Trump will be the first to touch down, attending a Beverly Hills fundraiser on Friday, June 7, where tickets range from $5,000 to $250,000, according to the invite. He’ll then travel south to a Newport Beach fundraiser hosted by virtual reality entrepreneur Palmer Luckey on Saturday, June 8.

The following weekend Biden will headline a star-studded fundraiser at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles with speakers including , Julia Roberts and Barack Obama, NBC reported. The two Oscar winning actors will also be assisting the campaign by putting their names on text and email outreach to voters.

While Trump has largely stayed away from Los Angeles on the trail so far, both he and Biden are expected to visit the Southland more frequently as their fund-raising efforts ramp up.

“We tend to think of California as a “blue” state in terms of votes, but to presidential candidates, California is really a “green” state,” said Matthew Beckmann, professor of political science at UC Irvine. “The number of wealthy donors makes California a bipartisan destination early and often.”

Pepperdine Political Science Professor Joel Fox said he isn’t particularly interested in what will go on inside the events, where both candidates will predictably rake in big bucks. Rather he’s interested in the public’s reactions to their visits.

“Will there be out front, which could be a foreshadowing of what the Biden campaign could face in the Democratic Convention? And, will there be protesters in front of Trump’s fundraisers, whether it be about some of the lawsuits he’s involved in or the Israel-Gaza debate?” he said.

“It’s not the people inside, it’s the people outside that I think are going to matter on these fundraising trips.”

Trump is also expected to be a frequent visitor in the wealthy Republican-steeped stronghold of Orange County.

The affluent, coastal 47th Congressional District — which includes Newport Beach — is one of the top areas in the country where Republicans punch above their weight in fundraising, said Matt Jarvis, an associate professor of political science at Cal State Fullerton.

“Even though California is a foregone conclusion, we are the ATM for national campaigns,” he said. “And Orange County, despite being much more purple than it used to be, is still a place where Republicans come to raise money.”

Trump, in 2020, in California. The 92660 ZIP code in Newport Beach, where he held a , was among the top 45 ZIP codes — in the country — where he received the most money, the data shows. So far in the 2024 election cycle, Trump has raised more than $16.9 million in the Golden State.

“There’s a whole bunch of enthusiasm when the president comes out here,” said Huntington Beach City Councilmember Tony Strickland, who represents the Trump campaign in Orange County. “A lot of the volunteers get really motivated, and it also affects people running at all levels.”

That’s not to say Trump doesn’t raise funds effectively in other parts of the state, Strickland added. The former president has a strong support base in Beverly Hills, where he’ll be a day before he travels to Newport Beach.

In fact, one of Trump’s largest donors, real estate billionaire Geoffrey Palmer, lives in the 90210 ZIP code in Beverly Hills, which was — and continues to be — that pull in the most money for Trump. Palmer has donated more than $2 million to Trump’s campaign and super PACs so far in the current election cycle, according to campaign finance reports.

On a national scale, Biden is currently running at a clear . His campaign reported bringing in $187 million in the first quarter of 2024, almost double the $93 million reported by the Trump campaign.

This sets him up at an advantage when it comes to dominating the airwaves in critical swing states like Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Arizona.

“The fact that Biden’s campaign has already reserved $30 million in advertising means that they’re getting it at a major discount as opposed to a September price, which is probably going to be one and a half times more expensive when President Trump starts buying in,” said veteran democratic campaign consultant Michael Trujillo. “For being a savvy businessman, he’s buying high, and Joe Biden’s buying low.”

This is an advantage Biden sorely needs as a recent showed in all seven battleground states.

Currently, Trump’s legal battles are a drain on his war chest and on the time he has available for campaign events. Nevertheless, there are signs he is closing in on the fundraising gap.

He raised a record-breaking $50.5 million at a Palm Beach fundraiser in April, bringing his estimated haul for the month to $76 million, his campaign reported.

“Trump’s campaign is going to be hamstrung, at least in the short term, by court obligations,” said Beckmann. “As spring turns to summer, however, the campaigns will heat up and Trump will be fund-raising as vigorously as ever.”

Another advantage that Biden currently holds is the support of major celebrities and former presidents. Both Bill Clinton and Obama headlined a March fundraiser for Biden in New York and Obama is expected to continue promoting his former vice president in the run up to November.

Trump, meanwhile, has not received any campaign trail support from former Republican presidents.

In 2020, Biden received the endorsements of many of America’s biggest celebrities including Taylor Swift, Jennifer Lopez, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio. And with the upcoming George Clooney and Julia Roberts event in Los Angeles, he is once again hoping to use star power to his advantage.

Still with approval rates lingering around 38%, famous friends can only take Biden so far.

“Political science research shows that presidential elections tend to turn on national conditions — especially the economy,” said Beckmann. “Both candidates will be well known, and millions of dollars here or there will not make a difference, nor will celebrity events and endorsements.”

And ultimately, there’s also a limit to the power of fundraising.

“The American public, they know you these guys are, they know their track records, they know where they stand,” said Fox. “I think what the votes are going to come down to is whether they want the Biden approach or the Trump approach to the presidency.”

“I don’t think that money is going to be the deciding factor.”

Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin also is expected to speak at the fundraiser, set for Wednesday, May 22, at the Temecula Stampede country music venue.

So is Kash Patel, who served in the Trump White House, and Alina Habba, an attorney who represented Donald Trump in court.

“The entire Trump family understands the need for patriotic Americans to get involved in the election process,” PAC founder and 412 Church Temecula Valley Pastor Tim Thompson said via email.

“Our hope is Eric Trump will inspire the Temecula Valley and beyond to engage in a powerful way.”

The Riverside County Democratic Party chairperson assailed the event.

“This fundraiser clearly shows how, and by whom, big money is being raised in the Inland Empire by the executors aiding the creation of a dictatorship under the guise of ‘Family Values,’” Joy Silver said via email.

A protest is scheduled to take place outside the fundraiser. “Let’s show Tim Thompson and the Trump Crime Family that their brand of fascism isn’t welcome here in our school districts!” an online ad for the demonstration states.

Amy McKenzie, a Hestrin spokesperson, said via email that Hestrin, a Republican, “has been invited to speak at the event to address criminal justice issues in California.”

In February, Habba attended an event at a Temecula-area equestrian facility for , a Thompson-led organization that posts his commentaries and interviews with conservative activists and lawmakers on social media.

Habba “offered to connect us with her family friend, Eric Trump,” Thompson said. “We gratefully accepted that offer.”

Eric Trump’s wife, Lara, is co-chairperson of the Republican National Committee.

range from $200 for general admission to $1,000 for VIP seating and a meet-and-greet with Trump. Thompson said he hopes the event raises more than $100,000. As of Tuesday, May 14, tickets are still available, he said.

Habba frequently appears on cable news to praise the former president and blast efforts to prosecute Trump, .

While she is celebrated in conservative circles, the judge in Trump’s defamation trial — at one point after she interrupted him.

The plaintiff in that case, E. Jean Carroll, alleged Trump defamed her after a jury for sexually abusing her in the 1990s. Trump .

Patel served in various capacities in the Trump administration, including chief of staff in the Department of Defense and a counterterrorism adviser on the National Security Council.

In December, Patel that if Trump returns to the White House, “conspirators” in the media and government would be targeted — “We’re going to come after you whether it’s criminally or civilly,” he added.

Thompson’s PAC  to school boards in Temecula, Murrieta and Lake Elsinore.

PAC-endorsed candidates campaigned on a platform of restoring parents’ rights and ridding schools of “indoctrination.” , including a majority on the Temecula Valley Unified School District board.

Once elected, the three Temecula conservatives , with over curriculum that indirectly referenced LGBTQ leader Harvey Milk and , among other controversial actions.

Critics say the conservatives, , want to impose a Christian nationalist agenda while ignoring pressing student needs. A recall election of one of the conservatives, board President Joseph Komrosky, .

While defeating the Komrosky recall “is a top priority for us … the IE Family PAC continues to vet possible candidates for school board seats across the Inland Empire and will be announcing our endorsed candidates at a date to be determined,” Thompson said.

“We focus solely on school board races as parental rights and the safety of our children are our main passion.”

The fundraiser “is yet another blatant example of the IE Family PAC’s mission to corrupt local nonpartisan school board seats with partisan politics and culture wars in an attempt to dismantle public education,” Jeff Pack, co-founder of , which is spearheading the recall, said via email.

“ … IE Family PAC’s supported elected officials and candidates are singularly focused on indoctrinating our students religiously and politically. We find that shameful and antithetical to the American public education system.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct an error. The Democrats of Southwest Riverside County club is not organizing a protest scheduled to take place outside the Wednesday, May 22, fundraiser. 

Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona, this week to Postmaster General Louis DeJoy seeking answers as to why the ballots sent to voters from Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties arrived too late, as .

“The fact that these voters were denied their ability to exercise their constitutional duty due to flaws in the mail-in ballot system is shocking,” Calvert, who represents parts of Riverside County, .

“In American elections, it’s not hyperbole to say every vote matters — it’s a fundamental component of our democracy. There’s no question that the increased role of mail-in ballots has put the (U.S. Postal Service) in a more critical position in our election process. Americans must have confidence that the USPS is up to the task of supporting our democracy.”

Duke Gonzales, a postal service spokesperson, relayed a statement from postal service headquarters acknowledging receipt of Calvert’s May 6 letter.

“We will respond directly to the congressman,” the statement said.

Under California law, mail-in ballots are sent to every registered voter. Legally, ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received by a county registrar of voters up to seven days after an election must be counted.

According to Riverside County, 31 mail-in ballots postmarked on time arrived eight days after the election or later. They included “a few military ballots,” Registrar of Voters Art Tinoco .

In Orange County, 70 postmarked-on-time ballots arrived too late to be counted, with 61 arriving March 13, three arriving March 14 and six arriving March 15, according to that county’s registrar.

In San Bernardino County, three ballots arrived between March 13 and March 15 that were postmarked on Election Day.

Elections officials said they didn’t know why the ballots arrived late. Gonzales previously referred to postal service statistics showing that 99.89% of 2020 ballots and 99.93% of 2022 ballots nationwide were delivered within seven days.

Like many in the Republican Party, Calvert has expressed concerns about mail-in ballots.

In March 2019, Calvert sent then-Riverside County Registrar of Voters Rebecca Spencer a letter warning that — a term used derisively by conservatives to describe someone dropping off multiple ballots at once —  is “ripe for fraud” and posing a list of 27 questions about the practice, which is legal in California.

Despite conspiracy theories and continued doubts about the nation’s elections, multiple investigations at the state and national level have found on a scale that would change election results. Elections officials note that to verify voters’ eligibility and make sure they’re not voting twice in the same election.

If those 357,000 or so eligible voters register by the Oct. 21 deadline to participate in , Trump might be able to pull ahead of President in Orange County. But if the election were held today, Biden would beat Trump by eight points, according to a .

That in part means Trump — who leads Biden by one point among county residents surveyed, regardless of voter registration status, but has never won a general election in Orange County — is having difficulty getting people who say they support him to register to vote, said Jon Gould, dean of the UCI School of Social Ecology.

It also means that residents who aren’t registered to vote are more likely to be Trump supporters, he said.

That trend, which is also , could be chalked up to the former president’s efforts to “sow distrust in voting systems and vote by mail” the poll alleged, which may discourage turnout among marginal voters and unregistered people.

Nearly three in 10 Orange County adults surveyed in the UCI poll said they do not believe Biden legitimately won the presidency.

“Trump supporters are less likely than the Democrats to be registered to vote, which means that if Trump wants to win here, he’s going to have to convince his supporters to go register and then vote,” said Gould, who spearheaded the survey.

A spokesperson for the Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.

Jessica Millan Patterson, chair of the California Republican Party, said Orange County is “a true purple county” and the state party “is invested and on the ground to register voters and support Republican candidates at every level of the ballot.”

And in a letter to supporters Tuesday, OC GOP chairman Fred Whitaker talked about plans to engage with Republicans who did not vote in the primary election.

“While we had a great turnout victory over the Democrats, that will not be enough to win in November,” he said. “Neighborhood by neighborhood, we will engage with these low propensity voters, connect them with you and local candidate and ultimately turn them out in November.”

The poll, conducted in collaboration with the UCI School of Social Ecology and the American Association of Universities, surveyed 804 adults living in Orange County from March 20-27 via a web questionnaire with a 3.5% margin of error. It found clear party divides among race and ethnicity.

According to the poll, the plurality of White residents in Orange County support Republicans (38%) while the plurality of Latino voters favor Democrats (40%).

However, the plurality of Asian residents said they identify as independent (39%). More than 20% of surveyed Asian voters said they would either vote for a third-party candidate or are unsure who they would vote for if the election were held today.

While the degree to which Asian voters may influence the election hinges on turnout, “they are that swing voting group that may very well be the one that decides the election this time, at least in Orange County,” said Gould.

In November, they could be the difference that swings the election toward the sitting president, Gould added. The poll found that 48% of Asian voters would vote for Biden if the election were held today, compared to 31% for Trump.

“This time around, independents are less supportive of Donald Trump than you would expect them to be for a generic Republican candidate,” said Gould.

While surveys are better at measuring how people think than whether they will turn out, the UCI poll is a good indicator that Orange County will vote for the Democratic presidential candidate as it did in 2016 and 2020, said Chapman University political science professor Fred Smoller.

In 2016, over 50% of Orange County voters picked former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton while around 42% went for Trump. And in 2020, 53% of voters chose Biden while 44% voted for Trump.

“Primaries tend to be extreme. They draw extremists in both parties,” Smoller said. “The general election draws a much more moderate group of voters.”

The UCI poll found that a plurality of likely voters who consider themselves moderate would vote for Biden (49%) over Trump.

In all, the poll’s findings indicated that Orange County is a truly purple county, which Gould says is rare.

“This is a county that went strongly for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020, but also went strongly against Gavin ɫ����̳om,” he said. “And Steve Garvey is doing much better here than we’re seeing in other places in the country.”

Among all likely voters the UCI poll surveyed, 41% said they would vote for Garvey, a former Los Angeles Dodger who is running as a Republican in the U.S. Senate race, if the election was held today. That puts Garvey only 3% behind Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff.

In comparison, a , found that 61% of California likely voters said they would vote for Schiff if the November election were held today, compared to 37% for Garvey.

At a special meeting Tuesday afternoon, April 23, the Grand Terrace City Council appointed Michelle Sabino to finish out the term of former member Sylvia Robles, who resigned in March.

Sabino received votes from two of the four members of the council. She was one of four candidates who applied for the chance to finish out Robles’ term. Robles was up for reelection for a fourth four-year term in the Nov. 5 general election.

Speech therapist Sabino was sworn in at the regular 6 p.m. meeting immediately after.

More about the Grand Terrace City Council

• Sylvia Robles resigns from Grand Terrace City Council after 12 years in office
• Grand Terrace plans appointment to fill open council seat
• 4 apply for vacant Grand Terrace council seat

Trump received the most votes in Orange County, 236,456, of the nearly 40 people on the presidential primary ballot, ahead of Biden only by about 18,500 votes.

But other factors contribute to success in a presidential general election — like higher turnout among youth, non-White groups and women. “A different universe of people” will show up in the general election, said Paul Mitchell, vice president of the Political Data Inc. firm.

Related:

“In the general, expect to see a lot more young voters, Latinos, a lot more renters, less affluent voters and increased turnout from Democrats and independents who lean Democratic,” he said.

To rely on the results of the primary alone to predict what will happen in the general election would be a misstep, said Jon Gould, dean of the UCI School of Social Ecology.

For one, Republican candidates in the primary were buoyed by higher voter turnout. In Orange County, was 49%, more than 10% higher than Democratic turnout, which hovered around 36%. Statewide, Republican turnout was around 47%.

“We typically see that in primary elections because the people who are most likely to come out to vote in not very highly contested elections tend to be older, tend to be people who are really, really attached to the candidate, and Trump has, among a core group of supporters, a lot of excitement,” said Gould.

In November, however, more motivated Democratic voters could turn out, he predicted.

“It’s one thing to come out in a primary where it’s Biden versus nobody. It’s another thing to come out when it’s Biden versus the guy they hate with a passion,” Gould said.

But that’s not to say Orange County is necessarily becoming a blue county, said Gould. Data from the March 5 primary shows Orange County is still solidifying its more recent purple reputation.

In the last midterm election, Orange County voters rejected Gov. Gavin ɫ����̳om and other Democrats on the state ballot, opting for Republican candidates for lieutenant governor, secretary of state, controller, treasurer, attorney general and insurance commissioner.

This year, , a GOP candidate for the open U.S. Senate seat as well as .

Still, Orange County is very much purple with a blue tinge, numbers-wise. Of the six congressional districts that touch the county, four are represented by Democrats, and of the 16 state Assembly and Senate districts in Orange County, nine have elected Democrats. Registered Democrats in Orange County also outnumber registered Republicans, 37.4% to 33.6%.

That might partly explain why Trump has never come out on top in a general election in Orange County, which went for Hillary Clinton and Biden over Trump in 2016 and 2020, respectively, after a Democratic presidential drought in the county that dated back to Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936.

“I think the way to read the data is that voters here just don’t like Trump,” said Gould. “He’s a flawed messenger for the Republican Party. When there is a more credible Republican candidate or when the Democrat brings out strong feelings against him, Republicans can win here. They did win here.”

By the time California’s primary election rolled around, the stage had already been largely set for a fall rematch between Biden and Trump.

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Twelve Republican candidates were still on California GOP voters ballots when they went out in February, but only former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley remained in the race as the Republican challenger to Trump. and , both once seen as potentially formidable candidates, had suspended their respective campaigns in January.

ahead of Super Tuesday — but Trump still far and away swept among Republican voters in Orange County and across the state.

Haley won only one precinct in Orange County — a small area in La Palma where just 12 total votes were cast.

Other precincts either went for Trump or Biden or resulted in ties.

“It’s entirely possible that this was largely driven by the calendar than anything else,” said Dan Schnur, who teaches politics at USC and has worked as a strategist on past presidential campaigns.

“It’s more than likely that those numbers wouldn’t have been quite so definitive had the primary taken place before the nominations were settled,” Schnur said.

It wasn’t so long ago that so that it could be more competitive.

The legislature decided in 2017 to bump it to the first Tuesday after the first Monday in March, in other words: Super Tuesday, an election day when the greatest number of states hold primary contests.

in June in 2016 and 2012 — and in February in 2008. They were held in March in 2004, 2000 and 1996; in 1992, it was in June.

When the state last moved the primary up to early March, the idea was twofold: increase voter turnout and ensure candidates were spending time campaigning for California voters.

“Candidates will not be able to ignore the largest, most diverse state in the nation as they seek our country’s highest office,” Alex Padilla, now a U.S. senator who was then California’s secretary of state, said at the time.

Jurado bested Council District 14 incumbent Kevin de León in by a slim margin — she received 24.5% of the vote to his 23.4% in the downtown and Eastside district. The two will face each other in a fall runoff election.

Burgos also advanced to the November ballot after capturing 22.3% of the vote in the Council District 2 primary race for an open seat in the San Fernando Valley being vacated by outgoing City Council President Paul Krekorian. Burgos will face former state Assemblymember Adrin Nazarian, who received 37.2%.

That two progressive grassroots candidates with smaller campaign war chests than some of their competitors survived the primary isn’t all too surprising to Bill Przylucki, executive director of Ground Game LA. The organization, which has been around since 2017, works to get progressives elected through grassroots campaigning.

In 2020, Ground Game LA members helped elect Nithya Raman, then a political newcomer who defeated incumbent David Ryu in the Council District 4 race – the to a challenger.

Two years later, Ground Game LA saw three more political newcomers it had endorsed for L.A. city offices get elected – City Controller Kenneth Mejia and .

Przylucki said that in 2020 – the same year the hit and the nation faced a racial reckoning spurred by – some people might have downplayed Raman’s victory by chalking it up to “a weird year.”

But then more progressive candidates got elected in 2022.

“I think that’s when it started to sink in for some folks in the establishment that this is real – grassroots people are not going to let gatekeepers deprive them of democratic participation,” Przylucki said.

This year, Ground Game LA endorsed Jurado and sent volunteers to work on her behalf. Przylucki said the group also recommended that people vote for Burgos, though it did not assign its members to get involved in District 2 since many of its San Fernando Valley volunteers were in the .

Jurado and Burgos also align themselves with Democratic Socialists of America, a group that has worked to elect far-left candidates. DSA’s Los Angeles chapter has .

“Ysabel won the primary because people win campaigns, not dollars. DSA-LA knocked 8,000 doors with her this cycle because we want to transform this city into one that works for working people,” Caleb Elguezabal, who led DSA-LA’s effort to support Jurado in the primary, stated in an email.

‘Not your typical candidate’

If you ask either Jurado or Burgos about making it to the runoff, they’ll chalk it up to good old-fashioned retail politicking.

“We were committed to talking to voters one-on-one, knocking on doors,” said Jurado, who estimated that she and volunteers knocked on 85,000 doors on her way to becoming the top vote-getter in District 14 during . The first-time candidate described her campaign as “people powered” and one that devoted its limited resources toward on-the-ground campaigning.

“That’s what we relied upon in order to get this far in the election, and that’s something that I think other candidates took for granted,” said Jurado, adding that she and volunteers were constantly in the community, talking and listening to voters.

Burgos, who fared better than five other candidates in the District 2 race to snag a spot in the runoff, described herself and Jurado as “not your typical candidate.”

“We think in terms of how would we want to be reached out to,” she said.

With 24.5% of the vote, Jurado, a tenant rights attorney, in the eight-person primary race in District 14, which represents downtown L.A. and Boyle Heights, with about 1.1 percentage points separating her from de León.

Burgos, a small business owner and member of the North Hollywood Neighborhood Council, with 22.3% — 7.6 percentage points ahead of third-place finisher Sam Kbushyan and 10.1 percentage points ahead of fourth-place finisher Manny Gonez, despite being .

During a recent victory party at Garvanza Park in Highland Park, Jurado described how volunteers helped send out 3,000 handwritten postcards to voters. She compared that effort to “people that spent half a million dollars on savvy, glossy mailers that nobody read.”

“But when (voters) saw the handwritten postcard, they were like, ‘Wow, that’s personal. That’s real,’” she said.

Burgos’ campaign adopted a similar playbook.

Faced with limited funds, her campaign opted not to send mailers to every household but instead sent about 1,700 letters to members of the LGBTQ+ community – a “targeted audience” – to share Burgos’ personal experience at Saticoy Elementary last June when over a school assembly at which a book-reading mentioned same-sex parents.

“I’ve had people tell me they saved those letters,” said Burgos, who was there in support of the LGBTQ+ community.

Burgos’ campaign also sent 300 handwritten postcards to supporters of , who endorsed her.

Beyond that, Burgos said she and her supporters knocked on doors and attended events and town halls. Burgos pounded the pavement so much the last two weeks before election day that “I wore out my favorite pair of Brooks,” she said.

Fundraising versus voter engagement

Jurado was a first-time candidate who received more votes than the incumbent, de León, and two state assembly members, Miguel Santiago and Wendy Carrillo. The two legislators had arguably greater name recognition than newcomer Jurado. Some who followed the race wondered if in November cost her votes, or if the two state assembly members took votes away from each other.

De León, the embattled council member, who sought reelection with for his role in , finished second in the primary and will face Jurado in the runoff election.

“I’m grateful to the voters of Council District 14 for standing with me and putting me into the general election,” de León said in a statement. “Results matter and residents recognize the amazing work my team and I have delivered across the district so far. We will continue to work hard and focus on transforming our neighborhoods into what residents expect and deserve.”

About a week out from the March 5 primary election, Santiago had amassed nearly $273,000 more for his campaign war chest than Jurado. He also benefited from nearly $688,000 in “independent expenditures” by groups that spent money on ads and other measures to try to get him elected. None of the other candidates in District 14 had such outside groups spending on their behalf, according to .

“He had the money, but we had the people, and that’s where the power is – just talking to folks one-on-one.  … That is the key to our success despite not having … like a million dollars spent on our behalf,” said Jurado, who worked out of her home and car — her “mobile office,” she called it — to avoid paying rent for a campaign office.

Santiago’s campaign did not respond to a message seeking comment for this story.

In District 2, Burgos operated on an even leaner budget than Jurado. Through Feb. 28, Burgos had spent about $62,720 on her campaign. Former Assemblymember Nazarian, the top vote-getter at 37.2%, spent about 12½ times that amount and benefited from more than $276,000 in spending by other groups who supported his candidacy.

Burgos will face Nazarian in November, having edged out Kbushyan, the third-place finisher who spent eight times what Burgos spent, and Gonez, who outspent Burgos by more than 5½ times and ended up in fourth place.

Nazarian, in a statement, referenced his first run for state Assembly in 2012, when he prevailed in spite of special interest groups who spent heavily to support another candidate.

“In every election I have participated in, even in ones where my campaign was outspent dramatically, my approach has always been the same,” Nazarian said. “Which is to run a community-based campaign that is focused on neighborhood coffees, community events, knocking on doors and talking to voters about the issues that concern them. I will be approaching the election in November in the same way.”

Political consultant Brian VanRiper, who was not involved in this year’s L.A. City Council primary races, said one reason Kbushyan might not have made the runoff was that he and Nazarian were competing for the same Armenian voter base in the San Fernando Valley.

Generally speaking when it comes to L.A. City Council races, he said, sometimes candidates seen as frontrunners end up trailing.

And in a crowded race, especially when voters already are inundated with daily campaign mailers because there are multiple races on the ballot, it helps when a candidate finds a way to make their message stand out. One way is through door-knocking.

The power of door-knocking

“Voters get tired of hearing (campaign messages) so it becomes tougher and tougher to break through,” VanRiper said. “So how do you break through? If somebody knocks on your door, you’re forced to have a conversation.”

Przylucki of Ground Game LA agrees.

The key, he said, is to engage in authentic, personal conversations with voters.

“Face-to-face contact at the door or a phone call, even a text message exchange, is way more valuable than sending a piece of mail.” He sees mailers as having “diminishing returns” – not to mention they’re cost-prohibitive for cash-strapped candidates, he said.

“As a voter myself, I feel disposable when all I get is mail and I don’t really know how to give you (the candidate) feedback,” Przylucki said.

Burgos said her campaign engaged with the public by producing informative videos about local issues or services and programs that Angelenos might find useful and sharing them on Instagram and Tik Tok – borrowing a page from City Controller Mejia’s playbook. His social media-savvy campaign helped him win in 2022.

“We’re trying to emulate (that) – just giving out information,” said Burgos, who is endorsed by Mejia and said she received pointers from him about running a successful campaign.

As the candidates look ahead to the November general election, Burgos acknowledged that the runoff will be “a different animal” now that the contest is down to two candidates. But both she and Jurado appeared ready to knock on more doors.

“Getting out the word to people is always the most important, engaging with them, finding out what they want is always my priority,” Burgos said. “When we knock doors, we ask people what they think of our district now and what they want changed.”

For her part, Jurado said, “We’re not going to stop talking to people. We’re going to make sure we continue to uplift the voices of the marginalized community.”

“It is violative of California state election law, undermines that process and threatens the constitutionally protected right to vote,” said California Attorney General Rob Bonta at a news conference in Los Angeles on Monday, April 15.

Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who oversees elections across California, said the voter ID requirement would disenfranchise voters and called it a solution in search of a problem.

“This voter ID measure conflicts with state law,” Weber said at the same press conference. “Not only is it a solution in search of a problem, laws like these are harmful to California voters, especially low-income, the elderly, people of color, those with disabilities, and young voters.”

The lawsuit, filed in Orange County superior court, is seeking a court order to invalidate the charter amendment.

City Attorney Michael Gates said the people of Huntington Beach made their voices clear on the issue by voting for the measure and said the city “will vigorously uphold and defend the will of the people.”

A proposed bill from State Sen. Dave Min also seeks to prevent the city from implementing the measure by adding language to the state elections code that says cities can’t ask for IDs at voting centers.

“The attorney general’s that the city’s voter ID requirements violate state law is inconsistent with, in fact in direct conflict with, Sen. David Min’s new bill attempting to make Huntington Beach’s voter ID illegal,” Gates said in a statement. “That blatant inconsistency speaks volumes.”

Bonta said there is no evidence of voter fraud in Huntington Beach. He said the measure was “intentionally brazen and will now be subject to accountability in court” and added that the city has greatly overstated its authority as a charter city as it contends with the state on a number of issues.

with 53.4% of voters in favor, with about 61,000 residents voting on the proposal put on the ballot by the City Council majority. The City Council certified the election results at its April 2 meeting.

The measure, which was an update to the city’s charter, was written saying the city “may” implement voter ID, but city leaders have said it is their intention to do so in 2026. That is the earliest the measure would allow implementation.

The lawsuit states that voter ID is unlawful whether or not the city chooses to consolidate its elections by using the Orange County Registrar of Voters. It referenced previous attempts by Councilmember Tony Strickland to pass a voter ID when he was in the state legislature.

OC Registrar of Voters Bob Page said in an email that “the city has not, to date, contacted the Registrar of Voters to discuss how it wishes to conduct its municipal elections starting in 2026. We have also not received any advice from the state regarding this issue.”

Strickland said Huntington Beach will win in court and that claims about voter ID disenfranchising people were absurd.

“The people of Huntington Beach voted for this initiative,” Strickland said. “It’s not shocking they want to thwart the will of the people.”

Bonta and Weber in September had already when the council was discussing placing the measure on ballots.

“We informed (the city) back in the fall, if you put this on the ballot, this is against California law,” Weber said. “None of them ever responded to that.”

Weber said if Huntington Beach had voter ID, her parents and grandparents wouldn’t have been able to vote since they lacked birth records. Her family came to California from rural Arkansas.

“My grandfather who served in World War I has no record of his birth,” Weber said. “He has no record of it. He could not show it.”

Measure A also says the city may move to monitor ballot drop box locations within the city and provide more in-person polling locations.

Bonta said the state’s complaint doesn’t address monitoring ballot drop boxes, but “we are interested in how it gets implemented.” He said there are already prohibitions in state law of using video to undermine someone’s right to vote.

Councilmember Rhonda Bolton, who voted against putting the measure before voters, wasn’t surprised by the lawsuit and said pushing for voter ID isn’t the best investment of resources.

“In a perfect world, we would not have gone down this road to begin with,” she said.

The City Council’s conservative majority and city attorney are up for reelection in 2026.

The lawsuit is the . A state judge recently said the city is likely to lose a different lawsuit filed by Bonta’s office for not planning to build more housing.

“The city of Huntington Beach has repeatedly violated the law,” Bonta said. “They are not law-abiding.”

Money in politics, namely campaigns, is what she focused on after losing the primary for California’s open U.S. Senate seat last month — over the language used in it — but it’s also a spot where she feels she can be helpful to other Democratic congressional candidates moving forward.

Porter, an Irvine Democrat, will leave Congress in January after six years. She opted not to run for re-election this year, instead . And although she was first out of the gate to announce her candidacy, and is preparing to leave elected office.

At least for now.

Porter plans to return to her pre-congressional work as a law professor at UC Irvine, picking up some of her old classes (secured transitions, consumer law) and dabbling in some new ones that draw on her experiences in Washington, D.C. (legislation, regulation, statutory interpretation).

She is also sharing her fundraising prowess with other congressional Democrats in California, something you may already know if you’re on her oft-used email list.

Aside from state Sen. , who she endorsed to , she has sent out the call to support Will Rollins in the 41st congressional district and Rep. Josh Harder, who represents CA-9 up north. She plans to continue to work on her “Truth to Power” PAC, lending aid to like-minded Democrats or President Joe Biden’s re-election effort.

Porter is “focusing a lot right now on electing candidates who refuse corporate PAC money and understand how important it is to combat the influence of money in politics,” she said in an interview.

Shortly after it became clear Porter wouldn’t advance to the general election in November, she posted on social media gratitude to supporters and blasted “an onslaught of billionaires spending money to rig this election.” That little three-letter word, “rig,” invited an onslaught of criticism and comparisons to former President Donald Trump, .

She has since said that she regrets using that word, that the point was about how money influences politics.

“My election illustrates some of the problems with our current campaign system,” Porter said Monday.

Not knowing who — or what — is funding a campaign may contribute to and feelings of disillusionment with government, particularly among younger voters, she said.

“We need to be asking ourselves what do we as a party, as Democrats, need to be doing to create voter engagement,” said Porter. “If we want to build trust in our democracy, we need to focus on why do voters feel like their vote doesn’t matter, why do they feel Washington doesn’t change and how can we write our rules and have a different culture in Washington to build that effect in government.”

Her part, at least for now, is helping to elect fellow Democrats and offering her services to Biden and Rep. Adam Schiff, the lone Democrat , she said. In particular, she’d like to increase engagement among younger voters, like college students and young parents, she said.

That attention and aid to other candidates is a smart move, said Dan Schnur, a former campaign consultant who teaches political messaging at USC and UC Berkeley.

“It’s always helpful to get more people involved in the political process, and some of Porter’s visibility can certainly make an important difference,” Schnur said. “And it’s an absolutely ideal way for her to maintain relevance so that when, not if, she decides to run for office again, she can point to ongoing political involvement.”

“It’s a good thing to do because it’s a good thing to do, but it’s also a very politically savvy thing to do,” he said.

Porter leaves Congress with marking her career, from wielding a whiteboard during tense committee hearings to reading a not-so-subtle book during a contentious House speaker votes, but her fight against corporations and money in politics also stands out.

And Porter “has only deepened her commitment to addressing the corrosive influence of money in politics” during her congressional tenure, according to spokesperson Jordan Wong.

“She was bold and stern and gutsy and not apologetic. It’s so refreshing and enlightening to call it out,” Ada Briceño, chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County, said of Porter battling “corporate greed.” Porter’s work, Briceño said, is sure to be taken up by other lawmakers as well.

“When we see someone do something, then we, too, get the courage to do it. She’s opened the door to folks in Congress to keep doing the work.”

While Porter is looking ahead — and not ruling out another run for public office somewhere down the line — she is also taking stock of her accomplishments in what was in Congress.

“When I first got to Washington, hearings were considered something you just sort of showed up for,” said Porter. “Your staff hands you a piece of paper and you read off that piece of paper to ask a question. We really showed hearings are an incredibly powerful tool.”

“We really helped raise the bar for what we should expect from our elected officials and using hearing to get answers for the American people. I’m incredibly proud of that.”

Legally, those ballots should have been counted, barring a problem like a ballot envelope signature not matching what’s on file.

But they weren’t tallied because registrars of voters in these counties received the ballots after March 12 — the final day that on-time mail-in ballots could be accepted.

While Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties , ballots postmarked on time but arriving too late — however few — pose a challenge for California elections that rely heavily on ballots mailed to every registered voter.

“While this amount may not make any difference in the election results, it certainly makes a difference to the integrity of the process,” Robert Tyler of the Murrieta-based law firm said via email.

In a Thursday, April 4, letter, Tyler demanded that Riverside County halt certification of its primary results on the belief that 5,000 ballots remained to be counted. Those ballots weren’t valid because they were postmarked after Election Day, according to Art Tinoco.

Chapman University political science professor Fred Smoller said: “All election procedures have their shortcomings. I hope this one gets fixed prior to the next election.”

Hoping to contain the pandemic, California starting in 2020 , whether or not they voted by mail, to get a mail-in ballot to use if they so choose.

By law, ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received up to seven days after the election must be counted. It’s one reason why California election results take days, if not weeks, to be finalized.

Most Californians vote by mail, with 88% mailing in their ballots for the 2022 general election, .

According to Riverside County, 31 mail-in ballots postmarked on time arrived eight days after the election or later.

In Orange County, 70 postmarked-on-time ballots arrived too late to be counted, with 61 arriving March 13, three arriving March 14 and six arriving March 15, according to that county’s registrar.

In San Bernardino County, three ballots arrived between March 13 and March 15 that were postmarked on Election Day, according to elections office spokesperson Melissa Eickman. Information for similar ballots in Los Angeles County was not available as of Monday afternoon, April 8.

Officials in Orange and Riverside counties said they weren’t sure why the ballots arrived late.

“We can only process ballots as they arrive,” Riverside County registrar spokesperson Elizabeth Florer said via a text message. “We cannot speculate as to why a ballot may take longer to arrive in our office.”

U.S. Postal Service spokesperson Duke Gonzales did not provide an explanation for why the ballots arrived late.

In an emailed statement, he said the service “is committed to the secure, timely delivery of the nation’s Election Mail” and is “committed to fulfilling our role in the electoral process when public policy makers choose to utilize us as a part of their election system.”

Gonzales also shared election mail reports from 2020 and 2022. According to those reports, 99.89% of 2020 ballots and 99.93% of 2022 ballots nationwide were delivered within seven days.

“We employ a robust and proven process to ensure proper handling and delivery of all Election Mail, including ballots,” Gonzales said.

California allows voters to track their ballots online to ensure they are received and counted and receive texts or emails when their ballot status changes. Voters can sign up for the service at .

Riverside County Supervisor Karen Spiegel, who is part of an ad hoc committee studying election issues in her county, said via email that she was concerned about the late-arriving ballots.

“I plan to ask the registrar of voters staff to work with the U.S. Postal Service to find solutions so this does not happen in future elections,” Spiegel said via email.

Her colleague, Supervisor Kevin Jeffries, said via email that the county “is also at the mercy of the Postal Service to deliver the ballots within the legal (counting) window.”

“As I recall, dealing with late arriving or past due mail-in ballots is nothing new,” Jeffries said. “It’s just that everything tied to elections is now under a microscope to make sure that election laws are being adhered to.”

He added he “can’t help but wonder” why the 31 voters in his county whose ballots arrived too late to be counted “didn’t make it on time. That’s something that maybe only the Postal Service can offer some insight on.”

“The takeaway from this might be don’t wait until the last day to mail your ballot,” Jeffries said. “Stay ahead of your government!”

Staff Writer Hanna Kang contributed to this report.