Let\u2019s jump into their work<\/a>.<\/p>\n (Genaro Molina\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Xavier Becerra (67, Democrat)<\/p>\n Top job: <\/b>U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services<\/p>\n Highlights:<\/b> Becerra has said among the Biden administration\u2019s top accomplishments was getting 700 million COVID-19 vaccination shots into the arms of Americans. He also touted the administration\u2019s efforts, where he served as HHS director, to expand access to healthcare under the Affordable Care Act.<\/p>\n Setbacks:<\/b> Becerra\u2019s former chief deputy in the California attorney general\u2019s office, Sean McCluskie<\/a>, who, along with two high-profile Democratic political strategists, was indicted on allegations of conspiring to bill Becerra\u2019s dormant campaign account for bogus consulting services. Becerra is not accused of wrongdoing. <\/p>\n Top job: <\/b>Riverside County Sheriff<\/p>\n Highlights:<\/b> During the 2024 election, Bianco supported Proposition 36, <\/a>the ballot measure approved by voters to reverse course on progressive criminal justice reform, cracking down on theft and the use of the deadly drug fentanyl.<\/p>\n Setbacks: <\/b>Bianco faced scrutiny after a data leak revealed that in 2014 he was a member of the Oath Keepers<\/a>, a far-right, anti-government group whose members took part in the pro-Trump insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.<\/p>\n (Tanya Caycedo for Courtney Lindb)<\/p>\n Ian Calderon (40, Democrat)<\/p>\n Top job:<\/b> Former Assembly majority leader<\/p>\n Highlights:<\/b> Calderon created the Blockchain Working Group to oversee regulation of cryptocurrency and other technology, and authored legislation to prohibit full-service restaurants from handing out plastic straws to customers <\/a>unless requested.<\/p>\n Setbacks:<\/b> The family name was tarnished<\/a> after two uncles, former state Sen. Ronald Calderon and former Assemblymember Tom Calderon, served prison time for crimes related to a bribery scheme. Ian Calderon was not accused of wrongdoing.<\/p>\n (Allen J. Schaben\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Steve Hilton (56, Republican)<\/p>\n Top job:<\/b> Senior adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron<\/p>\n Highlights:<\/b> Hilton was credited with modernizing the British conservative movement, remaining true to free-market ideals while also supporting liberal social policy, such as backing gay rights and fighting climate change.<\/p>\n Setbacks: <\/b>Hilton had to part ways in 2018 with the nonpartisan political fundraising site he co-founded, Crowdpac, due to his support for Trump. <\/p>\n Top job:<\/b> Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Orange County<\/p>\n Highlights: <\/b>Porter clashed with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) in 2021 over committee assignments,<\/a> and Pelosi was initially cool to Porter\u2019s support to ban members of Congress from trading individual stocks. Her resoluteness helped transform Porter into a standout national political figure.<\/p>\n Setbacks: <\/b>Porter caught heat after she tangled with a television reporter <\/a>during a contentious interview in October, an incident that rival candidates used to question her temperament.<\/p>\n (San Francisco Chronicle\/Hearst N\/San Francisco Chronicle via Gett)<\/p>\n Jon Slavet (58, Republican)<\/p>\n Top job: <\/b>Silicon Valley tech entrepreneur<\/p>\n Highlights:<\/b> He strongly opposed Proposition 50, a rare mid-decade redrawing of California\u2019s congressional districts to boost the number of Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Passage of the initiative, he said,<\/b> prompted him to enter the gubernatorial race.<\/p>\n Setbacks:<\/b> The one-time Democrat, who registered as a Republican in recent years, has little name recognition to the average voter. <\/p>\n Top job:<\/b> Billionaire hedge fund manager<\/p>\n Highlights: <\/b>After flirting with runs for governor and U.S. Senate and then backing off, Steyer ran for president in 2020. He dropped out after spending nearly $342 million on his campaign, which gained little traction.<\/p>\n Setbacks:<\/b> Steyer made his fortune as founder of Farallon Capital Management, one of the nation\u2019s largest hedge funds. He was criticized for the firm\u2019s investments<\/a> in a giant coal mine in Australia and a company that ran migrant detention centers on the U.S.-Mexico border.<\/p>\n (Win McNamee \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Top job: <\/b>Member of the U.S. House of Representatives<\/p>\n Highlights:<\/b> After attending law school, he served on the Dublin planning commission in the Bay Area<\/b> as the city<\/b> grew its housing stock and improved schools and community services, in part<\/b> by leveraging developers who sought to build there.<\/p>\n Setbacks:<\/b> Since he became a frequent face on cable news shows criticizing Trump, he believes the administration forwarded a charge of mortgage fraud against him to the Department of Justice. <\/p>\n (Josh Edelson\/For The Times)<\/p>\n Tony Thurmond (57, Democrat)<\/p>\n Top job:<\/b> California Superintendent of Public Instruction<\/p>\n Highlights: <\/b>Thurmond opposed textbook bans<\/a> attempted by conservative school boards in California and was forcibly removed from a Chino Valley Unified school board meeting<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n Setbacks: <\/b>He faced allegations of a turnover problem in the state\u2019s Department of Education amid accusations that he was running a toxic workplace. <\/a>Voters overwhelmingly reelected Thurmond in 2022 <\/a>despite criticism of his handling of schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n (Allen J. Schaben\/Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n Antonio Villaraigosa (72, Democrat)<\/p>\n Top job:<\/b> Los Angeles mayor<\/p>\n Highlights: <\/b>As mayor, he brought the number of LAPD officers to more than 10,000<\/a>, an effort he credited for a 48% drop in violent crime. Villaraigosa also helped fund the construction of mass transit rail lines through South Los Angeles, the San Gabriel Valley and the Westside.<\/p>\n Setbacks:<\/b> Villaraigosa drew national attention for his high-profile missteps, including an extramarital affair<\/a> with Telemundo reporter and anchor Mirthala Salinas that led to the breakup of his marriage of two decades.<\/p>\n (Josh Edelson\/For The Times)<\/p>\n Betty Yee (68, Democrat)<\/p>\n Top job:<\/b> California controller<\/p>\n Highlights:<\/b> Her audits and investigations from the controller\u2019s office, she said, found more than $4 billion in misused funds. She won reelection in 2018, and her second term ended in January 2023.<\/p>\n Setbacks:<\/b> A 2022 Times report<\/a> detailed how Yee gave behind-the-scenes advice to a politically-connected company seeking a $600-million no-bid government contract to provide COVID-19 masks and raised questions about her involvement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Check out the full article here<\/a>.<\/p>\n You’re reading the Essential California newsletter The week\u2019s biggest stories (Illustrations by Lindsey Made This; photograph by Sarah Coulter \/ CBS)<\/p>\n Going outStaying inL.A. Affairs<\/p>\n Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage.<\/p>\n Have a great day, from the Essential California team<\/p>\n Jim Rainey, staff reporter How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com<\/a>. Check our top stories<\/a>, topics<\/a> and the latest articles<\/a> on latimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dec. 7, 2025 6:30 AM PT Californians have crossed the sixth-month threshold for the June 2 primary election…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":431488,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,11791,7823,4140,4238,11789,99,6276,2961,224,2444,5337,11395,7825,5996,11792,11790,3549,290,6620,7827],"class_list":{"0":"post-431487","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-civic-revolt","11":"tag-covid","12":"tag-covid-19","13":"tag-days","14":"tag-essential-california","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-l-a","17":"tag-la","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-times","20":"tag-losangeles","21":"tag-may","22":"tag-pandemic","23":"tag-part","24":"tag-president-biden","25":"tag-red-county","26":"tag-san-diego","27":"tag-state","28":"tag-time","29":"tag-years"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=431487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/431487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/431488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=431487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=431487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=431487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}} <\/a> <\/p>\n
<\/a> Chad Bianco (58, Republican)<\/p>\n
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<\/a> <\/p>\n
<\/a> Katie Porter (51, Democrat)<\/p>\n
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<\/a> Tom Steyer (68, Democrat)<\/p>\n
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<\/a> Trump policies and reactionsCelebrity and media newsCrime, courts and policingOlympic and World Cup newsWhat else is going onMust readsOther meaty readsFor your downtime
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Hugo Mart\u00edn, assistant editor, fast break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
June Hsu, editorial fellow
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters<\/p>\n