California Politics Now

For all active registered voters, a vote-by-mail ballot for the March 5, 2024 Presidential Primary Election will be sent from each county's election office starting February 5, 2024. Ballot drop-off locations open on Tuesday, February 6, 2024. Vote centers open for early in-person voting in all Voter’s Choice Act counties beginning on February 24, 2024. Voters can drop off or mail their vote-by-mail ballots as long as they are postmarked on or before Election Day (March 5) and received by March 12, 2024.It was in September of 2017 when Gov. Jerry Brown signed legislation SB 568 that moved California’s presidential primary elections to the beginning of March, three months ahead of when they were held in 2016.

In the final segment of this broadcast,California Politics Now: (Part 6) A review of "The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate," the comments that Governor Ron DeSanits have repeatedly made about his state being the safest, even over California is misleading due to a number of fallacies in the reporting of crime data by the state of Florida. In fact, The Marshall Project, which is a nonpartisan, nonprofit news organization that seeks to create and sustain a sense of national urgency about the U.S. criminal justice system, pointed out in a news article that when Gov. DeSantis claimed on stage to the people that Florida’s crime is at a "record low," he was using incomplete data.Only 49 agencies from Florida, representing less than 8% of police departments, were included in an FBI federal database last year, according to a Marshall Project analysis. This means more than 500 police departments in Florida — including most of the largest agencies, like the Miami Police Department, the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, and the St. Petersburg Police Department — are missing from the national context. Florida’s participation rate is the lowest of any state in the country.Finally, news producer and show host, Julia Dudley Najieb, concludes this broadcast with which state is the safest of the two: California or Florida? Listen to find out!

In this segment of the California Politics Now: (Part 5) A review of "The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate," news producer, Julia Dudley Najieb reviews California's crime states from 2021 through 2023.According to nonprofit, nonpartisan think tank The Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC), California's crime is increasing.California’s violent crime rate increased by 5.7%, from 468 crimes per 100,000 residents in 2021 to 495 in 2022. While the rates for robbery (theft with force) and aggravated assault increased by 9.9% and 5.2%, respectively, homicides reversed a two-year upward trend, dropping by 6.1%, and rapes remained essentially the same (0.1% decrease).In 2022, aggravated assaults were 67% of reported violent crimes; 25% of violent crimes were robberies, 7% were rapes, and 1% were homicides. Violent crime rose in 10 of the state’s 15 largest counties, and 7 saw increases of at least 10%. San Mateo faced the biggest jump, by 37.5%, but remains one of the 15 largest counties with the lowest violent crime rate (only Orange and Ventura Counties had lower rates in 2022).Dudley Najieb also explains the misunderstanding of Proposition 47 which became effective on November 5, 2014 when California voters voted for it to be a new law. This law seems to get the blame for "crime leniency" in the state, but is often misquoted in regard to its level of power and influence.

Part 4 of California Politics Now: A review of "The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate," news show host, Julia Ann Dudley Najieb breaks down the common argument between both Republicans and Democrats campaign comments regarding, "Are crime rates the highest in red states rather than the blue states? Such a question becomes complicated ...According to the Pew Research Center, during the 2022 mid-term elections last year, their research found that Black voters are particularly likely to say violent crime is a very important midterm issue.Black Americans have consistently been more likely than other racial and ethnic groups to express concern about violent crime, and that remains the case this year.Some 81% of Black registered voters say violent crime is very important to their midterm vote, compared with 65% of Hispanic and 56% of White voters. (There were not enough Asian American voters in the Center’s survey to analyze independently.)Differences by race are especially pronounced among Democratic registered voters. While 82% of Black Democratic voters say violent crime is very important to their vote this year, only a third of White Democratic voters say the same.For the most part, violence is always a concern to the average voter, or at least it is high on the list. Based on the data from the CDC which goes up to the year 2021, then the stats were compiled by Forbes, states with the highest gun death did to appear to be 10 red states that take up the top 10 spots.

In this part 3 of California Politics Now: A review of "The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate," news show host, Julia Ann Dudley Najieb reviews the two counties in Florida who banned Toni Morrison books in school districts, according to Governor Gavin Newsom's claim of African-American authored-books banned out of Florida schools due to Governor Ron DeSantis imposing laws.The facts of the matter may keep a person puzzled according to the data Dudley Najieb presents in this excerpt.

In the part 2 segment of California Politics Now, A review of 'The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate,' according to CalMatters, California and Florida have the nation’s highest and third-highest unhoused populations. But with more than 171,000 unhoused people in California in 2022, the Golden State has a much higher rate: about 44 out of every 10,000 residents are without a home. That’s more than three and a half times the rate of residents experiencing homelessness in Florida, according to federal data.In Florida, more than half of unhoused residents are living in some kind of shelter, while two-thirds of unhoused Californians live outside. Homelessness in Florida has actually declined by more than 50% since peaking in 2010.Through the first two years of the pandemic, the homeless count in Florida fell from more than 27,000 in 2020 to just under 26,000 in 2022, while in California it has grown steadily to a record high.Listen now to find out which state turns out to be the worst for most Black Americans to live.

In this part 1 segment of California Politics Now, 'The Great Red vs. Blue State Debate' with Julia Ann Dudley Najieb, viewers first get an in-depth review of the backgrounds of both governors, Gavin Newsom of California and Ron DeSantis of Florida.According to CalMatters, DeSantis accepted Newsom’s debate challenge in August, pitting him against someone who is not even in the presidential race. But lacking opportunities to face off directly against Trump, who has refused to participate in the GOP primary debates, DeSantis aimed to show Republican voters that he is best-equipped to take on Democratic President Joe Biden in the general election.Also in this segment, Dudley Najieb reviews the alarming data regarding the living conditions for residents in each state, especially for Black and minority communities.

Find out the difference between propositions 26 and 72In this episode of News Too Real, show host, Julia Dudley Najieb reviews in details the seven (7) California propositions on the ballot this 2022 midterm election.

News Too Real April 14, 2022: In episode 14 of season 4, producer host Julia Dudley Najieb reviews the top 2022 secretary of state and state controller candidates; The ONME Podcast Network sifted through the most probable candidates by evaluating their campaign support and grass-root effort support. State-office candidates who were able to raise 30K or more made it to the initial list of candidates for ONME's viewing audience, (see lists at the below.)