Articles by Nancy Phung

In an interview with Texas Tribune reporter Jay Root, U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), now a 2016 presidential candidate, answered several questions on a vast array of topics, including responding to people who compare him to Barack Obama, climate change, the use of personal email for government business, marijuana legalization, and same-sex marriage. When it comes to the latter two subjects, Cruz says he is a strong supporter of states' rights, and will defend a state's right to decide their o...

In 2010, California's budget negotiations stalled for over three months past the constitutional deadline. Partisan gridlock muddied the debate over how to manage the state's $60 billion deficit and spending per student in California ranked 46th in the nation, according to the California Budget Project. At the time, 80 percent of California voters said the state was on the wrong track. Shortly thereafter, voters made a number of changes in Sacramento: Governor Jerry Brown took office in 2011; v...

On Tuesday, November 4, all 435 seats in the U.S. House, 36 U.S. Senate seats, 36 governorships, and several state and local offices will be up for election. Many of these races were long decided during the primary election season, making the general election just a formality. Midterm elections never have a very high voter turnout -- consistently remaining under 42 percent over the last 20 years. A key factor in this is a lack of competitive elections, something the Republican and Democratic pa...

Editor's note: The initial published draft of this article said the California School Employees Association endorsed Tony Thurmund, but the organization actually issued a dual endorsement for both candidates. California Assembly District 15 is located between the shores of San Francisco and San Pablo Bay. The district, which includes Albany, Berkeley, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Emeryville, Hercules, Kensington, North Oakland, Piedmont, Pinole, Richmond, and San Pablo, is currently represented by ...

Assembly District 7 saw a 24.2 percent turnout in June’s top-two primary, a drop from the 28.6 percent turnout it had in the 2010 primary. A plurality of the voting population in the district, in which the state capital is located, are Democrats (43.4%), which is part of the reason why voters will choose between two Democratic city council members, Kevin McCarty and Steve Cohn, in November. Cohn, who is leaving the Sacramento City Council after serving for 20 years, is making a case to voters t...

Students, community members, faculty, and news stations filled La Jolla Country Day School on Monday. The private school's Advance Placement Government and U.S. History classes led a forum between Republican Carl DeMaio, a former member of the San Diego City Council, and U.S. Representative Scott Peters (D). Both are seeking to represent California's 52nd Congressional District.George Mitrovich, president of the San Diego City Club, called the forum to order and encouraged the audience to becom...

With less than a month until the general elections, community and political leaders came together to discuss the environment of political discourse at the University of California-San Diego’s Ethics, Transparency and Civility Conference. Shortened to E-T-C, these three pillars found in politics, business, as well as education, left the audience and participants thinking about integrity, responsibility, and commonalities in everyday life.The civility panel moderator, Thad Kousser, a UCSD professo...

Former Newport Beach Mayor Keith Curry and current Huntington Beach Mayor Matthew Harper are going head-to-head for the seat in California Assembly District 74. The two Republican candidates advanced to the general election after the June 3 nonpartisan, top-two open primary, in which all candidates and voters, regardless of party affiliation, participate on a single ballot and the two candidates with the most votes move on to the November election. A GOP stronghold, Republicans in the central O...

California Senate District 26 saw a crowded pool of 8 candidates in the June 3 nonpartisan, top-two open primary. There were no Republican candidates in the race. There was, however, one No Party Preference candidate, Seth Stodder, who came in third behind Democrats Sandra Fluke and Ben Allen. With less than 3 percent of the vote separating them, the race between Fluke and Allen to fill the seat in District 26 is highly competitive. State Senator Holly Mitchell (D), who is currently representin...