakes. But that technology will get better.”

Sophisticated generative AI tools, from voice-cloning software to image generators, already are in use in elections in the U.S. and around the world.

Last year, as the U.S. presidential race got underway, several campaign advertisements used AI-generated audio or imagery, and some candidates experimented with using AI chatbots to communicate with voters.

Bipartisan efforts in Congress have sought to regulate AI in political campaigns, but no federal legislation has passed, with the general election nine months away.

Rep. Yvette Clarke, who introduced legislation to regulate AI in politics, lauded the FCC for its ruling but said now Congress needs to act.

“I believe Democrats and Republicans can agree that AI-generated content used to deceive people is a bad thing, and we need to work together to help folks have the tools necessary to help discern what’s real and what isn’t,” said Clarke, D-N.Y.

The AI-generated robocalls that sought to influence New Hampshire’s Jan. 23 primary election used a voice similar to Biden’s, employed his often-used phrase, “What a bunch of malarkey” and falsely suggested that voting in the primary would preclude voters from casting a ballot in November.

“New Hampshire had a taste of how AI can be used inappropriately in the election process,” New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan said. “It is certainly appropriate to try and get our arms around the use and the enforcement so that we’re not misleading the voting population in a way that could harm our elections.”

The state’s attorney general, John Formella, said Tuesday that investigators had identified the Texas-based Life Corp. and its owner, Walter Monk as the source of the calls, which went to thousands of state residents, mostly registered Democrats. He said the calls were transmitted by another Texas-based company, Lingo Telecom.

According to the FCC, both Lingo Telecom and Life Corp. have been investigated for illegal robocalls in the past.

Lingo Telecom said in a statement Tuesday that it “acted immediately” to help with the investigation into the robocalls impersonating Biden. The company said it “had no involvement whatsoever in the production of the call content.”

A man who answered the business line for Life Corp. declined to comment Thursday.

Associated Press writers Christina A. Cassidy in Washington and Frank Bajak in Boston contributed to this report.

The Associated Press receives support from several private foundations to enhance its explanatory coverage of elections and democracy. See more about AP’s democracy initiative here. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Correa is being challenged by David Pan who teaches German language, history, literature and culture at UC Irvine.

The district is anchored in central Orange County, home to one of the nation’s densest concentrations of Latinos. The son of Mexican immigrants, Correa, a longtime fixture in Orange County politics, has easily held onto his seat in his past reelection bids.

A member of the Committee on Homeland Security, Correa, 66, says border security “must be a top priority for the nation.” He says that he’s long been a supporter of “Dreamers,” young immigrants brought to the U.S. unlawfully through no fault of their own, and he introduced legislation last year that would give permanent resident status to “Dreamers” for 10 years and provide them a pathway to citizenship.

“‘Dreamers’ deserve to live in peace and continue contributing to our great nation without fear of deportation,” he said in 2023.

Pan, who said he was a registered Democrat until earlier last year, also supports helping “Dreamers” if elected. “We need to craft a deal to stop illegal immigration while developing a solution for ‘Dreamers’ and a sustainable immigration policy that contributes to a strong economy,” he said.

When it comes to artificial intelligence — increasingly becoming a hot topic in the 2024 election as Meta and other tech companies are working “to create common technical standards for identifying” posts created using AI, according to Bloomberg — both candidates want to see some action from the federal government on regulation.

“As with cybersecurity, the federal government has the role of collaborating with private actors to develop safe AI systems that also allow for growth and innovation,” Pan, 60, said.

Correa, who compared AI technology to the invention of the semiconductor and the internet, said, “AI promises much and has the potential for great misuse.” The federal government, he said, must provide “legal guardrails” to ensure that AI does not erode civil rights and privacy.

“We must also ensure that American entrepreneurship and innovation continue to flourish under AI and that the benefits of AI flow to all, creating jobs and prosperity for all Americans,” Correa said.

When asked what environment or climate policy they’d champion if elected, Correa pointed to legislation he introduced last year that would give a 40% tax credit to small landscape businesses to transition their gasoline lawnmowers to all-electric. The ban on the sale of gas-powered lawnmowers in California went into effect at the beginning of the year.

“Most of the gardeners who cut our lawns live paycheck to paycheck and will unlikely be able to make the expensive ‘transition’ to all-electric,” said Correa. “As we address climate policy, let’s not forget our hard-working men and women on Main Street.”

Pan said he would support cap-and-trade policies, which would set a “cap” on emissions, limiting companies on how much greenhouse gases they emit.

“That would create demonstrable progress toward climate goals,” he said.

CA-46 covers Anaheim — home to Disneyland and Disney California Adventure — Santa Ana, Stanton and parts of Orange and Fullerton.

Correa’s seat is deemed unlikely to become closely contested by the Cook Political Report, which analyzes elections. According to state data, CA-46 is a Democratic stronghold: Democrats account for 48.8% of all the registered voters in the district, while 22.1% are Republicans and 23.1% are no party preference voters.

Correa holds a comfortable cash lead over his challenger. He reported raising $163,075 in the last quarter of 2023, ending the year with about $1.8 million still left to spend.

In the same quarter, Pan brought in $35,753 and closed out the year with $30,861 cash on hand.

Primary ballots went out to all registered voters on Monday, Feb. 5. Ballot drop boxes also opened on Monday and voting centers will open on Feb. 24. The Orange County Registrar’s office is providing in-person voting, voter registration, replacement ballots and other general assistance.

The former governor and U.N. ambassador is courting voters — and fundraising — while in town.

She is introducing herself to Southern California voters, highlighting her tenure as the Palmetto State’s former chief executive and her foreign policy experience as a U.N. ambassador. But Haley, 52, is also ramping up her criticisms of former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner in the GOP primary race, saying he begets “chaos” and is focused more on himself than on voters.

“I voted for Donald Trump twice. I was proud to serve America in his administration, but chaos follows him,” Haley said at the Wild Goose Tavern in Costa Mesa on Wednesday morning. “We can’t be a country in disarray and a world on fire and go through four more years of chaos. We won’t survive it.”

Pointing to House Republicans knocking down an Israel aid package and an appellate court’s recent ruling that Trump isn’t immune from prosecution for trying to overturn his 2020 election loss, Haley said: “Every bit of it is chaos, and he’s got his fingerprints on every bit of it.”

“We need someone with executive experience, but we also need someone who knows national security,” Haley said.

Her message to local voters, Haley told the Southern California News Group in an exclusive interview in Costa Mesa, is: “Let’s make America normal again.”

“There’s a decision that (voters in Southern California) have to make. Do we go with the same or do we go in a new direction? And more of the same is not just Joe Biden; it’s also Donald Trump,” Haley said. “Are we really going to give them two candidates in their 80s? We can do better than that.”

Haley has called for term limits and mental competency tests for politicians over the age of 75. She said those views — and others — have fueled Trump’s and his surrogates’ attacks.

“They don’t like that I’m not interested in being their friends,” she said. “I’m interested in serving the taxpayers of our country. … They can go and say whatever lies they want; my record stands true.”

The ages of President Joe Biden (81) and Trump (77) should matter to voters, Haley maintains. “We will have a female president. The hard truth is, it’s either going to be me or Kamala Harris.”

“We need someone who can do eight years of hard, strong discipline to get the job done,” Haley said.

About 400 people crowded inside the Wild Goose Tavern in Costa Mesa during the drizzly morning — according to crowd estimates from Mario Marovic, a partner in the restaurant — sipping on drinks from the bar and eating passed appetizers like pickled deviled eggs and sweet potato goat cheese fritters. Animal heads, draped with bras, lined the walls; “Haley for President” buttons and signs adorned tables.

The bar is named for John Wayne’s yacht, said Newport Beach Councilmember Erik Weigand, who introduced Haley at the Orange County event. “We need somebody just like John Wayne who can stand up to bullies … and that is why I like what Nikki Haley brings to the table.”

Haley had fundraiser events Wednesday as well and capped off the day with a rally at the Hollywood American Legion Post 43 venue in Los Angeles where, by the 7 p.m. start time, the rain had begun to fall pretty heavily. The Southern California region had been hit by a strong storm system the past few days, resulting in heavy rains, mudslides and flooding.

Speaking to the Los Angeles crowd of about 250 people, per the campaign, Haley walked on stage to the thunderous beats of Joan Jett & the Blackhearts’ “I Love Rock ‘n Roll.”

There, during her 30-minute stump speech, she highlighted the border crisis and how she would address it. She proposed putting 25,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents on the ground, defunding “sanctuary cities” and introducing a national verification system where all businesses have to prove that the people they hire have legal immigration status.

“Eight and a half million illegal immigrants have come through that border,” she said. “We had more fentanyl come across the border last year than can kill every single American.”

.@NikkiHaley’s LA campaign event is interrupted by a protestor yelling "Nikki Haley is a climate criminal.” After he was kicked out Haley pivots to her husband’s military service saying he and many others fight every day to protect people’s freedoms — like that of free speech. pic.twitter.com/aQfumseSZs

— Clara Harter (@_ClaraHarter) February 8, 2024

In California, the GOP presidential election is considered “closed,” meaning only registered Republican voters will see it on their ballots.

Stephaney Avital, an Orange County resident, said she’s been a registered Democrat but switched parties to support Haley in the primary.

“I want to see a change in our country. I don’t want to see the same old circus that we’ve had in the last eight years,” Avital said. “We want to see moderation, we want to see logic, we want to see policies change. We want to see something different than we’ve already had.”

Elisha Krauss braved the rain and rush hour traffic to bring her three young daughters to see Haley speak in Los Angeles — and they all left with autographed campaign signs.

“As a longtime conservative female it’s glaringly obvious that sometimes the loudest voices don’t really represent moms,” she said, adding that she’s excited about the prospect of electing America’s first female president.

“I’ve lived here for 11 years, and we very rarely get to see big politicians. Most times, they fly in on private jets to go to fundraisers in Bel Air, and you never get to interact with them,” said Krauss, referencing Biden’s one-day stop in Los Angeles on Saturday, Feb. 3. “I think it’s really cool she did this.”

Haley was met Wednesday morning by a small group of Trump supporters who gathered outside the restaurant. They waved “MAGA” flags and wore “America first” hats, calling Haley a “RINO,” a phrase that stands for “Republican in name only” and is used by the former president and his allies to malign those who are more moderate in the GOP.

Two demonstrators were escorted out of the Costa Mesa bar for trying to shout down Haley during the remarks. At least one was a supporter of the former president. She was interrupted again in Los Angeles by a protester who called her a “climate criminal.”

Haley briefly paused her remarks during the interruptions, using it to highlight her husband’s military experience. Maj. Michael Haley is serving in Africa with the South Carolina Army National Guard. He and other servicemembers, she said, are making sacrifices so Americans can have freedom of speech.

How Super Tuesday would be super for Haley

The Southern California trip came on the heels of a big loss in the symbolic presidential primary election in Nevada on Tuesday night. There, voters picked “none of these candidates” ahead of Haley. Trump didn’t participate in the Nevada primary, where no delegates are awarded, and is instead focused on Thursday’s caucus.

But Haley brushed it off Wednesday morning, calling it a “scam that Trump already had in the bag.” Her campaign, she said, didn’t spend time or money in Nevada, instead focusing on states like South Carolina and Michigan as well as Super Tuesday spots.

Haley is committed to staying in the race through Super Tuesday, she said.

Gov. @NikkiHaley is in Southern California today to talk to voters ahead of Super Tuesday. She’s drawing on her record as South Carolina’s governor & giving the message: “We will have a female president. The hard truth is, it’s either going to be me or Kamala Harris.” pic.twitter.com/pA2WYYTk0H

— Kaitlyn Schallhorn (@K_Schallhorn) February 7, 2024

“I’m not going anywhere. We have a country to save,” Haley said when asked about how long she’ll stay in the race. “We are determined to outsmart, outwork, outlast until we finish this.”

Super Tuesday — March 5 this year — is a critical time in the primary election season; it’s the day when the most states vote and candidates can rack up more delegates for the summer’s nominating convention.

In California, 169 delegates are at stake and — after the California Republican Party changed its rules last year — Trump could sweep them all. If a candidate can secure a majority of votes in the primary election (50% plus one), the rules now say, he or she will nab all the delegates, the most of any state. But if no contender can secure a majority, the delegates will be distributed proportionally.

About two-thirds (66%) of likely GOP voters in California surveyed in early January said they planned to vote for Trump, according to a Berkeley IGS poll. That’s a 9% increase from its October survey. Haley was in the No. 2 spot, that January poll found, at 11%.

“Donald Trump is running away with the Republican nomination. The question for Nikki Haley thus becomes one of strategy given that she is not going to win this time around,” said Matthew Beckmann, a UC Irvine political science professor.

Haley could be waiting in hopes that Trump will get bumped from the ticket, Beckmann said, or she could be using this campaign as the foundation for the 2028 presidential cycle or other endeavors.

However, “with all the uncertainty surrounding Trump, Haley plodding along and maintaining her status as the only other Republican running is something of a win unto itself,” he said.

Aggregates of national polling show Haley leading Biden in hypothetical head-to-head matchups by about 3.6 points. Trump is ahead of Biden by 1.7 points, according to Real Clear Polling’s aggregation.

“We should want to win the majority of Americans,” Haley said. “But the only way we’re going to do that is if we have a new generational leader.”

The seat is highly sought after both for its firm Democratic base that makes it easy to hold onto and for its wealthy constituency, including many entertainment industry leaders, that makes it easy to get headlines and fundraise.

The district is comprised of about 55% registered Democrats and 16% percent registered Republicans, according to the California Secretary of State. It represents the communities of Hollywood, West Hollywood, Hancock Park, Burbank, Glendale, Sunland and Tujunga.

Schiff held onto the seat for 23 years and used it to create a name for himself on the national stage. Now he is using it as a springboard for a U.S. Senate campaign — a race that he handily leads.

His departure creates a regional power vacuum that many ambitious politicians are seeking to fill. It includes a mix of current and former state legislators, mayors, attorneys, policy experts and Hollywood industry players.

Four of the candidates reported raising more than $1 million by the end of 2023.

They include state Senator Anthony Portantino with $1.4 million, actor Ben Savage with $1.37 million, LAUSD School Boardmember Nick Melvoin with $1.28 million and former L.A. City Attorney Mike Feuer with $1.27 million. State Assemblymember Laura Friedman followed closely behind with $931,000.

The two top vote-getters in the March 5 primary will advance to a runoff in November, and with a field of candidates this qualified and crowded the race is anyone’s game. Ballots have been mailed out to registered voters and early voting begins on Feb. 24.

Here are all the candidates running for the 30th District:

Anthony Portantino (D): Portantino is the state senator for California’s 25th Senate District. Portantino hails from New Jersey and came to Los Angeles to work in film and TV production. His political career began on the La Cañada Flintridge City Council in 1999, where he served until 2006 when he was elected to represent California’s 44th Assembly District.

His political priorities include public education, mental health, sensible gun control, sustainability, transportation and keeping entertainment jobs in California, according to his campaign website. He has been endorsed by California state Attorney General Rob Bonta, the LA. County Federation of Labor and the California Federation of Teachers, among others.

Mike Feuer (D): Mike Feuer is the former Los Angeles City Attorney. Before that, he served three terms in the state Assembly, representing the 42nd Assembly District, and as a member of the Los Angeles City Council from 1995 to 2001, representing the 5th Council District. Before launching his political career he was the executive director of Bet Tzedek Legal Services, a nonprofit organization providing free legal services in Los Angeles.

His political priorities include gun safety, affordable housing, LGBTQ+ equality, reproductive rights and safeguarding democracy, according to his campaign website. He has been endorsed by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, L.A County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl and U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley (D-Oxnard), among others.

Nick Melvoin (D): Nick Melvoin is a member of the LAUSD Board of Education. He began his career as a public school English teacher in Watts. After being laid off from his classroom role he helped lead a lawsuit with the ACLU, which argued that LAUSD’s seniority-based layoffs violated the rights of students. He went on to become an attorney and civil rights advocate.

His political priorities include homelessness, education, infrastructure, climate change, gun safety, reproductive rights and antisemitism, according to his campaign website.

Laura Friedman (D): Laura Friedman is an Assemblymember representing the 44th District. Prior to her election to the state Assembly in 2016, she was a member of the Glendale City Council from 2009 to 2016 and served as mayor from 2011 to 2012. She was born in Florida and moved to Hollywood after graduating college, and had a successful career as a film producer.

Her political priorities include healthcare, the environment, transportation, housing, workers rights and LGBTQIA+ rights, according to her campaign website. She has been endorsed by Abundant Housing Los Angeles and Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis, among others.

Ben Savage (D): Ben Savage is an actor and director known for playing Cory Matthews in the sitcom “Boy Meets World”. He has been a member of the SAG-AFTRA Union since 1987, when he was five years old, and of the Directors Guild of America since 2014. He continues to work in the entertainment industry and in philanthropy.

His priorities include homelessness, community safety, affordable housing, workers rights, education and healthcare, according to his campaign website. He has been endorsed by writer/producers Steve Jarczak, Andrew Orenstein and Justin Baxter, among others.

Sepi Shyne (D): Sepi Shyne is the current mayor of West Hollywood and has served on the West Hollywood City Council since 2020. She moved to the U.S. at age five when her family fled the Islamist regime in Iran. She runs a law practice specializing in business and intellectual property law and is also an advocate for LGBTQ+ rights.

Her priorities include mental health and healthcare, housing and homelessness, workers rights, education, climate change and immigration, according to her campaign website.

G “Maebe” Pudlo (D): G “Maebe” Pudlo is a member of the elected Silver Lake Neighborhood Council, a drag queen and transgender activist. She is the co-founder of the LGBTQ+ Alliance of Los Angeles Neighborhood Councils, which is recognized as the first city-backed initiative for the LGBTQ+ Community in Los Angeles.

Her priorities include a ceasefire in Gaza, LGBTQ+ rights, affordable housing, abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), racial justice, reproductive rights and universal healthcare, according to her campaign website.

Alex Balekian (R): Alex Balekian is an intensive care unit physician born and raised in Glendale. He served on the frontlines of COVID-19, an experience that taught him the value of resilience, adaptability, and selfless service, according to his campaign website. He has been outspoken on the issue of parental rights and the manner in which LGBTQ+ identities are taught in public schools.

His priorities include education, climate change, healthcare, homelessness, border security, reproductive rights and affordable housing, according to his campaign website. He has been endorsed by the California Republican Party, Guns LA and California Parents United.

Steve Dunwoody (D): Steve Dunwoody is the director of government affairs at Climate Nexus, an environmental advocacy group. He is a 6th generation veteran and served in Iraq as a member of the Air National Guard. After his return to the states and graduation from university, he joined the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign and worked in the U.S. Department of Energy during Obama’s first administration. He has taught courses in political science at UCLA and UC Berkeley.

His priorities include gun safety, supporting working families, climate change, affordable housing, public safety, transportation, healthcare and LGBTQ+ rights.

Francesco Arreaga (D): Francesco Arreaga is a legislative advisor in the U.S. House of Representatives where he as helped write legislation to address gun violence and climate change. He was born and raised in Los Angeles and is an attorney with a specialization in international law.

His priorities include supporting workers, climate change, reproductive rights, homelessness, immigration reform, racial justice, according to his campaign website.

Jirair Ratevosian (D): Jirair Ratevosian serves as a senior advisor for health equity policy in the U.S. Department of State. He has previously served on the governing council for the American Public Health Association and as the former legislative director for Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

His priorities include healthcare, education, public safety, immigrant rights, LGBTQ+ rights, affordable housing and workers rights, according to his campaign website.

Courtney Simone Najera (D): Courtney Simone Najera is a UCLA student and former esthetician. According to her campaign website, her interest in running for congress stems from her experiences growing up with a single mother who suffered a near-fatal traffic incident that left her burdened with impossible-to-pay medical bills.

Her priorities include healthcare for all, affordable housing, LGBTQ+ rights, climate change, reproductive justice and economic justice for the working class.

Josh Bocanegra (Independent): Josh Bocanegra is an entrepreneur who founded Persona, an agency that creates AI experiences for clients. He has also worked at a med-tech start-up that researches robotics, AI and nanotechnology.

His priorities include education, regulating AI, affordable housing, transportation, sustainability, gun safety and reproductive freedom, according to his campaign website.

Sal Genovese (D): Sal Genovese is the chairman of the Kingsley Drive Association, working to develop neighborhood solutions to crime, littering and homelessness. He is a veteran and has worked in alcohol and drug abuse treatment, education, healthcare, business and community organizing.

His priorities include affordable housing, healthcare, public safety, education, immigration and supporting the working class, according to his campaign website.

Emilio Martinez (R): Emilio Martinez is a producer, writer and comedian. He has written TV movies including “Burning Little Lies” and “In God’s Time.” His campaign website is titled “American Resurrection”  and bills him as “the only conservative Republican (and Christian)” in this race.”

Steel is being challenged by policy advocate Cheyenne Hunt, Garden Grove City Councilmember Kim Nguyen-Penaloza, affordable housing attorney Aditya Pai and attorney Derek Tran.

Steel’s seat is deemed “lean Republican” by the Cook Political Report, which analyzes elections, although registered Democrats in the district outnumber registered Republicans. According to state data, Democrats account for 37.9% of all the registered voters in the district, which covers portions of Los Angeles and Orange counties, while 32.4% are Republicans and 24% are no party preference voters.

CA-45 is one of 31 House seats held by Republicans that the national Democratic Party’s campaign arm sees as a “key to winning a Democratic House majority.” The majority-Asian district is home to Orange County’s Little Saigon, the largest Vietnamese enclave outside of Vietnam, and they are expected to play an outsize role in determining who represents them in the House.

Steel, who in 2020 became one of the first Korean American women elected to Congress, previously served on the Board of Equalization and the Orange County Board of Supervisors. In Congress, she’s been an outspoken critic of the Chinese Communist Party, introducing legislation that aims to increase oversight of foreign investments in higher education and another that restricts the use of a Chinese logistics platform by the U.S. military.

“Our greatest national security threat, the Chinese Communist Party, is watching how we handle the war in Ukraine and gauging our level of support for Israel,” she said.

That’s why Steel believes the U.S. cannot “waver in supporting American allies,” and “must stop Russian President Vladimir Putin and destroy Hamas,” she said.

Recently, the U.S. Senate released a long-awaited border deal, which cracks down on illegal crossings and expedites asylum while tightening the system, making it harder for people to seek asylum. But former President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson have criticized the deal, with the latter saying that it would be “dead on arrival” if the Senate decides to pass it.

Said Steel: “I support Republican efforts to get border security funding into any legislation that will also fund Ukraine.”

Nguyen-Penaloza, the daughter of a Vietnamese refugee and a Mexican immigrant, said, “It is important for the U.S. to remain steadfast in our support for Ukraine” and that she supports “a strong U.S.-Israel relationship.”

Pai, on the other hand, said Congress should approve military and financial assistance to foreign nations if they align with American values and interests.

“We should only involve ourselves in conflicts that both implicate a core national security interest and enable us to act in ways that we can all be proud of as Americans,” he said. “Both countries (Israel and Ukraine) deserve our support because of our shared values: democracy, freedom and the rule of law. Both countries also implicate core national security interests in Europe and the Middle East.”

Tran, the son of Vietnamese refugees, said, “Supporting our allies in times of crisis — and standing up for human rights, democracy and peace — remains in our best interests as a country,” while Hunt, a 26-year-old from Fullerton, said U.S. assistance to foreign countries, including Israel and Ukraine, “should be rooted in promoting human rights, democracy and global stability.”

“Aid should be conditional, based on the recipient country’s commitment to human rights and democratic principles,” she said. “This approach ensures that U.S. aid does not prolong conflicts or support undemocratic practices.”

The U.S. must also balance its role in foreign affairs with investments in domestic welfare, she said.

CA-45 is one of several Republican-held House districts that went for President Joe Biden in 2020. It includes Fountain Valley, Westminster, Garden Grove, Cypress, Buena Park, La Palma, Placentia, Los Alamitos, Rossmoor and parts of Brea, Fullerton and Yorba Linda in Orange County; and Cerritos, Artesia, Hawaiian Gardens and parts of Lakewood in Los Angeles County.

Candidates also weighed in on the role — and size — of the U.S. Supreme Court, which has come under scrutiny in recent years. Last year, a ProPublica investigation revealed that Justice Clarence Thomas accepted luxury trips and private boarding school tuition payments for his grandnephew from Republican megadonor Harlan Crow, then failed to disclose them.

This election, the highest court is directly involved: Before the Supreme Court this week is a case over former President Donald Trump’s eligibility to appear on states’ primary ballots.

Hunt, Pai and Tran, the three candidates in the legal field, all said they are in favor of imposing term limits for justices.

“The current Supreme Court, by accepting gifts like luxury trips, real estate and college tuition for family members, among other ethical lapses, has shown itself to be unworthy of life tenure — and incapable of regulating itself,” Pai said.

Both Pai and Tran said they are opposed to adding more justices to the court, with Pai noting that “a court that is struggling with extreme partisanship and credible allegations of bribery cannot be fixed by even more partisan posturing.”

Steel characterized adding more justices to the court as a push by “left-wing zealots who seek a complete takeover of the federal government in order to enact their radical policies.” She added that the Constitution provides justices life terms “to ensure they are not swayed by political whims,” a proposition that has “worked well since our founding.”

Nguyen-Penaloza said she is open to potential term limits and expanding the size of the court.

Abortion rights has also emerged as a key issue in the CA-45 race. While incumbent Steel said she opposes abortion with exceptions for rape, incest and the health and life of the mother, in January, she co-sponsored legislation that doesn’t spell out those exceptions.

Her primary challengers have all voiced support for abortion rights — Nguyen-Penaloza said she is “infinity percent pro-choice,” Hunt said she supports following California law, which allows abortion until a doctor determines the fetus could live outside the uterus without extreme measures; and Tran and Pai said they support the codification of Roe v. Wade, which would allow almost no restrictions in the first trimester of pregnancy, some restrictions in the second and a ban in the third so long as the life and health of the mother is protected.

Regarding campaign finance, Steel leads the pack by a wide margin. She reported raising just over $1 million in the last quarter of 2023 (including a $300,000 loan), ending the year with about $3 million still left to spend.

In the same quarter, Nguyen-Penaloza, who nabbed the state Democratic Party’s endorsement and has the support of a host of federal, state and local elected officials and organizations, raised $75,484 and has $61,652 cash on hand.

Hunt, who reported a $55,217 haul (including a $20,000 loan), closed out 2023 with $137,409 cash on hand, and Pai reported raising $4,810 with $16,662 still left in the bank.

Tran, the last one to jump into the race, had the second-largest fourth-quarter haul: He raked in $535,304 and ended the year with $364,550 cash on hand.

Primary ballots went out to all registered voters on Monday, Feb. 5. Ballot drop boxes also opened on Monday and voting centers will open on Feb. 24. The Orange County Registrar’s office is providing in-person voting, voter registration, replacement ballots and other general assistance.

Click here to read the introduction to this week’s newsletter, where environment reporter Brooke Staggs reflects on winters in her hometown and how they’re being shaped by climate change.

 PROTECT

Monarchs decline: After two years of increases, Steve Scauzillo reports the population of Western monarch butterflies wintering on the California coast dropped 30% in late 2023. One bright spot: Some have been spotted in new areas, possibly thanks to folks planting more milkweeds. …READ MORE…

Asbestos tests coming: Some Tustin residences will soon be tested for asbestos and lead that might have been dispersed during the November hangar fire, Michael Slaten reports. Area residents interested in having soil on their property tested can sign up now. …READ MORE…

• Details of fire: Minute-by-minute account provides details for how firefighters battled Tustin hangar fire
• Health warnings issued: Smoke and debris tested positive for the presence of asbestos, lead, arsenic and nickel
• Risks later deemed minimal: Health officials say Tustin hangar fire didn’t pose big health risk

Sewage spill shutters beaches: Roughly one million gallons of untreated sewage has spilled into the Dominguez Channel, which discharges at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro. Kristy Hutchings reports the spill has closed the entire waterfront. …READ MORE…

Burro slaughter breakthrough: There may finally be a breakthrough in a long-running investigation into the killing of wild burros in the Mojave Desert nearly five years ago, the Associated Press reports. Now authorities want the public’s help. …READ MORE…

 SIZZLE

Tree rings record climate change: A new study that analyzed tree rings going back five centuries confirmed what other research has shown: There’s no precedent in modern times for how hot and dry the West has been in the last two decades. …READ MORE…

What 1.5 degrees means: It’s becoming increasingly clear that it may be too late to stop our planet from hitting 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above preindustrial temperatures. So what does that mean for us? And for efforts to avoid the next target of staying below 2 degrees of warming? Hayley Smith at the Los Angeles Times has a helpful explainer. …READ MORE…

 HYDRATE

Storm pummels state: Roads are flooded, trees are down, classes have been canceled, communities have been evacuated… Here’s a look at some of the great coverage my colleagues have produced over the past few days about how recent severe storms are impacting Southern California.

• Emergency declared as Southern California storm is called potentially catastrophic and life-threatening
• 40 people evacuated in the Topanga Canyon area
• Dirt road leading into beloved San Onofre Surf Beach destroyed and closed indefinitely
• Disneyland closing early as heavy rain closes Knott’s, Magic Mountain and SeaWorld
• Photos: Powerful storm sends water, mud slamming into Beverly Crest homes
• ‘Sketchiest’ rescue saves 3 stuck in tree in Devore after SUV is washed into creek
• SoCal Storm 2024: LA, OC and Inland Empire residents share videos on social media
• Downtown LA smashes rainfall record

 VOTE

OC voter guide: Along with questions about border policies and homelessness, the great team behind the Register’s primary election voter guide asked each candidate about a climate or environment policy they’d champion if (re)elected. Check out their answers here. …READ MORE…

Young voters hold sway: “They’re way less White and religious and wealthy than older voters. They’re also more influenced by specific issues, including the environment, gun control and racial justice.” Andre Mouchard looks at how young voters might impact this year’s elections. …READ MORE…

 TRANSPORT

People movers pushed back: Two automated transit systems slated to whisk riders to LAX and to SoFi Stadium are facing delays that could push their openings out by more than a year, Jason Henry reports. That means the SoFi one might not be ready for Olympics crowds after all. …READ MORE…

 EXPLORE

Explore new climate fiction: Whenever I’m stuck at home, I fuel my adventure addiction by watching movies and reading stories that transport me to other parts of the world. So with rain still falling in buckets around Southern California, I thought I’d use this space to share the awesome collection Grist has compiled of fresh fiction with a climate bent from Southern California and all over the world. Gonna get cozy and explore some of these tales tonight!

 PITCH IN

Try out this online tool: For this week’s tip on how Southern Californians can help the environment… Thought about trying to electrify your home but worried about costs or what difference it might make? Rewiring America recently launched a new online tool called the Personal Electrification Planner. It gives users a picture of the upfront cost, annual bill savings, annual emissions reductions, and air pollution and health impacts of electrifying their homes by switching to heat pumps, heat pump water heaters, induction stoves, electric dryers, EV chargers and rooftop solar. Test it out, then share the tool to spread the word!

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