democratic candidate

Democrats swept California’s statewide down-ballot races — no surprise in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by a nearly two-to-one margin, and voters haven’t elected a Republican to a statewide office since 2006.

The dominance was evident in the Democratic candidates’ victories for attorney general, secretary of state, lieutenant governor, treasurer and controller.

“When you look at the results so far, the thing that’s most striking, I think, is that the percentages are almost identical for every statewide race between the two parties,” said Kim Nalder, director of the Project for an Informed Electorate at Sacramento State University. One might have imagined that some candidates would have received a larger or smaller share of votes than others, based on voters’ personal feelings toward them, but Californians instead hewed strongly to party lines, she said.

“I think that says that Californians are probably voting based on nationwide trends, as much as anything else,” she said, referencing the blue surge that swept the country, with Democrats taking control of both the House and Senate.

“It also just means, honestly, that people don’t know a lot about most of these statewide offices and don’t necessarily do their homework, so they’re reverting to the cue that’s simplest, which is party cues,” she added.

The AP called the victories for the down-ballot races.

One contest remained too close to call Wednesday afternoon: The race between two Democrats to succeed Ricardo Lara as insurance commissioner. With 51.7% of expected votes in, former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim held a slight lead over three-term state Sen. Ben Allen, with 52% versus 48%. The commissioner regulates the state’s insurance industry and has the authority to approve or reject rate increases and investigate fraud.

A former director of the Working Families Party, Kim has proposed a novel “single payer” state-run insurance plan to cover catastrophic fire damage, earning her endorsements from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and the California Federation of Labor Unions. Allen, who has blasted Kim’s plan as too short on details, has campaigned on improving the current system, pointing to his long record of insurance industry reform bills. He’s backed by the California Democratic Party and top elected party officials, including U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla.

Elsewhere down the ballot, incumbent California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta, a former Democratic state legislator, handily won releection as the state’s top prosecutor. He beat out former Huntington Beach City Atty. Michael Gates, a Republican, receiving 63.8% of the vote with 59.6% of expected votes in.

Bonta was first appointed to the office by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021, and then elected in 2022.

Democrat Shirley Weber was reelected as secretary of state, besting Orange County Supervisor Donald Wagner, a Republican, with 64.7% of the vote when 59.4% of expected votes were in. The secretary of state is in charge of administering statewide elections, providing information about ballot measures and candidates to voters, overseeing campaign finance and handling business licensing and filings.

Weber, a former state Assembly member, was initially appointed to the role in 2020 by Newsom and then elected by voters in 2022.

Voters chose state Treasurer Fiona Ma, a Democrat, to succeed termed-out Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis. Ma defeated former State Senate Majority Leader Gloria Romero, a Republican, receiving 63.8% of the vote with 59.5% of the expected vote in. The job is largely a ceremonial post, but if the sitting governor dies, resigns or is removed from office, then the lieutenant governor would be elevated to take over.

Kounalakis, meanwhile, won the race to succeed termed-out Ma as state treasurer, beating Republican Jennifer Hawks, who had billed herself as a political outsider. With 59.1% of the expected vote in, Kounalakis received 64%. The California treasurer is the state’s chief financial manager and responsible for overseeing public investments and issuing bonds to fund major projects like roads, sewers, schools and affordable housing.

Incumbent Controller Malia Cohen won reelection over challenger Herb Morgan, a Republican finance and investment advisor. With 58.9% of the expected vote in, Cohen received 63.8%. The controller is the state’s fiscal watchdog, responsible for auditing government agencies, administering payroll for state employees and reuniting abandoned assets with their owners.

Cohen was elected in 2022 after serving as a member of the state Board of Equalization from San Francisco.

Times staff writers Laurence Darmiento, Iris Kwok, Summer Lin, Kevin Rector and Dakota Smith and correspondent Jon Regardie contributed to this report.

SACRAMENTO — California Gov. Gavin Newsom is headed to New Hampshire this weekend to campaign for Democratic candidates in the November election, a continuation of his reconnaissance tour through swing states in preparation for a possible 2028 presidential run.

The trip follows voyages to other early primary voting states, including South Carolina in September and Nevada in July, that could be critical to his campaign if he officially joins the race.

“I think if your travel calendar aligns with the Democratic Party’s primary calendar, you’re probably running for president,” said Thad Kousser, a professor of political science at UC San Diego.

It’s still too early for Newsom, or any other would-be presidential contender, to declare their candidacy, Kousser said, but the governor’s movements are typical of a politician who is “all in.”

“This is the clearest signal to voters, to donors, and to the chattering class that you’re willing to put in the hard yards, the years of on-the-ground campaigning, that it takes to do well in one of these primaries or caucuses,” he said.

Newsom isn’t alone.

A cadre of potential 2028 candidates, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, among others, is also deploying a similiar shadow campaign strategy and raising money for swing-state Democrats in the midterms.

The governor’s visit to New Hampshire comes after he raised a half of a million dollars for New Hampshire Democrats this election cycle. His fundraising supported a new field office for the state party in Nashua, where he’ll join gubernatorial candidate Cinde Warmington and Rep. Chris Pappas, who is vying against a Republican for the U.S. Senate, at a canvassing event on Saturday morning.

Newsom, Pappas and Warmington will appear at a second campaign event in Exeter together at 1 p.m. before Newsom heads to an early evening meet and greet with Stefany Shaheen, a House candidate, in Manchester.

After returning from New Hampshire, Newsom plans to participate in campaign events across California in support of Democrats in newly redistricted congressional seats.

The Harris campaign said she also plans to stump for Pappas in New Hampshire on Oct. 24. As she considers a third bid for the White House, Harris is visiting Nevada, Mississippi, Wisconsin and Georgia in the final days of the midterm election cycle.

Kousser said Harris’ schedule suggests she wants to keep her options open.

“These candidates are reaching out to the direct audience of voters, endorsers, and key leaders in those states, and they’re also trying to show the national audience that they have a fire in the belly and that they’re willing to put in the work,” he said.

While Newsom mirrors the moves of a presidential candidate, his comments have fueled speculation about whether he will ultimately run.

Newsom recently said that if Harris is in, he’s out.

The governor, who made similar statements in the past, said it would be “mutually-assured destruction” and there would be too much crossover between the two California political heavyweights, who would be vying for the same donors and supporters while offering a similar policy profile.

The governor has also said the decision lies with his family and that his four children need to be “on board.”

WASHINGTON — Republicans are entering the final month of the midterm campaign increasingly anxious that the $1 billion at their disposal may not be enough to fend off sweeping losses as the party reckons with President Trump’s unpopularity, persistent cost concerns and the fallout from the war in Iran.

The cash advantage, spread out across a half-dozen groups, is driven largely by the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc., which had nearly $416 million in cash on hand at the end of August and began stepping up its spending on critical races in September.

But that money may have come too late, forcing the president’s group to pay much higher rates because of the shrinking availability of air time. Four Republican Senate campaign officials said groups that reserved advertising time last spring paid much lower rates than MAGA Inc. and its affiliated groups.

Instead, by waiting until September, Trump-connected organizations are sometimes paying more than five times what they would have spent if they acted earlier.

A representative of MAGA Inc. familiar with the group’s strategy said its spending has allowed Republicans to keep races more competitive than they would have been otherwise. In some cases, the group has been the only one on the air criticizing Democratic candidates.

The MAGA Inc. representative and the Republican Senate campaign officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal strategy.

The challenge is acute in places like Texas, where Trump will travel on Wednesday for the second time in a week to stump for Republican Ken Paxton’s Senate campaign. The state hasn’t elected a Democratic senator since 1988, yet MAGA Inc. has spent more than $22 million in the past month, according to the ad tracking firm AdImpact.

Another group, Texas PAC, which is aligned with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, has spent more than $83 million on advertising in the past month, an extraordinary amount to protect what’s normally a safe Republican seat.

One of those advertisements, which featured Paxton’s estranged wife saying she’s supporting the full Republican ticket, aired across the United States last weekend during a football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Texans.

Candidates are charged a lower advertising rate than outside groups, so the late infusion of super PAC cash has come at a steep price.

MAGA Inc., which is running ads primarily on streaming services, has been charged roughly $894 per airing, according to AdImpact, while Texas PAC has been charged roughly $809 for a mix of broadcast and streaming. That compares with about $290 for Democratic nominee James Talarico’s campaign, also on broadcast and streaming.

Those averages mask some of the more glaring disparities. For example, during a football game last month, Texas PAC was charged $450,000 to air a single spot in the Austin market. Talarico’s campaign paid $50,000 for a spot during the same game in the same market, according to AdImpact.

Elections are a referendum on the power of money

The 2026 campaign is shaping up as a referendum on the power of money in American politics. Democrats freely acknowledge their disadvantage, relying instead on anti-Trump sentiment among voters and targeted messaging on issues like corruption. Some Republicans, meanwhile, are open about the challenge of trying to spend their way out of a tough campaign at this late stage.

Neil Newhouse, a longtime Republican pollster, echoed concerns that his party was deploying its cash too late.

“After the votes are counted, I think we’re going to find the most effective advertising in terms of communicating message and moving voters and poll numbers, the most effective time was advertising that happened well before Labor Day, not after it,” he said. “A million dollars of advertising in October is a drop in the bucket.”

Thune’s group began pulling back in North Carolina last week, a sign of the party’s challenge in the Senate race there. The state’s outgoing Sen. Thom Tillis has been increasingly vocal about his party’s vulnerabilities and recently said that, even with a strong cash advantage, “in the last month, you pretty much have to place your bets.”

“If we have endless resources, then we should spend endlessly in every state,” he said. “Absent endless resources, you’ve got to make data-driven decisions about where you can win.”

The midterms mark the first national election since the Supreme Court in June erased limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates for Congress and president, injecting even more money into a political system already awash in cash.

Money alone doesn’t translate into victory

There’s plenty of evidence that money alone doesn’t translate into victory.

Democrat Kamala Harris entered the final stretch of the 2024 campaign with significantly more money than Trump but went on to lose every critical swing state and the White House. Elon Musk’s $25 million didn’t lift his preferred candidate to a Wisconsin Supreme Court seat last year. And Tom Steyer didn’t advance to the general election in the California governor’s race despite pumping $216 million of his own money into the campaign.

The $1 billion that Republicans have amassed compares with roughly $579 million held by a comparable collection of major Democratic groups.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said his party is facing an “obscene” amount of spending that could swamp them in the midterms.

“We’re never going to have as much money as them,” he said in an interview. “I sum up the election in this sentence: Can a massive Republican advantage in money beat a massive Democratic advantage in better candidates and political climate? I bet it can’t.”

In addition to Texas, Democrats have mounted competitive Senate campaigns in states like Ohio, Maine, Iowa and Michigan. A similar dynamic has emerged in governors’ races from Florida and Georgia to Wisconsin, Ohio and Nevada.

Former President Barack Obama is stepping up his involvement in the midterms and will headline a fundraiser for Senate candidates on Wednesday.

In the House, Democrats are growing so confident they can retake the majority that they’re expanding their targets deeper into traditionally Republican districts in Arkansas and Tennessee. But a lack of money could limit their gains.

“We absolutely need to spend enough to get our message out,” said Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. “And district by district, we are.”

Trump turns to his bond with supporters

From his earliest days as an unlikely political figure, Trump has consistently overcome expectations. Facing daunting prospects heading into the final weeks of his last midterm, he’s betting he can again outwit political gravity, relying in large part on the deep bond he’s built with supporters.

He has stepped up his campaign rallies in recent weeks, traveling to deep red territory to galvanize the party faithful. At events like the one this past weekend in Vandalia, Ohio, the crowd was enthusiastic and cheered at the lines that have become Trump staples over the years, particularly when he dips into profanity. The high school gymnasium that held the event was packed, though crowds began emptying out about halfway through the 90-minute rally.

In the closing minutes of a speech Monday in Grand Island, Nebraska, the president revived his plea that supporters who have stood so fervently by him pretend as if he is on the ballot one more time.

“In a true way, I am running,” he said. “We have to keep it going.”

Sloan and Beaumont write for the Associated Press. Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. AP writers Seung Min Kim in Vandalia, Ohio, and Mary Clare Jalonick in Washington contributed to this report.