Newsom nemesis Kevin Kiley vows to upend DC as California's newest House member

Tori Richards

November 24, 07:00 AM November 24, 07:12 AM

The biggest thorn in California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s side is now headed to Congress as part of the Golden State's mini-red wave.

For the past six years, Assemblyman Kevin Kiley has dogged Newsom and liberal legislators about everything from the gas tax to school closures to excessive spending. He mounted a campaign against a single-payer healthcare bill that went down in flames, giving the GOP a rare victory in the state.

CALIFORNIA LAWMAKERS BOW TO PRESSURE AND ‘DELETE’ BILL TAXING BIG OIL

The maverick conservative was arguably the lone voice on social media blasting the supermajority Democratic machine for all the ills befalling California. Now Kiley says he is ready to do the same to the Biden administration and any congressional member who steps in line with outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

“This has been a terrible last two years for our country, everything has moved in the wrong direction in public safety, immigration, and the economy,” Kiley, 37, told the Washington Examiner. “We need to get the country on the right track.”

He has been on a continuous crusade this year to bring down the cost of gas, introducing several bills to delete the gas tax as other blue states have done. All of his legislation has died in committee.

“Newsom says oil companies are 'ripping you off.' It's his government that is ripping us off. Californians pay the highest gas taxes and drive on the worst roads,” Kiley tweeted in September.

Kiley has a blunt yet facetious way of speaking to the electorate that let him cruise to victory in two assembly elections and then pull past congressional rival Kermit Jones, a Democrat, with a 5-point margin.

His Twitter feed is filled with observations about daily life that he finds unbearable: a state law muzzling doctors who speak out about COVID-19, low test scores for schoolchildren, or why the electrical grid is causing blackouts.

He plans to use this direct approach in working with other GOP members who have similar approaches, such as Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH). Kiley also said he will vote for Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) for House speaker.

“I’m talking to Jim Jordan and a lot of other members of our conference who are thinking the same way about getting results,” Kiley said. “The economy and immigration are top priorities right now.”

Other items on his to-do list include ferreting out corruption at the Department of Justice, “what they are doing with 87,000 IRS agents,” and “mistakes on healthcare with COVID.”

“There has been no oversight on Pelosi’s watch, and that is about to change,” Kiley said.

When asked what committee assignments he will request, Kiley demurred, saying he’s evaluating the process.

But it’s a safe bet he will use his background as an attorney in some capacity as he did as a state legislator, drilling into legislation and then arguing his point to voters.

Since he was elected in 2016, Kiley fought against taxation, spending, and downgrading state laws to clear out the prisons. But his activism ramped up a few notches when Newsom took office two years later.

In 2021, Kiley became one of the leading drivers of the Newsom recall movement and even wrote a book titled Recall Newsom: The Case Against America’s Most Corrupt Governor.

Kiley jumped into the recall race, finishing sixth in a crowded pool of candidates who wanted to take the governor’s job if he was voted out. Newsom prevailed with 62% of the vote.

“Why, in California, when we sacrifice the most, do we get the least in return?” Kiley said at the time. “We have the worst roads, poverty, homeless, and the most secure lockdowns during COVID. The answer is political corruption.”

He then accused Newsom of selling his office to the highest bidder in a June 27, 2021, tweet. Kiley also had a few words for Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA).

“Newsom’s appointed senator Alex Padilla says the Recall ‘threatens our values.’ He’s right. It’s a vital threat to a decadent political class that values nothing but its own power,” Kiley tweeted.

Leaving California politics for a bigger stage now begs the question for the state’s outnumbered conservative base: Who is going to fill the hole?

Kiley ticked off the names of several legislators he said are up for the fight, along with several newly elected members.

“I know that there is going to be a constitutional fight at the state Capitol, and I hope to assist those efforts as much as possible,” he said. “I want to continue to focus attention on state government in California.”

Midterms results: What role, if any, did early voting play in the outcome on Tuesday night?

Asher Notheis

November 09, 11:37 AM November 09, 11:38 AM

Tuesday has come and gone, but people across the United States have been voting for a few weeks via early voting, a process whose effects are being determined in the wake of the 2022 midterm elections.

Early voting has become more popular over the years, with some people arguing with little evidence that it leads to inaccurate polling results. The purpose of early voting, either by mail or by absentee, is to give voters an alternative to voting in person if they are unable to vote on Election Day.

SENATE MAJORITY UP IN THE AIR AS DEMOCRATS FIGHT TO DEFY ODDS AND HANG ON

For 2022, early voting was on track to shatter turnout records from prior midterm cycles, with over 36 million early votes cast by Friday afternoon, information compiled by the U.S. Elections Project indicates. Additionally, 41% of respondents in a survey conducted by Gallup found that they planned to cast their vote early, marking the highest number in a midterm survey since 2010.

Records also showed that Democrats were leading in early and mail-in voting. In the 23 states with party registration data, 45% of early voters were Democrats, and 33.3% of them were Republicans, according to the U.S. Elections Project.

Early voting has led to several races being at a stalemate on Wednesday morning. The Senate race in Arizona between Blake Masters and incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) is underway, though Kelly holds the lead at the moment thanks to early voting. The Republican candidate is expected to gain ground once in-person ballots are counted.

The declaration of a winner in Nevada's Senate race has also been delayed thanks to early voting, as Washoe County received a large number of mail and drop-off ballots, according to the Nevada Independent. The delay in a declaration will inevitably lead to some nail-biting, as Adam Laxalt and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) were essentially neck and neck prior to Tuesday's election, according to FiveThirtyEight.

Recalls, emails, and leaks: Inside the scorched-earth battle to be San Francisco’s district attorney

Tori Richards

November 08, 04:30 AM November 08, 04:30 AM

The battle to be San Francisco's district attorney has gotten ugly since the recall of soft-on-crime predecessor Chesa Boudin — and voters will now have their say to cap off a bitter campaign waged by four main candidates.

A series of issues plagued Brooke Jenkins, who was appointed by Mayor London Breed to clean up the city’s crime-ridden streets after Boudin's exit. Jenkins has cracked down on crime, specifically drug dealers and felons, but several slip-ups have also dogged her campaign for reelection.

SAN FRANCISCO LAWYERS BATTLE TO BECOME THE NEXT DISTRICT ATTORNEY

However, some say her biggest problem in deep-blue San Francisco could be that she is actually enforcing the law rather than looking the other way.

“Brooke’s crime is that she is enforcing crime," Heritage Foundation legal fellow Cully Stimson told the Washington Examiner. “The Left leadership doesn’t like that. The people suffering the brunt of those pro-criminal policies wake up every day in their cities worried that their car is going to get broken into, that they will get assaulted or Walgreens will close in their neighborhood.”

The race took an ugly turn last week when allegations surfaced that Jenkins emailed police reports to a colleague before both of them quit the District Attorney’s Office in 2021 to work on the recall of Boudin. The reports, which are not deemed a public record in California, were sent from Jenkins’s work email to colleague Don du Bain’s personal account, according to media reports.

The subject involved a high-profile manslaughter case in which defendant Troy McAllister was not immediately charged with running over two people in a crosswalk despite being on parole and driving a stolen car.

Jenkins did not respond to requests for comment. She told SFGate that the records were not used in the recall and should’ve been sent to du Bain’s work email.

However, opponent Joe Alioto Veronese said the incident was part of the campaign, citing other incidents as well. These include a state ethics complaint lodged against Jenkins for working as a paid campaign consultant against Boudin but not reporting this to the city and a breach of ethics regarding her handling of several felony cases, according to a second complaint filed with the State Bar of California.

In one of the instances, Jenkins coached a child witness testifying in a case by stating, “Say that — that’s what you need to say,” according to the complaint.

Alioto Veronese, an attorney and former commissioner with the California Council on Criminal Justice, admitted that San Francisco needs a more centrist prosecutor who has ethics even though he has been endorsed by the Democratic Party along with another candidate, John Hamasaki.

He said the far Left is not a player in the election.

“Citizens have Boudin fatigue,” Alioto Veronese said. “When he was thrown out of office, they wanted law enforcement, and what they have is a bad cop who has no problem violating the office and using confidential files and emailing them to a colleague to use in the recall. That is purely illegal.”

Hamasaki has advocated policies similar to Boudin, which involve community service and counseling in lieu of jail or prison. Alioto Veronese says he is a centrist, as does Jenkins.

Jenkins had commissioned a poll that showed her leading the pack. No independent polling was available.

“She is clearly not a Republican or a right-winger, but she is a law-and-order prosecutor, which is what the public needs in the role of a prosecutor,” Stimson said of Jenkins.

Biden congratulates Lula on being elected Brazil's president

Shana Donahue

October 31, 02:28 AM October 31, 02:28 AM

President Joe Biden congratulated Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in his runoff victory against incumbent Jair Bolsonaro to again become Brazil’s president.

“I send my congratulations to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his election to be the next president of Brazil following free, fair, and credible elections. I look forward to working together to continue the cooperation between our two countries in the months and years ahead,” Biden said in a statement.

NO ONE CARES THAT BRITAIN’S NEW PM IS NOT WHITE — EXCEPT ANGRY ANTI-RACISTS

Da Silva received 50.9% of the vote and Bolsonaro 49.1%, according to the country’s election authority. However, Bolsonaro had yet to publicly concede or react in any way, the reports.

Just over 2 million votes separated the two candidates. The previous closest race, in 2014, was decided by a margin of roughly 3.5 million votes, according to the .

This is the first time since Brazil’s return to democracy in 1985 that the sitting president has failed to win reelection.

The 77-year-old da Silva, who served as Brazil’s president from 2003-2010, gave a victory speech Sunday.

“It is not the number of years that makes someone old. What makes you old is the lack of a cause,” said da Silva in a report from the . “Brazil is my cause. The Brazilian people are my cause.”

His inauguration will be held Jan. 1.

Convicted Delaware auditor loses reelection bid in Democratic primary

Kate Scanlon

September 13, 11:33 PM September 13, 11:33 PM

Delaware's incumbent point out auditor Kathy McGuiness missing her Democratic main in the state’s only contested principal for a statewide place of work on Tuesday after she was convicted on legal corruption prices earlier this 12 months.

MARY PELTOLA PLEDGES BIPARTISANSHIP ON To start with Working day IN CONGRESS

Political newcomer Lydia York, an legal professional who was backed by the point out Democratic Get together in the race, defeated McGuiness and will go on to deal with Republican Janice Lorrah in November’s general election.

The misdemeanor convictions did not bar McGuiness from looking for office under condition legislation, but they, as perfectly as her looming sentencing, forged a pall above her marketing campaign.

McGuiness was observed guilty of misdemeanors by a jury on prices associated to hiring her daughter as a component-time staff in the auditor’s workplace, as well as payments designed to a consulting business that experienced labored on a person of her earlier political campaigns.

The convictions marked the first time in Delaware history that a sitting statewide elected formal had been convicted on legal expenses, in accordance to the .

York informed the outlet that voters ended up searching for “competence and clarity and leadership” but explained the scandal weighed on their options.

“It experienced to, due to the fact this was historic for the point out of Delaware,” she reported. “I believe the voters felt a specific way about that.”

Midterm elections 2022: Listed here are the troubles Arizona voters treatment about the most

Cami Mondeaux

September 09, 06:00 AM September 09, 06:01 AM

As the region inches closer toward Election Day, voters are homing in on precise difficulties that may well make your mind up the fate of Congress and numerous condition governments in November.

The Washington Examiner is tracking which troubles are on the leading of voters' minds as they get ready to head to the polls, especially in critical battleground states that could deliver a change in power to the federal government. Specially, we’re monitoring how voters are researching our prime 5 issues, which includes abortion, crime, schooling, inflation, and taxes, and how these passions fluctuate as we get nearer to Election Day.

MIDTERMS 2022: Tracking THE Issues THAT Subject TO VOTERS Forward OF ELECTION Working day

Down below you can observe the curiosity of just about every of our vital problems on a rolling 30-day foundation in the battleground state of Arizona. The Washington Examiner will be updating this webpage as passions and voting issues improve.

Critical races we’re viewing in the point out:

Arizona has a number of superior-profile races on the ballot this yr that might have national implications for the electric power equilibrium of Congress and how presidential elections will be held in the state.

Republicans are eyeing the Senate race amongst incumbent Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) who will confront Trump-backed challenger Blake Masters for a seat the GOP is hoping to flip in November. The race, as soon as considered a toss-up, is probable to lean Democratic, in accordance to some analysts, supplying Kelly an edge heading into the standard election.

Further down the ballot, Arizona voters are established to pick a new governor, which could have an affect on how presidential elections are held in the point out, specifically immediately after claims of prevalent voter fraud in 2020 that Trump allies claim are liable for the former president’s decline. That issue has taken center stage in the Arizona governor’s race as GOP applicant Kari Lake has focused significantly of her marketing campaign on rejecting the success of the 2020 election.

She is established to face Democratic applicant Katie Hobbs, who at the moment serves as the Arizona secretary of condition and has defended the state’s administration of the 2020 election.

Schooling

At the top of Arizona voters’ minds as of Sept. 2 is education, in accordance to world-wide-web searches recorded and analyzed by Google Developments.

Schooling emerged as a top worry among voters over the final month, spiking in mid-August as the new university calendar year began. Arizona voters are notably anxious about improved funding for schooling as effectively as decreasing economical barriers for college students heading to higher education, in accordance to a survey done by the Heart for the Foreseeable future of Arizona.

Google searches relating to education peaked 2 times during the past week of August, probable coinciding with the starting of the school year. The two spikes in world wide web website traffic mirror a greater trend as nationwide Google searches on training increased dramatically in close proximity to the close of final thirty day period.

Crime

Criminal offense has long been a focal stage in the midterm elections, with Democrats and Republicans generating clear distinctions about how they’d handle increasing criminal offense prices nationwide.

The difficulty of crime has not been central to the midterms dialogue in Arizona, but it has develop into a focal issue for numerous campaigns nationwide. It is not distinct how it will play out in the Grand Canyon Point out, but Republican candidates may perhaps have an benefit for the reason that they are normally viewed as to be better at handling crime, according to an April Washington Submit/ABC News poll.

That sentiment has shifted in prior many years, as voters applied to look at equally functions equal on the make a difference.

Taxes

Taxes emerged as one particular of the major problems for Arizona voters in the course of the month of August before dropping off and slipping to the 3rd-most researched subject matter by the commencing of September. Google searches associated to taxes spiked on Aug. 30 and then again on Sept. 1, possible coinciding with the announcement of President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

The problem of taxes has also been in the highlight in Arizona following the state Supreme Courtroom ruled in August that tax cuts enacted by condition lawmakers cannot be repealed by voters by a ballot referendum. Training advocates sought to block a decision from the state legislature that accredited tax cuts mainly benefiting wealthy taxpayers in the state.

Abortion

Abortion has remained a very low-investigated subject matter among Arizona voters in the course of the month of August, in accordance to Google Developments details. Best lookups linked to abortion between Arizona citizens incorporated queries on “abortion legal guidelines in Arizona” and “is abortion lawful in Arizona?”

Abortion is at this time legal in Arizona, with a new legislation established to just take position on Sept. 24 that bans the process soon after 15 months gestation. Under condition regulation, it is lawful for Arizona citizens to attain an abortion in one more condition.

Abortion emerged as a best concern amid voters nationwide above the summertime just after the Supreme Court docket announced its final decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, ending nationwide obtain to abortions and rather returning the selection of its legality to the states. The situation has significantly taken centre phase in the legal professional general’s race mainly because the posture will largely be accountable for decoding the state’s new abortion regulation.

Inflation

Even with remaining the major issue at the beginning of August, inflation has fallen to be a person of Arizona voters’ the very least vital priorities as of Sept. 2.

Republicans have long targeted on inflation as a critical voter issue in the midterm election cycle, pointing to soaring inflation rates underneath Biden. Even so, inflation has turn into less of a worry immediately after the passage of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, giving Democrats aid and posing issues to Republicans as they formulate new methods.