Good morning, Paul Thornton here. Today is Saturday, July 27th. I’ve just returned from a three week stay in Norway and Italy. Have I forgotten anything?
Of course, I’m asking this question half in jest. The past four weeks have been some of the most momentous and shocking days in the US presidential election, and escaping the news over the holidays has been impossible. I wrote about how it felt to watch all this unfold from Rome, a stable social democracy, and to answer questions from concerned relatives in Norway. This was before President Biden dropped out of the race and Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic presidential front-runner.
Harris has a long history in California and, as a result, the Times editorial board has a long history of covering her. As she noted during her campaign, before becoming a U.S. senator in 2016, Harris served as California’s attorney general and San Francisco’s district attorney.
So I wondered: Did she get the committee’s endorsement in 2010, when she narrowly defeated Los Angeles County Republican (yes, you read that right) District Attorney Steve Cooley for attorney general? No, she didn’t. The committee argued that Cooley effectively managed a tricky office during a local crisis, and that management skills matter more than political ideology for a state attorney general. Cooley, a Republican, got the endorsement in 2010, but if former President Trump’s campaign plans to use it against his opponent now, it’ll have to skip over the parts where Harris was glowingly praised.
“On these issues, Harris is right where Cooley is wrong. She supports health care legislation and same-sex marriage. Though she opposes the death penalty, she will enforce and defend it as Attorney General. Moreover, Harris is a smart, dynamic, forward-thinking leader and we are pleased and look forward to a bright future for him. She sees the potential for an office that is larger and more comprehensive than the current Attorney General’s office – one that would address issues like school truancy and criminal recidivism and attack crime at a causal level rather than just a reactive level. She is a thinker and a good thinker.”
This is the most positive non-endorsement I’ve seen. With Harris running for president, the “bright future” predicted by the committee seems to have arrived. But with the survival of American democracy hanging in the balance, I’d argue that things are a bit darker than expected.
What does Kamala Harris’ candidacy for California attorney general tell us about the race? Former Los Angeles Times reporter Dan Morain recalls Harris as a “tough, fearsome, disciplined” campaigner in her very close 2010 run against Cooley. Morain’s fascinating article also includes a look at pre-insurrection John Eastman, a minor figure in California politics before he caught Trump’s ear.
Are Asian American voters loyal to the Democratic Party or leaning toward the Republican Party? Historian James Zarzadius examines the changing political landscape for Asian Americans, who have a history of activism in the Republican Party dating back to the 1950s. He points out that the Democrats won smaller margins of Asian American votes in the 2020 and 2022 elections than in past elections, and with Asian American Harris becoming the party’s top candidate, it will be interesting to see whether this trend continues.
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Inglewood needs a people mover, says Councilwoman Waters. SoFi Stadium, Kia Forum and the brand new Intuit Dome in Inglewood will host 400 events and draw up to 5 million visitors next year. Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts said the heavy vehicle traffic associated with these events demonstrates the need for a dedicated people mover connecting the three venues to the K Line, which is why he finds Councilwoman Maxine Waters’ recent efforts to weaken federal funding for the project surprising and unwelcome.
Southern Californians have shaped the country’s biggest political problems. We can solve them, too. Historian James Tejani is optimistic about America’s ability to address many of its problems, writing that the region is “a great place to resolve history’s dilemmas and move the United States forward, including through policy experimentation and new principles for building, preserving, and sharing wealth. Shaping a better future for the nation will require tough choices. It will require vision and boldness, to be sure. But that, too, is a legacy of Southern California’s past that we are ready to reclaim.”
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