Top Ten Winners & Losers In California Politics For The Week Ending 5/29 - And We Present The Worst Week In Politics Video…
Every week I'm closely following politics here in the Golden State. This is a weekly feature where we call out ten winners and/or losers. As usual, more losers than winners. Typical!
Below is our Top Ten List of Winners and Losers for the Week (which is last week, actually). This feature is available to all of our subscribers, free and paid. At the bottom of this post is our “Worst Week In California Politics” special feature. It's me, in rare form, on video, going on about why someone’s week sucked. It is below the paywall for our paid subscribers, though. Please support my independent calling of balls and strikes, and unlock lots of content by upgrading today! It’s only $7 a month (or $70 for an entire year).
(Publishing Note: I aspire to get this back to going up on Fridays - it’s been a busy election season!)
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⏱️ 5-minute read
Top Winners & Losers Last Week in CA Politics
⬇️ LOSER: WAYMO AND ALPHABET, PARENT COMPANY OF GOOGLE
Waymo just hit the kind of safety setback that runs directly counter to the whole promise of driverless cars. The Alphabet-owned company suspended all freeway rides in the United States while it updates software to better handle construction zones, following the recall of thousands of robotaxis after some vehicles failed to avoid flooded roads. In a highly competitive autonomous-vehicle market, a setback like this has major consequences. Rivals do not need perfection. They just need Waymo to look less inevitable. I guess we also can’t forget this bizarre incident.
⬇️ LOSER: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against UCLA, accusing the university of violating federal civil rights law by failing to protect Jewish and Israeli students from antisemitism and anti-Israeli discrimination on campus. That is not a minor administrative headache. It is a major legal and reputational disaster for one of California’s flagship public universities. UCLA spent months trying to manage the politics of campus unrest. Now it has the federal government in court.
⬆️ WINNER: ORANGE COUNTY GOP LEADERSHIP IN A CRISIS
Orange County Republicans showed what competent crisis leadership looks like when a chemical emergency threatened Garden Grove, Westminster, Stanton, and surrounding communities. Local GOP officials pushed the issue hard, demanded federal attention, and kept the focus on public safety rather than bureaucratic processes. While others seemed slow to engage or eager to stay vague, they helped elevate a local emergency into a national issue. In a real crisis, visibility matters, pressure matters, and results matter most.
⬆️ WINNER: SPENCER PRATT, LOS ANGELES MAYORAL CANDIDATE
Spencer Pratt is no longer just the novelty candidate in the Los Angeles mayor’s race. He led the field in recent mayoral campaign contributions, showing that his viral, internet-first campaign is translating into real political money. Then the L.A. Times/Berkeley IGS poll showed Karen Bass at 25%, Nithya Raman at 17%, and Pratt close behind at 14%, with 26% still undecided. That does not make Pratt the favorite. But it makes him a real factor in a race that was not supposed to have one.
⬇️ LOSERS: YOSEMITE VISITORS
Visiting Yosemite is supposed to mean waterfalls, granite cliffs, and one of the most beautiful places in America. Instead, too many visitors are getting gridlock, full parking lots, and 90-minute waits just to get into the park. After the Trump administration eliminated Yosemite’s seasonal reservation system for 2026, the park is now relying on real-time traffic management. That sounds flexible, but in practice, it means uncertainty, frustration, and families burning vacation time sitting in traffic. More access, in theory, has turned into a much worse experience on the ground.
⬇️ LOSER: LEFT-WING SOCIALIST ACTIVISTS
Left-wing socialist activists love denouncing billionaires, capitalism, and concentrated wealth — right up until the checks are written to help their side. In Los Angeles, the same ideological crowd that rails against the billionaire class is benefiting from major funding from ultra-wealthy progressive donors backing socialist-aligned candidates and criminal justice activists. That is not principle. That is hypocrisy with a donor list. Apparently, billionaires are evil only when they fund someone else’s politics.
⬇️ LOSERS: CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS
Early vote data suggests something politically unusual is happening inside California’s Democratic electorate. According to Democratic data expert Paul Mitchell, older Democratic voters are making up a sharply smaller share of returned ballots than they did at this same point in 2022, while older Republicans are making up a larger share. The likely explanation is all of the Democratic hyperventilating about the always-unlikely scenario that Democrats could somehow get locked out of the November runoff. That panic may have encouraged some Democratic voters to hold off on casting their ballots while trying to game out the field. But delayed voting creates its own problem: campaigns spend more money chasing voters who should already be in the bank. The Democratic Party wants their votes banked early, which is not what happened. Ironically, due to the “Dem Lockout” hysteria caused by their own Chairman.
⬇️ LOSER: STATE GOVERNMENT WORKERS’ UNIONS
State government workers’ unions are fighting return-to-office requirements by reaching for one of the most absurd tools available: CEQA. The claim is that bringing state employees back to the office could create environmental impacts that require review. Translation: anything to avoid returning to normal workplace expectations. This is exactly why Californians roll their eyes at Sacramento. The unions may think they are being clever, but they mostly look entitled, obstructionist, and unserious.
⬇️ LOSER: HYDEE FELDSTEIN SOTO, LOS ANGELES CITY ATTORNEY
The Los Angeles city attorney is now fighting for political survival from both directions. The Los Angeles Times reports that costly city litigation has exploded under her watch, workplace allegations have dogged her office, and the police union pulled its endorsement after a massive LAPD records leak. For an incumbent, that is a brutal combination: weak institutional support, angry voters, and challengers with clearer messages. That is how a sleepy down-ballot race becomes a referendum.
⬇️ LOSER: GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor Gavin Newsom finally endorsed Karen Bass in the Los Angeles mayor’s race, because of course he did. But the move mostly underscored the real story: Newsom is still focused on himself, his national ambitions, and managing his own political brand. He was willing to weigh in for Bass, but not brave enough to tap someone to inherit the mess he had made of being governor. That tells you everything about his priorities.
THE WORST WEEK IN CALIFORNIA POLITICS “AWARD” GOES TO…
Below is my weekly pithy video about the person in California politics who has had the worst week! You do NOT want to miss this rant — six minutes of pure Jon. Upgrade today!
Who had the worst week in California politics last week?
