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LOUISIANA - Louisiana Republican Party Chair Louis Gurvich laments the use of the nonpartisan, "jungle primary" system in the state's elections, and is calling on "that hallowed day when the return of closed primaries dawns in Louisiana." Why? Put simply, too many Republicans are running for office. Ironic, no? The race for secretary of state is headed for a December runoff, a race that could have ended with two candidates in the same party advancing to the runoff ballot. It didn't, but Gurvic

SAN DIEGO, CALIF. - The biggest story in the 2018 election cycle was not what color of wave we saw. It was not President Donald Trump using the Ecuadorian immigrant caravan as a campaign issue. It was not the Democrats’ focus on the president’s behavior while holding the Oval Office. The biggest story in 2018 was the voter revolt against the political status quo. Political and election reform had its most groundbreaking year in half a century, and most media outlets didn’t pay attention. From

Senator Ben Hueso represents District 40, a region that incorporates some of San Diego County and all of Imperial County. In January 2017, Hueso was reappointed to serve as Chair of the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications. The Wildfire Preparedness and Response Legislative Conference Committee passed legislation  SB-901 in August to further address the wildfire crisis and give the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) some direction forward. I sat down with Hueso

Like most everyone else, I am thrilled to see a new Congress that looks more like America than ever before. I am lifted by their new energy and commitment. I am delighted that their first shared effort was a sit-in protest demanding action on climate change, held inside the U.S. House of Representatives and the office of the Democratic Party leader. I pray for the success of the freshman class of 2018. The key is whether Republicans and Democrats can get past hating each other to solve problems

WASHINGTON, D.C. - It’s official. This year was the costliest midterm election in US history. Outside spenders forked out $1.31 billion. That’s an increase of 61% over the 2014 midterms. The total over-all cost of $5.2 billion is a 35% jump over 2014. The political advertising side of a campaign is a massive investment. Rhetoric filters into living rooms across America at all hours of the day and night, while a candidate gives a stump speech to a crowd of thirty. According to Advertising Analy

Democrats have a supermajority in Sacramento, having won or leading in 58 of the Assembly's 80 districts and could hold as many as 60 or 61 seats after all the ballots are counted. But that far from guarantees legislative wins when you consider the factions taking shape. Three distinct caucuses have created large blocs of votes which will no doubt fight for the direction of California and their respective groups. The Caucuses The Conservative caucus has 24 members and is led by Marie Waldro

This is my post-election column where I analyze the impact of independent voters who came out in force last Tuesday, almost 34 million of us. Huge. The stats and takeaways are at the end of this column, dear reader, so if you prefer to cut to that chase, scroll on down. Suffice it to say that independents are swinging between cycles of disruption and cycles of stabilization, all the while searching for systemic changes that will take us to new ground. Independent rather than partisan ground. Th

The California Republican Party isn’t salvageable at this time. The Grand Old Party is dead – partly because it has failed to separate itself from today’s toxic, national brand of Republican politics. Painful though it was, that was the message I delivered at the California Priorities Summit, sponsored by the Sacramento Bee in Sacramento last week. I’ve spent my entire adult life in Republican politics, so for me to make such a comment wasn’t easy. But it doesn’t make it any less true. I and o

Assemblyman Jim Cooper is passionate about keeping Californians safe. It's a message he made clear to me at the Independent Voter Project (IVP) conference in Hawaii. The former Sacramento County sheriff's captain is no stranger to criminal justice reform. Since he assumed office in 2014, Assemblyman Cooper has been on a mission to reform the system and, in his words, "make it more accountable to the perpetrators, and empower victims." To that end, voters will get to weigh in on Coopers 2020 ba

I am neither a Democrat nor a Republican. I am an independent who believes that at this moment of partisan dysfunction and division that the health of American democracy depends on the capacity of the American people to come together, to grow and to develop. While the media is saturating us with a focus on the results of who won and who lost in the midterm elections, my attention is drawn to signs of the emergence of a bottom up nonpartisan developmental politic in our country that breaks throu