The Brief

Californians have more to vote on today than just deciding who they want to be Gov. Gavin Newsom’s successor.

They’re also voting on several statewide offices, ranging from the governor’s second in command to the regulator for the state’s insurance market.

The top two vote-getters will go on the general election ballot, and voters will make the final call in November.

Attorney general

Attorney General Rob Bonta is heading to the general election and will face a challenge from Republican Michael Gates for the role of California’s top cop. Gates is a former trial attorney who served as Huntington Beach city attorney and a deputy United States Attorney. Bonta and his predecessor, Xavier Becerra, used their office to file dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration.

State superintendent

Veteran Democratic lawmakers Anthony Rendon, Josh Newman and Al Muratsuchi jumped into the race to become California’s next superintendent of public instruction. In a surprise, two of the most influential education organizations in the state — the California Teachers Association and the California Charter Schools Association — bypassed the veteran lawmakers and instead endorsed Democrat Richard Barrera, the president of the San Diego Unified School District. Sonja Shaw, the former Chino Valley Unified School Board President, was endorsed by both Republican gubernatorial candidates.

Who’s ahead: With 46% of votes counted as of 9:30 p.m., Shaw is leading with 24.7% of the vote. Barrera has netted 19.7% of the vote.

Lieutenant governor

The role of gubernatorial second in command is largely ceremonial, with the largest responsibility involving standing in when the governor is out. The lieutenant governor also sits on several boards and commissions, and has the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote if the state Senate is gridlocked. Three Democrats netted the most money: Josh Fryday, a member of Newsom’s cabinet, followed by state Treasurer Fiona Ma and former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs.

Who’s ahead: With 46% of votes counted as of 9:30 p.m., Ma leads with 20.6% of the vote, trailed by Romero (19.6%) and Fryday (14.3%).

State controller

Democratic incumbent Malia M. Cohen is heading to the general election to defend her seat as the state’s chief accountant. Herb W. Morgan, a Republican who ran on a promise of exposing fraud in government, will be her challenger. Meghann Adams, a school bus driver from San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood also ran for the seat on a progressive platform as a member of the Peace and Freedom Party.

Secretary of state

Democratic incumbent Shirley Weber is heading to the general election in November for the role of the state’s top elections official. Republican Donald P. Wagner, an Orange County supervisor, will be her challenger. Wagner supports requiring voter ID at the polls and criticized Weber for the state’s slow ballot-counting process. Weber was appointed to her role by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021 after eight years in the Assembly, and won a four-year term in 2022. She has overseen the implementation of universal mail-in voting in the state, and has pledged to further expand voter access.

Treasurer

Democratic candidates dwarfed Republicans in fundraising for the role of state treasurer, California’s chief banker. The role requires managing and investing unspent taxpayer money and overseeing the state’s borrowing and debts. Anna Caballero, most recently the chair of the state Senate’s powerful Appropriations Committee, and Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis both raised hundreds of thousands of dollars from large donors, including unions, tribes, and businesses. Kounalakis originally ran for governor, but dropped out at the end of 2025.

Who’s ahead: With 47% of votes counted as of 9:30 p.m., Kounalakis has the lead with 36.3% of the vote. Republican candidate Jennifer Hawks, a retired businesswoman, has 26.6%.

Insurance commissioner

Californians get a chance to weigh in on who should regulate the state’s embattled insurance market, which has been grappling with how to cope with insurers leaving the state amid growing wildfire risks. Current and former state Democratic lawmakers Ben Allen and Steven Bradford are among the candidates, as is Democrat Patrick Wolff, a financial analyst whose campaign is largely self-funded. The Republican Party has endorsed insurance agent Stacy A. Korsgaden.

Who’s ahead: With 47% of votes counted as of 9:30 p.m., former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim has the lead with 24.1% of the vote. Allen is next with 20.3% of the vote, and Korsgaden has 17.5%.

Board of Equalization

This five-member group is the nation’s only elected tax board. It advises county assessors, sets the taxable value of property owned by utilities and railroads, and hears some taxpayer appeals. Four districts are up for election this year: District 1, covering much of inland California; District 2, coastal California north of Los Angeles; District 3, representing the Los Angeles area; and District 4, which encompasses the San Diego area.

Who’s ahead in District 1: With 45% of votes counted as of 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night, Republican state Sen. Shannon Grove has the lead with 36.1% of the vote. Democrat Nelson Esparza is in second with 30.5%.

Who’s ahead in District 2: With 45% of votes counted as of 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night, Democratic incumbent Sally J. Lieber has the lead with 53.7% of the vote. Democrat John Pimentel is in second with 14.5%.

Who’s ahead in District 3: With 53% of votes counted as of 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night, Democratic Assemblyman Mike Gipson has the lead with 27% of the vote. Democrat Yvonne Yiu is in second with 13.9%.

Who’s ahead in District 4: With 49% of votes counted as of 9:30 p.m. Tuesday night, Republican Denis Bilodeau has the lead with 47% of the vote. Democratic State Sen. Tom Umberg is in second with 20.8%.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

When he thinks back to June 2025, Melchor Moreno remembers the empty streets outside of his restaurant. 

Neighboring businesses closed early or sometimes wouldn’t open at all. One weekday, he made just $500, hundreds short of what he needed to cover his overhead. 

Moreno owns and operates La Chispa de Oro, a traditional Mexican restaurant on Cesar E. Chavez Avenue that’s been a Boyle Heights staple for more than 30 years. When Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations disrupted his and other Eastsiders’ businesses last summer, survey data collected by Boyle Heights Beat showed a sharp drop in sales; Moreno marked losses at around $7,000 per month that summer. But even when the raids slowed, the business never bounced back, Moreno said. 

“People still have it in the back of their mind that ICE may come at any time or any minute and streets are not back to normal like they should be,” Moreno said. “You can see that businesses are not the same, especially for restaurants. Even a year later.”

The economic fallout of the increased immigration enforcement over the last year has hit independently owned restaurants and retail businesses hardest — especially those in communities with Latino immigrants, Spanish speakers and noncitizen workers, according to the L.A. County Economic Development Corporation, or LAEDC, the nonprofit that promotes and studies the region’s economy. 

Street vendors, day laborers, and sellers at popular clothing districts have been forced to adapt to a new cycle: an intense and unexpected immigration operation, then an economic lull as potential customers stay home out of fear. Even just a rumor of ICE activity can start the cycle over again. Business owners selling skateboards, records and supplements have noticed fewer people walking through their doors. And with many businesses still financially recovering from the COVID pandemic or wildfire impacts — and now grappling with tariffs and increased fuel costs — the economic chill that resulted from the raids could alter industries across L.A. for years. 

“Economists love to pretend like they have a crystal ball,” said Shannon Sedgwick, vice president of research at LAEDC, “but I think one of the most damaging things to our economy related to any kind of federal policy shift that has been taking place lately is the degree of uncertainty that surrounds it all.”

A ‘climate of fear’ and depressed economic activity

Soon after the raids began, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors asked researchers with LAEDC to find out the economic impacts of the raids and the weeklong curfew that followed citywide protests. 

It was clear that the operations targeting undocumented immigrants would have an impact: LAEDC estimates undocumented workers are responsible for about 17% of the county’s economic activity. But researchers found an even farther-reaching effect, Sedgwick said, with additional communities and industries becoming collateral damage.

“It creates a broader economic ripple effect that extends beyond direct enforcement actions,” Sedgwick said. 

Of the 178 small businesses interviewed, 82% said they were negatively impacted by the raids, citing reduced daily sales, decreased customer traffic or changes to their workforce. Some of the most vulnerable areas, according to the report, include the L.A. neighborhoods of Westlake, Echo Park and Boyle Heights, as well as southeast L.A. cities such as South Gate, Pico Rivera and Bell. 

According to Sedgwick, small businesses are more vulnerable to shifts in their customer base and feel sharper impacts than their chain or franchised counterparts. Of the businesses interviewed for LAEDC’s impact survey, 15 had closed by December 2025.

It’s not clear when the local economy will return to its normal patterns, Sedgwick said.

“It’s that unsettled climate of fear that’s really impacting people’s activity and, as a result, our economic activity,” she said. “If that uncertainty, unsettled feeling and fear about what’s happening, if that subsides, then this will kind of shift back. But in the interim, we’re already seeing some of the fallout.”

Feeling the financial pinch in Westlake and Pico Union

At Leo’s Tacos near Venice Boulevard and Vermont Avenue in Pico Union, the tacos al pastor that the truck is known for still cost $2.50 each, but they’re not selling like they used to. 

Manager Maria Martinez said that business is still down about 30% after dropping significantly last summer, though the truck has tried to avoid passing down its financial strain to customers. The business is surviving because of tourists and loyal fans stopping by, she said, but there are simply fewer people coming each day. She said some of the people detained this year were longtime customers, while others have told them they’re still afraid to go out — both of which have hurt business.

Maria Martinez works at Leo’s Tacos, which is known for its tacos al pastor.

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“The people who are afraid don’t walk around the same anymore, they don’t circulate the streets like they used to,” she said in Spanish.

Not even the FIFA World Cup, which soccer officials predict will bring more than $892 million in economic activity to L.A., has so far been able to reverse the reduced foot traffic for some small businesses. 

Luis Sanchez, who sells jerseys and sports apparel at a store called Sports in Westlake, said sales have remained flat over the past six months. 

Sanchez, whose business sits near MacArthur Park, said jerseys for Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and the U.S. national team remain popular, but demand still has not risen the way it did during previous tournaments. 

“In other years, you could already see the increase around this time,” he said. “But because of the raids, things haven’t been the same.” 

Sanchez added that many customers appear more focused on politics and economic concerns than soccer. “Politics are overshadowing sports,” he said. “There are people who think the World Cup should even be canceled.”

Along the El Salvador Corridor, street vendors say that ongoing fear — and the lack of foot traffic that comes with it — continues to shape their daily lives and affect how their businesses are doing.

Mirna Lopez has run a stand called Cocteles Acajutla since 2013, where she sells ceviche made with clams, shrimp and octopus. She said the fact that raids are still ongoing has made it difficult for sales to recover.

“I think people are still scared because they keep hearing on the news that raids are still happening,” Lopez said in Spanish. “People don’t know what’s true anymore or what’s going to happen. I hear about many people who say they are returning to their home countries.”

At Cocteles Acajutla, Mirna Lopez said sales are still about half of what they were before the raids began last year.

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Lopez, who works from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. seven days a week, said that before the raids, she would typically make around $400 a day, but nowadays she doesn’t even reach $200.

“I don’t bring as much anymore, just what I think I might sell, and even then I still don’t sell it all,” she said. “I haven’t thought about offering promotions because I don’t want people to get used to that. Everything is expensive right now to do that. It’s hard to invest your money and not make it back.”

Sergio Jimenez, a senior community organizer with Community Power Collective, said the downturn affecting vendors right now cannot be separated from years of economic instability impacting immigrant communities across Los Angeles. 

“It’s been a really tough four years for vendors,” he said, pointing to the pandemic, inflation, rising housing costs and the raids. “It has created ongoing fear and insecurity, and foot traffic has dramatically slowed down, especially among working-class Latino immigrants, who have traditionally been the main customers for street vendors because it’s such a big part of the culture.”

Jimenez said many vendors have adapted by working shorter shifts, taking less merchandise to avoid major losses and relying on community networks to warn each other about immigration enforcement activity. 

In some cases, he said teenagers stepped in to help support their families financially. 

“I saw youth. I saw a second or third generation of street vending families, having to go out and substitute for their parents because of fear and ensuring that they could bring money into their homes,” Jimenez said.

Adjusting to the new normal in LA’s Eastside

At La Chispa de Oro, Moreno was forced to cut hours for his employees at the peak of the raids. He had to help wash dishes and cook meals in the kitchen. Now, he plans to permanently alter his business hours to open up later and close earlier to save.

Sales have slowly increased from their lows, but only once the community stopped hearing rumors of agents being around. But all it takes is one rumor to keep customers away, Moreno said.  

La Chisa de Oro plans to cut its hours to make up for business lost since the raids surged.

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In East L.A., Herbs of Mexico, a longstanding herb and supplement shop, saw a 75% reduction in business last summer, according to owner Martin Lopez. Lopez described the impacts of the raids as a “pile-on” that exacerbated the already unsteady business brought upon by tariffs, inflation and the recent hike in fuel prices

“We’re getting squeezed in a lot of different ways,” Lopez said. The owner was forced to make hard decisions over the last year.  He’s laid off staff, ordered fewer products and even spent his own money to buy things like toilet paper and coffee for his employees working out of the office.

“The problem that we are experiencing is the catch-up. It’s hard to catch up. It’s hard to stay ahead because you’re always behind in regard to [the raids],” Lopez said.

Lopez reported a return of some business, but said he’s still making 30% less than he did in the summer of 2024 by comparison. He agreed that mere rumors of ICE agents being nearby can devastate business for short periods of time.

“One person can say one thing, and then it just spreads like wildfire on social media,” Lopez said. “And then we don’t see anyone come in because they said, ‘I saw something here at this corner. I saw ICE.’ And then that entire region just shuts down, and no one comes in. That happened so many times from June on.”

Recommendations to local leaders

Even before the research showed the scale of economic fallout from the raids, Sedgwick said county entities were activating services for impacted business owners. 

Departments within L.A. County moved to produce resource guides for businesses and individuals and put together a business resiliency fund, Sedgwick said. 

Council District 1 representative Eunisses Hernandez launched a program to support vendors and brick-and-mortar businesses with grants up to $10,000 during the raids.

In CD 14, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado worked with the Community Investment for Families Department and the Economic and Workforce Development Department to create the Ysabel Jurado Microenterprise Grant Program. The program is set to provide up to $3,000 in direct relief to impacted small businesses across the district to fund basic operating costs like rent, utilities, payroll, insurance, and inventory.

At the direction of L.A. County Supervisors Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn, the L.A. County Department of Economic Opportunity launched a Small Business Resiliency Fund in September 2025 to offset financial and workforce disruptions brought upon by increased immigration enforcement. 

The program provided up to $5,000 in direct relief to brick-and-mortar restaurants, street vendors, independent contractors and some home-based businesses. Applications ended last fall and, to date, the fund has granted $5.4 million to more than 1,300 businesses countywide. 

It’s unclear how those grants compare to the need. Sedgwick and her colleagues at LAEC are continuing to research the “longer, lasting effects still at play” considering that increased enforcement is still taking place. 

“It hasn’t gone away. Initially, the flashpoint and the severity of it was very in your face. But it doesn’t mean that it’s not happening still,” Sedgwick said. 

The uncertainty of when another ICE raid will come to East L.A. continues to test Lopez and other business owners, and he said he also wonders if some other crisis could be next. 

“If another event surfaces from this administration, it’s going to continue to pile on and put other businesses at risk for failure and bankruptcy … A lot of people cannot pay back their [Small Business Administration] loans that they got from COVID because they just can’t make it. So everyone is struggling,” Lopez said.

Near his shop, a market and a retail store have closed for good.

“It’s tough to see those things,” Lopez said. “It’s a daily struggle, and it does affect us from a mental health perspective because we don’t know where the shoe’s going to drop. We have to maintain our health and sanity just to keep going these days.”

Peabo Bryson, the two-time Grammy Award-winning R&B singer best known as the voice behind the Oscar-winning Disney film duets "Beauty and the Beast" with Celine Dion and "A Whole New World" with Regina Belle from "Aladdin," has died. He was 75.

His family said in a statement that Bryson died Tuesday evening, days after having a stroke.

"While our hearts are broken, we find comfort in knowing how deeply Peabo was loved and how many lives were touched by his voice and his generous spirit," the family's statement said. "His legacy and music will live on for generations to come."

Internationally celebrated for his Disney classics, Bryson also built a career over five decades as one of R&B's premier balladeers, recording hits including "Feel the Fire," "I'm So Into You" and "Can You Stop the Rain."

"For more than five decades, Peabo's extraordinary voice served as the soundtrack to some of life's most cherished moments," the family's statement said. "His music carried generations through joyful celebrations, great love stories and enduring moments of comfort and inspiration."

Peabo Bryson smiles at the European premiere of "Michael Jackson: The Life Of An Icon," in London, Nov. 2, 2011.

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Born and raised in South Carolina, the singer, songwriter and balladeer launched his career with the group Moses Dillard and the Tex-Town Display in the 1970s. Shortly afterward, Atlanta label Bang Records signed him as a solo artist.

He recorded for Capitol, Elektra and Columbia Records and became one of music's most sought-after duet partners. Aside from Belle and Dion, he also collaborated with artists including Roberta Flack and Natalie Cole.

His duet with Flack, "Tonight, I Celebrate My Love," became one of the defining love songs of the 1980s, while "If Ever You're in My Arms Again" helped expand his audience beyond R&B radio. He later scored No. 1 R&B hits with "Show & Tell" and "Can You Stop the Rain."

Beyond music, Bryson appeared in stage productions including "Raisin," "The Wiz" and "Porgy and Bess." In 2018, he returned with "Stand for Love," his 21st studio album, produced by hitmaking duo Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis.

Bryson had a stroke in late May and was placed under medical care.

"At this time, the family requests privacy as they navigate this deeply personal moment together," a statement from his representative read at the time. "The thoughts, prayers and love of friends and fans are welcomed and deeply appreciated."

In 2019, Bryson made a full recovery after having a heart attack.

Comedian and television host Loni Love said she worked with Bryson on a cruise ship last year and spoke with him for hours on the deck one night after she noticed him sitting alone.

"He shared incredible stories, spoke passionately about his music, and had such a deep love for his craft," she wrote in a social media post Tuesday. "I am so grateful to have had that special moment with him."

Bryson's family said memorial and celebration-of-life arrangements will be announced at a later date.
Copyright 2026 NPR

It was a good night for normie Democrats, a bad one for self-funded campaigns, a mixed bag for state legislators aspiring to higher office and another electoral reminder of President Donald Trump’s dominant role in our politics — even in deepest blue California.

At the top of the ticket, Republican former Fox News host and British political adviser Steve Hilton and longtime Democratic politico Xavier Becerra hold the top two spots needed to progress to the November election for governor. Tom Steyer, the billionaire former hedge fund manager turned left-leaning political donor, is holding a distant though technically viable third. The Associated Press has not called the race.

Veteran state election observers will know that it may be weeks before the final score of the June primary election is tallied. But a few early takeaways are already coming into focus:

Money can’t (always) buy you love

Whether Steyer ultimately claws his way into the top two spots in the governor’s race after spending a record-setting sum on his self-funded campaign, it’s got to be a disappointing return on investment.

Steyer ultimately spent nearly a quarter of a billion dollars on his populism-coded gubernatorial bid. The fact that all that advertising didn’t translate to an electoral blowout is no surprise, said Garry South, a longtime California Democratic strategist.

“It may sound facetious to say that you can have too much money in a campaign, but in fact the way these rich self-financing candidates spend their money becomes a liability. …They wear out their welcome.”

Steyer isn’t the only candidate to have drawn deeply on his personal finances only to flounder at the ballot box. Patrick Wolff put $600,000 of his own money toward his insurance commissioner campaign, Yvonne Yiu invested $750,000 in her race to join the state Board of Equalization and Saikat Chakrabarti put up the bulk of the millions he spent in his bid to replace Nancy Pelosi in Congress. In Los Angeles, Zach Sokoloff put up $1 million — with millions more coming from his mother — to unseat the sitting city controller.

Chakrabarti couldn’t crack the top two in his race, losing to state Sen. Scott Wiener and San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan. As of Wednesday morning, the remaining three trailed in their respective races.

A good night for ‘standard’ Democrats

Anti-incumbent populism may be in the national zeitgeist, but California voters seem perfectly happy with — or at least, fine settling with — experienced, garden variety Democrats.

“What they want is a Democratic elected official who can go and fight Donald Trump,” said Andrew Sinclair, a Claremont McKenna University political science professor.

Hence the sharp, sudden rise of Becerra following the political implosion of former frontrunner Eric Swalwell. Swalwell was also well known as an experienced politician who “Donald Trump didn’t like,” said Sinclair. Mild-mannered Becerra with a deep political resume and limited baggage was the next logical choice. “What’s your standard, out-of-the-box Democrat who you can get to fight Republicans? Becerra is probably that guy.”

It helped that Becerra’s main Democratic opponent, the self-styled populist Steyer, had the easily-attacked billionaire status, and Democrats worried about being locked out of the general election wanted to get behind whoever was polling best.

Tom Steyer speaks at his watch party on election day during the California gubernatorial primary at The Regency Ballroom in San Francisco on June 2, 2026.

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Many of the Democratic incumbents in Congress also appeared to be fending off challenges from younger, more progressive insurgents — or at least keeping them firmly in second place. Those include Mike Thompson, Brad Sherman and Doris Matsui.

Party still matters

Back in 2010 when California adopted the top-two primary system, proponents pitched it to voters as a way to shake the partisan gridlock out of California politics. Rather than have Democratic and Republican primary voters predictably electing candidates who appeal to the ideological poles, a system that lets every candidate from every party compete on the same ballot was supposed to encourage across-the-aisle reaching candidates who can appeal to voters in the middle.

Voters in the middle are less likely to show up in primary elections, said South.

Nor has the state’s top-two system ever produced a general election race for governor with two Democrats. For all the talk of then-Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom squaring off against Antonio Villaraigosa in 2018 or the possibility of a Becerra vs Steyer showdown this year, California governor races have always reverted to the partisan pattern with energized Democratic voters gravitating around their candidate and Republicans doing the same.

Similarly, the top two spots in both the lieutenant governor and treasurer’s races are also blue vs. red. The one exception: As of Wednesday, two Democratic candidates to become the next insurance commissioner — Jane Kim and Sen. Ben Allen — appear to be headed to the November election.

The shut out that wasn’t

Democrats can now officially stop worrying about a dreaded “shut out” scenario.

With so many Democrats packed into the race and none dominating the field, many party members worried early on that the two most prominent Republicans running, Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, could claim the first and second place spot in the primary.

Concerns over such a paradoxical, and for Democrats, nightmarish outcome prompted party chair Rusty Hicks to commission a poll to push some of the lowest-polling Democratic candidates to step aside for the good of the party and state.

Almost none did. But either because Democratic voters were sufficiently spooked into strategically avoiding that outcome — or because a shutout was never that likely in the first place — it doesn’t appear likely to happen.

Democrats have dodged such electoral bullets before. In 2018, a glut of anti-Trump Democratic congressional candidates threatened to hand Republicans both top spots in competitive races across the state. There were no shutouts in that year's primary. California Democrats ended up cleaning up in the subsequent “blue wave” general election. There was similar Democratic hand-wringing in the run-up to the recall election over a possible procedural fluke that could have handed the governor’s office to a Republican. Newsom swatted down the recall in a landslide.

Despite the recurring bouts of Democratic angst, the most prominent top two “lock out” in recent memory was in a deeply conservative state Senate district in the Sierra foothills in 2022 which a crowded pack of Republicans ended up cannibalizing the GOP vote leaving two Democrats in first and second.

The victor in that race, Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, ended up switching parties to join the Republicans anyway. As of early Wednesday, she is trailing in third place in her re-election contest behind Jaron Brandon, a Democrat, and Alexandra Duarte, a Republican.

Senator who?

Anthony Rendon was the former speaker of the California Assembly. In an org chart of state governance, that made him one of the three most influential people in the Capitol, alongside his counterpart in the Senate and the governor.

Alas, that wasn’t enough star power for Rendon to secure the largely symbolic position of superintendent of public instruction. As of Wednesday, he sits in fourth place.

Likewise, state Sen. Anna Caballero, a Merced Democrat who once served as the state Senate’s powerful appropriations chair, is a distant third in her bid to become treasurer — far behind Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis and little-known Republican Jennifer Hawks. Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains, a moderate Democrat, is also trailing in her race to unseat Republican Rep. David Valadao in the Central Valley, currently boxed out of the second place spot by Sen. Bernie Sanders-backed college professor Randy Villegas. And former state Sen. Steven Bradford is bringing up eighth place in the insurance commissioner contest.

It wasn’t all bad news for state lawmakers looking for other employment opportunities. Sen. Ben Allen is in second place in the insurance race, while Wiener and Sen. Aisha Wahab, two Democratic legislators from the San Francisco Bay Area, both easily claimed the top spots in their respective races for Congress.

Jeanne Kuang contributed reporting.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

CBS fired veteran 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley late Monday evening after his fiery remarks at a staff meeting held by the program's new executive producer, Nick Bilton, who has never worked in TV news.

Pelley told Bilton that he was "murdering" the program, according to three people with direct knowledge of the conversation.

In a statement shared with NPR, Pelley alleges that new management attempted to inject falsehoods, bias, and unverified claims into his reporting — efforts he says he fended off.

It's all part of CBS Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss' effort to wrest control of the network's signature news program. Last week, Weiss fired the show's top executives and forced out two of its correspondents.

With Anderson Cooper's departure, the show is down from seven correspondents to just three.

This story was taken from an audio report by NPR's David Folkenflik. 
Copyright 2026 NPR