Nevada

Free and fair elections are foundational to our representative democracy. A government intended to reflect and honor the will of the people works only if the people can express their will. That’s why we have elections.

But don’t take the word of your friendly political columnist.

John Lewis, the late Georgia congressman and hero of the civil rights movement, said voting is precious and “the most powerful non-violent tool we have in a democratic society.” Former President Reagan called the right to vote “the crown jewel of American liberties.”

Alas, we have a president who believes his most precious right, apart from lining his silken pockets, is nursing his over-ripened ego. Donald Trump can’t stand the fact he lost the 2020 election — which he most emphatically did — and so he’s built a carapace of lies: about illegal ballots, rigged election machinery, rampant voting by noncitizens, and so on.

Worse than his deceit — which has deeply undermined faith in our elections and the dedicated people who run them — is Trump’s brazen efforts to rig the system by disenfranchising millions of voters, all so he can keep Democrats from winning office.

Reagan, no less than Lewis, probably is turning cartwheels in his grave.

But there’s a chance to push back. In November, voters in 26 states will elect a secretary of state, choosing the officials who will oversee the 2028 presidential race throughout most of the country. What could possibly go wrong?

Let’s hope we don’t find out.

The secretary of state used to be one of those ministerial posts that few outside government knew or much cared about; from a political standpoint, the office and its occupant seemed dull and dry as Melba toast. That changed after 2000, when Republican Katherine Harris placed her weighty thumb on the scale and helped deliver Florida’s 25 electoral votes, and the White House, to George W. Bush.

What really politicized the office of secretary of state, though, was Trump’s obsessive compulsion with his 2020 defeat.

Spurred by his incessant lies about supposed fraud, allies and opportunists set out to hijack the country’s election machinery and do Trump’s dirty work from the inside. In 2022, a group calling itself the America First SOS Coalition endorsed a slate of cranks and quacks who ran for secretary of state in 14 states, including the presidential battlegrounds of Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin.

Thankfully, all of them lost, save for one candidate in Indiana. Among those defeated was Tina Peters, the former county elections chief in Mesa County, Colo., who went on to infamy, and prison, for orchestrating a security breach aimed at “proving” 2020 votes were stolen from Trump. (Never mind that he won the county by nearly 30 percentage points.)

The SOS Coalition apparently is defunct; its website address now leads to an online gambling portal.

But more than two dozen election deniers ran for secretary of state this year, according to States United Democracy Center, a nonpartisan group that works to promote fair and secure elections nationwide. Six of those candidates won their primaries and made it to November’s ballot, including in three states — Arizona, Nevada and Wisconsin — that promise to be key once more to picking the next president.

The stakes in those races are considerable, said Peverill Squire, a University of Missouri expert on state elections. “Who’s going to be administering [election] rules? How they’re going to interpret those rules?” he said, offering examples of the office’s import. “Whether they’re going to try to make it more difficult to vote, or easier to vote. Whether they’re going to try to engage in activities that will further raise doubts in some people’s minds about how fairly the election has been conducted.”

The contest in Nevada is a rerun of 2022, when Democrat Cisco Aguilar narrowly defeated Republican Jim Marchant. Undeterred, Marchant continues to spout gibberish about sabotaged voting machines and other far-fetched claims of election chicanery. Among the remedies he’s floated, according to the Nevada Independent, is using technology to measure voters’ heartbeat as a way to verify their identity.

Um…

Meanwhile, in Arizona, incumbent Democrat Adrian Fontes faces Republican state Rep. Alexander Kolodin, an attorney who was sanctioned by the State Bar for pursuing baseless claims of 2020 election fraud. One of his Trump-inspired lawsuits was swiftly rejected by a federal judge who noted its conspicuous lack of “relevant or reliable evidence” — thus raising doubts not just about Kolodin’s discernment but also his capacity to cover even the basics.

In Wisconsin, where elections are overseen by a six-member, bipartisan commission, Republican Jay Schroeder is running on a pledge to dismantle that fair-minded system, calling it a “failed experiment.” Had he been secretary of state in 2020, Schroeder told NBC News, he would not have certified Joe Biden’s victory in the state.

That’s all you need to know, Wisconsin.

Great amounts of time, energy and resources are being devoted this election to races for Congress and for statehouses across the country, which makes sense.

Control of both the House and Senate are in play on Nov. 3. There are more than a dozen gubernatorial contests with at least some degree of competition, including close races in Ohio, Georgia and Wisconsin.

But with so much riding on the outcome, it’s also worth paying heed to those down-ballot races for secretary of state.

You can’t keep elections on the straight and narrow if the people running them are crooked.

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Juriensly De Windt and Shardijon De Lanoi combined to drive in six runs, and Curaçao won its second Little League World Series title, beating Nevada 11-2 in the championship game on Sunday.

De Windt started on the mound and gave up two runs in three innings. Giendry Ryan and Steven Felix were nearly flawless in relief with four strikeouts over the final three innings for the tiny island nation, which previously won the tournament in 2004.

Curaçao had advanced to the finals by winning the international title in 2005, 2019, 2022 and 2023. This time, the group from Pariba Little League in Willemstad had enough firepower from the mound and at the plate to beat the U.S. champion.

Curaçao went unbeaten in the double-elimination tournament before overcoming an early two-run deficit to the team from Henderson, Nev.

Ryan fanned four in 2⅓ innings. Felix forced Nevada’s final batter to pop out to Giendry in center field. Once the ball was safely in his glove, the celebration began.

Giendry tossed his glove in the air as his teammates swarmed him in the outfield. Curaçao’s infielders showered each other with water as a pack of fans tucked behind the third base dugout waved the Curaçao flag.

They were quiet early as it looked like Nevada, the first U.S. team to advance to the championship without a home run, would finally crack Curaçao’s standout pitchers.

Following a bunt from Nevada’s Michael Kleiner, Maddox Bryan hit a line drive to center field, driving in two runs.

Curaçao tied it when De Lanoi lined a ball off the glove of a diving Kleiner at second base.

The international champions took the lead for good on a two-run double by Jaymiell Martina in the fourth. De Windt added a bases-clearing hit in the fifth.

Nevada also was the runner-up last year, falling to Taiwan in the championship game.

Harkins writes for the Associated Press.

Fire containment has reached 27 percent in the rampant wildfire that first erupted in the Sierra Nevada foothills near the city of Reno in the state of Nevada in the United States. At least seven people – three first responders and four civilians – have been injured.

The blaze first broke out on Saturday and exploded in size by Sunday, destroying at least 32 homes and damaging six as it spread perilously close to dense neighbourhoods. Local officials, speaking at an afternoon news briefing on Monday, said those numbers are sure to rise as assessment teams begin to survey the charred areas.

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They also said the fire had no new growth and has held steady at about 60 square kilometres (23 square miles) since it burned out of control on Sunday.

“We are making progress,” assured US Forest Service District Ranger Matt Zumstein.

Videos posted on social media showed the smouldering ruins of homes and cars, with only a scorched basketball hoop still standing.

By Monday, the number of residents under evacuation orders and warnings was lowered to about 63,000, down from more than 90,000 people when the blaze first mushroomed over the weekend. While winds have eased, there are still concerns that gusts could propel the flames through dry brush into newly developed neighbourhoods in Nevada’s largest city outside of metro Las Vegas. Reno is home to about 280,000 people.

Schools across the local area were closed because of the evacuations and to keep roads clear for emergency crews.

‘Like nothing I’ve seen before’: Reno faces third wildfire in two weeks

Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve said the way the fire spread so quickly at its peak had her fearing for the worst.

“It lit up these areas like nothing I’ve seen before,” she said Monday, adding, “it took your breath away, in the worst way”.

This is the third large wildfire in the craggy, high-desert region north of Reno in just the past two weeks – driven completely by human behaviour, according to fire officials. They have not disclosed whether the Hawk Fire, which is what the blaze is known as due to having started near the Hawk Meadow Trail, was intentionally set or accidental. Much of the area that burned was sagebrush and grass.

Resident Crystal Hallock, 53, has lost her home to a fire twice in under a decade. She moved into the rebuilt house in 2019, a year after an electrical fire burned it down.

Nevada’s governor quickly declared a state of emergency in Washoe County over the weekend after mobilising the National Guard to help with aerial firefighting and protecting evacuated neighbourhoods northwest of downtown Reno. But at one roadblock, residents expressed frustration that they could not get back into their homes, according to The Associated Press news agency.

“There’s no fire here! Why are the National Guard here?” a driver yelled.

Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam said he understands that some residents are frustrated that they can’t get home, but the danger isn’t over yet. “It just takes that little breeze and one ember,” he said.

Reno is southwest of Nevada’s Black Rock Desert, site of the annual Burning Man festival, which begins on August 30.

Many who travel to Burning Man make Reno a regular pit stop. Organisers on Monday requested that attendees not take hotel rooms and other resources away from fire evacuees, while being mindful of closures.

“Treat our neighbors, first responders, hospitality workers and everyone affected by this emergency with patience and care,” a Burning Man statement read.

Western wildfire risk stays high

Much of Nevada’s western edge is under an increased risk of wildfires this week because of high winds and low relative humidity, the National Interagency Fire Center said. The National Weather Service says the region will see warm, dry and breezy conditions, and that critical fire weather conditions are possible in the week’s latter half. Reno sits at an elevation of 1,370 metres (4,500 feet).

Extremely dry conditions across the American West have sparked a rash of wildfires this summer. Fires in eastern Washington state forced the evacuation of 60,000 people in the Spokane area in early August.

Nationwide wildfires have topped 50,000 this year, marking a 10-year high for the same period, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

Aug. 23 (UPI) — A fast-growing wildfire in Nevada has grown to 10,000 acres since it began burning just outside Reno on Saturday, officials said.

The Hawk Fire remained uncontained as of Sunday and forced 14,000 homes to be evacuated.

Gov. Joe Lombardo declared a state of emergency in Washoe County, which contains Reno, and urged residents to stay vigilant and heed warnings.

“This is an active and rapidly evolving situation, and I urge everyone in the affected areas to remain vigilant and follow the direction of local officials,” he said in a statement on X.

Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve said “structures have already been burned in this fire.”

“Evacuating before the fire arrives also allows our firefighters to focus their efforts on battling the blaze,” the mayor said in a statement on X.

Truckee Meadows Fire Chief Richard Edwards said the fire is being driven by strong winds, ABC News reported.

“The wind-driven fires move very rapidly into our residential areas, creating a lot of challenges for our firefighters to save homes and protect lives,” Edwards added.

Reno’s Northwest Specialty Hospital said it was evacuating patients due to the fire.

“The safety and well-being of our rehabilitation and behavioral health patients and staff remain the highest priority and we are evacuating out of an abundance of caution,” the hospital said in a statement.

“Patients have been safely transported to appropriate locations where their care will continue without interruption ” no patients or staff remain in the building.”

A fast-moving wildfire near Reno, Nevada, has forced 42,000 people to evacuate and put another 45,000 on alert. Six people have been injured and several homes burned. Officials say the fire was human-caused and is under investigation.

Published On 24 Aug 202624 Aug 2026

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The high desert is not typically a place you look for a wave. But in the vast expanse between the Sierra Nevada and Utah border, a not-exactly-wide-open race for Congress is testing whether a blue wave, should one come November, is ankle-high or something more akin to a political tsunami.

Nevada’s 2nd District has been represented by just four lawmakers since its creation more than 40 years ago. All those representatives have been Republicans.

November’s contest should be another shoo-in for the GOP and its nominee, David Flippo. The district, which takes in northern Nevada, is overwhelmingly white and rural, which makes it solidly conservative. In 2024, Donald Trump beat Kamala Harris by a decisive 56% to 42%; only Washoe County, home to Reno, kept things that close. Trump won other portions of the district by 50 percentage points or more.

But inflation, Trump’s sagging approval rating and other factors — northern resentment toward southern Nevada, where Flippo lived until fairly recently, the refusal of the incumbent to support his party’s nominee — offer Democrats the not-entirely-far-fetched hope of a major upset.

“It will be an interesting summer and fall,” Mark Amodei, who has represented the district for 15 years, wrote on social media after the June primary. “But I believe it’s fair to say that CD-2, for the first time in its history, isn’t a Republican guarantee.”

That’s just about the kindest thing the congressman has had to say about his would-be successor.

All of which make the sprawling district in Nevada’s rough and rocky Great Basin an improbable political bellwether. A win on such forbidding terrain would almost certainly mean a nationwide Democratic gain of 30 or more seats in November; they need to flip just three to take control of the House.

Flippo, 63, a 25-year Air Force veteran and Trump stalwart, arrived in the district from Las Vegas. He ran for Congress there in 2024, losing in the Republican primary. He was preparing for a second try in the Democratic-leaning 4th District when Amodei unexpectedly announced his retirement in February. So Flippo hightailed it north to run in the far more hospitable 2nd District.

He took on the favored candidate of Amodei and others in the GOP establishment, James Settelmeyer, a former minority leader of the state Senate. Backed by a constellation of MAGA celebrities, Flippo waged a fiercely negative campaign, accusing “Tampon Jim” of voting to put menstrual products in boys’ bathrooms and coddling undocumented immigrants, among other distortions. With Trump’s endorsement, Flippo handily defeated Settelmeyer and 11 other primary opponents.

“”Absolutely scurrilous campaign against … one of the nicest guys around,” Amodei said afterward, on the program “Nevada Newsmakers.” “The voters are never wrong. But guess what? Mark Amodei’s not endorsing [Flippo.] I wish him all the best. No way. No, thank you.”

Apart from his exceedingly short-term residency in the district, questions have also been raised about Flippo’s opaque finances. He has lent his campaign more than $1.6 million and failed to provide the personal disclosure information required of federal candidates. There is also no record of Flippo filing the required statement during his 2024 campaign, according to the Washington news outlet NOTUS.

In addition, it reported that Flippo was fired from a job in the financial services industry after his company accused him of violating policies and regulations.

So, a carpetbagger with a sketchy history.

Flippo’s main opponent is Teresa Benitez-Thompson, 48, a longtime Reno resident, former member of the state Assembly and a relatively moderate Democrat. Those credentials also buoy Democratic hopes. The party’s congressional campaign committee has, for the first time in decades, added Nevada’s 2nd District to its target list, though it remains to be seen how much time and money national Democrats commit to the race.

To prevail, Benitez-Thompson would have to defy political gravity, which is to say overcome the reflexive partisanship that has typified politics in this age of deep voter polarization.

In the last two midterm elections, according to the Pew Research Center, more than 90% of Republican and Republican-leaning voters supported GOP candidates for the House. In other words, the kind of crossover voters that Benitez-Thompson needs to win have become rare indeed.

““Trump is a huge liability for Republicans; there is no question that the GOP is going to have huge turnout problems, meaning that in a lot of races, Democrats are going to greatly exceed expectations,” the veteran election handicapper Charlie Cook wrote in a recent midterm analysis. “But converting Republican voters to actually back a Democrat — even for a day — is so much harder now.”

Jon Ralston, one of Nevada’s leading political savants, agreed.

“Some of those rural Nevada voters would rather commit hara-kiri than vote for a Democrat,” Ralston said. (No, Japan’s ancient suicide ritual is not particularly associated with honor or custom in the cow counties, as Nevada’s lightly populated stretches are known. But you get the point.)

“I don’t think it’s impossible,” Ralston, founder and chief executive of the Nevada Independent news site, said of a Democratic upset. “But I remain skeptical.”

Here’s the thing, though, about wave elections — and, to be clear, your friendly political columnist is offering no predictions ahead of November. Like a massive ocean swell, which can bear all kinds of flotsam and jetsam ashore, a political wave that is big enough, broad enough and strong enough can carry all manner of unlikely candidates to victory.

Even in the bone-dry desert.

Declining water levels due to climate change and 20 years of ongoing drought have reshaped Lake Mead’s shorelines as seen in this file photo from Nov. 16, 2022. The Department of the Interior on Friday published a new framework under which three Lower Basin states will face reduced water deliveries. File Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

Aug. 21 (UPI) — Arizona, Colorado and Nevada will see reductions in their water deliveries from the Colorado River by a combined 1.25 million acre-feet per year under a new framework finalized by federal officials on Friday.

Under the new 10-year “Decision Framework” governing the operations of the drought-afflicted Lake Mead and Lake Powell reservoirs along the Colorado River Basin, Arizona implements the largest reduction in deliveries of river water — some 760,000-acre-feet in each of the next two years.

Meanwhile, California will be hit with yearly reductions of 440,000 acre-feet and Nevada would see 50,000 acre-foot declines as state and federal officials grapple with a prolonged drought during which the two reservoirs have reached their lowest-ever recorded levels.

One acre-foot is enough water for as many as four households to use for a whole year.

The cuts represent the largest ever proposed for the three “Lower Basin” states.

The combined contents of Lake Powell and Lake Mead have not been this low since before Lake Powell began filling following the closure of the gates at Glen Canyon Dam in 1963, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum noted in announcing the new framework.

“We are grateful for the seven basin states, the thirty basin tribes, Mexico, and many other basin stakeholders who have provided the feedback and voluntary arrangements necessary for the development of the 2027-2028 operating guidelines.” he said.

“Forty million people, millions of acres of farmland and ranchland, industries that power the American West, and some of our nation’s fastest growing metropolitan areas depend on the Colorado River.”

In addition to the reduction in water deliveries, the framework allows for the three Lower Basin States to voluntarily conserve and store at least 700,000 acre-feet of water over the two-year period to protect the system.

The Colorado River Basin has been experiencing what federal officials have called an “unprecedented multidecadal drought,” resulting in historically low runoff and reservoir levels.

Conditions worsened during 2026, driven in part by the lowest observed snowpack on record during the winter of 2025-2026.

HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL

(Games at 7 p.m. unless noted)

THURSDAY’S SCHEDULE

CITY SECTION

Nonleague

Granada Hills Kennedy at Eagle Rock

SOUTHERN SECTION

Nonleague

Arroyo Valley at Colton

Banning at Santa Ana Calvary Chapel, 7:30 p.m.

Bellflower at Santa Ana

Buena at Castaic

Carter at Kaiser

Cerritos at Cypress

Colony at Alta Loma

Compton at Long Beach Jordan

Corona Centennial vs. Servite at Orange Coast College

Desert Mirage at Duarte

Diamond Bar at Grand Terrace

Etiwanda at Cajon

Garden Grove Pacifica at Beckman

Glendora at San Dimas

Godinez at Irvine University

Great Oak at Vista Murrieta

Huntington Beach at Millikan

Katella at Loara, 6:30 p.m.

La Salle at Cantwell-Sacred Heart

Los Altos at Diamond Ranch

Murrieta Valley at Rancho Cucamonga

Palm Springs at Hemet

Paraclete at St. Bonaventure

Pomona at Lakeside

Ramona at Riverside King

Rancho Christian at Ganesha

Redlands at Fontana

Redlands East Valley at Rancho Verde

Riverside North at Los Osos

Saddleback at Garden Grove Santiago

St. Margaret’s at Arlington

Victor Valley at West Covina

INTERSECTIONAL

Garfield at Montebello

Magnolia at Orlando University (Florida), 4 p.m.

FRIDAY’S SCHEDULE

CITY SECTION

Nonleague

Bernstein at Hawkins

Canoga Park at Arleta, 3:30 p.m.

Carson at Lincoln

Crenshaw at Palisades

Dymally at Dorsey

Fairfax at Hollywood

Fremont at Van Nuys

Granada Hills at North Hollywood

Grant at Los Angeles Wilson

Legacy at Maywood CES

Los Ángeles Marshall at Contreras

Los Ángeles University at Lincoln

Marquez at Verdugo Hills

Narbonne at Cleveland

Panorama at Arroyo

Reseda at Fulton, 3:30 p.m.

Roybal at Jefferson

San Pedro at King/Drew

South East at Wilmington Banning

Sun Valley Poly at Taft

Torres at Manual Arts

SOUTHERN SECTION

Nonleague

Adelanto at Littlerock

Alhambra at Hacienda Heights Wilson

Anaheim Canyon at La Palma Kennedy

Apple Valley at Moorpark

Aquinas at Damien

Arroyo at Azusa

Beaumont at San Jacinto

Beverly Hills at Placentia Valencia

Bishop Amat at St. Paul

Bishop Montgomery at Segerstrom

Bloomington at Corona

Bolsa Grande at Garden Grove

Brea Olinda at Marina

Buena Park at Don Lugo

Calabasas at Alemany

California at Nogales

California Military at Santa Ana Valley

Camarillo at Santa Barbara

Canyon Springs at St. Anthony

Cerritos Valley Christian at Gahr

Channel Islands at Santa Paula

Chaparral at Mission Viejo

Chino at Ontario Christian

Chino Hills at Quartz Hill

Citrus Hill at Jurupa Hills

Claremont at Valley View

Corona del Mar at Lakewood

Covina at La Puente

Dana Hills at San Marcos

Del Sol at Oxnard Pacifica

Desert Hot Springs at Tahquitz

Dominguez at Maranatha

Dos Pueblos at Santa Ynez

Eastvale Roosevelt at Norco

El Monte at Arcadia

Elsinore at Patriot

El Toro at Tesoro

Esperanza at Shadow Hills

Fillmore at La Canada

Fountain Valley at Ocean View

Fullerton at Anaheim

Gabrielino at Artesia

Gardena Serra vs. Palos Verdes at El Camino College

Glendale at San Gabriel

Golden Valley at Pasadena

Grace at Arrowhead Christian

Granite Hills at Sultana

Harvard-Westlake vs. West Ranch at Valencia

Heritage at Garey

Hesperia at Palmdale

Hillcrest at Riverside Poly

Hoover at Nordhoff

Indian Springs at Montclair

Inglewood at Los Alamitos

Irvine at Northwood

Jurupa Valley at Chaffey

Keppel at Compton Centennial

Knight at Canyon Country Canyon

La Habra at Upland

Laguna Hills at Santa Ana Foothill

La Serna at Baldwin Park

Lawndale at Norwalk

Liberty at Temecula Valley

Linfield Christian at Orange Vista

Lompoc Cabrillo at Burbank

Long Beach Cabrillo at Sonora

Long Beach Poly at Downey

Long Beach Wilson at Mayfair

Loyola at Crean Lutheran

Miller at San Gorgonio

Mira Costa at Torrance

Monrovia at Brentwood

Moreno Valley at Eisenhower

Mountain View at Glenn

Muir at Bonita

Murrieta Mesa at Newport Harbor

North Torrance at Orange

Northview at Thousand Oaks

Nuview Bridge at Pacific

Oak Hills at Highland

Oaks Christian at Chaminade

Paloma Valley at Temescal Canyon

Portola at Woodbridge

Rancho Mirage at Yucca Valley

Redondo Union at El Segundo

Rio Hondo Prep at Schurr

Rio Mesa at Hueneme

Riverside Notre Dame at Costa Mesa

Riverside Prep at Century

San Marino at Vasquez

Santa Clara at Firebaugh

Santa Fe at Pioneer

Santa Rosa Academy at Cathedral City

Saugus ar Agoura

Serrano at Warren

Sherman Oaks Notre Dame at Crespi

Sierra Canyon at JSerra

Sierra Vista at Walnut

Silverado at Vista del Lago

South Hills at El Rancho

South Pasadena at Peninsula, 4:30 p.m.

South Torrance at Burbank Burroughs

St. Bernard vs. Los Amigos at Bolsa Grande

Summit at Ayala

Temple City at Whittier

Trabuco Hills at Norte Vista

Trinity Classical Academy at Sage Hill

Tustin at San Clemente

Twentynine Palms at Desert Christian Academy

Valencia at Simi Valley

Western at Salesian

Western Christian at Workman

Westlake at Newbury Park

Westminster at Sunny Hills

West Valley at Capistrano Valley Christian

Xavier Prep at Rim of the World

Yorba Linda at Laguna Beach

Yucaipa at Corona Santiago

INTERSECTIONAL

American Fork (Utah) vs. Mater Dei at Santa Ana Stadium

Angelou at Oak Park

Antelope Valley at Kern Valley

Anza Hamilton at Mountain Empire

Bassett at Mendez

Bell Gardens at Bell

Birmingham vs. Hart at College of the Canyons

Bishop Diego at Paso Robles

Boron at Big Bear

Bosco Tech at Los Angeles Jordan

California City at Eastside

El Camino Real at Lihue Kauai (Hawaii), 4 p.m.

Gardena at Hawthorne

Heritage Christian at San Fernando

La Mirada at South Gate

Lancaster at Henderson Coronado (Nevada)

Las Vegas Centennial (Nevada) at Cathedral

Las Vegas Somerset Academy Losee (Nevada) at Barstow

Lynwood at Franklin

Miami Central (Florida) at Orange Lutheran

Mission College Prep at Oxnard

Monroe at Royal

Orlando Jones (Florida) at Santa Margarita

Palm Desert at Brawley

Paramount at Los Angeles Roosevelt

Perris at Kearny

Rancho Dominguez at Rosemead

River Springs at San Marcos St. Joseph Academy

San Diego Clairemont at Viewpoint

San Jacinto Valley Academy at Valhalla

San Marcos at Aliso Niguel

Santee at South El Monte

St. John Bosco at Las Vegas Bishop Gorman (Nevada)

Tehachapi at Ridgecrest Burroughs

Tri-City Christian at St. Jeanne de Lestonnac, 3:30 p.m.

Venice at St. Monica

Village Christian at Huntington Park

Vincent Memorial at Temecula Prep

Westchester at Santa Monica

8-MAN

CITY SECTION

Nonleague

New Designs University Park at Sherman Oaks CES

SOUTHERN SECTION

Coast Valley League

San Luis Obispo Classical at Coast Union

Majestic League

Entrepreneur at United Christian Academy

Nonleague

Calvary Baptist at Southlands Christian

Lancaster Desert Christian at Maricopa

INTERSECTIONAL

Alpaugh at Cuyama Valley

East Valley at PAL Academy, 3 p.m.

Valley Oaks CES at Frazier Mountain, 5 p.m.

SATURDAY’S SCHEDULE

SOUTHERN SECTION

Nonleague

Compton Early College at Savanna, 1 p.m.

Whittier Christian at La Sierra

INTERSECTIONAL

Viewpoint at Clairemont, 6 p.m.

8-MAN

SOUTHERN SECTION

Nonleague

Coastal Christian at Laguna Blanca, 1 p.m.

Cornerstone Christian at California Lutheran, 10 a.m.

AUSTIN, Texas — Democrats seeking the party’s presidential nomination in 2028 will need to prove themselves early on in states where Black and Latino voters and union members are key supporters, under an election year calendar approved Saturday.

The primary lineup pushes Iowa from the traditional top spot and makes South Carolina the leadoff state, voting on Jan. 22, 2028, followed by Nevada on Feb. 1. New Hampshire, New Mexico, Michigan and Virginia round out the early states, throughout February, according to the plan endorsed by the Democratic National Committee at its meeting in Texas.

DNC Chairman Ken Martin said that to win the general election, “you have to be battle-tested in a way that you already have campaigned in front of and for the support of various communities throughout the country.” That is why the calendar designed by the party matters, he said in an interview.

Some potential candidates in what is expected to be a large field have visited early-voting states such as South Carolina. Party leaders have said the order gives candidates the best shot at winning back the White House after President Trump’s final term.

“They have to show that they can go to the South and talk to Black voters and rural voters, as well as out west, talking ranching and mining issues, to a border state, to union members,” said party strategist Karen Finney, who has worked on multiple presidential campaigns. “Whoever survives will be battle-tested.”

Former presidential candidate Howard Dean, a onetime Vermont governor, recalled his tenure as national party chairman, when Democrats solidified Nevada and South Carolina as early states behind Iowa and New Hampshire. The latest change is even better, he said.

“These states look more like the country” as a whole, he said, “whereas Iowa and New Hampshire don’t.”

Rita Hart, chair of the Iowa Democratic Party, said bypassing her state in the early going would sideline important voter voices and give a political edge to Republicans, who are expected to keep Iowa atop their calendar.

Nonwhite voters claim top billing

As the first-in-the-South primary, South Carolina was more decisive than Iowa and New Hampshire for nominees Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. All three dominated among South Carolina’s large Black population, which can yield more than half the state’s Democratic primary electorate.

With Nevada and New Mexico following, that will require candidates to court more Latino voters early in the process.

Shifting from Iowa and New Hampshire does not mean little-known candidates cannot catch fire, as Pete Buttigieg did in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2020, when he was a 37-year-old former mayor. They just will not be able to do it with an almost entirely white audience.

“If you can’t go to every part of this country and make your case, you should not be running for president,” Finney said.

Progressive vs. establishment dynamics

There is disagreement over how Democrats’ split between progressives and mainstream liberals may or may not surface in the nominating calendar.

“I think our primary voters up north are probably a little different than primary voters in South Carolina,” said Boyd Brown, a former DNC member from South Carolina. “It’s not the woke ideologies that we just can’t get away from” in other places, Brown said.

Nina Smith, a former Buttigieg advisor who works closely with progressive causes, disagreed. Smith said Black South Carolinians, especially, have gravitated to more moderate candidates — twice rejecting Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in favor of Clinton and Biden.

But, she said, “Southern Black voters are more progressive than they’re given credit for” on policy but also “realists” about what is possible.

“Living through Jim Crow and other oppressive structures will force you to take that approach,” she said.

Smith said that with South Carolina leading off and many Southern states following on Super Tuesday soon after the early lineup concludes, progressives will have to take the time to listen and then tailor their messages.

“A lot of Black voters don’t necessarily see themselves in the ideas and arguments that progressives put forward,” she said.

Unions in the spotlight

Nevada has the service industry unions because of Las Vegas; Michigan has the auto industry and associated manufacturing support industries; Virginia is home to more federal workers than any other state.

“Labor is still so important,” Dean said.

Beyond seeking the backing of organized labor, the campaigns and the party will look to unions for help in spreading Democrats’ message to voters and getting people to the polls.

Scheduling efficiency

Campaigns struggle to balance many demands such as meeting voters in person, raising money and the logistics of travel. As a result, places such as Nevada have gotten short shrift in the past because candidates, most from the eastern part of the country, have concluded the investment of time is not worth it.

An expanded calendar offers more clustering opportunities.

A swing to the West could hit two early states — Nevada and New Mexico — and include a fundraising stop in California, full of Democratic donors. A South Carolina trip could mean fundraisers and public appearances in Atlanta along with Charlotte and Raleigh, both in North Carolina. Virginia offers proximity to donors and national TV studios in Washington; the same options are available by adding a New York City stop on the way to New Hampshire.

Bre Maxwell is a DNC member from South Carolina who said the state’s smaller size and lower media costs are a financial equalizer, allowing not only the best-funded candidates to have an impact.

“They can campaign from the top to the bottom in a day,” Maxwell said.

Keeping a focus on November

Of the six early states, all but South Carolina have been competitive in general elections.

That means that even before Super Tuesday, the Democratic candidates will have spent significant time and resources in states worth a combined 43 electoral college votes. That is not insignificant on the way to the 270 needed to win.

Television ads and news coverage can spill over, as well. Markets targeting parts of South Carolina also reach portions of North Carolina and Georgia.

After all, Brown said, the point is to put a Democrat in the White House.

“This is not a social or a debate club. It is a political party,” he said.

Catalini and Barrow write for the Associated Press. Barrow reported from Atlanta. AP writer Meg Kinnard in Columbia, S.C., contributed to this report.