Progressive Randy Villegas is the presumptive Democratic candidate in the 22nd Congressional District, following a late Tuesday night concession by his co-partisan rival, Dr. Jasmeet Bains.

Early voting results as of Wednesday morning heavily favored passage of a measure that would strengthen local control at the expense of the governor’s ability to appoint a politician to fill a vacancy on the Kern County Board of Supervisors.

McFarland’s mayor enjoyed a 6-point lead Wednesday afternoon in the 35th Assembly District race that, if his advantage holds, could land the Republican in a run-off with one of the two Democrats also vying for the seat.

Progressive Randy Villegas maintained his edge over Assemblywoman Dr. Jasmeet Bains, D-Delano, as they each seek to be the Democratic candidate to go up against incumbent U.S. Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford in the November general election.

The numbers changed but the rankings didn’t following updated results in the 16th Senate District race, with Republican challenger Guillermo Gonzalez leading the pack.

Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig maintained a strong lead over his two challengers early Wednesday morning in the race to fill California’s 12th state Senate District seat.

Incumbent U.S. Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, easily coasted through Tuesday’s primary election while the No. 2 slot to take him on in November remains contested.

Kern voters were leaning toward approval Tuesday of a ballot measure that would increase local control in case of a vacancy on the county Board of Supervisors.

Fresno County Supervisor Nathan Magsig held a big lead over his two challengers in early returns Tuesday in the race to fill California’s 12th state Senate District seat.

McFarland Mayor Saul Ayon, a Republican, held an early lead over Democrats Andrae Gonzales and Ana Palacio in the 35th Assembly District race, according to early reports posted on the California Secretary of State elections page.

Even after all the ballots have been cast on Tuesday, it might be a while before Californians know the results of some significant races this election, given the state’s notoriously slow counting.

Polls open at 7 a.m. Tuesday, and close at 8 p.m. sharp.

Campaign donations are both a measure of popular support and a sign of which candidates special interests believe they can influence. CalMatters analyzed campaign finance data in the California governor’s race. Here are five takeaways on where the money is coming from and where it’s going.

Election Day is Tuesday and in Kern County, in-person voting starts at 7 a.m.

California’s Board of Equalization is a coveted spot once again for state lawmakers looking for a new gig almost a decade after then-Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law gutting the organization of any serious governing responsibility.

California State Treasurer Fiona Ma, a candidate for lieutenant governor, will hold a rally from 11:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Sunday at Jastro Park.

National Democrats have zeroed in on the 22nd Congressional District, a swing seat in the Central Valley, as a key part of their strategy to win back control of Congress.

The race for Kern County supervisor in the mostly rural 2nd District includes a former member of the Bakersfield City Council who less than two years ago was elected to a half-term on the Board of Supervisors.

Perceptions of whether government action is succeeding sometimes come down to different views on what the goal was to start with.

Some California Democrats have a plan to avoid disaster in the governor’s race: Wait until the last minute to vote.

In 2022, Kern County voters approved Measure J, limiting members of the Kern County Board of Supervisors to a maximum of two four-year terms.

The top two Republican candidates for California governor, Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton, made a stop in Bakersfield on Saturday to answer questions, share their intentions to lead a state they both profess a deep affinity for and to express themselves without a Democratic candidate sharing t…

The 20th Congressional District is widely considered to be a safe seat for its incumbent, U.S. Rep. Vince Fong, R-Bakersfield, but frustration with the Trump administration has fueled three different candidates to take the long shot to oust the congressman.

If it seems like an arcane detail of local government, keep in mind that a measure going before voters next month could have made a big difference if it had been in place 16 years ago.

Backers of 22nd District Congressional candidate Randy Villegas decried a national group’s backing of his Democratic rival, Dr. Jasmeet Bains, less than a month ahead of a highly contested primary election.

The incumbents for the two California Assembly seats representing the Bakersfield area aren’t running for reelection, and while three candidates are vying to fill one seat, the other has only one candidate, Kern County Supervisor David Couch.

A national Democratic Party group is backing Dr. Jasmeet Bains in the race for California’s 22nd Assembly District, a unique move signaling the race’s importance in the 2026 midterm elections.

With its incumbent facing term limits, California’s 12th Senate District race is wide open to the three candidates running for the seat.

Judging by their latest representative — a family physician with no prior history in government — voters of the 35th Assembly District seem to be comfortable with candidates who lack a conventional background in politics.

The candidates running for lieutenant governor are apt to hint at the post’s largely symbolic and overlooked status when discussing their ambitions for the statewide office.

Think again if it seemed a new law giving Kern County environmental clearance to permit local oil-field work would end California lawmakers’ years-long battle over in-state oil production.

California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who made history in 2021 as the first Black person to hold the office, is seeking a second four-year term.

Ahead of the June 2 primary election, the race between the two Democrats looking to unseat Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, in Congress is proving to be just as contentious as the November general is expected to be.

In the spring of 2022, a woman named Shelby Bunch began appearing at government hearings in Riverside County, demanding that officials there address what she believed was an epidemic of fraud in local elections.

Democrats are searching for a hero to save them in the California governor’s race.

Progressive California Democrats, who have long fought and failed to raise taxes on the rich, are renewing their push this year in light of a specific threat: The seismic federal cuts to Medi-Cal, the state’s health care program for the poor.

Despite President Donald Trump’s putting his thumb on the scale, California Republicans refused to unite behind a single candidate for governor this weekend.

This weekend’s California Republican Party convention was poised to be a drama-filled event. The party held out a slim hope that its two gubernatorial candidates, if they played nicely enough, could lock Democrats out of the November election and reclaim statewide office for the first time i…

Several hundred people gathered Monday night in northwest Bakersfield to see more than a dozen Republican candidates across a range of state positions.

During a visit to the heart of California’s oil patch, Democratic candidate for governor Katie Porter said Tuesday the state isn’t in a position to be decreasing its energy production, including from fossil fuels, but that it should still transition to 100% green energy.

Gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter, a Democrat and former member of the U.S. House of Representatives, will be in Bakersfield for a meet and greet at 2 p.m. today.

The field of candidates in the June 2 primary election has shaped up with the release this week of who will appear on Kern County ballots following the close of the filing period.

Want to know what your government is up to? Be prepared to pay up.

Locally elected Reps. Vince Fong and David Valadao celebrated word last week the federal Department of the Interior will spend $540 million shoring up California water infrastructure, including $200 million to help fix the Kern-Friant Canal after it was damaged by over-pumping of groundwater.

A forest management bill tracing its roots to former Rep. Kevin McCarthy was passed by the U.S. House of Representatives with a companion version introduced in the Senate by Democrat Alex Padilla.

The U.S. Senate is expected to take up legislation introduced by Rep. Vince Fong that, having passed the House of Representatives unanimously, could advance eastern Kern County’s aerospace industry by supporting the use of drones to help fight wildfires.

State Sen. Shannon Grove tore into the state librarian this week about what she said was $650,000 in “really, truly misappropriated” taxpayer money that was supposed to advance the work of a literacy nonprofit set up by country music star Dolly Parton.

Not long after Steve Clarke found out there was a push to require voter ID at the polls, he began canvassing for signatures in Sacramento.

California ag groups applauded this week’s advancement of a federal Farm Bill that would help the Central Valley’s specialty crops sector, even as critics contend the legislation fails the poor and general consumers.

Advocates of Kern County’s feral cat population successfully fended off a proposed ordinance banning feeding at county parks and facilities and came away with their own ad-hoc committee aimed at addressing the issue.