CA-46 House winner?

The Santa Ana City Council voted unanimously to bar city employees from taking outside jobs involving federal immigration enforcement, such as investigating, arresting, detaining, transporting, or deporting people for agencies like ICE or contractors assisting them. The policy carves out exceptions for outside work with the U.S. Armed Forces or the Department of Homeland Security. A second vote is required at the council's Oct. 6 meeting before the policy takes effect.

Santa Ana, home to Orange County's largest Latino population and the county's only self-declared sanctuary city, saw ICE raids and protests roil the community last summer. City officials say outside immigration-enforcement work creates a conflict of interest and undermines public trust, particularly in the police department. The move echoes a similar policy Los Angeles adopted in March and mirrors a bill under consideration in the California legislature that would bar state peace officers from moonlighting as ICE agents. It's unclear how many Santa Ana employees the new rule will affect.

California voters will decide in November whether to lift a 1988 ban that bars the state and most local governments from using public funds to finance political campaigns. Proposition 4 would authorize the state and most localities to establish public campaign financing systems for state and local races, similar to programs already used by seven charter cities including San Francisco, Berkeley and Oakland. Candidates would need to meet qualifying criteria, such as securing small-dollar donors or accepting spending caps, to receive funding as grants, matching funds or vouchers.

Supporters, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, the state Democratic Party and good-government groups, argue public financing counters the influence of big private money and could broaden the pool of candidates. Opponents, including Republican lawmakers and some newspaper editorial boards, say taxpayers shouldn't subsidize campaigns and criticize the measure for lacking enforcement specifics, since it exempts the state's campaign finance watchdog from overseeing local programs. Voters rejected similar measures in 2000 and 2010, and recent polling shows continued public skepticism toward Prop. 4.

California lawmakers have passed Assembly Bill 1267, which would end the state's current law allowing minors to marry with parental and judicial consent. The measure, authored by Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, cleared the Legislature with near-unanimous support in August and now awaits Governor Gavin Newsom's decision by September 30.

California is one of just three states, along with New Mexico and Mississippi, with no minimum marriage age. An estimated 9,000 minors marry in the state each year, mostly girls wedding adult men, according to the advocacy group Unchained at Last. Previous bans failed for nearly a decade, largely due to opposition from the ACLU and Planned Parenthood, who argued restrictions would undermine minors' reproductive autonomy and access to independent healthcare. This year, facing pressure from federal defunding efforts and increased reliance on state support, Planned Parenthood stayed neutral while the ACLU maintained its opposition. Advocates, including survivors of child marriage, say the bill closes a loophole that has effectively legalized relationships otherwise considered statutory rape under state law.

Rep. Young Kim (R-CA) has not reported any income for her husband, Charles Kim, on congressional financial disclosures since first running in 2018, despite Orange County records showing he earned up to $100,000 in 2017 as a U.S. coordinator for Dam Jae, a South Korean nonprofit honoring Korean War veterans. The nonprofit's chairman says the payments were volunteer expense reimbursements, not wages, and Kim's campaign says her husband has been retired since 2017 with only exempt Social Security income.

The disclosure comes amid other financial-transparency disputes involving Kim, including a 2025 ethics complaint alleging she failed to report nearly $50,000 in privately funded travel with her husband to Israel and South Korea, and a failed 2018 lawsuit challenging her "small business owner" ballot label. The renewed scrutiny arrives as Kim faces a bruising general-election matchup against fellow Republican Rep. Ken Calvert in California's redrawn 40th District, a race where both incumbents' financial disclosure histories have become a campaign flashpoint.

California voters head to the polls in November to decide statewide and local races alongside 14 ballot propositions, including a closely watched "billionaires tax" measure and a recall-process reform. San Diego County's voter guide outlines a packed slate of contests, with voter pamphlets mailed in late September and ballots beginning to arrive October 5.

Key federal races include five competitive U.S. House districts (48–52), pitting incumbents and challengers from both parties after redistricting reshaped several seats. State Senate and Assembly races feature multiple incumbents defending seats, while the California State Board of Equalization's District 4 race pits a local water official against a sitting state senator.

Locally, San Diego County voters will also choose county supervisors, school board members, and city officials across numerous municipalities including San Diego, Chula Vista, Carlsbad, Escondido, Oceanside, and others, alongside mayoral races and special district seats covering healthcare, water, and community college boards. The wide-ranging ballot reflects a highly competitive election cycle across Southern California.

Two years after California voters passed Proposition 36, a tough-on-crime measure that let people charged with drug felonies opt into treatment instead of jail, an analysis of data from the state's largest counties finds few defendants actually completing treatment or having charges dismissed. Of 18,666 felony drug cases charged statewide last year, only 17% of defendants opted for treatment, and just 57 cases ended in dismissal after graduation. Implementation varies widely: some counties, like San Francisco, have made almost no arrests under the law, while others impose treatment periods ranging from three months to two years.

Prop. 36 passed without dedicated funding, and subsequent state budget allocations have fallen far short of what counties say they need. Shortages of treatment beds, case managers, and housing have left many participants, a large share of them homeless, unable to get consistent care. Old convictions with no statute of limitations have also triggered felony charges for people who had been sober for years. Prison admissions under the law are rising, though supporters argue the program is still helping people who otherwise would not seek treatment.

Los Angeles County begins mailing ballots this Thursday ahead of the Nov. 3 election, with all California counties required to start mailing by Oct. 5. In the June primary, nearly 82% of ballots cast in L.A. County were by mail. Voters can return ballots as soon as they arrive, using postage-free mail, official dropboxes, or in-person Vote Centers, which open starting Oct. 24 and will all be operating by Halloween. Orange County expects the U.S. Postal Service to pick up about 1.9 million ballots on Saturday, with delivery beginning Oct. 5.

The update comes amid scrutiny of federal efforts to restrict mail-in voting. The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued an injunction blocking a Trump administration executive order that would have required states to submit voter lists and directed USPS to send ballots only to approved recipients. California's Secretary of State says no changes have taken effect and voters can cast ballots without added uncertainty. State and local officials continue to encourage early voting ahead of the November election.

Orange County, Florida voters on Nov. 3 will pick a new mayor from Democrat Tiffany Moore Russell and Republican Chris Messina, while also voting on Amendment 3, a statewide measure to phase out property taxes on primary homes. Moore Russell opposes the amendment and says she'd cut vacant positions, review contracts and freeze hiring to offset losses; Messina supports it and favors zero-based budgeting and selling unused county assets. Analysts estimate the county could lose hundreds of millions in general fund and public safety tax revenue if the measure passes. Moore Russell led the August primary, and the race has become the costliest in county history.