midterm election Archives

Huber, 141 votes ahead, confident of Council win

Expects to take office in December for 5-2 liberal majority

by Dave Waddell | Posted November 11, 2018

Newly elected Chico City Council members will be sworn in Dec. 4, and Scott Huber expects to be there, raising his hand and reciting the oath of office.

According to the latest vote tallies, the liberal Huber holds a 141-vote lead over incumbent Andrew Coolidge for the third and final Council seat contested in the Nov. 6 election. With nine candidates vying, conservative Kasey Reynolds finished on top with 12,758 votes, while progressive Alexandria “Alex” Brown was second with 12,128. Huber currently is in third with 11,521 votes, while the conservative Coolidge is fourth with 11,380.

If Huber is seated, the Council will shift from a 4-3 conservative majority to a 5-2 liberal advantage – despite more than a quarter of million dollars pouring in to advance the candidacies of Reynolds, Coolidge and Matt Gallaway, who finished sixth. read more

Chico’s conservative candidates haul in $200,000

Esplanade League fined, quits; FPPC still probing conservative PAC

by Dave Waddell | Posted October 5, 2018

When it comes to political action committees (PACs) operating in this year’s Chico City Council race, some things have changed while one has remained the same: Big bucks contributed by big developers to a PAC backing conservative candidates.

In fact, three conservative City Council candidates and the developers’ PAC supporting them have hauled in an unprecedented $200,000 in contributions for the Nov. 6 election, compared to a total of about $85,000 for three liberal candidates.

Meantime, the Esplanade League, a liberal PAC established in 1997, filed termination papers earlier this year in the wake of paying a fine to the state Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). read more

U.S. Senate candidate Kevin de León calls for “debt-free” education

Campaigning in Chico, de León says opponent Feinstein should have stopped Kavanaugh

by Leslie Layton | Posted September 28, 2018

photo by Karen Laslo

California Sen. Kevin de León at CSUC’s Trinity Commons.

California Sen. Kevin de León, running an uphill battle to win a U.S. Senate seat, campaigned Thursday in Butte County, calling for debt-free higher education, immigration reform and Medicare-for-all.

De León also criticized his opponent, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, for not acting sooner to stop Judge Brett Kavanaugh from becoming a U.S. Supreme Court justice nominee on the brink of confirmation. De León said Feinstein could have helped block the 2006 floor vote that confirmed Kavanaugh to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

De León, who has served as president pro tempore of the California Senate, indicated he believes Democrats in Congress must use more combative tactics – not unlike strategies in use by Republicans – in the face of Republican Party extremism. He said his position isn’t partisan, but rather a reaction to a presidency that is an “abnormal electoral aberration.” read more