2024 Election: The Ballots Are In
Election season this year may be repeating itself.
March 5 marked the last day to vote in the US California primary elections. Polling stations were located around Whittier, with the closest one at the Whittier Community Center — within walking distance from the College.
With votes now being counted, several candidates are already dominating the polls. Along with predictions coming true, Super Tuesday saw former presidential candidates President Joseph Biden and Donald Trump winning the Democratic and Republican votes by a landslide. As of March 6, 5 p.m. PST, Biden stands at 1,700,809 votes, with Trump at 1,104,876. In second place for the Democratic vote is Marianne Williamson after Dean Phillips (D) dropped out on March 6, along with Republican runner-up Nikki Haley also dropping out.
As of March 6, Biden gathered 89.4 percent of Democratic votes, and Trump received 78.9 percent of Republican votes. Trump is now the only Republican candidate running for president. It is predicted that Biden and Trump will be the nominees for their respective parties, much like in 2020.
In regards to the US Senate, Democratic US representative Adam Schiff is in the lead with 32.45 percent of California votes, and Republican Steve Garvey close behind at 32.45 percent. Katie Porter and Barbara Lee are still in the running at 13.81 percent and 7.36 percent of votes respectively.
The Senate seat is currently up for grabs, following Dianne Feinstein’s — the longest running California senator — death in 2023, with Senator Laphonza Butler replacing her soon after. Now, Butler has left the Senate seat open, opting not to serve the remainder of Feinstein’s term. Schiff, after declaring himself the Democratic candidate for the general election, was met with immediate protest by crowd-goers, urging for a ceasefire amidst the war in Gaza. As of now, it is predicted the general race for California senator is between Schiff and Garvey– with Senator Alex Padilla serving as incumbent senator.
The majority of incumbent California representatives were re-elected, with Representative Linda Sanchez of District 38 (which consist of Whittier and surrounding cities) continuing to stay in office. Congressional Representative Jimmy Gomez of District 34 (the Los Angeles district) will also be embarking on another term. The only proposition on the ballot was Prop 1, which intends to mitigate the homelessness crisis by dedicating $6.38 billion towards mental health resources and housing. This would affect the Mental Health Services Act (2004) but will continue taxing people with higher incomes.
This initiative will eventually go towards housing and mental health. However, this will be given towards the state of California rather than individual counties. The percentage tax will not be changed. The vote for this was almost evenly split, with Californians voting both “yes” and “no.”
On a more local basis, Los Angeles County held its own special election for Los Angeles District Attorney DA). incumbent District Attorney George Gascon takes the lead, with former US Attorney General Nathan Hochman following behind, and child abuse prosecution attorney Jonathan Hatami in third place. Gascon, the current Los Angeles DA, faced backlash for his push for a no-cash bail system and accusations of leniency towards criminal offenders.
In 2022, a petition was launched to remove Gascon from office, but this attempt fell through, after 195,783 votes were deemed “invalid.”
In regards to predictions about the presidential elections, political journalist Nathanial Rakich in an ABC article claims that, “In the past, special elections have been more predictive of the next election than early general-election polls.” But there are reasons to think 2024 could be different. Historically, general-election polls get more predictive during the presidential primary season, when voters learn who their choices will be and get to know the candidates. But this year, virtually everyone in America already knows and has an opinion of the two likely nominees. These “likely nominees” refer to Trump and Biden, who will be running against each other in the general election.
Rakich continues by stating, “According to 538’s polling averages, 95 percent of Americans have some opinion (either positive or negative) of Trump, and 95 percent have an opinion of how Biden is doing his job as well.”
Those statistics were revealed by this year’s polls.
As of now, this is a developing story as votes continue to be counted.
Photo Courtesy of Getty Images
