Key Senate races

Civics & Democracy

Key Senate races

Republicans favored to take control of chamber

By Susan Davis, Deirdre Walsh, Claudia Grisales, and Barbara Sprunt

Published November 4, 2024 10:52 AM

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Chip Somodevilla

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Topline:

Republicans are favored to take control of the Senate chamber next year thanks to a 2024 election map that has Democrats defending seven seats in conservative or swing states and on offense just two in the safe Republican states of Texas and Florida.

The context: Democrats narrowly control the Senate 51-49 today, but West Virginia is all but certain to flip Republican after the impending retirement of Sen. Joe Manchin, who registered as an independent in May.

Read on... to learn more on the key races to watch.

Republicans are favored to take control of the Senate chamber next year thanks to a 2024 election map that has Democrats defending seven seats in conservative or swing states and on offense just two in the safe Republican states of Texas and Florida.

Democrats narrowly control the Senate 51-49 today, but West Virginia is all but certain to flip Republican after the impending retirement of Sen. Joe Manchin, who registered as an independent in May.

Here are the races to watch:

Arizona

Left: Republican candidate for US Senate Kari Lake speaks at a campaign rally for former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump at Findlay Toyota Arena in Prescott Valley, Ariz. on Oct. 13. Right: US Representative Ruben Gallego, candidate for Senate, speaks during a Get-Out-The-Vote campaign rally in Tucson, Ariz., Oct.18.

Democratic Congressman Ruben Gallego has consistently polled ahead of Republican Kari Lake in the closing weeks of the election. Gallego has performed particularly well among Latino voters who have a large, and growing, influence in the state.

“I think we are seeing a coming of age for politics in Arizona,” said Stephen Nuño-Perez, politics professor at Northern Arizona University, who says Latinos increasingly are expanding their political impact in the state each election year.

Samara Klar, a politics professor at the University of Arizona say they will be watching the Latino vote closely on election night with predictions that Latino voters could make up as much as 25% of the state’s voting demographic.

“It rightfully gets a huge amount of attention because Latinos are a growing portion of our electorate,” Klar said.

Nevada

Incumbent Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen appeared poised to win the race early this election cycle, but Republicans saw an opening at the end of the race that inspired a last-minute run by the GOP in the Silver State.

In the final two weeks, the Senate Leadership Fund directed more than $6 million to the state in a “Hail Mary” effort to boost Republican challenger Sam Brown. They hoped the last-minute spending spree could fuel an upset by Brown, an Army combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient injured in Afghanistan.

“So they stormed in with millions in late advertising,” Kenneth Miller, politics professor at the University of Las Vegas, said ahead of Election Day. But “whether or not that makes a difference is a different story.”

Miller says he’s pessimistic the new spend will “move the needle” but wasn’t ruling out a Brown win.

Republicans were re-energized by Brown’s chances after new polling and early voting returns signaled stronger support than expected.

“Her fortunes are simply going to be tied to party ID,” said Miller, who added that Democrats are repeating their 2022 playbook in Nevada this year, focusing on issues such as abortion. However, economic issues and immigration played high for voters frustrated by housing shortages and cost of living increases.

Michigan

The race was consistently tied through the final weeks of the election as Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Elissa Slotkin campaigned to replace Sen. Debbie Stabenow who is retiring.

Rogers, 61, is a former FBI special agent who served in the House for 14 years and chaired the House Intelligence Committee. He retired from the House in 2014, and worked as a CNN national security analyst and a radio host and criticized former President Trump frequently. But Rogers backed Trump’s presidential campaign once he launched his Senate bid and publicly touted the former president’s endorsement in his race. He defeated former Michigan Rep. Justin Amash in the GOP primary.

Slotkin, 48, was elected to the House in 2018 and was among a group of female candidates that cycle with national security backgrounds. She worked as CIA analyst during the Iraq war, and emphasized during this year’s campaign that she worked under both GOP and Democratic administrations.

Slotkin focused on differences with Rogers over issues like reproductive rights and support for electric vehicles — a big issue for a state that is home to the Big 3 auto manufacturers. Rogers also faced questions about whether he lived in the state because he moved to Florida after he retired from Congress and had not moved into a new home he was building in Michigan.

The race at the top of the ticket looms large — as part of the so-called “blue wall” Michigan was closely contested by both Vice President Harris and Trump.

Montana

Montana has long been considered one of the best opportunities for Republicans to make gains in the Senate. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Jon Tester is facing Republican Tim Sheehy in a state that has grown increasingly conservative in recent years.

Tester was elected in 2006 and since then hasn’t won reelection by more than four percentage points. He’s the lone statewide-elected Democrat.

He’s held onto his seat in part thanks to his strong personal brand, a third-generation Montana farmer who proudly proclaims himself as the “Senate’s only working farmer.” He’s touted his bipartisan track record, his efforts for farmers and veterans, and tried to maintain distance between himself and national-level Democrats.

But this cycle tested whether personal brand can motivate enough voters to split their tickets.

Sheehy, a former Navy SEAL, was handpicked to run by the state’s junior senator, Steve Daines, who’s leading GOP efforts to regain a Senate majority.

Sheehy moved to Montana in 2014, where he founded Bridger Aerospace, an aerial firefighting and aerospace services company.

The challenger received the endorsement of Trump and is running on a platform that’s similar to Trump himself in 2016; a political outsider stressing issues of the border and the economy.

Ohio

Left: Republican nominee for U.S. Senate Bernie Moreno speaks to attendees during a campaign event on Nov. 1, in at Spartan Northwood Warehouse in Northwood, Ohio. Right: Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, speaks during a campaign rally at the Communications Workers of America Local 4370 in Brooklyn Heights, Ohio, on Oct. 26.

The race for the Ohio Senate seat was essentially a dead heat ahead of the election and widely considered to be one of the tightest of toss-ups races in the country. Incumbent Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is facing Republican Bernie Moreno in this critical state.

Both parties poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the state that was considered the nexus of the battle for control of the Senate.

Brown has been in the Senate for nearly 18 years, flipping a seat in 2006. He went on to win parts of the state that former President Barack Obama failed to carry in 2012.

But Brown has never before been on the ballot alongside former President Donald Trump, who handily won Ohio twice.

Moreno, a former car dealership owner, tried throughout the campaign to tie Brown to national Democrat figures, including Harris. Moreno, whose family immigrated from Colombia to Florida when he was a young child, spoke frequently on the trail about immigration issues. In one ad, Trump, who endorsed Moreno, appears on video talking about how Moreno will “secure our border” and that Brown is a “radical left politician.”

Ohio has grown increasingly Republican in recent years and Brown's campaign hinged on convincing hundreds of thousands of Trump voters to split their ticket and send Brown back to Washington. To do that, Brown worked on building up margins in cities and suburbs that lean Democratic while also showcasing his work with Republicans.

Brown and Democrat allies pointed to Moreno’s stance on abortion, including a comment about why abortion would be an issue for women over the age of 50. Ohioans voted last year to enshrine abortion rights into their state constitution.

Wisconsin

Sen. Tammy Baldwin, the incumbent Democrat, is facing Republican Eric Hovde in one of the most evenly politically divided states in the country.

Republicans made concerted efforts to recruit wealthy candidates in key races this year and Hovde is one example: a venture capitalist who invested $20 million of his own money into the race. But also like other Senate Republican candidates, he was attacked as a carpetbagger for living in recent years in his Orange County, Calif., residence.

Baldwin, the first openly gay person elected to the Senate in 2012, keeps a low profile in Washington but was comfortably reelected back home in 2018.

However, she has never faced a candidate as well-funded as Hovde in her prior campaigns. Like many Democrats, Baldwin focused on abortion rights and tried to paint Hovde as part of an extremist GOP minority on the issue. Hovde previously described himself as “100% pro-life” in past political campaigns, but in this one campaigned on his support for exceptions in the case of rape, incest or if the life of the mother was at stake.

Pennsylvania

Sen. Bob Casey, the incumbent Democrat, is running against Republican David McCormick in one of the more negative and personal Senate races of the cycle.

Pennsylvania — seen as a must win state for both presidential candidates — has seen staggering sums of political advertising flood its airwaves: more than $1 billion has been spent leading up to the election.

Ads included Casey attacking former hedge fund executive McCormick as an out-of-touch carpetbagger for maintaining a residence in Connecticut in addition to his Pennsylvania home.

McCormick is a returning candidate. He lost the 2022 GOP Senate primary to celebrity Dr. Mehmet Oz, who went on to lose that November. This time, McCormick had no primary challenge and the quick support of Senate Republicans’ campaign operation and Trump’s early endorsement in the race.

McCormick didn't face a primary challenge and enjoyed quick support from the Senate Republicans' campaign operation as well as Trump's early endorsement.

Casey’s ties to the state run much deeper: he’s the son of former senator and governor Bob Casey Sr., and he himself has successfully won statewide elections six times prior to 2024. While Casey enjoyed early leads in polling for much of the year, the race rapidly tightened in the closing weeks of the race and quickly aligned with the presidential race with a statistical tie and an outcome unlikely to differentiate from the top of the ticket.
Copyright 2024 NPR

Climate & Environment

Altadena water service

Companies that serve the area face shortfalls

Erin Stone is a reporter who covers climate and environmental issues in Southern California.

Published February 2, 2026 3:57 PM

A woman wearing a sunhat waters the grass on the lot where her home, which was destroyed in the Eaton Fire. A charred fence and wall darkened in a patch stands behind her.

Water companies that serve Altadena lost thousands of customers in the Eaton Fire.

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Topline:

Water companies that serve much of Altadena are expected to hold public meetings this week to discuss how they’ll rebuild and stay in business after the Eaton Fire reduced many of their customers’ homes to ash. Two out of the three mutual water companies in the area are holding public meetings this week to discuss raising rates.

The background: Last year’s fires not only destroyed homes and businesses, but also critical infrastructure, such as water delivery systems. Rebuilding that infrastructure is particularly challenging in unincorporated areas such as Altadena, which is primarily served by three tiny, private water companies — Las Flores (more on their situation here), Rubio Cañon and Lincoln Avenue water companies. Unlike public utilities, these private, not-for-profit companies have less access to state and federal funding resources to rebuild, so customers are likely going to have to foot much of the bill. Customers of these companies are actually co-owners, called shareholders. Each is governed by its own set of bylaws.

Complications: All of Altadena’s water agencies have sued Southern California Edison, accusing it of responsibility for the Eaton Fire, but the result and timeline of such lawsuits remain uncertain. In turn, Edison has sued the water companies (among others), claiming they didn’t provide enough water for firefighters during the fire.

Rubio Cañon Land and Water Association: Rubio Cañon Land and Water Association served about 9,600 people in Altadena but, after the Eaton Fire, about 30% of that customer base is now made up of empty lots. While insurance is covering much of the most critical infrastructure repairs, the company faces a $1.95 million revenue shortfall.

Its proposal: To close the budget gap, the company is proposing an 11% rate hike, plus a “fire recovery charge” between $10 and $30 a month.
What about merging with other water companies? While Lincoln and Las Flores water companies have submitted paperwork to the state to study consolidation, Rubio Cañon has rejected being part of the effort. “Such consolidation could trigger a 7-12 year state process and significant shareholder costs, as Altadena is not classified as a disadvantaged community to qualify for the full menu of state resources,” the company wrote in its update ahead of this week’s meeting, calling such consolidation discussions “premature” and “unproductive.”
Upcoming board meeting: The board will hear from the public about the proposal at a meeting at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Altadena Community Center. Attendees will have to prove they're a customer. More details here.

Lincoln Avenue Water Company: Lincoln Avenue served more than 16,000 people in Altadena before the Eaton Fire. Now, about 58% of its customers and revenue are gone. Although the company says it has sufficient reserves and is not facing bankruptcy in the near term, it has decided to raise water bills by $15 a month for existing customers. To improve its long term resilience, the company is also considering merging with Las Flores water company, but that will take time.

Upcoming board meetings: The board will discuss the rate hike at a special meeting at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at the Loma Alta Park Community Room. The meeting is open to shareholders only.

Some of the most dangerous crowd control weapons used in L.A.

Physicians for Human Rights’ international study, Lethal in Disguise, found weapons that fire multiple projectiles at once were “far and away the most dangerous” type of crowd control weapons.

"82% of all the recorded injuries in the medical literature that came from impact projectiles were from ... multiple projectile impact projectiles,” Reynhout told LAist. “And 96% of all the ocular injuries from impact projectiles were from these multiple projectile impact projectiles."

He said the LAPD is the only police department in the U.S. he is aware of that uses this type of weapon. The department uses a 37mm less-lethal launcher (LLM) that shoots five rubber bullets with each shell.

According to reports required by Assembly Bill 48, the department used more than 600 of these shells — that’s over 3,000 projectiles — against anti-ICE protesters last June. They have continued to report using the 37mm launcher, most recently to disperse crowds after the Dodgers World Series win on Nov. 2, according to AB 48 reports.

The 37mm launcher is inherently risky, Reynhout said. Even though the 37mm rubber bullets are smaller than the 40mm projectiles the LAPD was banned from using at protests, they are more likely to hit sensitive areas like the face and neck.

The use of multiple projectiles causes the 37mm projectiles to scatter in a cone shape once they leave the launcher, making them much more difficult to control than a single projectile. He said LAPD’s policy of “skip firing,” which means officers are instructed to aim 5 to 10 feet in front of the person they are shooting at, also adds randomness.

A diagram showing one figure shooting a less-lethal projectile launcher at the ground and toward another figure.

“ The real risk behind these multi-shot impact projectiles,” he said, “is that you just really don't have any control over where these bullets go in the end.”

Reynhout said people standing beside or behind the intended target could very easily get hit, which he believes was likely the case when Australian reporter Lauren Tomasi was struck in the leg by a rubber bullet in June.

[Note: LAist correspondent Adolfo Guzman-Lopez was struck in the throat by a projectile at a 2020 protest. Long Beach police later said they believed that injury was caused by a ricochet of a foam round.]

LAist reached out to LAPD for comment on their use of the 37mm launcher, but the department did not respond.

Another type of crowd control weapon found to be especially dangerous is the use of beanbag rounds, usually fired from a 12-gauge shotgun. These rounds fire small lead pellets sealed in a fabric bag.

Reynhout said the use of these rounds can be “horrific” and leave people with life-threatening injuries.

According to LAPD policy, beanbag rounds are not allowed to be used for crowd control, but other agencies have used them. The California Highway Patrol reported using beanbag rounds against anti-ICE protesters last June.

If you find yourself in a situation where projectiles are being deployed, Reynhout advises focusing on protecting your face and eyes. That’s where the most serious injuries occur.

Reynhout said ballistic eyewear that meets military standards (MIL-PRF-32432) could offer protection against some of the most severe injuries.

He said the 40mm or 37mm projectiles can be similar to getting hit by a golf ball by someone swinging just 6 feet away, and while things like bike helmets, paintball masks, hockey masks or even soft body armor might help to some degree, they aren’t designed to protect someone from that kind of impact.

What you may most likely be affected by: Chemical agents

Chemical agents like tear gas and pepper spray are crowd control weapons that saturate an area and affect everyone in it, Reynhout told LAist, and that includes people who may not even be part of a demonstration.

He said you should be especially aware of these weapons being used near you if you have asthma or any airway or respiratory system issues because they can provoke severe reactions in some cases.

In their report, Reynhout and other researchers found that children and older people are also at risk of severe reactions, which could be life-threatening.

There is gear on the market to mitigate those risks, including sealed safety goggles and respirators (N-, P- or R-100). If you find yourself exposed to a chemical irritant like tear gas or pepper spray, Reynhout said there is nothing shown to be more effective than flushing the area for 10 to 15 minutes with saline solution.

The saline solution should ideally be sterile and at body temperature, he told LAist, but plain water also works if that is what you have available. The important thing is that you continue to flush the area and dilute the chemicals.

For skin or clothing, Reynhout said dilution with water is still the key, but you can use some Dawn dish soap to help wash away pepper spray.

Other dangers

California law enforcement officers have also used flash bang grenades in response to protests since June. The L.A. County Sheriff’s Department and California Highway Patrol together used more than 300 aerial flash bang grenades on June 8, according to AB 48 reports. Those are crowd control munitions shot out of 40mm launchers that explode mid-air and create 170 dB of sound and 5 million candelas of light.

LAist asked the LAPD about their policy on using flash bang grenades for crowd control, but the department did not respond. The LAPD has not listed any uses of flash bang grenades in their AB 48 reports dating back to April 2024.

Aside from these, there are a number of other crowd control weapons and devices that are used by law enforcement agencies in the L.A. area: grenades that explode to release small rubber balls, pepper balls, batons or — unique to the LAPD — officers on horseback using wooden practice swords called “bokken.”

How to reach me

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Reynhout said deciding how much protection you might choose to take with you to a protest is very personal. Some bulkier items might restrict your movement, cause you to overheat or impede your ability to maintain situational awareness, so it is important to consider what risks you may face and use your best judgement.

Sometimes, he said, that best judgment might be to walk away from the situation.

Civics & Democracy

State of the City

Replay: LA Mayor Karen Bass deliver annual address

Libby Rainey is a general assignment reporter. She covers the news that shapes Los Angeles and how people change the city in return.

Published February 2, 2026 3:07 PM

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass on a stage in front of a banner that reads "Games for All."

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass delivers her 2026 State of the City address.

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Screenshot of YouTube stream

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Topline:

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass laid out her vision for Los Angeles at her first of two "State of the City" addresses Monday afternoon at Exposition Park. The speech, which comes as her race for re-election ramps up, was framed as a celebration of the coming World Cup.

Why now: Bass made the remarks at the L.A. Memorial Coliseum, which will host a FIFA Fan Festival June 11-15 to coincide with the start of the tournament.

Read on... for what what she said in the annual "State of the City" address.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass laid out her vision for Los Angeles at her first of two "State of the City" addresses Monday afternoon at Exposition Park.

The speech, which comes as her race for re-election ramps up, was framed as a celebration of the coming World Cup.

"Let's show the nation and the world we are the greatest city on earth," Bass told the crowd outside the L.A. Memorial Coliseum.

But the mayor moved quickly from announcing that there would be more than 100 free watch parties for the tournament into a retrospective of L.A.'s terrible 2025 — from the January fires to the immigration agents that descended on the city in June and haven't left.

"Raids continue every day in Los Angeles and with them have come the devastating losses of life," she said, naming Renee Good, Alex Pretti and Keith Porter Jr., who was shot by an off-duty ICE agent in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve. " This senseless death, lawlessness and violence must end and so must the presence of ICE in Los Angeles."

Bass described local leaders as the last line of defense against the actions of the federal government.

L.A.’s fire recovery

She also discussed the ongoing recovery of Pacific Palisades, where she has faced substantial criticism for the city's response to the fire and first year of rebuilding, which some residents say has been too slow.

" We've brought in new leadership to overhaul fire preparedness and emergency response," Bass said, referencing her decision to remove former fire chief Kristin Crowley. "And yes, we're fighting the next battle: holding financial institutions and the insurance industry from abandoning Los Angeles because recovery should never feel harder than the disaster itself."

Bass said 400 homes lost to the fire are currently under construction, and that she would travel to Sacramento next week with Councilmember Traci Park and Pacific Palisades residents to push for more state funding for recovery. The Palisades Fire destroyed nearly 7,000 homes and killed 12 people.

The mayor's response to the Palisades Fire is a key issue in her race for re-election. Two of Bass's challengers, former LAUSD Superintendent Austin Beutner and influencer Spencer Pratt, had their homes damaged or destroyed in the disaster.

Housing and homelessness

Bass then laid out her efforts around housing and homelessness, pointing to an affordability crisis that makes staying in stable housing, or buying a first home, out of reach for many Angelenos.

"The greatest test of L.A. is whether people can actually afford to live here year across Los Angeles," the mayor said in her address. "Too many neighbors are packing multiple families into one apartment are working two and three jobs just to stay housed."

Bass lauded her first executive directive ordering city officials to fast-track the construction of developments that have entirely affordable housing units, which she said had "accelerated more than 30,000 housing units across the city." She also celebrated the city's move to significantly lower rent hikes, in the first reform to rent control in 40 years.

Bass then turned to homelessness, doubling down on her commitment to her signature "Inside Safe" program, which aims to move people off the streets and into interim housing. She said that the city had cleared nearly 120 encampments.

Bass focused on the fight to end homelessness for veterans in Los Angeles — a focus she said was interrupted by the 2025 fires. She said the city had issued 600 housing vouchers for veterans since last year.

She ended the speech where she started — talking about the city's role as host of the World Cup and 2028 Olympic Games.

" We will continue to focus on the fundamentals, the things that shape how a city feels to the people who live here and the millions who will visit," she said.

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The Brief

Arizona

Nevada

Michigan

Montana

Ohio

Wisconsin

Pennsylvania

Keep up with LAist.

Some of the most dangerous crowd control weapons used in L.A.

What you may most likely be affected by: Chemical agents

Other dangers

How to reach me

L.A.’s fire recovery

Housing and homelessness

Watch the replay