Newsletter: Our election endorsements are really helpful. Read them, even if you disagree

Good morning. It is Saturday, Oct. 19. Here’s what we’ve been doing in Opinion.

The Times’ editorial board has finished making its endorsements for the November general election; you can find the complete list of recommendations here and a summary below.

But before we get to that, let me just say this: I full-throatedly encourage you to read the endorsements and seriously consider them. This has nothing to do with the rightness (or wrongness, depending on your view) of the positions, but with who makes the recommendations and the process they use. Our editorial board consists of experienced, award-winning journalists who interview the candidates (including, yes, those running for judge) and painstakingly research the ballot initiatives. You’d have a harder time finding anyone making more informed decisions on elections than our editorial board members.

And yes, you might weigh all the facts carefully and come to a different conclusion. I know this, because so often during endorsements season, readers tell us they’ll use our list as recommendations for how not to vote. So if you’ve already begun typing that message in reply to this newsletter, someone else probably already beat you to it.

But if you disagree after taking the time to read the endorsements, then you at least learned something. The issues and candidates considered in elections are often not just one-offs — after all, how often have we voted on same-sex marriage (Proposition 3 this year) and criminal justice (Proposition 36 this year)? To borrow a phrase from one of the presidential candidates, these office-seekers and ballot measures didn’t just fall out of a coconut tree; they exist in context, and familiarizing yourself with them, including the arguments for and against, better prepares you to vote in every election down the line.

With that, here is the list of endorsements for the election ending Nov. 5.

Statewide races

Proposition 2: Yes on a $10-billion bond for repairs at public schools and community colleges.

Proposition 3: Yes to removing bigotry against same-sex couples from the California Constitution.

Proposition 4: Yes on a $10-billion climate-change response bond.

Proposition 5: Yes to reducing the threshold for passing local bond measures from two-thirds to 55%.

Proposition 6: Yes to removing language from the state Constitution permitting forced labor for prisoners.

Proposition 32: Yes to giving a modest raise to the state’s lowest-paid workers.

Proposition 33: No on a rent-control measure that could worsen the state’s housing shortage.

Proposition 35: No to complicated Medi-Cal policymaking by ballot initiative.

Proposition 36: No on a tough-on-crime revival of the disastrous war on drugs.

Los Angeles City

City Council District 2: Adrin Nazarian

City Council District 10: Heather Hutt

City Council District 14: Ysabel Jurado

Charter Amendment DD: Yes to creating an independent redistricting commission so City Council members can’t choose their own voters.

Charter Amendment LL: Yes to creating an independent redistricting commission for the L.A. Unified School District Board of Education.

Charter Amendment HH: Yes on a collection of good-government changes to the L.A. City Charter.

Charter Amendment II: Yes to making certain city operations more efficient.

Charter Amendment ER: Yes to strengthening Los Angeles’ Ethics Commission.

Charter Amendment FF: No on a pension giveaway during a budget crisis.

Los Angeles County

District Attorney: George Gascón

Measure A: Yes to replacing a quarter-cent sales tax with a half-cent sales tax for homeless housing and services.

Measure E: Yes on a property tax increase to pay for fire and emergency medical services in the Consolidated Fire Protection District of Los Angeles County.

Measure G: Yes to expanding the Board of Supervisors to make county government more responsive and representative.

L.A. Community College District

Seat 1: Andra Hoffman

Seat 3: David Vela

Seat 5: Nichelle Henderson

Seat 7: Kelsey Iino

L.A. Unified School District

School Board District 1: Sherlett Hendy Newbill

School Board District 3: Scott Schmerelson

School Board District 5: Karla Griego

Measure US: Yes on a $9-billion bond to address a construction backlog in the school district.

L.A. County Superior Court judges

Office No. 39: Steve Napolitano

Office No. 48: Ericka J. Wiley

Office No. 97: Sharon Ransom

Office No. 135: Steven Yee Mac

Office No. 137: Tracey M. Blount

California Legislature

Assembly District 52: Jessica Caloza

Assembly District 54: Mark Gonzalez

Assembly District 57: Sade Elhawary

Senate District 35: Michelle Chambers

U.S. House and Senate

U.S. Senator: Adam B. Schiff

27th Congressional District: George Whitesides

30th Congressional District: Laura Friedman

45th Congressional District: Derek Tran

47th Congressional District: Dave Min

More from opinion

From our columnists

• Jackie Calmes: Trump promises mayhem. Take him seriously and literally
• Robin Abcarian: Trump wants Helene victims to fear and doubt FEMA. Their experience is contradicting him

From guest contributors

• Menopausal women have a lot at stake in this election
• What more do the U.S. and its allies need? It’s time to take out Iran’s nuclear sites
• If L.A.’s a mystery, 25 Harry Bosch books are a brilliant, gripping way to solve it

From the Editorial Board

• AI is so rampant now that even a second-grade project is a lesson in deep fakes
• LAUSD should fight for its Black Student Achievement Plan
• L.A. is broke. And the budget crisis is self-inflicted

Letters to the Editor

• Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation and the corruption of the Supreme Court
• I’m a Mormon against Trump, who shows the opposite of our values
• Democrats need to stop it with “this election should be a no-brainer”