Articles by Chad Peace

California Democrats are getting ready for a fight they can’t win. And taxpayers will foot the bill for the privilege....

Gerrymandering wasn’t invented by Trump. It predates most states in the union. It’s named after Elbridge Gerry, who sliced up Massachusetts in 1812 to help his party, leaving behind a district so distorted it looked like a salamander....

California’s nonpartisan top-two primary and independent redistricting commission are widely viewed as two of the most voter-centric reforms in modern American politics. Yet new polling in the field suggests a push to roll both reforms back, and the strategy behind that effort is telling....

Ranked choice voting keeps winning headlines. New York City uses it in primaries, Maine uses it statewide, Alaska uses it with a nonpartisan primary, and advocates from Better Choices are pushing for more consensus....

A lot of people are talking about democracy reform in New York City, especially since the implementation of ranked choice voting. But while ranked choice voting in party primaries is novel, let’s be honest: it’s not “small-d” democratic. The fact is, the general election still uses a plurality voting system, which means candidates don’t need to win a majority, they just need more votes than anyone else....

Last week, California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) officials announced the sudden passing of Annie Covarrubias, a correctional officer at the Correctional Training Facility (CTF) in Soledad. She was 35 years old. In the words of her colleagues, Annie was a “dependable, professional, and kind” officer, known for her dedication to both her peers and the incarcerated individuals she worked with every day....

While healthcare in California has seen massive investments in coverage and access, these gains often mean little to border residents who split time, family, or even residency across two countries...

Independence means different things to different people. For us, it means more than rejecting party lines; it means thinking for yourself, being accountable to principles and constituents, and resisting the pressures of partisan orthodoxy....

In a time when technology moves faster than public awareness can keep up, the line between communication and manipulation is vague. A recent piece in Tablet Magazine titled “Rapid-Onset Political Enlightenment” sheds light on how the digital era — once hailed as a democratizing force — has been weaponized to manufacture consent, manage narratives, and in many cases, replace political discussion with political echo chambers....