The Brief

The 100 Days marker for presidential administrations is really nothing more than that: A marker.

The benchmark was established during Franklin D. Roosevelt’s first term because he got a lot done in those first few months as president.

His moves in a relatively short amount of time — helped by a Congress controlled by Democrats — has since defined a period where presidents are expected to show what they are initially accomplishing in the job.

Now it’s Trump’s turn, again.

This time around, we’ve witnessed a reshaping of how the United States deals with the world, a dismantling of multiple federal agencies, mass layoffs of government workers, and deep cuts to administrative functions and funds that support a variety of programs that serve millions of people.

In these first 100 days, we’ve heard a lot from D.C. pundits. Today, we’re looking at how those decisions are hitting home. We’re focusing on two of America’s biggest and most complex states: Texas and California. Two states with enormous economic power, deep diversity and very different politics.

In Texas, the Republican leadership controls both houses in the Legislature and the governor’s office, and they’ve largely aligned themselves with President Trump’s second-term agenda. In California, where Democrats hold a supermajority, the state’s pushing back.

In many cities across both Texas and California, you’ll find plenty of people who share a skepticism — if not scorn — for the second Trump administration. But in more rural areas of both states, support for Trump’s direction is strong, especially when it comes to issues like immigration or cutting what some see as government waste.

Still, this change is happening so quickly it can be hard to keep up. The ripple effects of mass layoffs, deportations and trade threats are making many people anxious, and that fear seems to be crossing clear party lines.

Journalists at public radio stations and nonprofit newsrooms in California and Texas spoke with dozens of residents, reporters and political observers to dig into that uncertainty. Not just the economics, but across the board — where it’s coming from and what it means.

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California, Texas respond to second Trump administration

California and Texas are similar by size and population metrics, but politically, the two states are opposites. In the 2024 presidential election, for example, roughly 58.5% of Californians voted for Kamala Harris, while 56.14% of Texans voted for Trump.

Richard Pineda is an associate professor of communications with a focus on politics at the University of Texas at El Paso. He says Texas leaders at all levels seem to be in “lockstep” with President Trump. But that’s not the case across the state, he added, especially in areas that tend to vote blue — like El Paso and Travis counties.

“I think that there is a tremendous amount of concern about some of these changes, especially when you see shifts that are happening politically rolling into things like the University of Texas system,” Pineda said.

Some traditionally blue counties are starting to see increases in Republican voters, he added. That can be seen in Starr, Hidalgo, Willacy and Cameron counties — all of which are border counties that have historically voted blue.

“It's not to a point that the county will change anytime soon, but even short shifts means that the state is becoming even redder than before,” he said.

Paul Mitchell is the vice president of Political Data, Inc., a voter data firm in California. He says the state, which was seen as the resistance state during Trump’s first term — filing over 120 lawsuits against his administration — hasn’t had the same “clear point of focus” this time around.

“A lot of what Trump tried to do early on (in his first term) that really galvanized support from Democrats in California was he was trying to undo Obamacare,” Mitchell said. “In this first 100 days, you've seen him go after transgender issues, and a lot of Democrats don't know necessarily what to do with that.”

Many of the Californians polled by journalists working on this project expressed deep concern over the president’s actions, while others said they were “cautiously optimistic.” Some in the latter category suggested their backing of President Trump had to do with frustration over state and local governments more than the federal government.

Mitchell says the 2024 election came at the “perfect time” for those frustrated by these issues in California.

“A lot of voters saw what he was proposing as real action, where they look at California policy makers — whether they're looking at the lack of action on high-speed rail or these other promises that lawmakers have made — and they say, ‘Well, they're not delivering here in California, this guy is offering to make big real change,’” Mitchell said. “And I think that that was important to his victory.”

Texas is booming right now: There’s a huge budget surplus, population is growing and business is moving there. In fact, Elon Musk has picked up most of his operations and moved them out of California to Texas.

Pineda said Texas business leaders have been encouraged by state leadership’s support of the Trump administration’s move to dismantle diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.

“The governor and the lieutenant governor taking an active stance to try to undercut those [DEI practices] has allowed some businesses to move without having to worry about having those policies or maintaining those policies,” he said. “That then comes on top of the president pushing against these things, and that’s a good climate for these particular businesses.”

But overall, he said, growth hasn’t remained consistent for all regions of Texas.

“What you're seeing is developments in these sort of core communities, some of the bigger cities,” he said. “There's still a lot of rural development that has not happened. We've looked to try to expand a rail infrastructure that seems to come up every couple of years and die down. I do think that the move to bring some of these companies in dovetails with limitations on previously held restrictions.”

Trade and tariffs 

President Trump is no stranger to tariffs — and the battles that come with changing them. During his first term, Trump imposed a number of tariffs on goods imported from China, sparking a trade war in 2018.

And starting on his first day back in the White House, Trump promised immediate action on the price of imported goods. Since then, news about tariffs has moved quickly. Over the last three months Trump has imposed, rescinded and reinstated tariffs worldwide.

Whether tariffs are active or on hold, California and Texas will feel it. Of all the U.S. states, these two do the most trade with other countries — and China, Mexico and Canada are at the top of the list.

Texas and Mexico’s economies are greatly intertwined — in 2023, trade between Texas and Mexico topped $272 billion, ranking Mexico as Texas’ no. 1 trading partner.

Jerry Pacheco, president of the Border Industrial Association, says the first 100 days of the second Trump administration has felt like “chaos” for both himself and the members of his organization.

“I mean my world has just been… I get up every day and wonder what's going to happen,” Pacheco said. “Are we going to lose a prospect that we had close to signing the dotted line? Are we going to see businesses in our industrial base, related particularly to the automotive industry, shuttered?”

California has a similar trade relationship with Mexico, with a highly integrated supply chain that sees individual pieces of larger products often travel back and forth across the border.

Tijuana, for example, hosts a number of car manufacturing plants, including one owned by Toyota. But not all pieces of these vehicles are made in Mexico: Individual parts of each vehicle can cross the border multiple times — and there’s a tariff each time it crosses back and forth. Seat leather, for example, could be produced in one country, processed in another, then finished in another.

San Diego business professionals echoed the sentiment of their counterparts in Texas, many of whom said they feel uncertain about the future.

“We have a relationship with Mexico where we're not just trading together, we're producing together,” said Jessica Anderson, the interim CEO and president of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. “This is not a tax on just Mexican companies. This is a tax on U.S. businesses and on U.S. companies directly.”

The International Monetary Fund and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis announced recently that California had surpassed Japan to become the fourth largest economy in the world.

State legislative leaders say California's booming economy is the driving force behind their tariff-related lawsuit against the Trump administration.They’ve also said the fluctuating stock market is a risk to California’s budget, which is highly dependent on income tax revenue from capital gains.

Immigration

Within hours after his second inauguration in January, President Trump signed dozens of executive orders, including 10 aimed at the immigration system.

Among other actions, these orders pledge to detain and deport undocumented immigrants accused of crimes and stop the resettlement of refugees from countries like Afghanistan.

All of it has – or at least promises to have – a deep impact on Texas and California, hugely diverse states with some of the largest undocumented and refugee populations in the U.S.

Response to these orders has been mixed, largely across party lines:

“I mean, I live here on the border and I've seen first hand what happened the last several years with immigration and now it's the numbers have plummeted,” said Tim Wilkins of McAllen, Texas. “I mean, it's almost zero activity.”

“The way that the Trump administration is handling this is frightening — deporting people to El Salvador and some of those people are not the gang members that they say they are and there's no due process,” said Jane Demian, who lives in Los Angeles.

In California, ICE raids and enforcement actions by federal agents in cities like San Diego, Pomona and Los Angeles have heightened fears in immigrant communities. In Texas, agents from multiple federal agencies began carrying out immigration enforcement operations in late January in a number of cities, including Austin, Dallas-Fort Worth and San Antonio.

Reactions to these operations have mixed — Texans in conservative areas are largely supportive, while Texas immigration advocates and professionals are concerned.

“Many people in the immigrant community, many clients, fear for their future in this country, even lawful permanent residents and naturalized citizens,” said Irving-based immigration attorney Haim Vasquez.

Since Inauguration Day, a number of university students have had their visas canceled. Some international students around the country have even been detained.

A number of these California students are suing the Trump administration. In recent days, a handful have won temporary restraining orders with federal judges saying they must not be detained or deported while their cases are heard.

“I would say everybody is scared right now,” Zahra Biloo, director for the Bay Area chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations said. “The most challenging types of calls we are receiving are from U.S. citizens, and so I think to myself, if U.S. citizens with as much privilege and safety as they carry are scared, so, too, then are student visa-holders as well as undocumented students.”

California leaders are no strangers to taking action against the Trump administration. This time around, California Attorney General staff began writing briefs before Inauguration Day, and in early February, Gov. Gavin Newsom approved $25 million to sue the Trump administration.

The response from Texas leaders has looked a bit different: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced recently that he was opening an investigation into the city of Dallas, accusing it of having “sanctuary city” policies, or policies that would not allow city staff to cooperate with federal law enforcement in arresting or detaining undocumented immigrants.

Agriculture and business

All eyes are on the economy. The Trump administration’s approach to tariffs and other economic policies have a lot of people wondering where things are headed.

For some, that uncertainty brings on a whole lot of anxiety: “Because he enacted a policy that made me lose my job, yeah, I'm anxious, I'm worried, my budget's completely changed, and, you know, [I’m] living off beans and rice,” said Benjamin Dechard of Austin.

Others are bullish about the president's actions: “People are willing to start investing again in their businesses, not holding cash back as a reserve, but now using this as an opportunity to make those investments,” said David Stein from Tyler, Texas.

Agriculture is one business sector that's got some questions. It’s a huge economic driver in both states: Texas sold about $32 billion in agricultural products in 2022, and California, the nation's largest supplier, sold a little more than $59 billion worth of goods in the same year. A big chunk of that money comes from exports to countries like Mexico, Canada, and China.

The biggest exports coming out of Texas are beef and cotton, amounting to roughly $2.6 billion dollars every year. But the state also imports and takes in a lot of goods, and farmers are concerned about tariffs affecting the cost to raise their crops.

Materials like fertilizer, insecticides, seeds and parts for farm equipment are imported and have begun to rise in price, he added.

“I apologize, I don’t mean to sound ignorant, but there’s probably more unknowns than known,” said Dale Murden, a citrus farmer in the Rio Grande Valley. “I'm like… ‘Uh wait a minute, my fertilizer cost just tripled. Where'd that come from?’”

There’s been a lot of back and forth over tariffs. But the ongoing battle is with China, whose leaders responded with their own levies on U.S. goods.

Texas sends a large share of its cotton, beef and rice to China. Market leaders are concerned that these U.S.-made goods may become prohibitively expensive for Chinese consumers, and push other exporting countries to swoop in.

“The last time there was a Trump tariff issue, cotton did get caught up in that, and it just caused this great reshuffle,” said John Robinson, a cotton market specialist with Texas A&M University. “We actually sent more of our cotton to Vietnam, and Brazil took our market share formerly with China. Great big reshuffle. It's inefficient.”

California’s largest exports are nuts and dairy — the state produces 80% of the world’s almonds — and a lot of that goes to China. Some California farmers share concerns about the state of the industry as tariffs are set to go into effect, though not all of them are sure of what to expect.

Jenny Holtermann, a fourth-generation farmer in Kern County, said she's “worried and sort of not worried,” though she ultimately supports Trump's tariffs.

She says even if her almond farm takes a hit, she's hoping tariffs will bring business back to the U.S. But she mentioned she is facing higher costs and she's already made adjustments in her farm operations because of them. The last time Trump was president and imposed tariffs, exports of California almonds and pistachios fell 20%.

But Holterman says she's in a better place than others because she has another job and doesn't rely on the farm as her family's sole income. Almonds are also not as perishable as other crops, so she has a little bit more flexibility.

“Eighty percent of the world’s supply of almonds come from California,” Holterman said. “At some point, well, if they want almonds, they have to get them from California.”

Ryan Talley, who owns a medium-sized farm that his grandfather started in the 1940s in Arroyo Grande, said he hasn't seen a big direct impact yet because he sells most of his crops inside the U.S. But he does sell spinach to Canada — and he's planning on selling bell peppers in that market, too.

But because the Trump administration is constantly changing its mind about the tariffs, he's worried because, unlike almond-growers, his crops have a shorter shelf life.

“They're highly perishable,” Talley said of his produce. “We don't have the ability to hold our products for a month or two to wait for the tariffs to go away.”

On the flip side, some folks in the agriculture business are seeing positive impacts as a result of tariffs. In Texas, people who harvest shrimp and oysters see the tariffs as a bulwark against overseas competition.

Education

In March, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced plans to cut a federal program that provides around $660 million for schools to buy fresh food directly from farms.

In California, the Local Food for Schools program served up about $23 million of meals around the state. It was about the same amount of money for Texas.

Both were part of a broader set of pandemic-era initiatives designed to address food insecurity and support local agriculture during COVID-19 disruptions. The USDA now says these programs no longer line up with priorities.

These cuts have already begun affecting residents of both states. In California’s San Bernardino and Riverside counties, the program will expire at the end of this school year. More than $600,000 was awarded for the region to provide organic strawberries, citrus fruits, apples, and lettuce that ends up in school salads, along with produce like dragon fruit and bok choy.

California has attempted to recreate the program on its own, but schools have to apply to receive grant funding, while the federal program was opt-in.

In Texas, these federal grants amounted to less than a tenth of what state schools were previously spending for local food. But if states don’t step in to subsidize these programs, some students could lose an important lifeline.

Many farmers are in a tough situation because they've planted their crops with this program in mind. In one case, a California farmer plowed under fields of kale and collard greens because they were no longer contracted, and replanted an easier crop to offload. In another case, a local poultry farm that had a contract to provide about 160 cases of chicken wings each month to a school stands to lose $13,000 a month in revenue.

Overall impact on California and Texas? You tell us.

The idea for this joint statewide special developed during a transformative time for our country.

Collectively, it’s difficult — and perhaps even unfair — to find the right words that capture what is unfolding. It’s still too early to tell what the true impact will be.

We know reactions in California and Texas are different — they’re bound to be — different states with different budget demands, different priorities, different cultures and different political views among the majority of voters.

Today, granular polling so far in both states is rather lean.

So, what’s the impact of the first 100 days on California and Texas? You tell us. It’ll help us in our coverage going forward, too.

You can reach the Texas Standard by emailing texasstandard@kut.org and the California Newsroom by emailing CaliforniaNewsroom@kqed.org.

This story includes reporting from Angela Korcherga of KTEP in El Paso, Michael Marks of the Texas Standard, Levi Sumagaysay and Carolyn Jones of CalMatters in Sacramento, Stella Chávez of the Texas Newsroom, Gustavo Solis of KPBS in San Diego, Tyche Hendricks of KQED in San Francisco, and Jessica Greenwell of KVCR in Riverside, Calif.

Editor’s note: The audio version of this story incorrectly identifies Arroyo Grande as an area in the Central Valley of California; it is actually located along the state’s central coast. We apologize for this error. 

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Since 1977, Richard Santillan has been to every Opening Day game at Dodger Stadium. 

“The tradition goes from my father, to me, to my children and grandchildren. Some of my best memories are with my father and children here at Dodger Stadium,” Santillan told The LA Local, smiling under the shade of palm trees near the entrance to the ballpark Wednesday morning. He was there to protest the team less than 24 hours before Opening Day.

Santillan, like countless other loyal Dodgers fans, is grappling with his fan identity over the team’s decision to accept an invitation to the White House and owner Mark Walter’s ties to ICE detention facilities.

More than 30 people joined Santillan on Wednesday morning for a press conference held near 1000 Vin Scully Drive to convey a message directly to the team. 

“We are demanding the Dodgers stop participating in funding of inhumane treatment of families and do not go to the White House to celebrate with the criminal in chief,” Evelyn Escatiola told the crowd. “Together, we have the power to make a change.”

Escatiola, a former dean of East Los Angeles College and longtime community organizer, urged fans to flex their economic power by “letting the Dodgers know that we do not support repression.”

Jorge “Coqui” Rodriguez, a lifelong Dodgers fan, spoke to the crowd and called on Dodgers ownership to divest from immigration detention centers owned and operated by GEO Group and CoreCivic.

Jorge Coqui H Rodriguez speaks at a press conference outside Dodger Stadium on March 25, 2026, to demand the Dodgers not to visit the White House following their 2025 World Series win.

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J.W. Hendricks

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The LA Local

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In a phone interview a day before the protest, Rodriguez told The LA Local he did not want the Dodgers using his “cheve” or beer money to fund detention centers. 

“They can’t take our parking money, our cacahuate money, our cheve money, our Dodger Dog money and invest those funds into corporations that are imprisoning people. It’s wrong,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez considers the Dodgers one of the most racially diverse teams and said the players need to support fans at a time when heightened immigration enforcement has become more common across L.A.

The team’s 2025’s visit to the White House drew ire from the largely Latino fan base, citing the Trump administration’s ongoing attacks on immigrants. 

In June, the team came under further scrutiny when rumors swirled online that federal immigration agents were using the stadium’s parking, which immigration authorities later denied in statements posted on social media accounts.

The team again came under fire after not releasing a statement on the impacts of ICE raids on its mostly Latino fan base at the height of immigration enforcement last summer. The team later agreed to invest $1 million to support families affected by immigration enforcement.

When he learned the Dodgers were pledging only $1 million to families in need, Rodriguez called the amount a  “slap in the face.” 

“These guys just bought the Lakers for billions of dollars and they give a million dollars to fight for legal services? That’s a joke,” Rodriguez said. “They need to have a moral backbone and not be investing in those companies.”

According to reporting from the Los Angeles Times, former Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershawsaid last week that he is looking forward to the trip.

“I went when President [Joe] Biden was in office. I’m going to go when President [Donald] Trump is in office,” Kershaw said. “To me, it’s just about getting to go to the White House. You don’t get that opportunity every day, so I’m excited to go.”

The Dodgers have yet to announce when their planned visit will take place. 

Santillan sometimes laments his decision to give up his season tickets in protest of the team. His connection to the stadium and the memories he has made there with family and friends will last a lifetime, he said. On Thursday, he will uphold his tradition and be there for the first pitch of the season, but with a heavy heart.

“It’s a family tradition, but the Dodgers have a lot of work to do,” he said.

A local favorite mom-and-pop bookshop in Eagle Rock is facing displacement due to a steep rent hike. The owners say theirs is just one of several small businesses along Eagle Rock Boulevard struggling to keep up with lease increases.

Over the past 19 years, many in the neighborhood have come to love READ Books for its eclectic collection of used titles and shop dog Florence.

Co-owner Jeremy Kaplan said it’s been a delight to grow with the community over the years.

“Like seeing kids come back in, who were in grade school and now they’re in college,” Kaplan said.

But the building where Kaplan and wife Debbie rent was recently sold, and the rent increased by more than 130% to $2,805 a month, Kaplan said. He told LAist it was an increase his small business simply could not absorb.

Kaplan said he originally was given 30 days notice of the rent increase. After some research, assistance from Councilmember Ysabel Jurado’s office and some pro-bono legal help, Kaplan said he pushed back and got the 90-day notice he’s afforded by state law.

California Senate Bill 1103 requires landlords to give businesses with five or less employees 90 days’ notice for rent increases exceeding 10%, among other protections.

Systems Real Estate, the property management company, did not immediately respond to LAist’s request for comment.

What can small businesses do? 

Nadia Segura, directing attorney of the Small Business Program at pro bono legal aid non-profit Bet Tzedek said California law does not currently allow for rent control for commercial tenancies.

Outside of the protections under SB 1103, Segura said small businesses like READ Books don’t have much other recourse. And even then, commercial landlords are not required to inform their tenants of their protections under the law.

“There’s still a lot of people that don’t know about SB 1103. And then it’s very sad that they tell them they have these rent increases and within a month they have to leave,” Segura said.

She said her group is seeing steep rent hikes like this for commercial tenants across the city.

“We are seeing this even more with the World Cup coming up, the Olympics coming up. And I will say it was very sad to see that also after the wildfires,” Segura said.

Part of Bet Tzedek’s ongoing work is to advocate for small businesses, working with landlords who are increasing rents to see if they are willing to give business owners longer leases that lock in rents.

What’s next 

After READ Books posted about their situation on social media, commenters chimed in to express their outrage and love for the little shop.

While he looks for a new spot, Kaplan says he’s forming a coalition of local businesses and activist groups to see what can be done to help other small businesses facing similar displacement. He wants to address the displacement issue for businesses like his, which have made Eagle Rock the distinctive neighborhood that it is today.

Owl Talk, a longtime Eagle Rock staple selling clothing and accessories in a unit in the same building as READ Books, is facing a “more than double” rent increase, according to a post on their Instagram account.

Kaplan said he’s been in touch with the office of state Assemblywoman Jessica Caloza and wants to explore the possibility of introducing legislation to set up protections for small businesses like his, including rent-control measures or a vacancy tax for landlords. Kaplan said he also reached out to the office of state Sen. Maria Durazo.

By his count, Kaplan said there are about a dozen businesses within surrounding blocks that are at risk of closing their doors or have shuttered due to rent increases or other struggles.

When READ Books was founded during the Great Recession, Kaplan said he knew it was a longshot to open a bookstore at the same time so many were struggling to stay in business.

“It was kind of interesting to be doing something that neighborhoods needed. That was important to me growing up, that was important to my children, that was important to my wife growing up,” Kaplan said.

“And then somebody comes in and says, ‘We’re gonna over double your rent.”

Topline:

Frozen budget: Most of the city’s Bureau of Street Lighting budget comes from an assessment that people who own property illuminated by lights pay on their county property tax bill. The amount people pay depends on the kind of property they own and how much they benefit from lighting. A typical single-family home currently pays $53 annually, and in total, the assessments bring in about $45 million annually for the city to repair and maintain streetlights. Changing the amount the Bureau of Street Lighting gets from the assessment requires a vote among property owners who benefit from the lights.

Ballots: L.A. City Council’s vote gives city staff the green light to prepare and send out those ballots. Miguel Sangalang, who oversees the bureau, said at a committee meeting earlier this month that he expects to send out ballots by April 17. Notices about the ballots will be sent out prior to the ballots themselves.

Near unanimous vote: L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez was the only “No” vote Tuesday, saying she wanted to see a more current strategic plan for the bureau. Sangalang said the bureau developed a plan in 2022 that lays out how money will be spent. Councilmember Imelda Padilla was absent for the vote.

Vote count: Votes will be weighted according to the assessment amount. Basically, the more you’re asked to pay yearly to maintain streetlights, the more your vote will count. Ballots received before June 2 will be tabulated by the L.A. City Clerk.

How much more money: According to a report, the amount needed in assessments from property owners to meet the repair and maintenance needs of the city’s streetlighting in the next fiscal year is nearly $112 million.

Use of the money: Sangalang said at a March 11 committee meeting that the extra funds would be used to double the number of staff to handle repairs and procure solar streetlights, which don’t face the threat of copper wire theft. That would all potentially reduce the time it takes to repair simple fixes down to a week. Currently, city residents wait for months to see broken streetlights repaired. The assessment would come with a three-year auditing mechanism.