Over the last two months, our editorial board has surveyed hundreds of candidates, conducted several dozen interviews and issued endorsements in races across Southern California. Here are our endorsements to date for the March 5, 2024 election. You can read the full endorsements by following the individual links. This list will be updated as endorsements are made.
Statewide
No on Proposition 1: “Proposition 1 on the March 5 ballot is a costly bureaucratic power grab that robs counties of mental health services funding and saddles taxpayers with $6.38 billion in debt for what amounts to a bloated version of Project Roomkey and L.A.’s Measure HHH.”
Los Angeles County
Elect Nick Melvoin to the House in District 30: “If voters want sensible, scandal-free and balanced representation, Nick Melvoin is an excellent choice.”
Re-elect Kathryn Barger to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors: “For us, her fiscal discipline is an absolute necessity on the board, a counter-punch to any free-spending tendencies of her four Democratic colleagues.”
Re-elect Imelda Padilla to the Los Angeles City Council: “She is continuing to engage all stakeholders in the community, including the business sector, in order to improve a district that her predecessor clearly neglected.”
Elect Ethan Weaver to the Los Angeles City Council: “The L.A. City Council would benefit from more reality and less ideology. Ethan Weaver has our endorsement.”
Re-elect John Lee to the Los Angeles City Council: “John Lee has provided a touch of much needed balance. We hope he is able to tap the brakes on more of the failed policies that have led to economic stagnation and greater poverty in Los Angeles.”
Elect Dan Chang to the LAUSD school board: “Rarely have voters in the Los Angeles Unified School District had a chance to elect a school board candidate as qualified and potentially impactful as Dan Chang, and we heartily endorse his candidacy for Seat 3 in the San Fernando Valley on March 5.”
Re-elect Tanya Ortiz Franklin to the LAUSD school board: “Tanya Ortiz Franklin fully recognizes the problems facing the district and the fact that the district’s fundamental problems go back decades. Absent a majority of likeminded board members, however, there’s only so much she’s able to get done.”
No on Measure HLA in Los Angeles: “Measure HLA would add costs and delays to street maintenance, worsen traffic, and invent yet another way for the city of Los Angeles to be sued by activists.”
No on Measure RW in Long Beach: “Voters in the city of Long Beach will weigh in March 5 on a union-backed proposal to raise hotel workers’ minimum wage to a startling $29.50 an hour within four years — with the absurd proviso that the edicts of this Measure RW would not affect hotels whose workers are already unionized and have a collective bargaining agreement.”
ALSO SEE: Los Angeles County District Attorney: How to decide who to vote for
Susan Shelley’s guide to the judicial candidates in Los Angeles County
Orange County
No on Measure E in Westminster: “Westminster needs to tighten its belt and pass pension and other employee compensation reforms. On March 5, voters need to say: Read our lips, no new taxes.”
No on Orange Unified recall: “Is this necessary to protect the public, or are the issues motivating the activists ones better left for the normal election cycle? With regards to the Orange Unified School Board recall on the March ballot, we believe the answer lies in the latter.”
No on Huntington Beach charter amendments A, B and C: “Vote ‘no’ on all three to encourage the council to get back to governing rather than political theater.”
Elect Janet Nguyen to the Orange County Board of Supervisors: “Given the options, it’s not a difficult decision to make.”
Re-elect Don Wagner to the Orange County Board of Supervisors: “While Wagner has quietly pushed to improve county government, Khan has championed high-profile progressive priorities. Wagner is the clear choice — and it’s much clearer considering a Khan victory would give Democrats a 4-1 board majority.”
Re-elect Jorge Valdes, Tim Shaw and Ken Williams to the Orange County Board of Education
Riverside County
Elect Angelo Farooq to California State Senate in District 31: “His agenda is a modest one based on the actual needs of constituents. He’s not an ideologue. And he’s not just in this for a career. We can’t say the same for Sabrina Cervantes.”
Re-elect Bill Essayli to the California Assembly in District 63: “Essayli, in brief, is a sharp legislator and needed voice in Sacramento.”
Elect Jose Medina to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors: “Medina is clear on what he wants to do. He wants to see the coroner’s office split from the sheriff. He wants to see an oversight body put in place and an inspector general installed to see to it that things are going as they should. Richard Roth, by contrast, is beholden to the same deputies union that recruited Sheriff Chad Bianco to run for sheriff in the first place.”
Elect Jack Guerrero to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors: “No other candidate or member of the board will be able to match his financial acumen, which is why we take seriously his warnings about the fiscal trajectory of the county. Guerrero will put considerations of the county’s finances first and foremost, especially the county’s still-massive pension obligations.”
Re-elect Patricia Lock Dawson as mayor of Riverside: “She is a sensible and pragmatic leader who understands the need to balance the demands of the city’s unions with the fiscal realities of the city and the pocketbooks of taxpayers.”
Elect Sean Mill to the Riverside City Council: “Instead of virtue-signaling, Mill wants the council to focus on making sure Riverside residents get the services they deserve at the best possible cost. That sounds like common sense to us.”
Elect Warren Avery to the Riverside City Council: “Warren Avery’s practical approach is no doubt why he touts the broader range of endorsements, with supporters as varied as former Democratic Mayor Rusty Bailey and conservative Assemblyman Bill Essayli.”
Elect Hasaranga Ratnayake to the Riverside City Council: “We think the city of Riverside could benefit from having someone from outside of the political machine.”
San Bernardino County
Re-elect Norma Torres to the House of Representatives: “We respect Rep. Norma Torres for standing up to the loons on her left and the loon on her right. We don’t agree with her on everything, but she remains a reasonable voice amid the cacophony around us.”
Elect Michelle Lauren to judge: “Don’t elect Dieter Carlos Dammeier to anything.”
Re-elect Dawn Rowe to the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors: “She knows how to work across the aisle and will continue to do so for the betterment of San Bernardino County.”
Re-elect Kimberly Calvin to the San Bernardino City Council: “Kimberly Calvin’s voice on the council is badly needed to keep the city moving in the right direction.”
Elect Treasure Ortiz to the San Bernardino City Council: “With Treasure Ortiz on the council, we’d expect to see real results on her top priorities of public safety, economic development and addressing homelessness.”
Elect Christian Shaughnessy to the San Bernardino City Council: “For this editorial board, it’s no contest. Residents who are sick and tired of stagnation and corruption in the city need to vote out Figueroa and vote for Shaughnessy.”
For related news, see: To see the latest election results once polls close, visit our election results page.
