If elected as California's next controller, Ashley Swearengin would be one of only a handful of Republicans elected to a statewide office in recent memory. She is trying to change the face of a shrinking California Republican Party. Mayor Swearengin is campaigning as an independent, nonpartisan problem solver. Swearengin serves as the Mayor of Fresno, the fifth largest city in California. She fought hard to keep Fresno out of bankruptcy during the recession. As mayor, Swearengin has focused on...

In the fall, California Assemblymember Kristin Olsen will take on a new political role as Republican Minority Leader. Olsen, 40, who represents the 12th Assembly District in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, has a reputation of working effectively on both sides of the political aisle. The California State Republican Caucus elected Olsen with a united front, announcing the win as unanimous. Assembly colleagues say she's smart, savvy, and ready for the job. Olsen is expected to make the transi...

The race for the Assembly District 53 in Los Angeles doesn’t appear that it will be much of a race at all despite the appearance of four candidates on the ballot this coming Tuesday. AD-53 is a heavily Democratic district with over 58 percent of voters registered as Democrats, 18 percent registered as Decline to State, and only 10 percent registered as Republicans.Prior to the implementation of the top-two primary, this was a district consistently won in a landslide by any Democrat who could pr...

Assembly Member Marc Levine, of the North Bay’s 10th Assembly District, may be in for quite a fight to keep his seat this year. Levine squeaked out a win in 2012, defeating incumbent Assembly Member Michael Allen of Santa Rosa by the thinnest of margins, a 163-vote difference that amounted to just 2.4 percent of the votes cast.This year, Levine faces challenges from three Democrats -- Santa Rosa City Councilwoman Erin Carlstrom, College of Marin Trustee Diana Conti, and former Santa Rosa Counci...

SACRAMENTO, CALIF. — Both houses of the California Legislature gathered Monday to conduct the swearing in ceremony of the 69th Speaker of the California State Assembly, Assemblywoman Toni Atkins (D- San Diego). Atkins made history as the first LGBT woman to be elected to serve as Speaker and is only the third woman to hold the leadership position in California's history. She was first elected to the Legislature in 2010 and has served as majority leader since 2012. Atkins recently sat down with ...

SB 1005, a bill that would expand subsidized health care programs -- including access to Medi-Cal benefits -- to undocumented immigrants living in California, was approved by the Senate Health Committee on Wednesday, April 30, with a 6-1 vote. The lone dissenting vote came from state Senator Mike Morrell, a Republican from Rancho Cucamonga. The Affordable Care Act (colloquially known as Obamacare) offers United States citizens the choice to purchase health insurance through government-run marke...