candidates

On Tuesday, voters in the largest city of the United States, New York, will choose a new mayor in a race that has stirred debate across the country and drawn global interest.

Zohran Mamdani, a 34-year-old state assembly democratic socialist who surprised many with his June win in the Democratic Party’s primary, is facing former Governor Andrew Cuomo, now running as an independent after losing the Democratic nomination. Republican Curtis Sliwa is among the other candidates in the race.

Here is what we know:

What’s happening on Tuesday?

Voters on both coasts of the US will cast ballots in a series of elections: gubernatorial contests in New Jersey and Virginia, the New York City mayoral race, and a vote in California on a redistricting measure.

But of these electoral battles, it is the New York mayoral vote that has grabbed the most attention .

Who are the candidates in NYC?

The three leading candidates are Zohran Mamdani, Andrew Cuomo, and Curtis Sliwa.

Zohran Mamdani

The Democratic nominee is running on a platform focused on affordability, calling for rent freezes, universal childcare, cheaper public transport, and a raise in the hourly minimum wage to $30. An immigrant, Muslim, and democratic socialist, his popularity has surged during the campaign, with nearly 370,000 early ballots already cast, and appealing strongly to young voters.

Mamdani, whose parents have Indian roots, was born in Uganda. If elected, he will be the city’s first Muslim mayor, the first to be born in Africa, and the first of South Asian descent.

Andrew Cuomo

Cuomo served as New York state’s governor from 2011 to 2021 and resigned after a state inquiry confirmed sexual harassment allegations by 13 women. He lost the Democratic primary to Mamdani (56 percent to 44 percent), but stayed in the race as an independent.

Curtis Sliwa

At 71, Sliwa has resisted pressure to withdraw from the race amid concerns he could split the anti-Mamdani vote. Known for his trademark red beret, he rose to prominence as the leader of the Guardian Angels, a volunteer crime-fighting group that became famous for its patrols of the New York subway system.

Who is leading in the polls?

The latest RealClearPolitics average shows Democratic nominee Mamdani leading the mayoral race with 46.1 percent , giving him a 14.3-point edge over Cuomo (31.8 percent ) and a 29.8-point lead over Sliwa (16.3 percent ).

US President Donald Trump and businessman Elon Musk backed Cuomo late on Monday. Whether that high-profile, last-minute support will shift voter sentiment remains uncertain.

What time do polls open and close in New York?

Polling stations across the city will open on November 4 at 6am local time (11:00 GMT) and voting will continue till 9pm (02:00 GMT on November 5).

Early voting took place from October 25 to November 2.

When will we know results?

In New York, mayoral races are usually called quickly.

This time, however, with two candidates vying for the support of the city’s mostly Democratic voters, it may take longer to determine the outcome.

The 2021 mayoral race ended quickly – Democrat Eric Adams was declared the winner soon after the polls closed.

What are the main issues and what’s at stake?

Being the US’s most diverse city, known around the world for its business and culture, makes picking a new mayor an especially important occasion.

New York’s election campaigns have mirrored the bigger national debates in the US, over identity, religion, political beliefs, and the country’s future.

Some of the key issues include:

Cost of living: The city is facing one of its tightest housing markets in decades. In 2023 the city had a vacancy rate of 1.41 percent , which means that only 14 out of every 1,000 housing units were unoccupied; 9.2 percent of all rental housing was described by city authorities as “overcrowded”. The number of new housing permits issued fell in 2024 compared with 2023.

This has made housing cost and availability a dominant issue. After a slate of California cities, New York is the costliest urban hub in the US to live in.

“Most of us are working multiple jobs, can’t make rent or rents are going up,” Tom Grabher, a city voter, told Al Jazeera.

Law and order: Serious crimes in the city, including murder, have gone down from their 17-year high in 2023. However, lower-level offences, such as shoplifting, remain higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic, adding to public worries about safety and disorder.

Migration: The city has long been a magnet for people from around the world, from its historic role as a gateway for immigrants to the recent influx of asylum seekers that critics say has placed new strains on the city’s resources.

Israel and Gaza: The ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict and the city’s large Jewish and Muslim populations have made foreign policy a key issue in this race.

What has Trump said about the race?

A former New Yorker, Trump has loomed over the mayoral race for months, threatening to arrest Mamdani, deport him, and take control of the city if he wins.

On Monday, Trump urged the city’s voters on his Truth Social platform to back Cuomo, saying they had “no choice” but to vote for the former governor.

When the federal government shut down in October, Trump put on hold roughly $18bn in federal funds, although $187m from New York’s security funding has since been restored. Trump has threatened to withhold more federal aid for the city if Mamdani wins.

What other elections are taking place?

Virginia governor

All eyes are on Virginia, a state next to Washington, DC, that has been directly affected by Trump’s spending cuts and the recent government shutdown.

Democrat Abigail Spanberger is facing off against Republican Lieutenant-Governor Winsome Earle-Sears.

New Jersey governor

In New Jersey, the governor’s race has centred on concerns about affordability. Although Democrats hold a voter advantage, Republicans are optimistic that Trump’s rising popularity in the state could lead to a surprise win. Democratic Congresswoman Mikie Sherrill is up against Republican Jack Ciattarelli , a former state assemblyman.

California

In California, a proposed ballot measure would redraw congressional districts in a way that could benefit Democrats in the 2026 midterm elections. Governor Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers say they introduced the plan in response to Trump’s earlier push for Texas to reshape its districts to give Republicans an advantage in five seats currently held by Democrats. If approved, the measure would effectively eliminate five Republican-held districts in California.

New York City’s mayoral candidates are making a final push Monday to get voters to the polls, as the race to lead America’s biggest city nears its finale.

Ahead of Election Day on Tuesday, Democratic nominee Zohran Mamdani, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Republican Curtis Sliwa have all spent the race’s final stretch campaigning at a frenetic pace across the city’s five boroughs as they make their case to succeed outgoing Mayor Eric Adams.

In recent days, Mamdani went dancing with seniors on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, Cuomo dined in the Eastern European enclave of Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, and Sliwa went to a mosque in the Bronx.

Mamdani, a 34-year-old democratic socialist who would be the city’s first Muslim mayor, jolted the political world when he defeated Cuomo in the primary with an energetic campaign focused on making the city a more affordable place to live.

As the race approaches the finish line, he’s continued to post viral social media videos and run a relentless ground game, while warning his progressive fan base not to become complacent and to send as many supporters to the polls as possible.

Cuomo is trying to make his return to political office after resigning as governor four years ago following a barrage of sexual harassment accusations that he denies. Now running as an independent, the 67-year-old has in recent days shifted to wooing Republican voters to bolster his centrist base, pitching himself as the only candidate who can stop Mamdani.

Sliwa, the creator of the Guardian Angels crime patrol group and a longtime fixture on New York’s airwaves, seeks to spoil both Democrats’ chances. He’s been heavily canvassing the streets and subways in his signature red beret to spread his message of public safety.

Early voting in the city ended Sunday, and election officials say more than 735,000 ballots were cast.

In last year’s general election, there were 1,089,328 early, in-person votes cast. But in the 2021 mayoral general election, only 169,879 in-person early voting ballots were cast.

Izaguirre writes for the Associated Press.

Since Brendan Rodgers resigned as Celtic manager on Monday, several candidates have emerged as the Northern Irishman’s long-term successor.

Celtic moved quickly to appoint former manager Martin O’Neill as interim boss – 20 years after his first stint in charge of the Glasgow club ended.

Sunday’s 3-1 defeat at table-toppers Hearts was Celtic’s second successive Premiership loss, leaving them eight points adrift in second place, while they have won just two of their last seven matches across all competitions.

O’Neill, 73, has played down suggestions he could take up the job on a full-time basis – insisting he is just “keeping the seat warm”.

Several candidates have already started to emerge for the position, including some names that have strong links to Parkhead.

BBC Sport assesses the options and looks at how realistic it could be to appoint one of them.

Reporting from Santa Clara, Calif. — Some of the major Republicans vying to become California’s next governor or U.S. senator have more money than others. Some are better known. Some are more in sync with their party’s traditional views.

But what all five have in common as they look toward the June 8 primary is a determination to tap what they see as public fury over the failures of government.

“Our government is out of control and out of touch, and so we will take it back and we will make it work,” U.S. Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina told hundreds of delegates at a weekend convention of Republicans in the Silicon Valley.

Assemblyman Chuck DeVore (R-Irvine) and former Rep. Tom Campbell, her rivals in the race to challenge Democratic incumbent Barbara Boxer, took different approaches. But each appealed just as overtly to the large share of California Republicans who identify with the conservative “tea party” movement.

Gubernatorial candidates Steve Poizner and Meg Whitman did the same as they vied to challenge presumptive Democratic nominee Jerry Brown.

For all of the major Republican candidates, capturing the public mood of revolt is key not only to succeeding in the primary but also to carrying momentum through the November general election, where voters have historically sided more with Democrats.

“These are Republican voters who — not only here, but all over the country — are very, very frustrated at what they’re seeing, and they’re treating the state government with the same contempt as they’re treating the Obama administration,” said Wayne Johnson, a Republican strategist and former Poizner advisor.

“People are going to be willing to pull the lever for people who are saying pretty aggressive things this time around.”

Most aggressive over the weekend was Poizner, the state insurance commissioner. Treading on sensitive political territory, he promised to deny all public benefits to undocumented immigrants and to stop any more from crossing the Mexican border into California.

“If I have to, I’ll send the National Guard to the border,” he told Republicans at a dinner Saturday. “If that doesn’t work, I’ll send the California Highway Patrol to the border. And if that doesn’t work, I’ll send the California Republican Party to the border.”

Poizner also promised to curb welfare, an issue — like immigration — that Republicans last pushed hard during the economic downturn of the 1990s.

Whitman, too, has called for scaling back welfare. But by and large, her attempts to ride tea party anger were subtler than Poizner’s.

“Voters are tired of runaway spending,” Whitman, a former chief executive of EBay, said in a dinner speech Friday. “They are tired of bigger government. And they have had it with broken promises.”

Roughly four of five Republicans see California as moving in the wrong direction, a level of discontent not seen since the recession of the early 1990s, according to a recent Public Policy Institute of California survey.

“The candidates are trying to tap into that very deep skepticism and pessimism and cynicism seen among Republican voters today,” said Mark Baldassare, president of the institute.

The large portion of undecided voters in both the gubernatorial and Senate primaries makes it that much more important for candidates to identify with the public anger.

In the Senate race, Fiorina, a former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, applauded signs of a popular uprising, saying millions of Americans feel betrayed by “detached and arrogant leadership” in Washington.

“Whether we are conservatives, moderates, independents, Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, tea partiers, we are all now members of one party; we are now members of the Had Enough party,” she told Republicans at a luncheon Saturday.

DeVore, an Irvine assemblyman popular among the party’s conservative rank and file, described Democrats as an ominous threat.

“We are facing statists who have it as their objective to trample the Constitution, to submerge future generations under a mountain of debt and to fundamentally transform America into a state that none of us would recognize,” he said.

He described himself as the candidate best suited to draw support from tea party activists who want “to rescue America and to rescue California.”

As for Campbell, his support of temporary state tax hikes has made it tougher to position himself as a champion of the movement, but he tried nonetheless.

“I am running,” he said, “because our freedom is at risk, threatened by a soft socialism that inserts government into every corner of our lives.”

Poizner strategist Stuart Stevens described the voters’ mood as “hot.”

Alluding to the 1976 film about a TV anchor who builds a following of angry Americans, he said, “This is ‘Network’: Mad as hell, not going to take it anymore.”

michael.finnegan @latimes.com

[email protected]

STOCKTON — Four of California’s gubernatorial candidates tangled over climate change and wildfire preparedness at an economic forum Thursday in Stockton, though they all acknowledged the stark problems facing the state.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, stood apart from the three other candidates — all Democrats — at the California Economic Summit by challenging whether the spate of devastating wildfires in California is linked to climate change, and labeling some environmental activists “terrorists.”

After a few audience members shouted at Bianco over his “terrorists” comment, the Democratic candidates seized on the moment to reaffirm their own beliefs about the warming planet.

“The impacts of climate change are proven and undeniable,” said Tony Thurmond, a Democrat and California superintendent of public instruction. “You can call them what you want. That’s our new normal.”

The fires “do have a relationship with climate change,” said former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Besides environmental issues, the hour-and-a-half forum at the business-centric California Forward’s Economic Summit focused primarily on “checkbook” topics as the candidates, which also included former state Controller Betty Yee, offered gloomy statistics about poverty and homelessness in California.

Given the forum’s location in the Central Valley, the agricultural industry and rural issues were front and center.

Bianco harped on the state and the Democratic leaders for California’s handling of water management and gasoline prices. At one point, he told the audience that he felt like he was in the “Twilight Zone” after the Democrats on stage pitched ways to raise revenue.

Other candidates in California‘s 2026 governor’s race, including former Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra and former Rep. Katie Porter, were not present at Thursday’s debate. Former Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon planned to come, but his flight from Los Angeles was delayed, audience members were told.

All are vying to lead a state facing ongoing budget deficits caused by overspending. A state Legislative Analyst’s Office report released this month cited projected annual operating deficits ranging from roughly $15 billion to $25 billion through 2029. At the same time, federal cutbacks by the Trump administration to programs for needy Californians, including the state’s Medi-Cal healthcare program, will put more pressure on the state’s resources.

All of the candidates had different pitches during the afternoon event. Asked by moderator Jeanne Kuang, a CalMatters reporter, about ways to help rural communities, Thurmond cited his plan to build housing on surplus property owned by the state. He also repeatedly talked about extending tax credits or other subsidies to groups, including day-care providers.

Yee, discussing the wildfires, spoke on hardening homes and creating an industry around fire-proofing the state. Yee received applause when she questioned why there wasn’t more discussion about education in the governor’s race.

Villaraigosa cited his work finding federal funds to build rail and subway lines across Los Angeles and suggested that he would focus on growing the state’s power grid and transportation infrastructure.

Both the former mayor and Yee at points sided with Bianco when they complained about the “over-regulation” by the state, including restrictions on developers, builders and small businesses.

Few voters are probably paying much attention to the contest, with the battle over Proposition 50 dominating headlines and campaign spending.

Voters on Nov. 4 will decide whether to support the proposition, which is a Democratic-led effort to gerrymander California’s congressional districts to try and blunt President Trump’s attempt to rig districts in GOP-led states to retain control of the House of Representatives.

“Frankly, nobody’s focused on the governor’s race right now,” Yee said at an event last week.

With two weeks left in the regular season for high school football, it’s become clear there’s a large and growing list of candidates for coach of the year. They are considered based on exceeding expectations, winning championships or helping to engineer a program turnaround when no one saw it coming.

Let’s review the great coaching performances so far this season:

Los Alamitos football coach Ray Fenton stands with his players on Thursday during an Alpha League opener at SoFi Stadium.

(Craig Weston)

• Ray Fenton, Los Alamitos: The man looks so fit he could run around any stadium without breaking a sweat. Few expected the Griffins to be 8-0 at this point, let alone be in the running for a Southern Section Division 1 playoff berth. He’s molded a team of best friends into believing in themselves no matter the opponent. San Clemente and Mission Viejo are the only teams standing in the way of a 10-0 regular season.

• Terrance Whitehead, Crenshaw: When head coach Robert Garrett was placed on administrative leave before the season began, the Crenshaw grad and longtime assistant took over. Garrett helped train him, and Crenshaw is 7-1 going into a Coliseum League title decider against King/Drew on Friday. The Cougars have discipline, resiliency and are playing to make Garrett and his assistants proud.

  

  Crenshaw interim coach Terrance Whitehead speaking with quarterback Danniel Flowers.

  (Robert H. Helfman)

• Brad Vonnahme, Crespi: Who predicted the Celts would be 8-0 and headed to the Del Rey League championship in Vonnahme’s third season of a massive rebuilding job? He hasn’t brought in transfers, rather relying on players who start out as freshmen learning the game and move up. There’s a group of sophomores being developed who could be very good in the coming seasons.

• Jason Negro, St. John Bosco: The Braves have established themselves as the No. 1 team in California, if not the nation, while relying on an improving sophomore quarterback and four receivers headed to college success. He knows championships are won with the help of the offensive and defensive lines, and those are the areas to watch as the playoffs approach.

  

  St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro has his team ranked No. 1 in the nation.

  (Craig Weston)

• Jon Ellinghouse, Sierra Canyon: The Trailblazers are 8-0 and no one has come close to beating them. The season will be based on whether they can break through and disrupt the St. John Bosco-Mater Dei domination. Their defense is clearly the best in Southern California.
• Dylen Smith, Palisades: He lost his field, lost his weight room and nearly lost his team to the Palisades fire. And yet, the Dolphins have persevered and are 8-0 with players who stayed and a couple new ones who wanted to experience an adventure with no guarantee of success.
• Chad Johnson, Mission Viejo: With the Diablos (7-1) having wins over Santa Margarita, Folsom and San Diego Lincoln, Johnson challenged his team with a difficult nonleague schedule and they’ve met that challenge. He placed his trust in quarterback Luke Fahey, and don’t doubt how far this team can advance.
• Rick Clausen, Westlake: An assistant coach all his life, Clausen decided to accept the head coaching position even though his wife died of cancer. He’s somehow managed to balance parenting duties and coaching duties, helping a Westlake team go from 0-10 last season to 8-0 this season in his rookie year.
• Tony Henney, Dana Hills: Wherever Henney goes, he succeeds. He’s been head coach at Nordhoff, Trabuco Hills, St. Bonaventure and Westlake. He has Dana Hills at 8-0 going into a game on Friday against 8-0 Laguna Beach, whose own coach, John Shanahan, surrounded himself with an elite group of assistants, including former JSerra head coach Scott McKnight. The winner of the battle of the unbeatens might not be stopped the rest of the way.

• Kevin Hettig, Corona del Mar: With his team 8-0 and tough games ahead, Hettig has quietly and competently prepared the Sea Kings to stay focused and keep improving each week.

  

  Corona del Mar head coach Kevin Hettig, quarterback Brady Annett, and NMUSD superintendent Dr. Wesley Smith.

  (Don Leach/Staff Photographer)

• Jason Miller, Leuzinger: Who loses his only quarterback who can pass and still keeps the team winning? Miller and the Olympians (6-1) are on the verge of ending Inglewood’s reign as a league champion by using 5-foot-8 Journee Tonga as his versatile offensive weapon and replacement quarterback.

• Mike Moon, Oxnard Pacifica: Moon is trying to get his always underrated 8-0 team to run the table in the Marmonte League. He’s helped develop junior quarterback Taylor Lee while managing rising expectations and winning close games.

  

  Mike Moon of Oxnard Pacifica has his team at 8-0.

  (Eric Sondheimer / Los Angeles Times)

• Raymond Carter, Torrance: The former All-City running back at Crenshaw has his team at 8-0, beating local team after local team led by junior quarterback Gibson Turner, who has 20 touchdown passes.
• Mark Carson, Rio Hondo Prep: Year after year, Carson has Rio Hondo Prep ready to succeed. This year’s 8-0 start is no different. A challenge ahead will be playing in a tougher playoff division.
• Darryl Goree, Palm Springs: An 8-0 start has the Indians being the talk of town. Senior linebacker Koa Rapolla has been turned loose and is averaging 13 tackles a game.
• Rick Curtis, Crean Lutheran: Curtis figured out how to best use one of the best athletes in the Southland, quarterback/point guard Caden Jones, and it has led to an 8-0 record.

These are troubling times for West Ham off the pitch too.

There were a large number of empty seats at London Stadium on Monday as some fans staged a boycott, staying away in protest against the running of the club.

While this was the first boycott, supporters have previously called for chairman David Sullivan and vice-chair Karren Brady, who have been at West Ham since 2010, to step down.

Thousands of fans demonstrated before last month’s defeat by Crystal Palace and in response the club issued a lengthy statement,, external saying they were continuing “to listen to fan feedback”, have made “significant investment into the football operation” and “continue to do everything we can to improve the matchday experience”.

Payne was one of the fans who stayed away from the game for what he said was the first and the last time he will do so.

“There was a boycott but fans are not the problem, we are the solution waiting to be heard,” he said.

“It was a deliberate boycott to send a message to the owners that something has got to change.”

Payne said fan protests are solely aimed at the club’s owners, rather than the manager or players.

But Nuno’s decision to start with inverted full-backs against Brentford did raise some eyebrows.

“It’s unfair on Nuno and it’s unfair on the players as well,” Payne added.

“Nuno is a fantastic bloke, but I think he got his selections a bit skew-whiff last night by playing a young left-back – who has never played anywhere else – as right-back. Ollie Scarles, I felt sorry for him really.”

SAN DIEGO — Six Democrats running for governor next year focused on housing affordability, the cost of living and healthcare cuts as the most daunting issues facing Californians at a labor forum on Saturday in San Diego.

Largely in lockstep about these matters, the candidates highlighted their political resumes and life stories to try to create contrasts and curry favor with attendees.

Former state Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon, in his first gubernatorial forum since entering the race in late September, leaned into his experience as the first millennial elected to the state legislature.

“I feel like my experience and my passion uniquely positioned me in this race to ride a lane that nobody else can ride, being a millennial and being young and having a different perspective,” said Calderon, 39.

Concerns about his four children’s future as well as the state’s reliance on Washington, D.C., drove his decision to run for governor after choosing not to seek reelection to the legislature in 2020.

“I want [my children] to have opportunity. I want them to have a future. I want life to be better. I want it to be easier,” Calderon, whose family has deep roots in politics. State leaders must focus “on D.C.-proofing California. We cannot continue to depend on D.C. and expect that they’re going to give a s—t about us and what our needs are, because they don’t.”

Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, who also served as the state’s attorney general after a 24-year stint in Congress, argued that it is critical to elect a governor who has experience.

“Would you let someone who’s never flown a plane tell you, ‘I can fly that plane back to land’ if they’ve never done it before?” Becerra asked. “Do you give the keys to the governor’s office to someone who hasn’t done this before?”

He contrasted himself with other candidates in the race by invoking a barking chihuahua behind a chain-link fence.

“Where’s the bite?” he said, after citing his history, such as suing President Trump 122 times, and leading the sprawling federal health bureaucracy during the pandemic. “You don’t just grow teeth overnight.”

Calderon and Becerra were among six Democratic candidates who spoke at length to about 150 California leaders of multiple chapters of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.

The union has more than 200,000 members in California and is being battered by the federal government shutdown, the state’s budget deficit and impending healthcare strikes. AFSCME is a powerful force in California politics, providing troops to knock on voters’ doors and man phone banks.

The forum came as the gubernatorial field to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom is in flux.

Former Vice President Kamala Harris announced earlier this summer that she has opted against running for the seat. Former Senate Leader Toni Atkins suspended her gubernatorial campaign in late September.

Rumors continue to swirl about whether billionaire businessman Rick Caruso or Sen. Alex Padilla will join the field.

“I am weighing it. But my focus is first and foremost on encouraging people to vote for Proposition 50,” the congressional redistricting matter on the November ballot, Padilla told the New York Times in an interview published Saturday. “The other decision? That race is not until next year. So that decision will come.”

Wealthy Democratic businessman Stephen J. Cloobeck and Republican Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco declined an invitation to participate in the forum, citing prior commitments.

The union will consider an endorsement at a future conference, said Matthew Maldonado, executive director for District Council 36, which represents 25,000 workers in Southern California.

Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa leaned into his longtime roots in labor before he ran for office. But he also alluded to tensions with unions after being elected mayor in 2006.

Labeled a “scab” when he crossed picket lines the following year during a major city workers’ strike, Villaraigosa also clashed with unions over furloughs and layoffs during the recession. His relationship with labor hit a low in 2010 when Villaraigosa called the city’s teachers union, where he once worked, “the largest obstacle to creating quality schools.”

“I want you to know something about me. I’m not going to say yes to every darn thing that everybody comes up to me with, including sometimes the unions,” Villaraigosa said. “When I was mayor, they’ll tell you sometimes I had to say no. Why? I wasn’t going to go bankrupt, and I knew I had to protect pensions and the rest of it.”

He pledged to work with labor if elected governor.

Labor leaders asked most of the questions at the forum, with all of the candidates being asked about the same topics, such as if they supported and would campaign for a proposed state constitutional amendment to help UC workers with down-payment loans for houses.

“Hell yes,” said former Rep. Katie Porter of Irvine, who teaches at UC Irvine’s law school and benefited from a program created by state university leaders to allow faculty to buy houses priced below the market rate in costly Orange County because the high cost of housing in the region was an obstacle in recruiting professors.

“I get to benefit from UC Irvine’s investment in their professionals and professors and professional staff housing, but they are not doing it for everyone,” she said, noting workers such as clerks, janitors, and patient-care staff don’t have access to similar benefits.

State Supt. of Instruction Tony Thurmond, who entered the gathering dancing to Dr. Dre and Tupac’s “California Love,” agreed to support the housing loans as well as to walk picket lines with tens of thousands of Kaiser health employees expected to go on strike later this month.

“I will be there,” Thurmond responded, adding that he had just spoken on the phone with Kaiser’s CEO, and urged him to meet labor demands about staffing, pay, retirement and benefits, especially in the aftermath of their work during the pandemic. “Just get it done, damn it, and give them what they’re asking for.”

Former state Controller Betty Yee agreed to both requests as well, arguing that the healthcare employers are focused on profit at the expense of patient care.

“Yes, absolutely,” she said when asked about joining the Kaiser picket line. “Shame on them. You cannot be expected to take care of others if you cannot take care of yourselves.”

AFSCME local leaders listening to former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra speak at a gubernatorial forum Saturday in San Diego.

(Seema Mehta / Los Angeles Times)

Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will choose the country’s fifth leader in five years on Saturday following the resignation of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

After governing Japan almost continuously since the 1950s, the conservative party has been in disarray following successive election defeats and a series of political scandals.

The LDP and its junior coalition partner Komeito lost their governing majority in lower house elections in October last year, a defeat followed by a drubbing in upper house polls in July.

After leading a badly damaged minority government for nearly a year, Ishiba announced on September 7 that he would step down.

Whoever takes over the LDP will face a public frustrated over the cost of living, an ascendant populism epitomised by the “Japan first” Sanseito party, and the headwinds of US President Donald Trump’s trade war.

LDP lawmakers and some one million rank-and-file party members will choose from five candidates, ranging from the son of a former prime minister to the protege of the late Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

Their choice could determine whether Japan will enjoy a period of political stability or continue down the path of the “rotating prime ministership,” which marked Japanese politics in the late 1990s and early 2000s, said Jeffrey Hall, a lecturer at Japan’s Kanda University of International Studies.

“Even though it’s not historically abnormal for Japan to have a high turnover rate, this is a very bad time for Japan to not have stable political leadership,” Hall told Al Jazeera.

Here’s a look at the candidates:

Shinjiro Koizumi

Koizumi, 44, is the son of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and one of two frontrunners in the race.

Earlier this year, he stepped in as the minister of agriculture at a time when the price of rice – Japan’s beloved staple food – was rising sharply.

Koizumi’s work on Japan’s “rice crisis” won him a surge in public support, and he is also popular with a large swath of the LDP, said Kazuto Suzuki, a professor at the University of Tokyo’s Graduate School of Public Policy.

“Mr. Koizumi is supported by traditional LDP heavyweights and the centre of the party. He does not have a particular policy position, so he is flexible to meet demands from older LDP values,” Suzuki told Al Jazeera.

Viewed as a political moderate, Koizumi has pledged to work with opposition parties to reform the tax system while lowering the public debt ratio, and to pursue balanced policies geared towards economic growth with fiscal discipline.

His relatively young age and educational background could still keep him from winning the leadership despite his popularity, said Stephen Nagy, a visiting fellow with the Japan Institute for International Affairs.

Koizumi attended Kanto Gakuin University and later Columbia University, but three of his rivals – Toshimitsu Motegi, Yoshimasa Hayashi, and Takayuki Kobayashi – graduated from the more prestigious University of Tokyo and Harvard.

“Whether we like it or not, educational pedigrees bring respect in society and in the LDP,” Nagy told Al Jazeera.

Sanae Takaichi

Takaichi, 64, is the only woman in the race and the leading challenger to Koizumi.

A former economic security minister, Takaichi skews towards the right-wing flank of the LDP and has “strong conservative credentials” as Abe’s former protege, Nagy said.

All the candidates have focused on how to revive Japan’s economy after decades of stagnation, putting forward broadly similar expansionary policies, said Sota Kato, research director at the Tokyo Foundation.

Still, Takaichi is “closer in stance” to “Abenomics”, the three-pronged strategy of fiscal expansion, monetary easing and structural reform championed by her mentor, Kato told Al Jazeera.

Takaichi is known for conservative views on social issues, including immigration and same-sex marriage, and foreign affairs, including China-Japan relations.

While her views have earned her the support of the conservative wing of the LDP, they are at odds with more centrist members.

“Some believe she is exactly what the LDP needs to pull support away from the opposition parties, such as Sanseito … Others believe she will push more centrist voters away,” Nagy said.

Yoshimasa Hayashi

Hayashi, 64, is considered the “dark horse” of the election due to his experience and amenable personality, according to Kato of the Tokyo Foundation.

Currently serving as chief cabinet secretary, Hayashi previously held high-profile posts including defence chief and minister of foreign affairs, and is campaigning on an economic policy focused on fiscal discipline.

Like Koizumi, he is viewed as a political centrist.

“From the perspective of LDP lawmakers, Hayashi provides a sense of stability compared to figures like Koizumi or Takaichi,” Kato said.

“If Hayashi secures more votes than either Koizumi or Takaichi in the first round of voting and proceeds to the second round, his chances may improve.”

Hayashi cited his extensive ministerial experience while campaigning and argued that Japan should strengthen its cooperation with “like-minded” democratic countries to push back against China, Russia and North Korea.

Toshimitsu Motegi

Motegi, 69, is a former secretary-general of the LDP who also did stints as minister of foreign affairs and minister of economy, trade and industry.

His platform includes cuts to petrol and diesel prices, wage increases for nurses and childcare workers, and incentives to encourage investment.

His economic policies “fall somewhere in between” those of Takaichi and Koizumi, the latter of whom has placed greater emphasis on fiscal discipline than his more conservative rival, according to Kato of the Tokyo Foundation.

Motegi and Hayashi both have factional support within the LDP, but this may not translate into enough votes to win the leadership position, according to the University of Tokyo’s Suzuki.

“Mr Motegi and Mr Hayashi are very experienced politicians, but they represent the old-fashioned LDP. They have certain support within the party, but they are not popular among the public,” he said.

Takayuki Kobayashi

Takayuki Kobayashi, 50, is a former economic security minister and previously ran for leader of the LDP.

His platform has heavily focused on economic growth and assisting citizens with cost-of-living issues.

Kobayashi has the support of many younger LDP members, but his youth and experience are potential handicaps, according to Nagy.

“Kobayashi is seen as very accomplished, smart, internationally minded, but still too young to fight with the 80-year-old sharks in the LDP,” he said.

His view was echoed by the University of Tokyo’s Suzuki.

“Mr Kobayashi is a new generation politician who has been a rising star, but not yet popular enough,” Suzuki said.

“Motegi, Hayashi and Kobayashi are very competent in policies and their sharpness in discussion, but these qualities are not the issue for this party leadership contest. The most important issue is the popularity and reactivation of the LDP,” he added.

San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert doesn’t generally agree with political parties redrawing congressional maps to gain power.

But after President Trump persuaded Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to redraw his state’s maps in order to improve Republican chances of retaining control of Congress in 2026, Von Wilpert said she decided California’s only option was to fight back with new maps of its own, favoring Democrats.

There’s too much at stake for LGBTQ+ people and other marginalized Californians to do otherwise, said Von Wilpert — who is bisexual and running to unseat Republican incumbent Rep. Darrell Issa, a Trump ally whose district in San Diego and Riverside counties will be redrawn if voters approve the plan.

“We can’t sit on the sidelines anymore and just hope that the far right will play fair or play by the rule book,” said Von Wilpert, 42. “If we don’t fight back now, I don’t know what democracy is going to be left for us to fight for in the future.”

San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert is challenging Republican incumbent Rep. Darrell Issa, whose Southern California district would be redrawn if voters approve the redistricting plan of California Democrats.

(Sandy Huffaker / For The Times)

Von Wilpert’s challenge to Issa — who did not respond to a request for comment — makes her part of a growing wave of LGBTQ+ candidates running for office at a time when many on the right and in the Trump administration are working aggressively to push queer people out of the American mainstream, including by challenging drag queen performances, queer library books and an array of Pride displays, and by questioning transgender people’s right to serve in the military, receive gender-affirming healthcare, participate in sports or use public restrooms.

They are running to counter those efforts, but also to resist other administration policies that they believe threaten democracy and equality more broadly, and to advocate around local issues that are important to them and their neighbors, said Elliot Imse, executive director of the LGBTQ+ Victory Institute.

The institute, which has trained queer people on running for and holding political office since 1991, has already provided 450 people with in-person training so far this year, compared with 290 people all of last year, Imse said. It recently had to cap a training in Los Angeles at 54 people — its largest cohort in more than a decade — and a first-of-its-kind training for transgender candidates at 12 people, despite more than 50 applying.

“LGBTQ+ people have been extremely motivated to run for office across the country because of the attacks on their equality,” Imse said. “They know the risk, they know the potential for harassment, but those fears are really overcome by the desire to make a difference in this moment.”

“This isn’t about screaming we are trans, this is about screaming we are human — and showing that we are here, that we are competent leaders,” said Josie Caballero, voting and elections director at Advocates for Trans Equality, which helped run the training.

Rep. Sarah McBride (D-Del.) at the DC Blockchain Summit in Washington on March 26, 2025. The summit brings together policymakers and influencers to discuss important issues facing the crypto industry.

(Kent Nishimura / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Across the country

Queer candidates still face stiff resistance in some parts of the country. But they are winning elections elsewhere like never before — Rep. Sarah McBride of Delaware became the first out transgender member of Congress last year — and increasingly deciding to run.

Some are Republicans who support Trump and credit him with kicking open the political door for people like them by installing gay leaders in his administration, such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.

Ed Williams, executive director of the Log Cabin Republicans, an LGBTQ+ organization, said his group has seen “a surge in interest” under Trump, with “new members and chapters springing up across the country.” He said that “LGBT conservatives stand with President Trump’s fight for commonsense policies that support our schools and parents, put America first, and create opportunities for all Americans.”

Ryan Sheridan, 35, a gay psychiatric nurse practitioner challenging fellow Republican incumbent Rep. Ann Wagner for her House seat in Missouri, said Trump has made the Republican Party a “more welcoming environment” for gay people. He said he agrees with Trump that medical interventions for transgender youth should be stopped, but also believes others in the LGBTQ+ community misunderstand the president’s perspective.

“I do not believe that he is anti-trans. I do not believe he is anti-gay,” Sheridan said. “I understand the fear might be real, but I would encourage anybody that is deeply fearful to explore some alternative points of view.”

Many more LGBTQ+ candidates, however, are Democrats or progressives — and say they were driven to run in part by their disdain for Trump and his policies.

LGBTQ+ candidates and prospective candidates listen to speakers at an LGBTQ+ Victory Institute training in downtown Los Angeles in September.

(David Butow / For The Times)

JoAnna Mendoza, a bisexual retired U.S. Marine, said she is running to unseat Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) because she took an oath to defend the U.S. and its values, and she believes those values are under threat from an administration with no respect for LGBTQ+ service members, immigrants or other vulnerable groups.

Mike Simmons, the first out LGBTQ+ state senator in Illinois, is running for the House seat of retiring Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) and leaning into his outsider persona as a gay Black man and the son of an Ethiopian asylum seeker. “I symbolize everything Donald Trump is trying to erase.”

Texas state Rep. Jolanda Jones, who is a lesbian, said she is running for the House seat of the late Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Texas), in a historically Black district being redrawn in Houston, because she believes “we need more gay people — but specifically Black gay people — to run and be in a position to challenge Trump.”

Colorado state Rep. Brianna Titone, who is running for Colorado treasurer, said it is critical for LGBTQ+ people — especially transgender people like her — to run, including locally. Trump is looking for ways to attack blue state economies, she said, and queer people need to help ensure resistance strategies don’t include abandoning LGBTQ+ rights.

“We’re going to be extorted, and our economy is going to suffer for that, and we’re going to have to withstand that,” she said.

Rep. Brianna Titone speaks during the general assembly at the Colorado State Capitol on April 23, 2025.

(AAron Ontiveroz / Denver Post via Getty Images)

Jordan Wood, who is gay, served as chief of staff to former Rep. Katie Porter of Orange County before co-founding the Constitution-backing organization democracyFIRST. He’s now back in his native Maine challenging centrist Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins.

Collins, who declined to comment, has supported LGBTQ+ rights in the past, including in military service and marriage, and has at times broken with her party to stand in Trump’s way. However, Wood said Collins has acquiesced to Trump’s autocratic policies, including in recent budget battles.

“This is a moment with our country in crisis where we need our political leaders to pick sides and to stand up to this administration and its lawlessness,” Wood said.

Candidates said they’ve had hateful and threatening comments directed toward them because of their identities, and tough conversations with their families about what it will mean to be a queer elected official in the current political moment. The Victory Institute training included information on how best to handle harassment on the campaign trail.

However, candidates said they also have had young people and others thank them for having the nerve to defend the LGBTQ+ community.

Kevin Morrison, a gay county commissioner in the Chicago suburbs who is running for the House seat of Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), who is running for Senate, recently had that experience after defending a transgender high school athlete at a local school board meeting.

Morrison said the response he got from the community, including many of the school’s alumni, was “incredibly positive” — and showed how ready people are for new LGBTQ+ advocates in positions of power who “lead from a place of empathy and compassion.”

In California

LGBTQ+ candidates are running across California — which has been a national leader in electing LGBTQ+ candidates, but never had an out transgender state representative.

Maebe Pudlo, 39, is an operations manager for the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition and an elected member of the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council. She is also transgender, and running for the Central and East L.A. state Senate seat of María Elena Durazo, who is running for county supervisor.

Pudlo, who also works as a drag queen, said that simply existing each day is a “political and social statement” for her. But she decided to run for office after seeing policy decisions affecting transgender people made without any transgender voices at the table.

“Unfortunately, our lives have been politicized and trans people have become political pawns, and it’s really disgusting to me,” Pudlo said.

Like every other queer candidate who spoke to The Times, Pudlo, who has previously run for Congress, said her platform is about more than LGBTQ+ issues. It’s also about housing and healthcare and defending democracy more broadly, she said, noting her campaign slogan is “Keep Fascism Out of California.”

Still, Pudlo said she is keenly aware of the current political threats to transgender people, and feels a deep responsibility to defend their rights — for everyone’s sake.

“This whole idea of rolling back civil rights for trans people specifically — that should be concerning for anybody who cares about democracy,” Pudlo said. “Because if they’ll do it to my community, your community is next.”

Former Palm Springs Mayor Lisa Middleton speaks at a training event for LGBTQ+ candidates and prospective candidates in L.A. in September. Also in the photo are, from left, LGBTQ+ Victory Fund President Evan Low, West Hollywood City Councilmember Danny Hang, Culver City Councilmember Bubba Fish and Virginia state Sen. Danica Roem.

(David Butow / For The Times)

Juan Camacho, a 44-year-old Echo Park resident also running for Durazo’s seat, said he feels a similar responsibility as a gay Mexican immigrant — particularly as Trump rolls out the “Project 2025 playbook” of attacking immigrants, Latinos and LGBTQ+ people, he said.

Brought to the U.S. by his parents as a toddler before becoming documented under President Reagan’s amnesty program, Camacho said he understands the fear that undocumented and mixed-status families feel, and he wants to use his privilege as a citizen now to push back.

Veteran California legislative leader Toni Atkins, who has long been out and is now running for governor, said the recent attacks on LGBTQ+ and especially transgender people have been “pretty disheartening,” but have also strengthened her resolve — after 50 years of LGBTQ+ people gaining rights in this country — to keep fighting.

“It’s what it’s always been: We want housing and healthcare and we want equal opportunity and we want to be seen as contributing members of society,” she said. “We have a responsibility to be visible and, as Harvey Milk said, to ‘give them hope.’”

BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — As the nation comes to grips with the slaying of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, two candidates in the Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park are going door to door seeking to win a legislative seat left open by another political attack that killed a longtime state lawmaker and her husband.

The troubling political violence is a clear concern along Brooklyn Park’s tree-lined streets, where voters will head to the polls Tuesday to fill a state House seat left vacant by the fatal home-invasion killing of their neighbor, Rep. Melissa Hortman. The Democrat was first elected in 2005 and served as Minnesota’s Democratic House leader before her death in June.

Hortman, her husband and their dog were killed early on the morning of June 14 in their Brooklyn Park home in what investigators say was a politically motivated attack.

Vance Boelter, 57, faces federal and state murder charges in the Hortmans’ deaths, as well as attempted murder and other charges in the shooting of another Democratic Minnesota lawmaker, Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, who both survived a shooting attack at their home the same day.

A neighborhood in fear

The Republican candidate seeking Hortman’s seat, real estate agent Ruth Bittner, noticed early in her campaign that people in the neighborhood where Hortman was killed seemed afraid to open their doors.

“We are in very, very scary times, and we definitely need to get out of this trajectory that we’re on here,” Bittner said.

Bittner said the political violence — particularly since the Wednesday killing of Kirk as he spoke at a Utah college event — briefly gave her pause about running for public office. But she concluded that “we can’t cower.”

“We have to move forward as a country and we have to, you know, embrace the system that we have of representative government, and we have to just do it, you know?” she said. “There’s no way to solve this problem if we shrink back in fear.”

The special election also comes less than a month after two schoolchildren were killed when a shooter opened fire on a Minneapolis Catholic church during Mass. The Aug. 27 shooting injured 21 others, most of them students at Annunciation Catholic School.

Officials identified the shooter as 23-year-old Robin Westman, a former student who they say fired more than a hundred rounds through the windows of the church. Westman was found dead of what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot.

“It’s definitely come up, you know, folks have referenced the recent shootings, Annunciation and Charlie Kirk,” the Democratic candidate, Xp Lee, a former Brooklyn Park City Council member, said Thursday as he knocked on doors in the district. “Just yesterday, I was outdoor knocking, [and] a couple of people mentioned it.”

Lee said Hortman was a neighbor whom he would often see walking her beloved golden retriever, Gilbert, around Brooklyn Park. He said she met with him to offer advice when he ran for City Council.

“I can’t think of a better way to honor her than to go to the Capitol and do my best in the seat,” he said.

Kirk killing aftermath

The shooting of Kirk, which happened in front of hundreds of people and was captured on video and widely circulated on social media, has rattled the nation and drawn condemnation from across the political spectrum. Officials announced Friday that the suspected gunman, Tyler Robinson, 22, was taken into custody Thursday night, and investigators said they believe he acted alone.

“An open forum for political dialogue and disagreement was upended by a horrific act of targeted violence,” Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said in a post on X. “In America, we don’t settle our differences with violence or at gunpoint.”

Hoffman, the lawmaker who was shot and wounded in June, and his family also issued a statement denouncing the attack on Kirk.

“America is broken, and political violence endangers our lives and democracy,” the Hoffmans’ statement said. “The assassination of Charlie Kirk today is only the latest act that our country cannot continue to accept. Our leaders of both parties must not only tone down their own rhetoric, but they must begin to call out extreme, aggressive and violent dialog that foments these attacks on our republic and freedom.”

Lee described the political climate in the wake of Kirk’s killing as a “charged atmosphere.”

“So I want to do what I can to really bring that down,” he said. That includes supporting a ban on semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines, he said.

Lee keeps a shotgun for home defense, he said, but assault-style rifles “are weapons of, like, war that really we don’t need on our streets.”

Vancleave and Beck write for the Associated Press and reported from Brooklyn Park and Omaha.

The rich, to paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, are different. In California, they lose a lot of very expensive, very high-profile political races.

Over the past 50-plus years, a half-dozen fabulously wealthy men and women — William Matson Roth, Meg Whitman, Carly Fiorina among them — have clambered atop their hefty cash piles and, despite any significant political experience, tried to launch themselves into the office of governor or U.S. senator.

Every last one of them failed.

Others with at least some background in elected office — Michael Huffington, Jane Harman, Richard Riordan to name a few — sunk a goodly chunk of their fortunes and came up similarly short in their efforts to win one of California’s top two political posts.

That history is worth noting as the very-well-to-do Rick Caruso eyes a possible entry into the wide-open race to succeed Gavin Newsom. Caruso recently told my colleague Julia Wick he was “very seriously considering” both a gubernatorial run and a second try for Los Angeles mayor.

“I’m running down two parallel paths,” the billionaire developer said. “As we speak, there are teams very busy working on both of those paths.”

(Wealthy businessman Stephen J. Cloobeck, another political first-timer, has been campaigning for governor for months, spending liberally to little avail.)

There’s a common disclaimer in the field of investment — “past performance is no guarantee of future returns” — which certainly applies here.

Still, as waiting-for-Caruso replaces waiting-for-Kamala among political gossips, it’s worth asking whether there’s something — floating in the air, mixed in the water or soil — that has made California such an inhospitable place for so many lavishly monied candidates. Unlike, say, Illinois or New Jersey, which elected billionaire neophyte JB Pritzker and multimillionaire Frank Lautenberg, as, respectively, governor and U.S. senator.

Part of the reason could be the particular political climate.

“If you’re the rich outsider, you have to show up in an election cycle where people want the outsider,” said Rob Stutzman, a Republican strategist who worked for Meg Whitman’s failed 2010 gubernatorial campaign, which cost a cool $180 million.

(Yes, $180 million. The former tech CEO coughed up most of that sum at a time California’s median household income was about $61,000.)

All that lucre couldn’t override the prevailing sentiment among discontented voters who were ready, after nearly eight years of the uber-outsider Arnold Schwarzenegger, to embrace the tried-and-true experience of the reemergent Jerry Brown.

That said, there’s a lengthy enough record of futility to suggest more is at work than the changeable mood of a fickle electorate.

Garry South believes California voters are of two minds when it comes to super-rich candidates. In 1998, the Democratic strategist helped Lt. Gov. Gray Davis maneuver past two moneybags, billionaire former airline executive Al Checchi and Rep. Harman, to win the governor’s race. Four years later, South led Davis’ successful reelection campaign against another multimillionaire newcomer, William Simon Jr.

“Part of them kind of admires someone who went out and made a killing in our capitalistic society … and walked away filthy rich,” South said of voters’ dueling impulses. “But they also have a suspicion that, because of their wealth and because of the benefits that it confers on that person, they don’t really know how the average person lives.”

Call it an empathy gap.

Or, perhaps more aptly, an empathy canyon.

“If somebody has $150 million sitting around they can dump into a campaign for public office,” South said, channeling the skeptical sentiment, “what understanding do they have of my day-to-day life?”

Bill Carrick, a consultant for Harman’s 1998 campaign, agreed it’s incumbent on a rich candidate to “have something substantive to say and be able to articulate why you’re going to make people’s lives better.”

That’s no different than any other office-seeker. But unlike less affluent, more relatable candidates, a billionaire or multimillionaire has a much heavier burden convincing voters they know what they’re talking about and genuinely mean it.

Don Sipple, who helped elect Schwarzenegger governor in California’s 2003 recall election, said wealth often comes with a whiff of privilege and, even more off-putting, an air of entitlement. (To be clear, Schwarzenegger won and replaced Davis because he was Arnold Schwarzenegger, not because of his personal fortune.)

A lot of California’s failed rich candidates, Sipple said, appeared viable — especially to political insiders — “because of their money. And they really didn’t have anything to offer beyond that.”

“It’s the same as somebody who goes out and tries to earn a job,” he went on. “You never deserve it. You’ve got to out and work for it. And I think voters make the distinction.”

Of course, wealth confers certain advantages. Not least is easy access to the extraordinary sum it takes to become well-known in a place with more eligible voters — nearly 27 million, at last count — than the population of all but a handful of states.

California is physically immense, too, stretching approximately 800 miles from north to south, which makes costly advertising the only realistic way to communicate in a statewide top-of-the-ticket contest.

There’s another old aphorism about wealth, credited to the burlesque star and actress, Sophie Tucker. “I’ve been rich,” she famously said, “and I’ve been poor. Rich is better.”

That’s undeniably true, so far as it goes.

The singer and comedian never tried to be governor or a U.S. senator from California.

FAIRVIEW, N.C. — Jamie Ager has spent much of the past year rebuilding his farm in the foothills of western North Carolina after Hurricane Helene tore through the region, cutting power, destroying fences and scattering livestock.

Then, earlier this year, Ager lost his beef contract with local schools, a casualty of billions of dollars in cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture under the Trump administration.

Now, the fifth-generation farmer is running for Congress — part of a new crop of Democratic candidates the party is turning to as it tries to compete in the tough, often rural districts it may need to flip to retake the U.S. House in 2026.

Democrats say these new recruits are uniquely suited to break through in districts where President Trump’s popularity dominates. Many, like Ager, are already a well-known presence in their communities. And in parts of North Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan and elsewhere, the party is betting local credibility can cut through skepticism where the Democratic brand has fallen.

Ager says he sees national Democrats as out of touch with rural life: too “academic” and “politically correct and scripted.”

“That’s just not what people are interested in,” he says. “The ideas of helping poor people, being neighborly, the ideal of doing those things, I think, are worthy, good ideas that are actually popular. But the execution of a lot of those ideas has been gummed up, you know, not well executed.”

A shifting House map

Heading into next year’s midterms, Democrats believe momentum is on their side. Historically, the president’s party loses ground in the midterms. In 2018, during Trump’s first term, Democrats flipped 41 seats to take control of the House. Republicans currently control the House by such a slim margin, Democrats need to pick up only a few seats to break the GOP’s hold on Washington.

The Republican-led tax break and spending cut bill has added to Democrats’ optimism. About two-thirds of U.S. adults expect the new law will help the rich, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About half say it’ll do more harm than good for middle-class people and people like them.

Still, Republicans remain confident. They point to having fewer vulnerable seats than Democrats have this cycle. Only three Republicans hold House districts Democrat Kamala Harris won last year, while 13 Democrats represent districts Trump won.

They also note Democrats’ low opinion of their own party after last year’s losses. In a July AP-NORC poll, Democrats were likelier to describe their own party negatively than Republicans, with many Democrats calling it weak or ineffective.

In places where local dynamics may give Democrats a shot, it means finding the right candidates is especially important, party leaders say.

“Recruitment matters in these years when the environment is going to be competitive,” Democratic pollster John Anzalone said.

Democrats hope a farmer in western North Carolina can regain trust

With power, water and telecommunications down due to last year’s hurricane, Ager’s Hickory Nut Gap farm became a hub for the community — hosting cookouts and using propane to grill food for neighbors.

Statewide, the storm caused nearly $60 billion in damage and killed more than 100 people. Little federal aid has reached the hardest-hit parts of western North Carolina.

“Helene hitting definitely put an exclamation point on, like, ‘Whoa, we need help and support,’” Ager said.

Democrats see Ager as a high-risk, high-reward candidate who could be successful in a district where Democrats have struggled.

No Democrat has won North Carolina’s 11th Congressional District since it was redrawn by the Republican-controlled legislature in 2011. A court-ordered redistricting ahead of the 2020 election made it slightly more favorable to Democrats, encompassing Asheville and much of western North Carolina. Republican Rep. Chuck Edwards still won by nearly 14 percentage points last year and is expected to seek reelection.

Grayson Barnette, a Democratic strategist who helped recruit Ager, said in some districts it’s a risk to run a candidate who hasn’t held elected office before.

“But I would argue that’s a good thing, especially when the Democrats just took the big hit we did,” Barnette said. “We have to look in the mirror and say, ‘Let’s try something new.’”

In a district where nearly 62% of residents live in very low-density areas, Barnette believes Ager’s identity — as a business owner, coach and father with deep local roots — could cut through. His unpolished, direct style, he says, may resonate more than a polished political résumé.

In the video launching his campaign, Ager shows flooding on the farm and is seen on the porch of his home, feeding chickens, driving a tractor and spending time with his wife and three sons.

“I’m not flashy, but I’m honest,” he says in the video.

Ager doesn’t call himself a Democrat in the roughly two-minute video and rarely used the word during a three-hour interview. Still, his ties to the party run deep: His brother serves in the state House, following in the footsteps of their father. His grandfather served six years in the U.S. House.

Asked whether that might be a liability in the district, Ager shrugged: “Then don’t vote for me.”

Trump’s big bill could reshape a conservative district in Michigan

In western Michigan, state Sen. Sean McCann is a different kind of candidate from Ager. He’s buttoned-up and soft-spoken, with a long resume in elected office and deep roots in Kalamazoo, having served for a decade on the city commission before winning a seat in the state House in 2010.

In a district anchored by conservative and religious values, Democrats see McCann as the kind of steady, experienced figure who can make inroads — especially as backlash builds to Trump’s tax bill, which includes deep spending cuts.

At a recent meeting at Kalamazoo’s Family Health Center, where nearly 65% of patients rely on Medicaid, the center’s president warned the proposed Medicaid cuts would be devastating.

“It’s about being home in the community and listening to our community’s values — and carrying those to Washington,” McCann said.

The district is represented by Republican Rep. Bill Huizenga, who won reelection by nearly 12 percentage points in 2022. But Huizenga hasn’t said whether he’ll seek another term, and Trump carried the district by only 5.5 percentage points in 2024.

Democrats hope strong ties help elsewhere

Across the country, Democrats are watching similar races in places like Iowa and Kentucky, where local candidates with strong community ties are running. In Iowa’s 2nd District, state Rep. Lindsay James — a fourth-term lawmaker and Presbyterian pastor — is weighing a run in the northeast part of the state. In Kentucky’s 6th, which includes Lexington and Richmond, former federal prosecutor Zach Dembo is running his first campaign, describing himself as a political outsider.

It’s a mix of profiles: Ager, the farmer-turned-candidate feeding neighbors after a hurricane. McCann, the public servant meeting with health workers in his hometown. And others like them trying to reconnect a skeptical electorate.

“Yes, the Democratic Party has some taint to it,” Ager said. “But when I go talk to Republicans who are friends that I’ve known forever, there’s genuine admiration and mutual respect for each other. And that comes from being in this community forever.”

Cappelletti writes for the Associated Press. AP writer Maya Sweedler in Washington contributed to this report.

US president says the Treasury secretary wishes to stay in his current role.

United States President Donald Trump has ruled out Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent as his pick to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

Trump, who has repeatedly criticised Powell for not moving faster to lower interest rates, said on Tuesday that Bessent wished to continue in his current role.

“I love Scott, but he wants to stay where he is,” Trump said in an interview with CNBC, adding that Bessent was doing a “great job” and had told him as recently as Monday that he did not want the position.

Trump said he had four candidates in mind to replace Powell, whose term expires in May, including Kevin Warsh, who formerly served on the Fed’s seven-member board of governors, and Kevin Hassett, the director of the White House National Economic Council.

He said he could use the opportunity to replace Adriana D Kugler, who last week announced her early resignation as one of the seven governors, to put his pick for chair on the board in advance of Powell’s departure.

“I’m going to make the decision soon,” Trump said.

Trump’s repeated attacks on Powell, whom he has mockingly dubbed “too late”, have stoked concern about the US central bank maintaining its independence, which investors view as crucial to the health of the US economy.

Following reports last month that Trump had asked Republican lawmakers whether he should fire the Fed chair, the benchmark S&P 500 tumbled 0.7 percent.

US stocks swiftly recovered after Trump denied that he had any intention to remove Powell early.

Under legislation and US Supreme Court precedent, the president may only remove the Fed chair “for cause”, widely interpreted to mean proof of corruption or malfeasance.

July 1 (UPI) — With fewer than 45 days until Bolivia’s presidential election, businessman Samuel Doria Medina — leader of Unidad Nacional, a center-left social democratic party — is leading the polls with 19.6% support.

According to the latest survey by Captura Consulting, released by the Cadena A television network, former President Jorge Quiroga, a center-right candidate, is in second place with 16.6%, followed by Andrónico Rodríguez, a rising figure in the Bolivian left, with 13.7%.

A June poll by Ipsos CIESMOR showed similar results, reinforcing the trend that opposition candidates Doria Medina and Quiroga have pushed ruling party candidates out of the top spots. Still, 15.5% of voters remain undecided, adding uncertainty to the final outcome.

“Although a poll is a snapshot of the moment and will shift over time, the trends are clear,” political analyst José Luis Santistevan said.

He said voters appear to be turning away from the ruling party amid a worsening economic crisis that has affected jobs, food access and household income across Bolivia.

Bolivia is in the midst of a severe economic crisis, driven by rising prices for basic goods, fuel shortages and a lack of foreign currency. The crisis has intensified social tensions nationwide.

Infighting on the left has weakened the ruling party’s standing. Former President Evo Morales, current President Luis Arce and President of the Senate Andrónico Rodríguez have publicly clashed, eroding support for the political movement that has governed Bolivia since Morales first won the presidency in 2005 with 53.7% of the vote.

The latest polling suggests no candidate is likely to win outright in the first round on Aug. 17, political analyst Reymi Ferreira said. He added that Doria Medina and Quiroga are likely to face each other in a runoff Oct. 20.

Since the Constitutional Court disqualified former President Evo Morales from running — citing constitutional term limits — his supporters have launched blockades and protests across several regions, threatening national stability and the election itself.

Despite the unrest, the vote remains scheduled for August 17, with an estimated 7.5 million Bolivians expected to go to the polls.

SACRAMENTO — In a largely courteous gathering of half a dozen of California’s top gubernatorial candidates, four Democrats and two Republicans agreed that despite the state boasting one of the world’s largest economies, too many of its residents are suffering because of the affordability crisis in the state.

Their strategies on how to improve the state’s economy, however, largely embraced the divergent views of their respective political parties as they discussed housing costs, high-speed rail, tariffs, climate change and homelessness on Wednesday evening at the first bipartisan event in the 2026 race to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“Californians are innovators. They are builders, they are designers, they are creators, and that is the reason that we have the fourth largest economy in the world,” said former Rep. Katie Porter, a Democrat from Irvine. “But businesses and workers are being held back by the same thing. It is too expensive to do things here. It is too expensive to raise a family. It is too expensive to run a business.”

Conservative commentator Steve Hilton, a Republican, argued that state leaders need to end the “stranglehold” of unions, lawyers and climate change activists on California policy.

“I’ve been traveling this state. Everywhere I go, it’s the same story, this heartbreaking word that I get from every business I meet, every family is in such a struggle in California,” he said, with a raspy voice that he explained immediately upon taking the stage was caused by a sore throat.

At the forum were former Rep. Katie Porter, top row from left, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former legislative leader Toni Atkins; former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, bottom row from left, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and conservative commentator Steve Hilton.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The candidates spoke to about 800 people at a California Chamber of Commerce dinner during the 80-minute panel at the convention center in Sacramento. The chamber’s decision on whom to invite to the forum was based on which ones were leaders in public opinion surveys and fundraising. Making the cut were former Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, Hilton, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Porter and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra was also invited to participate in the forum but had a scheduling conflict.

The sharpest exchange of the evening was between Kounalakis, a Democrat, and Bianco, a Republican.

After the candidates were asked about President Trump’s erratic tariff policies, Kounalakis cited her experience working for her father’s real estate company as she criticized Bianco for arguing for a wait-and-see approach toward the president’s undulating plans.

“You’re not a businessman, you’re a government employee,” she said to Bianco. “You’ve got a pension, you’re going to do just fine. Small businesses are suffering from this, and it’s only going to get worse, and it’s driven, by the way, it is driven by Donald Trump’s vindictiveness toward countries he doesn’t like, countries he wants to annex, or states he doesn’t like, people he doesn’t like. This is hurting California, hurting our people, and it’s only going to make things worse, until we can get him out of the White House.”

Bianco countered that Kounalakis and the other Democratic gubernatorial candidates are directly responsible for the economic woes facing Californians because they have an “unquenchable thirst” for money to fund their liberal agenda.

“I just feel like I’m in ‘The Twilight Zone.’ I have a billionaire telling me that my 32 years of public service is OK for my retirement,” he said. “It’s taxes and regulations that are driving every single thing in California up. We pay the highest taxes, we pay the highest gas, we pay the highest housing, we pay the highest energy.”

The Democrats onstage, though largely agreeing about policy, sought to differentiate themselves. The sharpest divide was about whether to raise the minimum wage. On Monday, labor advocates in Los Angeles proposed raising it in Los Angeles County.

Atkins reflected most of her fellow Democrats’ views, saying that while she wanted to see higher wages for workers, “now is not the time.” Villaraigosa said that while he believes in a higher minimum wage, “we can’t just keep raising the minimum wage.”

Kounalakis, though, said not increasing the minimum wage would be inhumane.

“I think we should be working for that number, yes, I do,” she said. “You want to throw poor people under the bus.”

California’s high cost of living is a pressing concern among the state’s voters, and the issue is expected to play a major role in the 2026 governor’s race.

Nearly half feel worse off now compared with last year, and more than half felt less hopeful about their economic well-being, according to a poll released in May by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies that was co-sponsored by The Times.

Nearly exactly a year before the gubernatorial primary next year, the event was the first time Democratic and Republican candidates have shared a stage. It was also the first time GOP candidates Bianco and Hilton have appeared together.

Although the state’s leftward electoral tilt makes it challenging for a Republican to win the race — Californians last elected GOP politicians to statewide office in 2006 — Bianco and Hilton are battling to win one of the top two spots in next year’s primary election.

The pair expressed similar views about broadly ending liberal policies, such as stopping the state’s high-speed rail project and reducing environmental restrictions such as the state’s climate-change efforts that they argue have increased costs while having no meaningful effect on the consumption of fossil fuels.

A crucial question is whether Trump, whom both Bianco and Hilton fully support, will eventually endorse one of the Republican candidates.

The gubernatorial candidates, some of whom have been running more than a year, have largely focused on fundraising since entering the race. But the contest to replace Newsom is growing more public and heated, as seen at last weekend’s California Democratic Party convention. Several of the party’s candidates scurried around the Anaheim convention center, trying to curry favor with the state’s most liberal activists while also drawing contrasts with their rivals.

But the Democratic field is partially frozen as former Vice President Kamala Harris weighs entering the race, a decision she is expected to make by the end of the summer. Harris’ name did not come up during the forum.

There were a handful of light moments.

Porter expressed a common concern among the state’s residents when they talk about the cost of living in the state.

“What really keeps me up at night, why I’m running for governor, is whether my children are going to be able to afford to live here, whether they’re going to ever get off my couch and have their own home,” she said.

California’s most loyal Democrats got a good look this weekend at the wide field of gubernatorial candidates jockeying to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom at the state Democratic Party’s annual convention in Anaheim, with a few chiding former vice president and potential rival Kamala Harris.

The Democrats running for governor in 2026 hurried among caucus meetings, floor speeches and after-parties, telling their personal stories and talking up their bona fides for tackling some of California’s most entrenched problems, including housing affordability and the rising cost of living.

All the hand-shaking and selfies were done in the absence of Harris, who would be the most prominent candidate in the race, and who has not said whether she’ll run for governor in 2026 or seek the White House again in 2028.

State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond walks on stage to address California Democrats.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

The most visible candidates at the convention were former state Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, businessman Stephen J. Cloobeck, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and former state Controller Betty Yee, with former Rep. Katie Porter, state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa taking less prominent roles.

With the primary still a year away, the gubernatorial race is still in limbo. Two prominent Republicans are also in the race: Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton.

Many Democratic activists, donors and elected officials said they were waiting to make up their minds until Harris makes up hers, because her entry into the governor’s race could push some candidates off the ballot or into other statewide races.

“People are kind of waiting to see what she’s going to do,” said Matt Savage, a delegate from San Jose, as attendees ate chia seed pudding and breakfast burritos at a breakfast hosted by Yee. “She needs to decide soon.”

Yee told the crowd: “Regardless of who gets in the race, we’re staying in.”

Businessman and gubernatorial candidate Stephen Cloobeck talks to his canvassers Friday after speaking at the Democratic Party’s labor caucus meeting in Anaheim.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Surrounded by canvassers who chanted his name as he talked, Cloobeck, a political newcomer, scolded Harris for not coming to the gathering of Democrats after her loss to President Trump in the November presidential election.

“If she decides to get in this race, shame on her for not showing up for the most important people in the party, which is the people who are here today,” Cloobeck said. “And if she doesn’t have the IQ to show up, she’s tone deaf once again.”

In a three-minute recorded video, Harris told Democrats that with Republicans working to cut taxes for the rich and dismantle efforts to fight climate change, “things are probably going to get worse before they get better.”

“But that is not reason to throw up our hands,” Harris said. “It’s a reason to roll up our sleeves.”

Polling shows that if Harris were to run for governor, she would have a major advantage: A November survey from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times, found that about 72% of Democrats would be very likely or somewhat likely to consider voting for her.

Cloobeck said his campaign had spent “probably a couple hundred thousand dollars” on the canvassers, who wore royal blue shirts emblazoned with his name and distributed glossy invitations to a comedy night with “Roastmaster General” comedian Jeff Ross. One canvasser said he was paid $25 an hour and found the job on Craigslist.

At the party’s LGBTQ caucus meeting, Atkins, the only well-known gay candidate in the race, told the cheering crowd that she dreamed of making California work for others the way it had worked for her. Atkins, 62, was raised in southwest Virginia by a coal miner and a garment worker and moved to San Diego in her 20s.

“California has given me every opportunity,” Atkins said. “I want that promise to be true for everyone.”

Gubernatorial candidate and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa speaks to the Latino caucus at the state Democratic Party convention on Saturday.

(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)

At the Latino caucus, Villaraigosa said that the Democratic Party needs to focus on the affordability crisis facing working-class Californians, many of whom are Latinos, by tackling high gas prices, home prices, utility costs and other day-to-day cost of living challenges.

Villaraigosa, 72, has been out of elected office for more than a decade. He last ran for for governor in 2018, placing a distant third in the primary behind Newsom and Republican businessman John Cox. He noted that he also lost the 2001 mayor’s race before winning in 2005.

“Sometimes it takes two times,” Villaraigosa said to the caucus. “We’re ready, we’re not invisible. We’re going to stand up for working people and our communities.”

Thurmond told the crowd during the party’s general session on Friday afternoon that education is “the centerpiece of our democracy.” It brought his grandparents to the U.S. and saved his life after his mother died when he was 6, he said.

“We must continue to be the resistance against Donald Trump’s misguided policies,” he said. “We will ensure that every student in this state has access to good quality education. And while we’re at it, we will not allow for ICE to be on any of our school campuses.”

Four candidates made brief appearances before the party’s powerful organized labor caucus, trying to make the case that they would be the best choice for the state’s more than 2.4 million union members.

In a 45-second speech, Cloobeck told the union members that he used union labor in his hotel development projects and promised that if he were elected, he would support workers getting “full pay, full wages” if they went on strike.

Yee said she’d “protect and advance your precious pension funds.” She took a passing shot at Newsom’s now-infamous dinner at the French Laundry in Napa Valley during the COVID-19 pandemic. Newsom attended a lobbyist’s birthday party at the upscale restaurant after he had pleaded with Californians to stay home and avoid multifamily gatherings.

“I’m not about gimmicks,” Yee said. “I’m the least flashy person. Hell, I’ve not even stepped foot in the French Laundry — but I can tell you, I grew up in a Chinese laundry.”

Kounalakis told the party’s labor meeting that her father immigrated to the U.S. at age 14 and worked his way through college as a waiter at the governor’s mansion before building a successful development company in Sacramento.

Her vision of California’s future, she said, is massive investment in water infrastructure, clean energy infrastructure, roadway infrastructure and housing: “We’re going to build the future of this state, and we’re going to do it with union labor.”

Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary and gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra speaks to the state Democratic Party’s labor caucus on Friday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

At the party’s senior caucus meeting, Becerra told Democrats that he was raised by working-class, immigrant parents who bought their own home in Sacramento, then questioned whether a couple without college degrees could do the same today.

He touted his experience fighting GOP efforts to cut Social Security Disability Insurance as a member of Congress and work lowering drug costs as President Biden’s health chief.

“We’re going to fight for you,” Becerra said.

At the women’s caucus, Porter, who left Congress in January after losing a run for Senate, said she was concerned that Trump’s budget cuts and policies will have a disproportionate impact on mothers, children and the LGBTQ+ community.

“That s— is not happening on my watch,” Porter said.

Former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, a candidate for California governor, waits to address the women’s caucus at the California Democratic Party convention Friday.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

Ann McKeown, 66, president of the Acton-Agua Dulce Democratic Club in Los Angeles County’s High Desert, said she had wanted Harris to be the president “so badly,” but Porter is her top choice for governor.

“Kamala is nicer than Katie Porter,” McKeown said, “and we don’t need nice right now.”

Delegate Jane Baulch-Enloe of Contra Costa County and her daughter spread the contents of their bag of Democratic Party swag across a table, taking stock of the flyers and campaign memorabilia, including a Becerra for Governor button, a clear plastic coin purse from Yee and a blue Thurmond bookmark that read, “Ban fascism, not books.”

Baulch-Enloe, who teaches middle school English and history, said she originally thought she’d support Thurmond because he understands education.

“But now that there’s so many people in the race, I’m not sure,” Baulch-Enloe said.

Candidates Lee, the frontrunner, and his opponent Kim clash in the first of three televised debates.

South Korea’s two leading presidential candidates, Lee Jae-myung and Kim Moon-soo, have held the first of three televised debates as the race intensifies to replace former President Yoon Suk-yeol, who was removed in April over his contentious move to declare martial law late last year.

Yoon’s ouster has stoked political turmoil in the nation, and a snap election is set for June 3.

During Sunday’s heated debate, Lee, who is the main opposition Democratic Party’s candidate and the frontrunner in the race, faced criticism about being too friendly towards China from his opponents, who cited his comments that South Korea does not need to get involved in China-Taiwan disputes.

But Lee, who considers pragmatism as key to his foreign policy, said the country “should not go all-in” on its alliance with traditional ally the United States and called for the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula.

He added that managing China and Russia relations was important, while noting that security cooperation with the US and Japan is necessary.

Lee also advocated putting South Korea’s interests first in response to US tariffs, more investment in artificial intelligence (AI), protection for unionised workers, and a four-and-a-half-day working week.

There was no need for Seoul to rush to reach a trade agreement with Washington, Lee said during the two-hour debate.

South Korea has begun trade talks with the US and is seeking a waiver from the 25 percent tariffs that US President Donald Trump slapped on the country in April – after which Seoul was one of the first countries to hold face-to-face talks with Washington, following in the footsteps of Japan.

“I think we should prepare well for this situation delicately and competently,” Lee added, also arguing that South Korea needs to nurture high-tech and renewable energy industries to overcome low economic growth.

“We will focus on developing so-called sovereign AI so our people can at least use something like ChatGPT for free like an electronic calculator,” he said.

Kim, candidate for the conservative People Power Party, vowed to create jobs and deregulate to foster businesses.

Kim has also pledged to create a government agency dedicated to innovating regulations and to invest more than five percent of the budget in research and development.

Asia’s fourth-largest economy contracted in the first quarter as exports and consumption stalled, amid fears over the impact of Washington’s aggressive tariffs and political turmoil at home.

Lee holds a lead with 51 percent support in the latest Gallup Korea poll released on Friday, with Kim trailing far behind at 29 percent.

Lee called earlier in the day for constitutional reform to allow a four-year, two-term presidency and a two-round system for presidential elections through a referendum. South Korean presidents currently serve a single five-year term.

He also vowed to curb the presidential right to declare martial law and hold to account those responsible for the December 3 declaration.

Former President Yoon had claimed at the time he declared martial law that antistate and North Korean forces had infiltrated the government. But senior military and police officials who were sent to shut down the country’s National Assembly have testified that he ordered them to detain rival politicians and prevent the assembly from voting to lift his military rule order.