Endorsements for the March 5, 2024 election – Orange County Register

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

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.”

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.”

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.”

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.”

Riverside County

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 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 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 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.”