On November 7, opponents of the new California U.S. House districts filed this Memorandum of Points & Authorities, setting forth the theory of why the new California U.S. House districts are unconstitutional. They charge that the new districts are a racial gerrymander,designed to help Hispanics. See it here. They are asking for a hearing in December.
See this story from peoplesworld.org.
Thanks to Robert K. Stock for the link. Here is the sample ballot.
Hannah Shvets was the Democratic Party nominee, and she was on the ballot as the nominee of both the Democratic Party and the Working Families Party. Her only opponent, incumbent G. P. Zurenda, was on the ballot with the label “Affordable Ithaca.” He had lost the Democratic primary in June 2025 to Shvets.
On November 8, Adelita Grijalva was interviewed on MSNBC, and she said she thinks her attorneys will soon ask the U.S. District Court in her lawsuit for expedited action. Here is the full interview.
This Newsweek story says that a poll commissioned by a Democratic candidate for Governor of California shows these results: Chad Bianco (R) 20%; Antonio Villaraigosa (D) 19%; Steve Hilton (R) 18%; Katie Porter (D) 15%.
A Berkeley IGS Poll released on November 7 shows: Bianco 13%; Porter 11%; Hilton 8%; Becerra 8%.
Georgia held a special statewide election on November 4, 2025, to elect two Public Service Commissioners. This is a partisan office. The election was noteworthy for several reasons.
It was the first time Georgia has held an odd year statewide election to elect state officers since 1883. Normally all Georgia elections for statewide state office are in November of even years.
It was the first statewide election since 1986 in which the Libertarian Party was not on the ballot for statewide office.
The election results were an overwhelming victory for the two Democratic nominees. One polled 62.7% and the other polled 62.9%. This was the first time Democrats had won any state statewide office since 2006. See the results here.
The Public Service Commission regulates utilities. It has five members, so Republicans still have a 3-2 majority.
Georgia held this special election because the office was missing from the ballot in 2024. It was missing in that election because of a lawsuit arguing that electing commissioners statewide violated the federal Voting Rights Act. The plaintiffs won that case in U.S. District Court, but lost in the Eleventh Circuit. But the litigation postponed the 2024 election. And because the office was not on the ballot in 2024, the Libertarian Party fell off the statewide ballot. Normally Libertarians always polled enough votes for Public Service Commissioner to retain statewide qualified status. But because that office was missing in 2024, and because there was no U.S. Senate election in Georgia in 2024 either, the Libertarians couldn’t meet the vote test. Georgia Libertarians never get enough votes for president to meet the vote test, except that they did in 2016.
A final irony is that one of the winners in the 2025 election is African-American.
