Politics

In William Velasquez’s mind, America’s future is one in which senators and presidents cannot afford to ignore Latino voters. Instead of token appeals on the campaign trail, candidates will have to address issues of importance to one of the fastest-growing minority groups or face defeat at the polls. For now, Velasquez concedes, the Latino vote … Read more

Donald Trump addresses a rally in Charlotte, N.C., on Friday. (Logan Cyrus / AFP/Getty Images) As he fell further behind in polls and battled allegations of sexual misconduct in recent days, Donald Trump moved to darker corners. He sketched out conspiracies involving global bankers, casually threatened to jail his political opponent, and warned in increasingly … Read more

The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images) President Trump’s plan to exclude millions of immigrants in the country illegally from the 2020 census count appeared to fizzle at the Supreme Court on Monday. California officials feared that Trump’s policy, if put into effect in the last weeks of his presidency, … Read more

The Thomas fire rages near Ojai this month. (Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times) Congress is set to consider an $81-billion disaster aid package that includes wildfire recovery money for California and other Western states as well as hurricane relief with a price tag reflecting a year of record-setting natural calamities. The legislation, the text … Read more

Orange County Republican Reps. Young Kim, left, of Anaheim Hills and Michelle Steel of Seal Beach are seen on the House floor before a vote last year. Both represent districts that will be hotly contested in the 2024 election. (Tom Williams / CQ-Roll Call Inc./Getty Images) Robert Baca’s political compass has always pointed toward the … Read more

President Obama pauses as he listens to a question during a town-hall meeting at Benedict College on Friday in Columbia, S.C. (Carolyn Kaster / Associated Press) President Obama said Friday that he stood by the Justice Department’s decision not to file charges against the white policeman who shot to death an unarmed young black man … Read more

No issue jerks the knees of Californians — indeed, all Americans — as much as illegal immigration and its effect on the state and the nation. One reason that it tends to elicit pre-programmed responses across the political spectrum is that the information available on the subject has traditionally been of two kinds: bad and … Read more

After three hours of uncommonly rancorous debate, the House voted overwhelmingly Thursday to formally reprimand Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), one of two openly gay congressmen, for ethics violations stemming from his relationship with a male prostitute. The 408-18 vote came after the House easily turned aside attempts by some Republicans to impose the harsher penalties … Read more

Sept. 2020 photo of Rep. Brad Sherman on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Kevin Dietsch/Pool) Rep. Brad Sherman’s views on cryptocurrencies set him apart from most of his colleagues in Congress. The Northridge-area Democrat isn’t just wary of crypto: He hates it and views it as a threat to the national security of the United States. … Read more

The chairman of the Republican Party on Thursday renounced the GOP’s racially polarizing “Southern strategy” of the late 1960s, under which Richard M. Nixon used such issues as desegregation and forced busing of schoolchildren to woo white voters and win the presidency. Republican National Committee chief Ken Mehlman made the comments in Milwaukee to the … Read more