The Peace and Freedom Party’s ticket of Claudia De La Cruz and Karina Garcia (President and Vice presidential nominees, respectively), of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) received 72,539 votes in California, giving the PFP our highest electoral percentage (0.5%) in a decade. The socialist movement saw a surge with De La Cruz and Garcia garnering 167,588 votes nationwide.
In contrast to these gains, the U.S. remains mired in the two party system, staggering to the right and once again electing Donald J. Trump.
The vote on the California ballot measures also indicated a rightward trend.
We saw the empowerment of the carceral system in the rejection of Proposition 6, which aimed to remove involuntary servitude (slavery) as punishment for incarcerated people, and the approval of Prop. 36, which increases the charges for drug and petty theft crimes with newly instituted or extended prison sentences.
Bond propositions posted mixed results. Two major spenders (Props 2 and 4) took a loan of $11.5 billion, which will cost taxpayers $27.5 billion over the next 40 years. Prop. 5, which would have lowered the vote threshold to pass local bond measures, was rejected.
Prop. 32’s effort towards livable wages, with a paltry increase of minimum wage to $18 an hour, was rejected.
Voters rejected Prop. 33, which would have repealed the 1995 Costa Hawkins Rental Housing Act. Passage of Prop. 33 would have given local governments the ability to institute strong rent control policies. Along with that, voters approved Prop. 34, a punitive measure against the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which had sponsored Prop. 33 and previous attempts to overturn Costa-Hawkins
On the positive side, Prop. 35 passed, allowing the Medi-Cal health programs to maintain a steady stream of income and continue to provide medical care to those who need it most.
Finally, Prop. 3 passed by a super-majority, making the opportunity for any and all individuals of legal age to marry in the state of California a constitutional right.