The Brief

As the wildfires in Los Angeles tear through hillsides, raze neighborhoods and displace residents, it's too early to know how vast the destruction will be when the last of the flames is put out. Initial estimates predict that the costs will be massive. One leading climate scientist, Daniel Swain of UCLA told KQED that the fires could become some of the costliest in U.S. history; as of Monday afternoon, AccuWeather experts said that total losses could cost somewhere from $250 billion to $275 billion.

Those final, unknown costs and eventual payouts coincide with an inflection point in California's home insurance market, the biggest in the U.S., in the age of climate change. Home insurance rates are increasing across the country, but the Golden State has been hit particularly hard as wildfire seasons have become more devastating, amid hotter temperatures and drought-dried vegetation.
Experts and policymakers agree: Climate change is upending the way that homes are insured in the United States. Across the country, what were once "once-in-a-generation" weather catastrophes occur much more frequently. And as insurance companies contend with the sum total of these disasters, those higher costs are passed on to policyholders.

In many respects, California has a uniquely complicated insurance situation. But it's a problem throughout the country: The effects of climate change are coming for people's home insurance bills.

California faces 'an insurance crisis like we've never seen'

Insurance rates in California have been slowly ticking up for years, though climate change isn't the only driving factor, according to Meredith Fowlie, a professor of agricultural and resource economics at UC Berkeley who researches the links between wildfire risk and insurance prices.

Simply put: The costs of doing business are going up, such as increased costs of the construction materials and skilled labor needed to repair and rebuild homes, as well as higher interest rates, she says. That's the case across the country.

In her research, though, it's clear that the worsening wildfire seasons have been a major driving force behind California's market instability. Specifically, the 2017 and 2018 seasons were "particularly devastating, raising concerns about the insurability of catastrophic wildfire risk," according to a study she co-authored, published last June with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER).
The massive losses incurred from those fires "wiped out more than a quarter century of cumulative profits for the industry twice over," according to Carolyn Kousky, of the Environmental Defense Fund, who researches climate risk and policy. "So that was a bit of a shake-up for people and a recognition that climate impacts are here and are costly and the risk isn't stabilizing — it's continuing to go up."

A person walks along a fire-ravaged street in the Pacific Palisades on Saturday.

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That coincided with the industry investing more heavily in better analytics and modeling of insurance risk, Fowlie says.

"These newer risk-modeling tools are definitely helping insurers come to terms with what wildfire risk looks like in California and how they'd want to price it in order to ensure that they are ready to pay when claims come in," she says.
The results of all this hit consumers hard, according to the NBER study. Premiums rose, especially in areas where fires had hit or that were otherwise deemed high risk by insurers. Insurers paused writing of new policies or told people their plans wouldn't be renewed; and increasing numbers of people had to resort to California's FAIR Plan, a semiprivate insurance plan of last resort, which has considerably higher premiums and less coverage than traditional plans. (The FAIR Plan covers 1 in 5 homes in the Pacific Palisades, CalMatters reported.)
And since home insurance is a prerequisite for getting and having a mortgage, Fowlie says, it's a particularly pressing issue for those who live in those high-risk ZIP codes, many of whom are struggling to afford the higher insurance rates needed for homeownership.

"California has been suffering from an insurance crisis like we've never seen," California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara says.

Insurance markets across the country are feeling similarly pinched

Shawn Murphy removes drywall at a friend's house after flooding from Hurricane Francine in September 2024.

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California's litany of problems — high premiums, less availability of insurers and increasing numbers of people on insurance plans of last resort — echo across the country, the Environmental Defense Fund's Kousky says. Florida and Louisiana are seeing similar levels of market instability, thanks to worsened hurricane seasons as rising temperatures and sea levels make hurricanes more intense and flooding worse.
Take Florida, where 16 insurer carriers have become insolvent since 2017 and 16 others have stopped writing policies, even though Floridians pay the highest premiums on average in the United States. The state-backed insurer of last resort, Citizens Property Insurance, started getting many more policy holders, NPR reported in 2022.
When Hurricane Ian hit the state in September 2022, many worried that the expensive payouts could be the final straw for many insurance companies. And it was, Central Florida Public Media reported, as Ian proved to be the most expensive storm in Florida history: Over 30 insurance carriers left the state.
Hurricanes and wildfires have been making conditions in Florida, Louisiana and California extreme, but there's a similar trend nationwide, Kousky says. Texas and Colorado had to create state-backed insurance programs because of insurance issues with wildfires, she said, and coastal New Jersey has dealt with rising sea levels that make flooding more likely.

Flames explode as wildfires burn near a shopping center near Broomfield, Colo., on Dec. 30, 2021.

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Across the country, household budgets have been absorbing higher home insurance costs, Fowlie says. Adjusted for inflation, she says, premiums have increased 13% on average since 2020 — though that figure doesn't illustrate how lopsided they have gotten in some parts of the country.

It's something that state insurance commissioners across the country have their eyes on, says Lara, who chairs the climate resiliency committee at the National Association of Insurance Commissioners. And he uses what has happened in California's market as an example of what could happen to others.

"What we've been telling people nationally and in our meetings with other insurance commissioners is do not wait until California comes to a theater near you and you're getting insurance companies to either restrict their portfolios in the state or leaving the state," he says.

Firefighters from an Oregon strike team survey damage Sunday at a Sunset Boulevard home leveled by the Palisades Fire.

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The L.A. fires come as insurers are poised to come back to California

In the near future, insurance rates in California are expected to spike — but not necessarily because of the fires. At the end of 2024, the California Department of Insurance passed long-anticipated regulations in an attempt to increase access to insurance.

There are many parts to the new regulations, but chief among them is something that insurance companies had asked from state regulators for years: being able to base rates on forward-looking models of climate risk in the state, without needing to cite historical data. In exchange, the companies committed to writing more policies in high-wildfire-risk areas and factoring in any fire-mitigation efforts into lowering those rates.
"Those were concessions to the insurance industry to create an environment that they feel more comfortable doing business in," says Amy Bach, executive director of United Policyholders, a nonprofit group that advocates for people with insurance policies.\

Like other experts, she expects this to increase rates in the short term as insurers adjust their prices. But it's unclear whether this latest batch of wildfires will upend these efforts to stabilize the market, she says.
Lara, though, is optimistic that the market will improve within a year but acknowledges that "this fire complicates an already complicated situation."

It's a test case of whether policy reform can meet climate challenges

These rules don't just have implications for California — Lara hopes that these new reforms can be a road map for other states that are trying to adjust for climate change's effects on homeownership. "If we're going to have a solvent insurance market in the country, insurance can no longer be an afterthought in the national and global conversations around climate change. Insurance has to be at the forefront."

But if the past few years have demonstrated anything, it's that traditional insurance models have had trouble accounting for the "known unknown" risks that climate change poses, the Environmental Defense Fund's Kousky says, making it difficult to provide coverage affordably.
"I think the big question now, after what we're seeing in the L.A. region, is, you know, how far can regulatory changes go in helping maintain insurability in this environment of really catastrophic wildfire risk?" she says.

What has become clear, though, is that it's a problem that U.S. homeowners are not going to be able to ignore.
"It's the one place where I feel lots of Americans are seeing the costs of climate hit their pocketbooks," she says. "And it's like a kitchen table economics problem now. And yet it's directly related to what we've been doing with the climate. And I think it's maybe one of the first places that lots of people are grappling with that."

Copyright 2025 NPR

Despite the loss of federal subsidies that lowered costs for millions, California’s private health insurance marketplace held nearly steady this enrollment season. In all, 1.9 million Californians renewed their plan or selected one for the first time — a 2.7% drop compared to last year.

A closer look, however, shows Californians are making concessions to afford staying insured.

More enrollees are opting for “bronze-level” plans. These plans have lower monthly premium costs but higher deductibles and copays; they cover 60% of medical expenses — leaving enrollees to pay the rest. One-in-three new enrollees chose bronze plans for 2026, compared to one-in-four last year, according to Covered California. And 130,000 Californians renewing their coverage switched from a silver or higher-metal tier plan to bronze.

“Many Californians see the value in remaining covered, but they had to make sacrifices and shift to lower-tier plans. We see it as a commitment to health and the value that Covered California provides,” Jessica Altman, Covered California’s executive director said in a statement.

While bronze-level plans may offer people some peace of mind, the high deductibles and copays tend to discourage people from seeking care, said Miranda Dietz, director of the Health Care Program at the UC Berkeley Labor Center.

“Those out-of-pocket costs do impact people’s decisions to get care, so that’s worrisome as well,” Dietz said.

People earning above 400% of the federal poverty level — $62,600 for an individual and $128,600 for a family of four — no longer qualify for premium assistance after Congress chose not to extend the enhanced subsidies at the end of last year, pushing many to opt for plans with cheaper premiums or drop their marketplace plans entirely.

Of the 224,000 middle-income enrollees set to renew, 22% cancelled their plans, according to Covered California. New sign ups for people in this income bracket decreased by 59% compared to last year.

Whether those who renewed coverage or newly signed up continue to pay their premiums is another question. A clearer picture of who stays enrolled will emerge around April, Covered California said.

“Once you actually face the prospect of paying that premium and the stress that puts on your budget, it’s entirely possible that some of those folks may fall off, and the [enrollment] numbers might go down,” Dietz said.

Affording care: A growing stress point 

It’s unknown whether people who cancelled their marketplace health plans are enrolling in other types of insurance. Covered California data from the last five years show that when people terminate their marketplace plan, 10% to 14% of them report becoming uninsured.

The Affordable Care Act’s enhanced premium subsidies, first enacted in 2021 as part of federal COVID-19 response, helped lower the insurance costs for millions of Americans. They especially helped middle-income earners by allowing them to qualify for financial assistance for the first time, capping premiums at 8.5% of income. That help is now gone, and premiums are up an average of 10%.

Lower-income enrollees remain eligible for standard federal premium aid available since ACA marketplaces launched. They also benefit from state help. California allocated $190 million in 2026 to provide state-funded tax credits for people who earn up to 165% of the federal poverty level — $25,823 for an individual or $53,048 for a family of four — averaging about $45 a month per enrollee.The end of the enhanced federal subsidies also come at a time when poll after poll shows health care costs are a growing stress point for people. Seven in 10 Californians say health care expenses place a financial strain on their household, according to a recent survey by the California Health Care Foundation. Four in 10 have medical debt and six in 10 report skipping care. Meanwhile, eight in 10 Californians say making health care affordable is an “extremely” or “very” important priority for state officials and lawmakers in 2026.

There have been plenty of Beatles-related documentaries in the past decade or so, and yes, I've reviewed most of them. But in my defense, The Beatles are a great subject, musically and biographically — and the best filmmakers are drawn to them.

Peter Jackson gave us the Get Back documentary miniseries and the latest installment of The Beatles Anthology. Ron Howard directed Eight Days a Week, about the group's touring years. Martin Scorsese directed Living in the Material World, his two-part biography of George Harrison. All of them were terrific — and all of them were made by Oscar-winning directors.

Documentary filmmaker Morgan Neville, who won an Oscar for his film about backup singers, 20 Feet From Stardom, has joined that club. He's already directed outstanding biographies of everyone from Johnny Cash and Anthony Bourdain to Steve Martin and Fred Rogers. And now, Prime Video is premiering his latest documentary, Man on the Run, about former Beatle Paul McCartney.

The word "former" is key here: While brief, artful montages encapsulate the frenzy and impact of Beatlemania, Man on the Run is focused on the decade immediately afterward — the 1970s. Specifically, it spans the period from when McCartney left The Beatles to when his former bandmate, John Lennon, was shot and killed.

Neville conducted many lengthy new interviews with McCartney but uses only the sound. Virtually all the footage in Man on the Run is vintage, so there are no white-haired rock stars in sight. But because McCartney is an executive producer and has provided a stunning amount of previously unseen private footage, there's lots of fresh stuff to see here.

The danger of McCartney having such input, though, is of Man on the Run becoming too sanitized as a personal biography. But it's not. The decade covered includes McCartney announcing the breakup of The Beatles, his very public musical feud with Lennon, the formation of McCartney's post-Beatles band Wings, even the "Paul is dead" rumor.

And in these new interviews, McCartney seems to be speaking honestly — not only about what happened, but how he felt about it all. On The Beatles breakup, for example, it was McCartney who announced it publicly — but it was Lennon who already had left the group. McCartney's reaction, at age 27, was to retreat with his family to a remote property he owned in Scotland — in a vintage interview, Linda McCartney recalls her husband's out-of-the-blue suggestion.

Man on the Run relies on other voices and perspectives to defend some of McCartney's infamous actions during this period. Lennon's son Sean, for example, excuses McCartney's stunned, understated reaction to John's death — when asked by reporters, he called it "a real drag" — as having been in shock.

And Lennon himself, in an interview filmed years after The Beatles' breakup, admits that McCartney was right in hating and suing the manager, Allen Klein, whom John had brought in to handle the group. At the time, Lennon and McCartney even attacked one another in song — and in a new interview, McCartney is very open about how much that stung.

That same refreshing honesty extends to other key moments — the formation of his group Wings and recruiting Linda as its first charter member, his jail time in Japan for bringing pot into that country, even the time Lorne Michaels, on Saturday Night Live, jokingly offered The Beatles a ridiculously small check if they would reunite on his show.

Man on the Run is more about the man than it is about his creative process. But his music runs all through the documentary, and it all adds up to an impressive, inspirational second act.

Two days after At Chandee, who goes by Ricky, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the White House's X account posted about him, calling the 52-year-old the "WORST OF WORST" and a "CRIMINAL ILLEGAL ALIEN."

Except that the photo the White House posted was of a different person. The post also incorrectly claimed Chandee had multiple felony convictions — he has one, for second-degree assault in 1993 when he was 18 years old. He shot two people in the legs and served three years in prison.

Chandee, who came to the U.S. as a child refugee, was ordered to be deported back to his home country, Laos. But Laos had not been accepting all of the people the U.S. wanted it to, so the federal government determined that it was likely infeasible to deport him, his lawyer Linus Chan told NPR. Chandee therefore was granted permission to stay in the U.S. and work so long as he checked in with immigration authorities periodically. He has not missed a check-in in over 30 years and has not had another criminal incident.

People who know Chandee do not see him as "worst of the worst."

After Chandee completed his prison sentence, he finished school and became an engineering technician. He worked for the city of Minneapolis for 26 years, became a father, and his son grew up to join the military.

In his free time, Chandee enjoys hiking and foraging for mushrooms, Minnesota Public Radio reported.

"We are proud to work alongside At 'Ricky' Chandee," said Tim Sexton, Director of Public Works for the City of Minneapolis in a statement. "I don't understand why he would be a target for removal now, why he was brutally detained and swiftly flown to Texas, or how his removal benefits our city or country."

Chandee is petitioning for his release in federal court.

Chandee's case is not unique 

Social media accounts from the White House, the Department of Homeland Security and other immigration agencies have spent much of the past year posting about people detained in the administration's immigration crackdown, typically portraying them as hardened, violent criminals. That's even as over 70% of the people detained don't have criminal records according to ICE data.

NPR's research of cases in Minnesota shows that while many of the people who have been highlighted on social media do have recent, serious criminal records, about a quarter are like Chandee, with decades-old convictions, minor offenses or only pending criminal proceedings. Scholars of immigration, media and criminal law say such a media campaign is unprecedented and paints a distorted picture of immigrants and crime.

A year into President Trump's second term, the X accounts of DHS and ICE have posted about more than 2,000 people who were targets of mass deportation efforts. Starting late last March, DHS and ICE began posting on X on a near daily basis, often highlighting apprehensions of multiple people a day, an NPR review of government social media posts show.

Among the 2,000 people highlighted by the agencies, NPR identified 130 who were arrested by federal agents in Minnesota and tried to verify the government's statements about their criminal histories.

In most of the social media posts, the government did not provide the state where the conviction occurred or the person's age. Public court records do not tend to include photos so definitive identification can be a challenge.

NPR derived its findings from cases where it was able to locate a name and matching criminal history in the Minnesota court and detention system, in nationwide criminal history databases, sex offender databases, and in some cases, federal courts and other state courts.

In 19 of the 130 cases, roughly 1-in-7, public records show the most recent convictions were at least 20 years ago.

Seventeen of the 19 cases with old convictions did include violent crimes like homicide and first-degree sexual assault. ICE provided some of those names to Fox News as key examples of the agency's accomplishments. "It's the most disturbing list I've ever seen," said Fox News reporter Bill Melugin on X, highlighting the criminal convictions of each person on the list.

For seven people, their only criminal history involved driving under the influence or disorderly conduct.

Six of the 130 Minnesota cases highlighted by the administration involved people with no criminal convictions. The government's social media posts for those six instead rely upon the charges and arrests as evidence of their criminality, even though arrests don't always lead to charges and charges can be dismissed.

In yet another case, the government highlighted a criminal charge even while noting it had been dismissed. (The person did have other existing convictions.)

For 37 of the 130 people, NPR was unable to confirm matching criminal history after consulting the databases and news coverage. Some of the names turned up no criminal history at all. The government said these people committed crimes ranging from homicide and assault to drug trafficking, and cited one by name to Fox News. NPR tried to reach out to all 37 people and their families for comment but did not receive a response from any.

In a statement to NPR, DHS's chief spokesperson Lauren Bis did not dispute NPR's findings or provide documentation where NPR wasn't able to confirm matching criminal history.

"The fact that NPR is defending murderers and pedophiles is gross," Bis wrote. "We hear far too much about criminals and not enough about their victims." before listing four of the people with old convictions of homicide and sexual assault, underlining the date of deportation order for three of them.

Images designed to trigger emotion

The stream of social media posts with photos of mostly nonwhite people are meant to draw an emotional response, says Leo Chavez, an emeritus professor of anthropology at the University of California, Irvine. They "have been used repeatedly over and over to get people to buy into, really drastic, drastic and draconian actions and policies," he said.

Chavez, whose most recent book is The Latino Threat: How Alarmist Rhetoric Misrepresents Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation, recalls how political campaigns in past decades presented images of Latinos — often men — without context. "Just by showing their image, showing brown people, particularly brown men, it's supposed to be scary."

The fact that the government's social media posts come with statements about criminal history as well as photos reinforces that emotional response, Chavez said. DHS has previously acknowledged inaccuracies on their website. But even if the department issues corrections, Chavez said, "the goal was actually achieved, which was to reinforce the criminality and the visualization."

CNN's analysis of DHS's "Arrested: Worst of the Worst" website showed that for hundreds out of about 25,000 people posted on the website, the crimes listed were not violent felonies. Instead, DHS listed people with records that included traffic offenses, marijuana possession or illegal reentry. DHS said the website had a "glitch" that it will fix but also that the people in question "have [committed] additional crimes."

"I've never seen anything like this when it comes to immigration enforcement in the modern era," said Juliet Stumpf, a professor at Lewis & Clark Law School who studies the intersection of immigration and criminal law. She said the drumbeat of social media posts focused on specific individuals was like "FBI's most wanted posters" or "like reality TV shows."

Stumpf drew a parallel with an incident from the 1950s when the U.S. government deported two permanent residents suspected of being communists. "The government was kind of proclaiming and celebrating their deportation because getting rid of these communists was making the country safer," said Stumpf, "Maybe that's comparable to something like [this]."

An analysis by the Deportation Data Project shows a dramatic increase in arrests of noncitizens without criminal records during President Trump's current term compared to President Biden's term.

"If you look at research, immigrants actually tend to commit fewer crimes than even U.S. citizens do. And that's true of immigrants who have lawful status here and immigrants who don't," said Stumpf. "If we have a number of social media posts that are painting immigrants as the worst of the worst…it's actually really putting out a distorted version of reality about who immigrants actually are."

Some claims are disputed by other authorities

In some posts, DHS and ICE have also used photos of people and statements about their criminal histories to burnish the federal government's accomplishments, defend their agents and criticize states like Minnesota. State and local authorities have in turn pushed back, and some of the federal government's claims about the people it has detained have been met with setbacks in the courts.

DHS accused Minnesota's Cottonwood County of not honoring detainers, written requests by ICE to hold prisoners in custody for a period of time so ICE can pick them up. In one post, the agency identified a person who was charged with child sexual abuse, writing "This is who sanctuary city politicians and anti-ICE agitators are defending."

The Cottonwood County sheriff's office said DHS's post "misrepresented the truth" in their own post on Facebook. According to their account, the county did honor the detainer but ICE said it was unable to pick up the person before the order expired and the county had to release the suspect.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections wrote in a blog post that dozens of people DHS listed on its "Worst of the Worst" website were not arrested as DHS described, but were transferred to ICE by the state because they were already in state custody. The Corrections Department has since launched a page dedicated to "correct the Department of Homeland Security's (DHS) repeated false claims."

The "Worst of the Worst" website has some overlap with the department's social media posts, but it contains a much larger number of people — over 30,000 nationally. It included a Colombian soccer star who was extradited to the U.S., tried in Texas, convicted of drug trafficking and served time in federal prison. The website incorrectly describes him as being arrested in Wisconsin. The soccer player, Jhon Viáfara Mina, recently finished his sentence early and returned to Colombia, according to Spanish newspaper El Diario Vasco.

In some instances, DHS and ICE wrote about incidents where they ran into conflict when carrying out arrests. In those posts, they named the arrestees and posted their photos. But in one case where the incident went to court, the government's account of the events shifted. After a federal agent shot Julio C. Sosa-Celis in Minneapolis in January, DHS claimed he was lodging a "violent attack on law enforcement." Assault charges against Sosa-Celis fell apart in court as new evidence surfaced, and the officers involved were put on leave.

Despite the fact that the charges were dropped, DHS's post profiling Sosa-Celis remains online.

A coalition of organizations, including the ANSWER coalition and 50501, are holding an “emergency day of action” nationwide in reaction to the airstrikes launched by the United States and Israel across Iran.

Since the actions were originally planned, NPR has reported that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed by an Israeli strike. That's according to a person briefed on the strike and unable to speak publicly.

Here is a list of local demonstrations across Southern California.

• Aliso Viejo
  Aliso Creek Road and Enterprise
  Starts at 11 a.m.
  
• Los Angeles
  City Hall, 200 N Spring St.
  Starts at 2 p.m.
  
• Ventura
  Ventura County Government Center, Victoria Avenue and Telephone Road
  Stars at 3 p.m.

Iranian Angelenos react

The military actions have drawn strong responses from L.A.'s large diaspora communities.

Mujon Baghai is with the Los Angeles Chapter of the National Iranian American Council, one of the organizers behind today's protests across the nation. The group is against U.S. intervention. Baghai has family living in the country.

" We want what's best for the people of Iran. The US and Israel do not have those interests at stake.  But we also understand that there's a desire amongst a huge part of the community to see reform in Iran, to see true democracy in Iran, And we support that," she told LAist.

Other Iranian immigrants back the military action.

"We are home to the largest Iranian American Jewish diaspora in the world. L.A. celebrates that fact . Most of the reaction that we have received from our amazing Iranian American Jewish community has been one of excitement and adulation," said Rabbi Noah Farkas, president of the Jewish Federation of Los Angeles.

Law enforcement to step up patrol

The office of L.A. Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement that the city is closely monitoring for "any threats" to the city and urges Angelenos to voice their views in a "peaceful" way.

“While there are no known credible threats at this time, LAPD has stepped up patrols near places of worship, community spaces, and other areas of the city, and we will remain vigilant in protecting our city," the statement reads.

The L.A. County Sheriff's Department is also stepping up patrol in light of the military action in the Middle East. The department knows of no known credible threats to the community.

"We are in communication with our federal, state, and local law enforcement partners and will continue to assess any potential impacts to Los Angeles County," the department says in a post on social media.

The Department of State advises U.S. citizens worldwide, especially those in the Middle East, to exercise increased caution. Additionally, travelers follow the guidance in the latest security alerts issued by the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate.

What local lawmakers saying

A number of state and local lawmakers are weighing in on the attacks.

• Rep. Judy Chu

“President Trump has launched an unlawful war with Iran despite no imminent threat to the United States, no long-term strategy, no support from the American public, and no authorization from Congress.”

Chu is a Democrat who represents California's 28th Congressional district, which includes parts of the San Gabriel Valley.

• Rep. Young Kim

“President Trump took decisive action in response to refusal by the Iranian regime to take diplomatic off-ramps, dismantle its nuclear program, & end its reign of terror against the United States & our allies. I stand with the Iranian people who have made their desperation & courageous struggle for freedom clear. I hope for a swift & decisive operation that will pave the way for a more peaceful Middle East & a safer world. My prayers are with our brave US service members risking their lives to protect our nation. I look forward to Congress being briefed on Operation Epic Fury.”

Kim is a Republican who represents California's 40th District, which includes parts of Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

• Sen. Alex Padilla

“At a time when millions of hardworking families face higher costs of living and skyrocketing health care to pay for tax breaks for billionaires, Donald Trump is now pushing the country toward a war that risks American lives without presenting a clear justification to the American people or any plan to prevent escalation and chaos in the region.”

Padilla is a Democrat who has represented California in the U.S. Senate since 2021.

• Sen. Adam Schiff

“Trump is drawing our country into yet another foreign war that Americans don’t want and Congress has not authorized. The Iranian regime is a brutal and murderous dictatorship. But that does not give Trump the authority to unilaterally initiate a war of choice. Congress should immediately return to vote on the Kaine Paul Schiff Schumer War Powers Resolution.”

Schiff is a Democrat who has represented California in the U.S. Senate since 2024.

• Rep. Jimmy Gomez

“By launching this operation on his own, the president has put Congress and the country in the worst possible position. He started a war first, and now Congress is being asked to deal with the consequences instead of deciding whether the war should begin at all.”

Gomez is a Democrat who represents California's 34th Congressional district which includes downtown L.A. and many neighborhoods in the central part of the city.