A closer look into the 2018 midterm elections

This midterm season, Senator Dianne Feinstein — the incumbent and a California senator for 26 years now — will face off against State Senator Kevin de León, a liberal firebrand who has caught the attention of progressives across the state and the endorsement of the California Democratic Party. Senator Dianne Feinstein is a familiar face in politics: before she became a senator in 1992, Fein...

After the 2011 Supreme Court ruling in Brown v. Plata that the overcrowding in California prisons constituted “cruel and unusual punishment,” there has been a decline in the state’s prison population. Unfortunately, as of April 2017, prison occupancy is still at 131.9 percent of maximum capacity. Even more worrisome, the recidivism rate, despite having dropped substantially, currently resides ...

Bill Clarkson: BACKGROUND: Mayor candidate Bill Clarkson has been a resident of San Ramon since 1980. He grew up in Oakland, California and earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration at San Jose State University. He also served in the US Air Force until 1976. He also started a small business in San Ramon immediately after he settled, for which he earned the “Business Person of t...

Tony Thurmond Thurmond is a state assemblyman who has served in elected office for the past decade on top of an extensive number of years performing as a social worker, 12 years working in schools and more leading up to his current position. Just earlier this year, the legislator received the California Association of School Counselors (CASC) Lawmaker of the Year award for his work with “fost...

Prop 1: Affordable housing Would set aside $1 billion for veteran housing Would provide subsidized housing for low income Would fund projects for development in rural and urban areas Prop 2: Homeless housing Would pay back $2 billion in long term for housing projects for the homeless Money would come from 2004 taxpayers' collection Would work to fix mental health institutions i...

Catharine Baker Catharine Baker is a Republican representing the 16th Assembly district of California. Baker is running for re-election, having served her first term representing bipartisan views. Her campaign slogan reflects her ideals on breaking traditional party lines: “Real Results, Not Partisanship.” In her last term as assemblywoman, Baker passed legislation to prevent child abuse in ...

As the midterm election approaches, the AP Government class at Dougherty Valley launched a three-part project to promote political literacy and activism on a local level. The three parts consisted of voter registration or pre-registration, in which 1,012 students participated in; presenting an election fair for students and faculty to attend and finally, a mock election to characterize DV’s stance a...

Dear Editor,   My purpose in writing this is to encourage my fellow constituents in California to exercise their powers of representation and vote in the Midterm elections this November. Secondly, I want to encourage a vote against California’s proposition 5, which is regarding the tax assessments for those severely disabled and those above the age of 55. This proposition will cost loc...