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Below is our Top Ten List of Winners and Losers for the Week. This feature is available to all of our subscribers, free and paid. Under the paywall, however, is our “Worst Week In California” special feature. It's me, in rare form, on video, going on why someone’s week sucked. Pithy? You bet! I strafe two runner-ups along the way in the video.
I’m off to go watch MLK’s “I have a dream…” speech. An annual tradition…
⏱️ 5-minute read
This is where we examine state and local politics (or national issues with a California angle), and highlight individuals (or groups) who have achieved notable successes or have had a particularly challenging week. I strive to call balls and strikes fairly and objectively, which sometimes makes it difficult to assemble this list.
*NEW FEATURE* WORST WEEK IN CALIFORNIA POLITICS
Starting this year, we have a new feature for paid subscribers. It’s below the paywall, and basically, I do a video dumping session on whoever had the worst week. Hey, if they are having a bad week, why not pile on? Fun times! Don’t miss out!
Top Winners & Losers This Week in California Politics
⬇️ LOSER: ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB BONTA (See Cartoon Above)
Attorney General Rob Bonta is a loser this week for declining to run for governor in an otherwise mediocre 2026 field [ [link removed] ]. Despite encouragement from party circles, he opted to seek reelection, leaving the statewide contest without a potential unifying Democratic figure for powerful public employee unions, which now appear fractured. The decision follows reports of hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign payments to a white-collar criminal defense firm, a detail that may have cooled private labor support and narrowed his political runway.
⬆️ WINNER: GOP NORTH STATE UNITY
While still reeling from the sudden and tragic death of Congressman Doug LaMalfa, North State Republicans are quickly unifying around Assemblyman James Gallagher [ [link removed] ] as the consensus GOP candidate to fill out the remainder of the term. That unity matters because Gov. Newsom has chosen to drag out the election timeline (see this week’s entry for loser Gavin Newsom). If Gallagher clears 50% in June, there is no August runoff. It is also notable that the LaMalfa family has asked him to step in.
⬇️ LOSER: RICK CARUSO, BILLIONAIRE DEVELOPER
Billionaire developer Rick Caruso is a loser this week because, after months of signaling that he was seriously considering another run for maybe Governor but probably Los Angeles mayor (again), he abruptly stepped aside [ [link removed] ]close enough to the city elections to matter. By keeping donors, activists, and potential challengers guessing for so long, he effectively froze the challenger lane and then left it unresolved. While Karen Bass does face opponents, the late exit deprives voters of clarity and denies the city the chance to see whether a fully formed, well-organized alternative might have taken shape.
⬇️ LOSER: STATE SENATOR SCOTT WIENER, HOUSE CANDIDATE
State Sen. Scott Wiener is a loser this week for reversing himself on the use of the word genocide to describe the war in Gaza [ [link removed] ]. He initially refused to use the term, acknowledging its gravity and the stakes involved, but later changed course [ [link removed] ] after sustained pressure from local anti-Israel activist groups. The shift reads less like moral clarity and more like political pandering, with language recalibrated to satisfy a loud constituency rather than reflect consistent judgment on a serious and sensitive issue.
⬆️ WINNER: SAN JOSE MAYOR MATT MAHAN
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan earns a winner mention this week as he openly signals a potential run for Governor [ [link removed] ], after spending months speaking plainly about Gov. Gavin Newsom and many of his policies. At a moment when many Democrats are tiptoeing around the incumbent, he has been willing to say out loud about the state’s affordability, homelessness, public safety, and governance failures. Do not get me wrong — Mahan is very left-wing on a host of issues — but at least some moral clarity is emerging in his willingness to criticize Newsom’s pretty bad job performance.
⬇️ LOSER: MAYOR KAREN BASS
Mayor Karen Bass is a loser this week for another clear failure of transparency involving the Los Angeles Fire Department’s response to the Palisades fire. The fire chief, who works for the mayor, has explicitly declined to investigate who watered down an official after-action report examining the department’s handling of the blaze [ [link removed] ]. That refusal keeps the public from knowing who altered a key accountability document after a major disaster. When senior officials shut down scrutiny, responsibility ultimately rests with the mayor, who oversees them.
⬇️ LOSER: GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM
Gov. Gavin Newsom is a loser this week for setting the special election dates to replace the late Rep. Doug LaMalfa as late as possible [ [link removed] ] - with the final election to take place all of the way out in August, even though earlier dates were possible under state law. This is clearly a political play to help Democrats in Washington, D.C., but it is a crass calculation that overlooks the fact that hundreds of thousands of Californians deserve full representation in Congress as soon as possible rather than months of unnecessary vacancy. I get the politics, but putting that over your people makes you a loser.
⬇️ LOSERS: MORGAN HILL AND PETALUMA CITY COUNCILS
The Morgan Hill and Petaluma City Councils are losers, period, for putting natural gas bans on the books in the first place and then failing to remove them. It was absolutely nutty to adopt these kinds of restrictions at all, given the cost, reliability, and energy-choice implications. Now, both cities are being sued by the United States Department of Justice [ [link removed] ] for keeping these bans in place, exposing residents to legal risk and to taxpayer-funded litigation, rather than simply repealing the bad policy.
⬇️ LOSERS: UNITED FIREFIGHTERS OF LOS ANGELES CITY (UFLAC), FIRE UNION
The United Firefighters of Los Angeles City land on the loser list this week for choosing to qualify a half-cent sales tax increase — raising the city rate from 9.75% to 10.25% [ [link removed] ] — rather than advancing a ballot measure that would reallocate existing city funds to the fire department. The proposal would generate hundreds of millions annually, but instead of confronting waste, fraud, and abuse in city government, the union has opted to try to punish taxpayers with higher taxes rather than demand fiscal discipline.
⬇️ LOSERS: THE CAGOP/OTHER PLAINTIFFS IN THE PROP 50 LAWSUIT
The California Republican Party and other plaintiffs are losers this week after a three-judge federal panel ruled 2–1 against [ [link removed] ] their immediate request to stop the implementation of Proposition 50’s new congressional maps. The lawsuit sought to block implementation of the voter-approved plan ahead of the 2026 midterms, but the panel declined to intervene. The ruling leaves the plaintiffs with limited options and forces them to seek relief from the U.S. Supreme Court if they want to continue the fight.
OK, now for all of you paid subscribers… Below, I got on a good length rant on our featured Worst Week In California Politics awardee — check it out! What? Aren’t you a paid subscriber? Hit the red button for a free trial!...
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