Approximately 50 security officers and Disneyland employees escorted the vice president through the park, Mickey Visit reported.

Vance’s presence sparked protests. Around 100 to 150 demonstrators gathered on Harbor Boulevard near the Disneyland entrance on Friday evening, and a crowd of protesters formed again on Saturday.

Social media video showed Vance’s motorcade arriving at the Disneyland resort around 6 p.m. on Friday and the vice president walking with his family through Bayou Country at Disneyland around 10 a.m. Saturday.

The Vance party rode Tiana’s Bayou Adventure and toured Tom Sawyer Island, according to the posts. They also said Vance rode the Haunted Mansion and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and dined at the exclusive 21 Royal with his family.

Disneyland officials declined to confirm any individual plans out of respect for the privacy of all guests.

But on Friday, internet sleuths noticed temporary flight restrictions had been placed around the theme park for the weekend.

Matt Desmond, who goes by Disney Scoop Guy on Instagram, posted a social media video of a newly installed staging area tent at the entrance to Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel on Friday.

“They definitely have a staging area at the front of the Grand Californian and there’s a very heavy police presence here,” Desmond said on Instagram.

The vice president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A weekend schedule was not posted and no fundraising events were announced.

Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, whose office said the vice president’s advance team was in the area recently, noted the vice president’s visit comes amid the Trump administration’s continued aggressive immigration enforcement efforts, particularly in Southern California.

“I welcome any policymaker to come to our community and see for themselves how hardworking our immigrant communities are and how they make our country great,” Sarmiento, who represents the Second District, said. “It is my hope that the administration would come to the table and work with us on reversing these policies that seemed designed to crush our communities and our state.”

“I have respect for the office, but I just don’t respect their polices,” Sarmiento said.

Vance has spent a bit of time in Southern California of late.

He visited Los Angeles on official business last month, where he stood by the administration’s immigration raids and arrests and said the military presence in the area would remain. Then, Vance also toured a multi-agency Federal Joint Operations Center and a Federal Mobile Command Center and met with Marines who had been deployed to the area.

More recently, Vance was in San Diego for fundraisers and a $2,500-a-seat dinner hosted by a conservative think tank.

Earlier Friday, second lady Usha Vance visited Camp Pendleton as part of the Blue Star Books program, which donates books to military children, base libraries and Defense Department schools, to name a few.

The second lady grew up in suburban San Diego, in the community of Rancho Peñasquitos.

President Donald Trump, meanwhile, was in Texas on Friday to survey the damage from the catastrophic flooding that killed at least 120 people — with many more still missing — earlier this month.

Immigration policy has been a contentious and complicated task for lawmakers for several years — that’s not new.

But in recent weeks, with the federal government ramping up immigration enforcement operations across the country, including in Southern California, the challenge is underscored even more.

On Wednesday, July 2, a cohort of Republicans and Democrats who make up the bipartisan California Problem Solvers Caucus in Sacramento, though, said there are several core principles they agree on when it comes to immigration.

Undocumented immigrants and DACA recipients, they said during an event outside the statehouse, “have contributed greatly to California’s culture and economy for decades.” And many undocumented immigrants are long-term residents of their California communities who work essential jobs and could contribute even more if they were granted legal status, they said.

A pathway to legal status should exist for undocumented workers who are not threats to public safety, they said.

And due process “is a foundational value of our democracy,” they said.

But the legislators also agreed that a secure border is crucial to combating drug and human trafficking and strengthening the country’s national security.

Assemblymembers Laurie Davies, R-Laguna Niguel; Diane Dixon, R-Newport Beach; and Blanca Pacheco, D-Downey, are part of the California Problem Solvers Caucus.

The legislators said they are working in tandem with the congressional Problem Solvers Caucus to advocate for their shared immigration principles.

“For too long, federal inaction has left our communities in limbo,” said Assemblymember David Alvarez, D-San Diego. “These principles lay the groundwork for real solutions — securing the border, honoring due process and providing a path to legal status for those who have earned it. It’s time for Washington to do its job.”

“These bipartisan principles strike a balance between securing the border and recognizing the value that hardworking immigrants bring to our economy,” said Assemblymember Josh Hoover, R-Folsom. “California can’t solve this alone — Washington must lead.”

The group’s press conference came after a handful of Republican legislators, including Davies and Dixon, sent President Donald Trump a letter, urging him to focus his administration’s immigration enforcement efforts on targeting “violent criminals” rather than “non-violent migrants.”

A White House spokesperson, in response, said the Trump administration is focused on those who pose a threat to public safety.

“President Trump remains committed to carrying out the largest mass deportation operation in history by removing dangerous, violent criminal illegal aliens from American communities and targeting the sanctuary cities that provide safe harbor to criminal illegals,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said in an email.

In other news

• Assemblymember Avelino Valencia is behind a bill to prohibit online games that use “dual currency” to imitate casino-style betting. These are games that use virtual coins — which in turn, can be cashed in for real money or prizes — to play online casino-like games, according to the Anaheim Democrat’s office.

“We cannot look the other way while these platforms exploit legal gray areas,” said Valencia. “These operations undermine the voter-approved framework that affirms tribal governments’ sovereign right to conduct gaming in California.”

This bill is in the Senate.

• An agreement was reached between legislators and the governor last week to delay implementation of a law mandating that large group health care plans provide coverage for infertility care, including IVF. It was slated to go into effect on July 1 but has been pushed back six months, to the start of 2026.

“As someone who would have to rely on access to fertility treatments for my own family-building, I understand the disappointment with a delay of coverage,” Sen. Caroline Menjivar said. “I know how frustrating another six months is, both emotionally and financially, for folks who are counting the days until they can welcome a child.”

“Our state has never mandated infertility health care coverage, so I hope Californians can be patient with us a little longer as we get this right for its implementation now in January 2026,” she said, noting people should check with their health plans directly because some employers may still have already elected to include this coverage.

The other five Orange County representatives all voted against it, along with the rest of the House Democrats.

Still, the bill passed the House Thursday, July 3, 218-214, after a marathon overnight dealmaking among Republicans and a record-setting, nearly nine-hour speech by Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. It’s considered a major legislative victory for President Donald Trump.

Democrats, and some Republicans, had expressed various levels of concern about the $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid funding the Senate added to the bill earlier this week. More than 2.3 million Californians could lose access to Medi-Cal coverage, projections estimate.

Kim had been among a small group of House Republicans, many of whom represent swing districts, who had said they would not back any major cuts to Medicaid that could impact coverage to vulnerable populations or that could threaten hospitals, nursing homes and safety-net providers.

“A budget resolution that does not protect vital Medicaid services for the most vulnerable citizens in my community will not receive my vote,” Kim said in April. “I’ve made this clear to my constituents and to House leadership and will continue to do so.”

But shortly after Thursday’s vote, Kim took a victory lap, her office saying in a news release that she “stood up to the White House and House leadership” to secure that $30,000 increase to a cap on how much taxpayers from high-tax states can deduct from federal tax obligations.

As for changes to Medicaid and food assistance programs, Kim said: “This bill takes important steps to ensure federal dollars are used as effectively as possible and to strengthen Medicaid and SNAP for our most vulnerable citizens who truly need it.”

“I will keep working to get our country back on the right track and protect the American dream for future generations,” she said.

Meanwhile, Rep. Lou Correa, D-Santa Ana, said the bill will impact thousands of seniors in Orange County who rely on food assistance programs, including SNAP, that will now be in jeopardy, in addition to the health care coverage concerns.

“I voted against this bill because I cannot in good conscience put the hundreds of thousands of hard-working American taxpayers in Orange County who rely on these programs to survive at risk,” Correa said. “It’s unacceptable, unconscionable and un-American.”

“My constituents sent me to Congress to fight for lower costs and safer communities. This un-American bill accomplishes neither of those goals and will instead rip resources away from hardworking families while giving tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy,” said Rep. Derek Tran, D-Orange.

Kim, along with a handful of House Republicans from New York and New Jersey, had also made raising the cap on how much of a deduction taxpayers can claim to offset high state and local obligations a priority during the negotiations over this spending bill.

The Senate had left in the House’s proposal to allow taxpayers to deduct up to $40,000 per year from federal taxes, phasing it out if their income hits $500,000. But the upper chamber reverts the cap back after five years to $10,000 — the limit placed in 2017 as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act spearheaded by the first Trump administration.

“For too long, middle-class Americans, working families and small businesses I represent have been hurting from high taxes, rising prices and skyrocketing living costs made worse by out-of-touch policies from Sacramento and Washington,” Kim said in a statement. “This bill lowers taxes and provides relief to put money back in the pockets of everyday Americans.”

California’s 40th Congressional District “leans Republican” for 2026, according to the latest ranking by the Cook Political Report, a nonpartisan election analysis site.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Thomas Massie of Kentucky were the only two Republicans who voted against the bill Thursday.

Tran said he plans to use his new leadership position on the task force — which is meant to “engage experts and convince members to reassert America’s role as the leader of the free world,” according to a news release — to counter the Trump administration and Republicans on national security issues.

A freshman Democrat who represents California’s 45th Congressional District in Orange and Los Angeles counties, Tran was picked to lead the task force alongside Democratic Reps. Jason Crow of Colorado, Maggie Goodlander of New Hampshire and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey.

“I joined the Army Reserves when I was 18 to give back to the country that had given me so much,” said Tran, D-Orange. “I bring that devotion to service with me to Congress.”

The task force was recently relaunched by House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino.

Tran pointed to Russia’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine and the Chinese Communist Party’s “growing military presence and pressure,” particularly as it relates to Taiwan, as two of the most pressing issues affecting America’s national security.

He said he’s also concerned by cuts to various national security departments during the second Trump administration.

Particularly led by what the administration has dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, the Trump White House has made cutting what it views as excessive government spending a priority — and that includes jobs in the federal workforce, even in the defense space. Tran said he is concerned that this has resulted in a lack of institutional knowledge among national security workers.

“We’ve lost veterans who served in cybersecurity, nuclear experts,” Tran said. “These people are no longer with us.”

Tran served in the Army Reserve for eight years, including in military operations after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, his congressional bio notes.

Crow is a former Army Ranger and Bronze Star recipient. Goodlander served as an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve for more than 10 years, and Sherrill flew missions as a helicopter pilot during her nearly decade of active duty in the Navy.

That’s the goal Sen. Catherine Blakespear has set to get every unsheltered and homeless person off the streets with her bill meant to increase temporary housing options.

SB 16 from Blakespear, a Democrat who represents communities in southern Orange County, which she calls “ambitious,” underwent some revisions last week.

It would require cities and counties that receive funding from the state’s Homeless, Housing, Assistance and Prevention grant program to provide a five-year plan to get to functional zero for street homelessness. Those plans would need to include “very specific and concrete” details for interim housing and other solutions, Blakespear said.

“The idea behind that is we’re spending a lot of money on homelessness and it’s going in a lot of different directions, but the most devastating is our street homelessness crisis,” said Blakespear. “Those are the people who are suffering and dying on our streets, and we need to be working with urgency to address that particular program.”

Orange County’s 2024 point in time count — a process that occurs every two years to help determine the number of people who are homeless — determined 4,173 people were living on the streets. An additional 3,149 were considered homeless but sheltered.

That count was a 28% increase from 2022.

Getting people off the street is in line with what constituents want, Blakespear said, but it hasn’t been prioritized by the state legislature in terms of policies of funding.

So part of the focus with SB 16 is recognizing that permanent housing — with or without supportive services — is extremely time-consuming and costly to build, Blakespear said, and a greater focus needs to be on interim housing.

Blakespear considers her bill to be an accountability measure because it requires very specific information from cities and counties, and it also lays out clear roles and responsibilities for counties and cities.

She said she’s been “extremely frustrated” in her 12 years in elected office — Blakespear has served in the state legislature since 2023; she previously served as Encinitas’ mayor and on its city council — wth the lack of progress to get people off the streets.

Her bill, she said, “requires rethinking some things that have been our fixed pillars” when it comes to addressing homelessness.

“I think we need to open our minds and our understanding to say that if somebody is able to sleep inside with a pillow and a bathroom and a sink to wash their hands, that is housing, that is substantially better than the street,” said Blakespear. “We should be OK funding that and feel good about the fact that someone is inside.”

In addition to requiring plans and setting responsibilities, SB 16 also would provide cities and counties with Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) credit for interim housing units for the acutely low-income category and provide nonprofits with a welfare tax exemption for using their own land for interim housing.

According to Blakespear’s office, interim housing can be constructed for as low as $50,000 a unit for municipalities versus $650,000 for a permanent housing unit.

The bill is scheduled for a hearing before the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee on Wednesday, July 2.

In other news

• The Senate last week unanimously passed a resolution from Sen. Steven Choi, R-Irvine, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Korean War.

“On this solemn anniversary, we recommit ourselves to the cause of peace, the pursuit of reunification and the duty to remember,” Choi said in a statement. “We will continue to honor our veterans, educate future generations and work toward a future in which no Korean child grows up in the shadow of war.”

• The Assembly Business and Professions Committee gave the OK to a bill meant to expand access for animals to get health services. From Sen. Dave Cortese, D-Silicon Valley, the bill permits registered veterinary technicians to conduct vaccine and parasite control appointments in many animal shelters.

Assemblymember Phillip Chen, R-Yorba Linda, is a member of that committee and voted in favor of the bill.

Although there have been consistent pleas from people he’s met over the last several months since that City Council meeting to run for public office, Kluwe said he’s been reluctant to become a politician.

But, Kluwe said it would be a waste not to capitalize on the momentum he’s gathered and not seek office.

“I definitely think it’s a district we can flip,” Kluwe, a Democrat, said.

Current officeholder Assemblymember Diane Dixon, R-Newport Beach, isn’t seeking reelection and instead is running to join the OC Board of Supervisors. That means the seat is open in 2026.

A former punter for the Minnesota Vikings and raised in Seal Beach, Kluwe was arrested during a contentious City Council meeting over discussions to install a plaque with a MAGA acrostic on it outside of a city library. He called it an act of “peaceful civil disobedience” when he took a few steps toward councilmembers following public comments he made, expecting to be arrested.

The day after his arrest, Kluwe’s father shared words of encouragement that stuck.

“When you serve your country, sometimes you have to do things you don’t want to do,” Kluwe recalled his father telling him.

Kluwe said he asked the Democratic Party of Orange County if anyone was considering running in the district, and they told him no one had expressed strong interest to them.

The decision to run became crystallized when Huntington Beach Councilmember Gracey Van Der Mark last month announced that she was running in the 72nd Assembly District. Van Der Mark was the Huntington Beach councilmember who kicked off the library cultural wars that led to Kluwe’s City Council protest and subsequent arrest.

In office, Kluwe’s priorities would be addressing climate change and housing, two issues that squarely affect the district, he said. The 72nd District is largely coastal, and the state needs to be prepared to mitigate the upcoming consequences of climate change, like rising sea levels, he said.

He added that wildfires, which are becoming more prevalent, and the difficulties that come with that, like home insurance, also need to be addressed. The district also includes wildfire-prone areas.

Kluwe said there has to be a way to thread the needle to build more affordable housing and also respect the coastal community feel that’s already in place.

“We need to build housing for people,” he said. “That’s how you fix homelessness and keep a thriving economy.”

Kluwe has long been an outspoken advocate on social issues during and after his playing career. And after his arrest, Kluwe used his newfound platform to become a prominent voice demanding action from Democrats to counter the Trump administration better.

Kluwe has not been charged following his arrest and instead began a pre-filing diversion program. It requires him to complete 20 hours of community service and not be arrested for six months, so that charges would not be filed against him. Kluwe said he has spent his time volunteering at Shipley Nature Center.

Kluwe said he’s not filed paperwork yet or set up a campaign infrastructure. Despite being a political newcomer, Kluwe said he’s fully committed.

“Football was something I’ve never done before,” Kluwe said. “If I’m going to do something, I’m going to do it to the best of my ability.”

Can digital assets be considered “unclaimed property,” falling to the state to hold them for safekeeping until the rightful owner can be found?

That is the question that the state Assembly overwhelmingly sought to clear up in a recent vote, agreeing to expand California’s unclaimed property law to include digital assets, such as Bitcoin, cryptocurrency or other virtual currency used in private transactions.

Existing law related to unclaimed property doesn’t explicitly include digital assets, according to the fact sheet for AB 1052. But the bill from Assemblymember Avelino Valencia, D-Anaheim, would move digital assets, after three years in a dormant account with undelivered attempts to contact the owner, to the state to hold under its unclaimed property law.

The controller would appoint a custodian to oversee the digital asset, the bill said, until the rightful owners are able to reclaim it.

California’s unclaimed property law already requires the controller’s office to safeguard and return inactive financial assets — dormant bank accounts, insurance proceeds and uncashed checks, for example — to their rightful owners. Corporations, businesses and other entities are required to report these types of property annually to the controller’s office.

“Digital assets,” Valencia said of his bill in its analysis, “are no longer abstract or futuristic financial instruments; they are here and increasingly used by businesses and consumers.”

“As the world’s fourth-largest economy, California must protect consumers while embracing financial innovation,” Valencia said.

“With the growing adoption of digital assets, we must address the risk of unclaimed property in this space, ensure that the legal status of virtual currency is not unfairly taxed or restricted, and prevent public officials from using their positions for personal gain through the issuance or promotion of digital assets.”

Assemblymember Diane Dixon, R-Newport Beach, said in committee that she believes it to be “an important bill” and gave her support.

The bill is now in the state Senate, after being unanimously passed by the lower chamber.

In other news

• Amid federal immigration enforcement operations and subsequent protests breaking out around Southern California over the past week, Senate Democrats held a rally on the Capitol steps to denounce the ICE raids.

Among them was Sen. Catherine Blakespear, who represents southern Orange County. She said she was proud to join Senate Democrats “to say enough is enough, the Trump administration needs to stop its siege of (California) and its lawbreaking, authoritarian actions. This is not democracy, this is not the American way.”

Republicans, meanwhile, have blamed California’s sanctuary policies and Democratic leadership for any unrest in the state. In a video message in both Spanish and English, Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil, R-Jackson, said state law prohibiting local law enforcement from working with federal immigration officials “makes California less safe and is the root cause of the rioting and violence we are witnessing.”

• Senate Democrats also chose a new leader last week: Sen. Monique Limón, D-Santa Barbara, who will take over as president pro tempore next year. She will be the first woman of color to hold the role.

That’s sarcasm, people. An esteemed colleague noted the $3 million civil verdict against District Attorney Todd Spitzer and Superior Court Judge Shawn Nelson for the harassment of a veteran female prosecutor.  

And the second-degree murder conviction of Judge Jeffrey Ferguson for shooting and killing his wife.

And former Anaheim Mayor Harry Sidhu got (a measly) two months in prison after a years-long corruption probe exposed small-town tyranny and the city’s “den of vampiric fat cats” (which also torpedoed the city’s sale of Angel Stadium).

And, now, we come to the latest installment: On Monday, former Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do was hit with the maximum sentence under his plea deal — five years — for corruption and abusing the public trust. Do accepted more than $550,000 in bribes and directed more than $10 million in COVID-19 relief funds to a charity affiliated with one of his daughters.

What the heck is going on?

“One possibility is that what we’re seeing — partly reflected in (President Donald) Trump sending the National Guard in (to California) as well — is the broad undermining of the rule of law,” said Shawn Rosenberg, professor of political and psychological science at UC Irvine. “It’s sort of increasingly OK to do whatever.

“Was what (Do) did illegal? Clearly. Was he tried and convicted? Yes,” Rosenberg added.

“But the way in which you most effectively prevent corruption is when there are norms in place and most people abide by them. That’s being broadly undermined. We’ve become so polarized, so partisan, your side can do almost anything and it’s kind of OK because you’re defending your team. I don’t have much positive to say. And it’s only going to get a lot worse.”

As Rosenberg and I spoke — he is in Spain doing research for an upcoming book on the rise of right- and left- wing populism — Trump was dispatching hundreds of U.S. Marines to Los Angeles. Federal law generally bars active duty forces from domestic law enforcement unless the president invokes the Insurrection Act. What happens next is anyone’s guess.

Death of the press

Chapman University’s Fred Smoller sees it all through a slightly different — though no less alarming — lens.

“The ethical lapses you mention are a direct result of the falloff in local news reporting,” said Smoller, associate professor of political science, by email. “Andrew Do, like Bob Rizzo of (the city of) Bell and the others … thought they’d never get caught (giving in to the temptations that power affords elected officials).

“To paraphrase James Madison, if men were angels, no Watchdog press would be necessary.”

Funny. I’ve kept the press release Do sent out on Dec. 20, 2023, demanding that LAist fire the reporter who was doggedly drilling down on this story, Nick Gerda. It seemed terrifically unhinged — accusing Gerda of using forged IRS documents and of targeting Do and his family.

“He needs to explain himself and either provide information on who provided him with the doctored tax return or fess up to doctoring it himself in an attempt to generate salacious content,” Do’s release said. “This article, coupled with other ‘reporting’ by Gerda is unbelievably sloppy. The LAist needs to hold him to account for publishing falsified material and fire him immediately.”

Gerda, of course, has gone on to win numerous awards for his reporting on Do, but this document may be the most precious keepsake of them all.

The scary thing here for democracy and all is that such attacks on the press are becoming commonplace. And that there are fewer and fewer reporters doing them, even as governments and others hire more and more flaks to spin events to their liking.

There were 308,000 public relations specialists employed in 2023, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There were just 45,000 journalists.

‘Blind’

To recap the crime: Do directed $9.3 million to Viet America Society to provide meals to elderly and disabled people during the pandemic. Only a fraction of that ($1.4 million) went to its intended purpose. Viet America Society kicked money back to Do through payments to his daughter, Rhiannon, who received most of the bribes via a high-paying job at Viet America Society and $350,000 for the down payment on a $1 million Tustin home. Do’s other daughter received $100,000 from Viet America Society, according to his plea agreement.

Do’s attorneys argued that their client didn’t understand the payments to his daughters could be construed as a bribe to him, since he didn’t get the benefit himself. Do, a lawyer, claimed he was “willfully blind” to his own corruption.

Puh-lease!

“That is bogus. I don’t believe that for a second,” said Katrina Foley, vice chair of the Board of Supervisors, erstwhile Do colleague, and an attorney.

“That is failing to take responsibility for this sophisticated, orchestrated scheme that he planned. There are so many layers to this… It’s not willful blindness, it’s willful misconduct!”

Do was once a prosecutor who tried these types of cases and his wife is a judge, pointed out Supervisor Janet Nguyen in a statement. The “blindness” bit just doesn’t fly.

While the string of recent scandals is embarrassing, Foley said, it’s not reflective of the good people who serve our county. When I expressed some sadness over Do’s incredible backstory and fall from grace — he fled the fiery fall of Saigon with just the clothes on his back and a suitcase full of dictionaries, seized opportunity in America and rose to political power until he (tragically? greedily? stupidly?) squandered it all — Foley was having none of it.

“I’m not sad,” she said. “He treated people in such a bad way; he was retaliatory. People expressed fear of him. Fear! Fear that they would lose nonprofit contracts. Fear that they would have their businesses shut down. Fear that they would somehow be in trouble.

“It’s a choice to decide to follow the rules and do the right thing,” Foley said.

“It’s a choice to decide not to.”

Deep sigh. Far too many folks, it seems, are making the latter choice.

Some viewed the losses as a moment of reckoning for the Democratic Party.

Democratic leaders, in recent interviews and while speaking to large crowds of activists and members of their party gathered in Anaheim this weekend, agree there ought to be some self-introspection — and that there is work to do to win over more voters.

At the same time, others who attended this year’s California Democratic Party Convention dismissed any notion that the future of the Democratic Party is bleak.

Referencing this year’s convention theme of “California Strong,” California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks said the message the party hopes to convey is that “California Democrats are California Strong, that we are operating from a position of strength as the fourth-largest economy in the world.”

“This party is fighting for Californians,” he continued. “We have an outsized obligation to do that work here in the state that has a huge impact on the nation.”

Shifts in voter registration

No doubt, California remains a solidly blue state overall, with Democrats retaining a 20-point voter registration advantage over Republicans as 2026 barrels closer.

But fewer Californians are registered as Democrats today than four years ago. Republicans, on the other hand, have picked up more voters.

In February 2021, shortly after Democrat Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election, Democrats accounted for 46.2% of registered voters in California, according to the California secretary of state. As of this February, they represent 45.3% of registered voters.

By comparison, Republicans made up 24.1% of the state’s registered voters in February 2021. They’re now at 25.2%.

Similar trends have been observed locally. In Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the number of registered Democrats during this same time period declined by 0.21% to 1.94% while the percentage of registered Republicans increased between 0.12% and 1.55%.

Hicks acknowledged that the state legislature, which is controlled by Democrats, has more work ahead to address affordability issues related to housing and the price of gas and food that are top of mind for many Californians.

That said, he shrugged off the fact that Republicans managed to flip three legislative seats during November’s election, noting that Democrats continue to enjoy a supermajority in Sacramento.

During the 2024 general election, Republicans flipped two seats in the Assembly and one in the Senate. All three of those seats represent communities in Southern California, including an Orange County Senate seat now held by Republican state Sen. Steven Choi of Irvine.

In the Assembly, Republican Jeff Gonzalez now represents the 36th District, which includes parts of Imperial, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Similarly, Republican Leticia Castillo was elected to represent the 58th District, which takes in parts of Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

Despite those GOP gains, Democrats continue to claim 60 of the 80 Assembly seats and 30 of the 40 Senate seats.

“California Republicans have run around and said, ‘Oh, we’re taking over California.’ Winning two seats and having 20 members in the … Assembly, I don’t think there’s anything to necessarily be proud of. You got a long way to go,” Hicks said.

Corrin Rankin, chair of the California Republican Party, said in response that Republicans are just getting started.

“Flipping three seats was just the beginning,” Rankin said in a statement. “The 2024 election made one thing clear: Voters are done with Democrat mismanagement. Californians are ready for change, and Republicans are ready to lead.”

Prioritizing midterm elections

Given that the party already has a supermajority in the state legislature, Hicks indicated that the California Democratic Party’s priority and focus in 2026 will be the congressional midterm elections.

He also said that the party plans to engage with young voters by going to high school and college campuses.

Democrats are hoping to wrest back control of at least one of the houses in Congress to thwart Republicans’ attempts to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda, they said this weekend.

Rep. Dave Min, D-Irvine, said Democrats should focus on the economy in order to boost support for the party.

“We need to think about how we talk about economics, with a real plan to help people who are struggling,” Min said in an interview.

In addition, Min, the son of Korean immigrants, said Democrats cannot abandon core values like diversity and inclusiveness.

He wasn’t so concerned that the number of registered Democrats in the state has declined while the GOP has gained members. He suspects that a year from now, the Republican Party will have lost members due to, he said, voter dissatisfaction with actions by the Trump administration, including cuts to Medicaid, mass deportations of immigrants and cuts at the U.S. Forest Service.

“These policies are all deeply unpopular, and I’m predicting right now that you’re going to see a stark turnaround,” Min said.

One of Min’s House colleagues, Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove of Los Angeles, urged Democrats to “stay in the fight” during a fiery speech on the convention floor Saturday.

She even offered a strategy, which drew cheers from the crowd.

“Democrats,” she said, her voice rising, “We need to stay focused and fearless, go into red districts with resolve.”

“Phone bank like you’re bidding for Beyoncé tickets.”

The city was included in a lengthy list published by the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday, May 29, of cities, counties and states that it said are “deliberately obstructing the enforcement of federal immigration laws and endangering American citizens.”

“Sanctuary cities protect dangerous criminal illegal aliens from facing consequences and put law enforcement in grave danger,” the department said in a news release.

But Huntington Beach’s conservative City Council has notably bucked many California mandates — and that includes earlier this year approving a resolution declaring itself a “non-sanctuary city,” a move in direct opposition to state immigration law, which limits resources from assisting federal immigration enforcement officials.

Mayor Pat Burns said the city’s inclusion is wrong, with many jurisdictions incorrectly listed or not listed.

“Somebody put that out without doing their homework,” Burns said. “It’s a negligent report. It’s not even close. If they did one city, oops, people make mistakes. But now I’m finding that Las Vegas … they were inaccurate with them. They are inaccurate with Santa Ana, which is the polar opposite of Huntington Beach.”

Burns said there is no change with Huntington Beach’s declaration as a non-sanctuary city. He said he reached out to DHS to get the city’s status set right.

When asked about Huntington Beach’s inclusion Friday morning, a DHS spokesperson said: “Designation of a sanctuary jurisdiction is based on the evaluation of numerous factors, including self-identification as a sanctuary jurisdiction, noncompliance with Federal law enforcement in enforcing immigration laws, restrictions on information sharing, and legal protections for illegal aliens.”

“The list is actively reviewed, will be regularly updated, and can be changed at any time,” the spokesperson said. “President Trump and Secretary Noem have been clear: sanctuary jurisdictions should immediately cease violation of federal law and cooperate with law enforcement.”

The city remained on the list as of late afternoon Friday.

In February, Santa Ana reaffirmed its commitment to protecting residents, regardless of immigration status. In 2016, it became the first city in Orange County to declare itself a sanctuary city.

“This is an attempt by a deeply authoritarian government to intimidate local governments into turning our backs to our immigrant and refugee communities,” Councilmember Jessie Lopez said Friday. “It is coercion, plain and simple.”

“This isn’t about facts or public safety. It’s political theater,” she said. “They couldn’t even create an accurate, factual list. Of all the cities in Orange County, Huntington Beach, the city that declared itself non-sanctuary, the city that is openly known to be very MAGA, was right there on the list, and we are on the opposite end of Huntington Beach.”

Santa Ana officials have considered a new policy that would require the city to publicly share any alerts it receives from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement about planned activity in the area.

The proposal, brought forward by Councilmembers Johnathan Hernandez and Benjamin Vazquez, would require the Police Department to post details from ICE alerts, including the time, location and nature of the enforcement, online within 48 hours, in English, Spanish and Vietnamese. But some councilmembers had concerns about whether publishing the alerts would expose the city to legal or financial risks and asked their staff for some more analysis before they consider the proposed policy.

As Burns noted, Las Vegas was included on the list, the only jurisdiction in Nevada on it. Las Vegas Mayor Shelley Berkley and Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo have both pushed back on that designation, with the governor’s office saying in a social media post that the city “is working to quickly resolve this incorrect categorization with the Department of Homeland Security.”

Other Southern California cities included on the list are Culver City, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Malibu, Pasadena, Palm Springs and San Diego. All but 10 counties in California were included; Orange County is among the 10 not listed.

“These sanctuary city politicians are endangering Americans and our law enforcement in order to protect violent criminal illegal aliens,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said in a statement. “We are exposing these sanctuary politicians who harbor criminal illegal aliens and defy federal law. President Trump and I will always put the safety of the American people first. Sanctuary politicians are on notice: comply with federal law.”