Understanding California’s Rightward Shift

FEATURING JAMES WOODSON - Reflecting the national mood that resulted in Donald Trump’s presidential victory, Californians also succumbed to the politics of fear, passing Proposition 36 which would increase penalties for petty crimes–a police and corporate backed measure that undoes the progress of decarceration. 

Voters on the left coast state also look poised to reject Proposition 6, a simple measure that would have ended forced prison labor. They rejected a rent control measure in spite of anxiety over the rising cost of housing, and rejected raising the minimum wage in spite of anger over low wages.  

In Southern California, incumbent District Attorney George Gascon, considered one of the most progressive DAs in the nation, lost by a wide margin to a pro-cop, former Republican. And voters in East Bay appear to have successfully recalled two top officials–Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price and Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao–seen as “soft on crime.”