As California continues counting votes from the Nov. 8 midterms, questions persist about how those elected will work to address crime, inflation, homelessness and other issues that voters have consistently ranked as top priorities.
“Even though the margins in the Congressional races were much narrower than anticipated, it was interesting to see voters in key states like Pennsylvania, Georgia, and Arizona embrace ticket splitting in major races, which had dissipated in recent years in our increasingly polarizing political times,” Tim Anaya, senior director of communications at the Pacific Research Institute and director of PRI’s Sacramento office, said in an email response to the Northern California Record. “While the narrow Congressional margins may be surprising, voters once again affirmed their support for checks and balances and not giving any one party too much power in Washington.”
While some California races haven’t yet been called, others were decided on Election Night.
“Here in California, it was surprising to see in the early returns that the Prop. 30 tax increase to fund electric cars was being rejected by a large margin,” Anaya said. “As we have shown in our work at PRI, government electric car subsidies – while well intended – are really just costly subsidies for the wealthy to purchase expensive electric cars funded by taxpayers.”
California’s Legislature will have many new members; counties are to report their final results to the Secretary of State by Dec. 9.
“As the national exit poll showed that inflation was the top issue for U.S. voters, 65 percent said gas prices have been a financial hardship, and 79 percent of those surveyed said inflation has caused moderate or severe hardship in the past year, it’s clear that increasing economic opportunity, tax reform, and building a sustainable state budget should be a top priority for lawmakers to meet those goals,” Anaya said. “To make quick progress on these issues, it’s so important for newly elected California legislators to pursue market-based solutions with the potential bipartisan support like those outlined in PRI’s California To-Do List."
Anaya noted that by avoiding government spending increases and other policies that put undue burdens on the economy, tax revenue can grow and protect the state budget in these uncertain times.
“By focusing tax policy on boosting investments in poor and economically challenged areas of the state, and reforming the state’s tax system to incentivize jobs and housing, we can lower housing costs, and help those who are struggling through our current economic downturn stay employed and better provide for their families,” Anaya said.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics for the San Francisco – Oakland – Hayward area show food prices up 10 percent over last year and energy prices, including gasoline, electricity and natural gas, up 25.9 percent compared to a year ago.
“The 2022 election results underscore that voters are looking for more than just a statement of the many problems facing our state and our nation,” Anaya said. “They are looking for realistic solutions that have the potential for bipartisan support in order to build a better future for California. Elected officials in Washington and Sacramento should take the results as a wakeup call that they need to focus on action-oriented, policy solutions, not just rehashing well-known problems or criticizing the other side of the aisle.”
It's hoped lawmakers in Sacramento and Washington embrace the spirit of goodwill and cooperation that typically accompanies the start of a new legislative session by working across party lines to move the ball forward on policy reforms that we know are realistic, Anaya said.
“They should consider agendas like PRI’s To-Do Lists and embrace bipartisan policy reforms on crime, infrastructure, energy, education, homelessness, health care and more to show voters that they can make progress in addressing policy challenges that have vexed us for generations,” Anaya said. “It’s time to focus on solutions, rather than politics.”
“Those who won the election have now been entrusted by the voters to make progress in tackling these long-term problems that have hurt our quality of life for far too long,” Anaya said. “Voters will be watching in the coming months to see if promises made become promises kept.”