Adrian Rojas Elliot’s 2024 General Election Guide | California & Los Angeles County
Rants, recommendations, and requisite irreverence to prepare you for the 2024 general election
Well, that eight months flew by. We last spoke in March 2024 for the primary, when President Joe Biden was presumed to be our nominee. A lot has since changed.
One of the critiques I’ve seen trotted out by the redpilled set is that we on the left always say, “no this is the most consequential election of our lifetimes…” and then a few years later, “no this one!”
It’s a great litmus test for whether or not you understand how government works, because it’s true. Every election since 2016 (or, in a broader trend, since 2000’s Bush v. Gore) has indeed been increasingly consequential for reasons I need not enumerate here, and Democratic messaging has rightly promoted this new reality: when the opposition is fiercer and more unhinged than ever, the chasms between candidates grow ever wider, meaning the resultant governments they helm will be commensurately disparate in adherence to democratic principles, decorum, and decency. The era of the Mitt Romney Republican is gone; the GOP is and will remain the party of Donald Trump.
I love to clown myself, my friends, and my own side—but in this particular case, we’re right: as each side finds wild new ways to wrest power away from the other through extensive local, state, and federal electioneering, the stakes have never been higher, up and down the ballot.
Differences of opinion, strategy, and philosophy are not new. What’s new is how fucking insane everyone is. So please, people, on all sides, can we just chill?
Anyway. Vote proudly, and don’t expect much to be decided on election night.
Æ
References & Resources 📚
I use a range of sources to formulate my own recommendations for candidates and measures up and down the ballot. If I didn’t make a recommendation for an office or measure on your ballot, or you’re looking for a range of perspectives, use the links below for more helpful context, slates, and endorsements.
- Ballotpedia »
- LA Forward Action Progressive Voter Guide »
Also includes endorsements for other cities in Los Angeles County! - LAist Voter Game Plan »
- CADEM.org (California Democratic Party) »
- Democratic Socialists of America, Los Angeles »
- Los Angeles Times Election Guides »
- Los Angeles Times Endorsements »
- CalMatters »
- Los Angeles County Democratic Party »
- ACLU of Southern California »
I don’t live in San Francisco anymore, but many of you do! If you need recommendations for San Francisco Bay Area ballots, refer to the voter guides below:
Warning: Opinions Ahead 🗣
We won’t agree on every candidate or proposition. My goal is not to change your mind, but to present my opinion so you can land squarely in your own views — whether we agree or not. Candidates and voters are human and therefore imperfect, as are ballot measures. No human or law will ever meet your own personal criteria in all contexts, so spare me the moral archaeology of what so-and-so did awhile back. It’s not relevant.
Local Ballots Will Vary 🏛
The lists below do not encompass every district. And if you live in a city that is not Los Angeles, such as Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, Burbank, West Hollywood, Pasadena, Torrance, Glendale, Hermosa Beach, etc., you will have additional candidates and measures for your city. If your local candidates / offices are not listed below, you can start by entering your address into the CADEM endorsements form here. If you need further guidance, use the links in the References & Resources section I compiled above.
• Statewide Candidates
President & Vice President of the United States: Kamala D. Harris & Tim Walz
United States Senator, Full Term (ending January 3, 2031): Adam B. Schiff
United States Senator, Short Term (ending January 3, 2025): Adam B. Schiff
• Statewide Measures
✅ State Measure 2—YES: A $10 billion bond to repair and upgrade California’s aging public school and community college facilities.
✅ State Measure 3—YES: Formally amends the California Constitution to remove language that specifies marriage is between a man and a woman.
✅ State Measure 4—YES: Another $10 billion bond to better prepare us for climate risks, including safe drinking water, wildfire prevention, energy, conservation, and agriculture. Better to spend it now proactively before it’s too late.
✅ State Measure 5—YES: Removes the requirement for a supermajority by lowering the approval threshold for local infrastructure and housing bonds from 66.7% to 55%. It should be 50%+1, but 55% is good enough.
✅ State Measure 6—YES: Removes a provision in the California Constitution that allows jails and prisons to impose involuntary servitude as punishment for crime. Inmates are still given the option of working, and many do—but this measure would prevent them from being forced to do so.
✅ State Measure 32—YES: Raises the state minimum wage to $18 per hour in January 2025, up from $16.50. Businesses with 25 or fewer employees would have an extra year to comply. Reminder: California has the world’s 5th largest economy.
✅ State Measure 33—YES: Of all this election’s measures, more money has been spent opposing Measure 33 than any other—by far (and that means it will get the most airtime in this here guide). A staggering $121,183,398.07 has been contributed by wealthy realtor and landlord groups whose morally reprehensible hoarding of real estate is partly to blame for our housing affordability crisis, as is California’s Proposition 13 of 1978, plus decades of single-family zoning limitations. It is multifactorial, with no single cause. So naturally, landlords blame renters for their problems, rather than getting real jobs.
As a working millennial without generational wealth, I am unabashed and unapologetic in my contempt for residential landlordism as a business—from mom-and-pops to Greystar and Prime (my landlord). Maybe some of you have families in the trade. Rest assured I know what you’re thinking, because I’ve heard it all! “Well my family is great to our tenants. We have a lady who’s been in one of our units for 40 years, and we exchange gifts for the holidays!” Cool story. Until your dad is slashing all rents to below market and voting Yes on 33, I don’t care what comes out of your mouth—once the silver spoon has been dislodged, of course.
With that out of the way: 33 is an important but somewhat confusing measure that repeals a statewide rent control law, which, in turn, allows local governments to enact their own. Therefore, 33 expands local governments’ authority to enact rent control in all its forms. If you’ve seen ads on both sides and are skeptical of the claims, refer to this fact check.
Rent control opponents love to bloviate about how rent control limits housing supply—yet these same dunces refuse to increase housing density. Or there’s the one about how rent control privileges wealthy homeowners who also keep apartments as pied-à-terres rather than primary residences—yet they provide exactly zero evidence of this being a widespread problem. Then there’s my favorite, the bonkers argument that if a tenant can’t afford the rent, they should just move, or buy a home—and these clowns will in the same breath piss and moan relentlessly about the homelessness crisis without realizing that those people used to have homes, and that housing security is necessary for the “economic prosperity” they insist everyone has the opportunity to achieve. Instead, they promote the delusion that amassing wealth and real estate qualifies them as economists and entitles them to tell renters how to behave. As we know, landlordism is a disease, and I hope they get well soon. 💐
🚫 State Measure 34—NO: This is a bizarre one. Look at who’s funding it: the same nasty landlords I mentioned above, and a whole bunch of Republicans. They appear to be mad at the nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation, as this attempt to limit spending defines specific criteria that apply only to AHF and no other organization. Republicans really think they’re slick with this one. Goofy!
✅ State Measure 35—YES: Permanently authorizes an existing tax (set to expire in 2026) on managed care organizations. The revenues would be used for increased Medi-Cal programs and services. Notably, this measure is supported by both the Democratic and Republican parties of California.
✅ State Measure 36—YES: Lest ye think I’m an ignorant flip-flopper, I acknowledge that over the last 10–15 years I’ve vociferously supported measures (like Los Angeles Measure J) and candidates (like George Gascón) who promoted criminal justice reform. What a fun little experiment that was! It didn’t work. Broadly, crime is still up statewide, though still lower than in the period from roughly the 1970s–2000s. Retail theft in particular is up too, and you’ve seen the footage of stores being ransacked by organized mobs who were surely just making a quick stop on their way to the job fair. I refuse to accept the nonsense leftist ideology that organized shoplifting is somehow justified due to prevailing socioeconomic conditions or racial inequality, so I am, unfortunately, siding with the Republicans here. I’m nothing if not nuanced!
Measure 36 makes changes to California’s 2014 Proposition 47 (which I supported, and was approved by voters). For crimes where money or property worth $950 or less is stolen, the initiative would make the crime punishable as a felony for individuals who have two or more prior theft-related convictions (in other words, repeat offenders). The initiative would make the punishment up to three years in jail or prison depending on criminal history (currently, it is punishable by up to six months in jail). Certain drug offenses would be classified as treatment-mandated felonies, penalties would be increased for certain drug crimes by increasing sentence lengths and level of crime, courts would be required to warn individuals convicted of distributing illegal drugs of their potential future criminal liability if they distribute deadly drugs like fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine, and sentences would be increased for theft based on the value of the property stolen.
Notably, San Francisco’s controversial mayor London Breed (D) supports this measure.
• Los Angeles City & County Offices
📝 Is someone on your ballot missing from my list? Click here for a full guide to every candidate in Los Angeles County
Los Angeles Community College District, Member of the Board of Trustees
Seat 1: Andra Hoffman
Seat 3: David Vela
Seat 5: Nichelle M. Henderson
Seat 7: Kelsey Iino
Member of the State Assembly
39th Assembly District: Juan Carrillo
40th Assembly District: Pilar Shiavo
41st Assembly District: John Harabedian
42nd Assembly District: Jacqui Irwin
43rd Assembly District: Celeste Rodriguez
44th Assembly District: Nick Schultz
46th Assembly District: Jesse Gabriel
49th Assembly District: Mike Fong
51st Assembly District: Rick Chavez Zbur
52nd Assembly District: Jessica Caloza
54th Assembly District: Mark Gonzalez
55th Assembly District: Isaac Bryan
57th Assembly District: Sade Elhawary
61st Assembly District: Tina McKinnor
62nd Assembly District: José Luis Solache
66th Assembly District: Al Murastuchi
67th Assembly District: Sharon Quirk-Silva
69th Assembly District: Josh Lowenthal
Member of the State Senate
23rd State Senate District: Kipp Mueller
25th State Senate District: Sasha Renée Pérez
27th State Senate District: Henry Stern
33rd State Senate District: Lena Gonzalez
35th State Senate District: Michelle Chambers
United States Representative
27th District: George Whitesides
30th District: Laura Friedman
45th District: Derek Tran
47th District: Dave Min
Los Angeles County District Attorney: Nathan Hochman (please, no more George Gascón—even though I supported him in the past)
Los Angeles Superior Court Justice
Office № 39: Steve Napolitano
Office № 48: Ericka J. Wiley
Office № 97: Sharon Ransom
Office № 135: Steven Yee Mac
Office № 137: Tracy M. Blount
• Los Angeles City & County Measures
✅ Los Angeles City Measure DD—YES: Creates a redistricting commission to redraw Council district boundaries every ten years (which is already a standard interval for Congressional, State Senate, State Assembly, and State Board of Equalization districts).
✅ Los Angeles City Measure HH—YES: Makes various changes to the City Charter, such as requiring financial disclosures for appointees to commission, allowing the city controller to audit contractors, allowing the city attorney to have subpoena power, and more smart government updates.
✅ Los Angeles City Measure II—YES: Makes various changes to the City Charter to include gender identity in non-discrimination rules, clarifies that the El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument and the Los Angeles Zoo are park property, and more tweaks.
✅ Los Angeles City Measure ER—YES: Makes various changes to the City Charter to give the Ethics Commission an annual budget to help oversee and enforce the city’s lobbying, ethics, and campaign finance rules, officials would no longer be able to appoint family members as major donors, and other changes.
✅ Los Angeles City Measure FF—YES: So niche! There seems to be a lot of disagreement about this one. I see both sides. Measure FF makes changes to the City Charter to allow officers from the Police, Airport, Harbor and Recreation & Parks departments to move their pension plans from the Los Angeles’ City Employees’ Retirement System to the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension.
✅ Los Angeles City Measure LL—YES: Makes changes to the City Charter to establish an independent redistricting commission to redraw Board of Education district lines every 10 years in the LAUSD.
✅ Los Angeles Unified School District Measure US—YES: Enables safety upgrades to LAUSD’s facilities, such as upgrading plumbing and HVAC, repairing leaky roofs, improving earthquake preparedness, and more.
✅ Los Angeles County Measure G—YES: Modernizes the Los Angeles County Charter to increase the size of the Board of Supervisors from five to nine elected members, creates an elected County Executive role, creates an independent Ethics Commission, and more.
✅ Los Angeles County Measure A—YES: Replaces an existing ¼ cent increase in sales tax (which I supported and was approved by voters in 2017, and expires in 2027) with a new ½ cent tax to continue to fund homeless services indefinitely, along with new efforts to develop affordable housing, and more. (Note that thanks to Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe program, Los Angeles has seen its first double-digit decline in street homelessness in at least nine years. Remember when people thought billionaire real estate developer Rick Caruso could fix this problem? LOL! 🤡)
