It seems impossible — or just too revolting — to keep up with the financial hanky-panky of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and First Partner (gag) Jennifer Siebel Newsom. But thanks to a couple of investigative reporters with stronger stomachs than I have, let’s see if I can’t put everything you need to know into one easily digestible column.
I love it when other people do my dirty work for me, so let’s get started.
h/t Thought criminal
In the city of Los Angeles: Democrats overwhelmingly vote late and by mail — but only Nithya Raman Democrats, not Karen Bass Democrats.
Related: LA’s Collapse Wasn’t An Accident
In the Tenderloin, the Hondos rule.
It’s 3 a.m. in San Francisco’s Tenderloin district, and an all-night, drug-fueled party has been raging for hours. The sidewalks are littered with trash and human feces. Addicts huddle in the alleys, inhaling fentanyl fumes through plastic straws; others are slumped over, barely conscious. Makeshift homeless encampments line block after block.
Dealers are everywhere. On the street corners, groups of men dressed in dark hoodies and face masks sell drugs. These are the “Hondos,” migrants from Honduras who have taken over the San Francisco drug trade. Night after night, they turn the Tenderloin into a lucrative, open-air drug market.
For this City Journal investigation, we spent three days and nights in the Tenderloin, talking to addicts, journalists, cops, and the dealers themselves. We discovered that the city’s progressive policies have allowed foreign drug gangs to take over an entire neighborhood in downtown San Francisco, poisoning the down-and-out and bringing Third World conditions to one of America’s wealthiest cities.
🚨 NOW: Polls are OFFICIALLY OPEN and voters are FLOODING to the polls as Spencer Pratt makes a surge in the LA mayoral race against Karen Bass
"Pratt — EXPLODING in popularity. He's making a competitive run to lead the nation's second-largest city."
Imagine the stunning… pic.twitter.com/B6X1QFgOqw
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) June 2, 2026
The governor’s race includes a field of 61 candidates, with recent polling showing former California Attorney General and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, leading the field, followed by billionaire Tom Steyer, also a Democrat, and British-born Republican commentator Steve Hilton.
The Democratic field also includes San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter, and former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is the only other Republican in the race.
The Golden State’s “jungle primary” system places all candidates, regardless of political party, on the same ballot, but only the top two finishers advance to the general election.
California has not elected a Republican to statewide office since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner.
In the nonpartisan race for L.A. mayor, incumbent Karen Bass is challenged by Councilmember Nithya Raman, reality TV star Spencer Pratt, Rae Chen Huang, and Adam Miller. Recent polling shows Bass narrowly leading Raman and Pratt, who received the endorsement of President Trump.
The polls opened at 7am and close at 8.
Hi, it's me, I'm the reason https://t.co/Uku223rsyI
— The San Andreas Fault (@sanandreafault) May 27, 2026
In this exclusive City Journal investigation, we contacted dozens of death-row inmates, who told us that prisoners in the state system use [taxpayer-funded tablets] to watch pornography and have explicit sexual conversations. Some prisoners, according to a former high-ranking California corrections official, use their tablets to groom minors.
A benefit concert raised $100M in funds for the Palisades fire victims. Here’s where it went;
– CA Native Vote Project: $100,000 for voter participation for Native Americans
– Community Organized Relief Effort (CORE): $250,000 for programs prioritizing undocumented immigrants
– Altadena Talks Foundation: $100,000 went to supported podcasts, including Toni Raines podcast
– NAACP Pasadena: $100,000 political advocacy
– Los Angeles Black Worker Center $550,000 to political advocacy organizations
– Center for Applied Ecological Remediation: $500,000 for fungus/microbe/plant soil remediation projectsOver $500,000 went to bonuses for nonprofit leaders and consultants
This may be the greatest political ad of the year:
OMMMMGGGGGGGGG pic.twitter.com/cHcXaItIJo
— Latinos Por Pratt (@LatinosPorPratt) May 5, 2026
Hear my prayer.
When your campaign hates you with the burning intensity of a thousand suns, but they desperately need the paycheck. pic.twitter.com/ze1kwwZvkz
— Rising serpent 🇺🇸 (@rising_serpent) May 6, 2026
Juxtapose time.
Banger 😂 pic.twitter.com/9EBbXguUdO
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 3, 2026
Hear my prayer. Multiple senior HHS officials estimate that, under Gavin Newsom, California’s state Medicaid program has lost 25 percent of its budget to fraud.
ALERT: LA mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt fires back against Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass after a reporter asked him if being a “reality TV star” is hurtful for his campaign.
“That was from 20 years ago. If we look at what Karen Bass was doing 20 years ago, she was in Cuba… pic.twitter.com/nly3Blfnfr
— E X X ➠A L E R T S (@ExxAlerts) March 27, 2026
The Sheriff of Riverside County, California, has gotten a warrant to count over half a million ballots from [the 2025 Special Election in California on redistricting] because there is a massive disparity between the number of votes recorded as cast and the number of ballots that were counted.
Not a few. But 45,800.
Hear my prayer.
NEW: Runners in the Los Angeles Marathon will be able to stop at mile 18 and still receive a finisher medal this weekend.
Organizers say it’s an option for participants who are having a tough race day. pic.twitter.com/6sycV36NuV
— Matthew Seedorff (@MattSeedorff) March 7, 2026
