Votes poured in across California on Tuesday in national and state redistricting primaries to determine the finalists for the Golden State's rarest prize, a vacant U.S. Senate seat and a politically vulnerable position. This boosts his expected rematch with President Biden. and his predecessor, Donald Trump, who was indicted and twice impeached.

Proposition 1, the only statewide ballot measure, gave California voters limited authority to alleviate human tragedies like homelessness, drug addiction, and untreated mental illness, but at a cost. , may be too expensive for some in this uncertain economic climate.

Tuesday's primaries also could set the stage for November changes to California's 52-member House caucus, the largest in the coalition, with even a narrow loss for endangered Republicans allowing Democrats to try to take control of Congress. It may help your efforts.

For the first time, California joined 15 other states and American Samoa in the massive Super Tuesday primary day, sending large numbers of delegates to presidential candidates.

California's key race in Tuesday's primary was for one of the state's coveted Senate seats held by Sen. Dianne Feinstein for three decades until her death in September.

As the primary election day approached, the race was becoming a two-way contest. Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) and Republican steve garveyAccording to recent polls, the former Dodgers All-Star.

Support from personnel. katie porter (D-Irvine) and barbara lee (D-Oakland), the other front-runner in the race, fell behind in the final weeks of the campaign. Porter was a strong candidate at the beginning of the campaign, but was bombarded with expensive negative political ads. cryptocurrency executive. Schiff's campaign also poured money into ads that it believes will help Mr. Garvey solidify the Republican vote in California. For Mr. Schiff, Mr. Garvey will not be as formidable an opponent as Porter in the November election.Political action committees put money into Over $21 million On to the Senate race.

Still, Long Beach resident Beau Tobin happily wore a bright orange “Senator Katie Porter” T-shirt as she rode her bike to the polls Monday afternoon.

“I think she's incredibly intelligent and makes things very clear and easy to understand,” said Tobin, 56, a registered Democrat. Mr. Porter famously used a whiteboard during Congressional hearings to explain his points and pose questions to the public.

Tobin took issue with the fact that Schiff did not support a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. He also questioned Schiff's decision to give up his seniority as House leader to become a freshman senator.

Senate seats are listed twice on California's ballots. One is to fill the remainder of Feinstein's term, which runs from the November general election until her new term in January, and the other is for her entire six-year term, which begins in January.rear Feinstein dies Last year, Newsom appointed Lafonza Butler, a union activist and former leader of Emily's List, to the position. Mr. Butler has chosen not to run for office throughout his term.

Mr. Schiff is likely to finish in the top two spots in the California primary, which is what a candidate must do to earn a golden ticket to the November election, but his challenger will not be known for some time. Maybe. The final answer is likely to be revealed only in the most lopsided contest by late Tuesday night. Additionally, some of the closest elections, such as parliamentary, parliamentary and local elections, could take days or even weeks for decisive results.

There is little drama or intrigue in California's presidential primary. Facing no serious problems, Biden and Trump are expected to comfortably win the Democratic and Republican presidential primaries in each state, respectively. Each candidate appears to be key to securing their party's nomination in the 2024 presidential election, barring any major events that jeopardize their candidacy.

Heading into a head-to-head showdown in November, recent polls have Biden holding a comfortable lead in left-leaning California, but Biden has lost ground against Trump over the past three years since he took office. It was shown that the gap between Mr.a University of California, Berkeley Institute of GovernmentAl the study Polls show Mr. Biden leads Mr. Trump by 18 points statewide, but the lead increases even further when independents and minor party candidates such as Jill Stein and Cornel West are included. Some Democratic voters cited Biden's handling of the Israel-Hamas war and his age as key factors working against him in the 2024 election.

“I speak as a 70-year-old,” said Lin, a registered Republican from Long Beach who declined to give his last name. “I think both candidates are too old to be president of the United States.”

Standing outside her local polling place, Lin said Trump is not practicing traditional Republican philosophy. He added that his criminal charges should disqualify him as a presidential candidate.

“How do we see other parts of the world?” she said. “We're a joke in some places. … We have a guy who's been charged with a felony, and he's running for president!”

Former United Nations Ambassador nikki haley He has vowed to remain in the race for the Republican nomination until Super Tuesday, despite losing by double digits to Trump in nearly every primary so far, including in his home state. south carolina. Haley won in the District of Columbia, his only victory in the 2024 primary.

Primaries in presidential years typically evoke high turnout, but early election results have been lackluster. California's Secretary of State said about 3 million mail-in ballots had been returned as of Monday, just a fraction of the 22.3 million ballots sent to voters' mailboxes.

Lynn Vavreck, a political science professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, said she expects abortion rights to be a big issue driving voters to voting booths in primaries across the country, similar to the 2022 midterm elections. . Babrek also said that while foreign policy is not typically given much weight in presidential election years, this year the Israel-Hamas war and the Ukraine-Russia war are likely to be extremely important issues for voters. .

“Even though U.S. politics may seem unexciting to people at the moment, and perhaps the candidates may seem unexciting to people, these two global conflicts… “It's a good reminder of what's happening globally that matters to people,” Vavrek said. “And that might help remind people, 'Oh, there's a primary coming up.'”

“There's still a lot going on,” she added. “And that's probably good for voter turnout.”

Pro-Palestinian voters outraged by Biden's handling of the conflict marked their protest votes in the New Hampshire and Michigan primaries by writing “ceasefire” and voting “irresponsible,” respectively. The Council on American-Islamic Relations is encouraging its members to vote Tuesday, even if it means leaving their presidential ballot blank.

“We have heard from some in our community that they do not want to vote in the presidential election due to the current violence in Gaza,” Monica Rahim, senior policy and advocacy manager at CAIR-LA, said in a statement. “There is,” he said. “We continue to stress that that shouldn’t mean they won’t vote at all. It’s still important to make their voices heard by voting in down-ballot races.”

Democratic voter Richard Lichina, 74, said Biden is on the right side on many issues, but “maybe a little too hard-line” in his response to the Middle East conflict.

“I think he can be a little more forceful in terms of restraint,” Lichina said of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as she rode her bicycle to her local Long Beach voting center after a morning yoga session.

A poll conducted in January by the Institute for Governmental Research in collaboration with the Los Angeles Times found that California voters under 30 were far more likely to sympathize with Palestinians than with Israelis, while those 65 and older were far more likely to sympathize with Palestinians than with Israelis. of voters were found to support Israel.

On Tuesday, California voters also voiced their opinions on: Suggestion 1, Gov. Gavin Newsom's proposal to reform the state's mental health services, especially for the unhoused. A Berkeley/LA Times poll released last week found that half of likely voters supported Proposition 1, which has bipartisan support in the state Legislature. Still, while several leading Republicans support the bill, polls show a majority of Republican voters oppose it.

Proposition 1 would restructure the state's 20-year Mental Health Services Act to allocate $1 billion for supportive housing. It also includes a $6.4 billion bond to provide 10,000 new treatment beds. Proposition 1 is Newsom's biggest effort to curb homelessness, one of California voters' top issues.

In Santa Cruz, one of the most housing-strapped cities in the state, voters will decide what's next. Major M, any development that exceeds current zoning restrictions would require a vote. A push to build high-rise buildings has divided California's famously laid-back communities, and local activists are putting the measure on the ballot.