Politics
Poll: If Trump wins the White House, Californians want their next senator to fight back
If President Trump is elected in November, California voters have a clear message for the Golden State’s next senator: Protect us.
If Kamala Harris is elected, however, Californians want to see their next senator focus on legislation that helps the state as much as possible.
Those divergent findings come from a new poll released Friday by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, sizing up how voters feel about the two Senate candidates: Democratic Rep. Adam B. Schiff and Republican Steve Garvey.
The poll, co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times, shows how the largest state in the nation may act as a political counterweight if Trump is elected in November — or as an ally to Harris, if she becomes the first California Democrat to win the White House.
With less than a month to go in the race to replace the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the poll shows that Schiff has maintained his wide advantage over Garvey. About 53% of likely voters say they prefer Schiff, a number that hasn’t budged all year, while about 36% prefer Garvey and 11% remain undecided.
The poll of 3,045 Californians was conducted Sept. 25 to Oct. 1, before this week’s testy debate between the Senate candidates in Burbank.
Schiff’s high-profile positions as chair of the House Intelligence Committee and lead manager of Trump’s first impeachment trial vaulted him to national prominence.
At the Tuesday debate, Garvey tried to portray Schiff as someone too caught up in a vendetta against Trump to focus on issues important to California voters, asking him: “How can you think about one man every day and focus on that when you’ve got millions of people in California to take care of?”
But if Schiff is elected to the Senate and Trump is elected to the White House, California’s likely voters want to see the Burbank congressman continue that role, said Mark DiCamillo, the director of the Berkeley IGS poll.
“Schiff has portrayed himself as the anti-Trump, and these data conform to that,” DiCamillo said.
Nearly 6 in 10 likely California voters would want to see the state’s next senator prioritize “protecting California’s interests and opposing federal legislation that would undercut existing state laws and policies” if Trump is elected, the poll found.
More than 4 in 5 Schiff supporters, and more than half of undecided voters, say that protecting California’s interests should be a top priority.
But California’s likely voters also want to see their next senator reaching across the aisle to work with the other party, with 50% saying he should focus on passing bipartisan legislation. And 49% said that if Trump is elected, the state’s next senator should prioritize “standing up to the president and challenging his executive orders.”
The priorities of the California electorate shift dramatically when considering a Harris administration.
A 56% majority said they would want California’s next senator to prioritize policies and laws that bring as many benefits as possible to the state.
Meanwhile, 48% would want to see Schiff or Garvey collaborate with the Harris administration on her legislative agenda, while 31% said he should prioritize defending Harris from partisan attacks in the Senate.
The poll found that Garvey, who played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres for nearly two decades, leads Schiff in the Inland Empire and the Central Valley.
The two men are in a dead heat in purple Orange County, with 46% of voters supporting each candidate.
Garvey, DiCamillo said, “is doing fairly well for a Republican statewide.” But he faces the same “structural problem as any Republican running statewide.” Among California’s registered voters, Democrats outnumber Republicans by almost 2 to 1.
Schiff has maintained a wide lead in California’s two most populous areas, which represent nearly half of the electorate. In Los Angeles County, 59% of likely voters planned to back Schiff, and in the San Francisco Bay Area, nearly 7 in 10 said they would.
Garvey said at Tuesday’s debate that he has voted for Trump three times, including in the 2024 presidential primary. But he hasn’t sought Trump’s endorsement, which Trump said last month was “a big mistake.”
“If he doesn’t have MAGA he’s got no chance,” Trump said, referring to the acronym that stands for his motto, “Make America Great Again,” and his political base.
The data suggest that Garvey does, in fact, have support from Trump’s loyal fans. Among respondents who characterized their political views as MAGA, 92% said they planned to support Garvey.
By contrast, Schiff’s support was highest among people who identified as progressive (89%) and pro-choice (79%).
The two men had relatively similar disapproval ratings. Among likely voters, 43% said they had a favorable view of Schiff, compared with 34% unfavorable. For Garvey, about 35% of voters had a favorable view, 35% said they had a negative view, and 30% had no opinion.
Politics
Video: Minnesota and Illinois Sue Trump Administration Over ICE Deployments
new video loaded: Minnesota and Illinois Sue Trump Administration Over ICE Deployments
transcript
transcript
Minnesota and Illinois Sue Trump Administration Over ICE Deployments
Minnesota and Illinois filed federal lawsuits against the Trump administration, claiming that the deployment of immigration agents to the Minneapolis and Chicago areas violated states’ rights.
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This is, in essence, a federal invasion of the Twin Cities and Minnesota, and it must stop. We ask the courts to end the D.H.S. unlawful behavior in our state. The intimidation, the threats, the violence. We ask the courts to end the tactics on our places of worship, our schools, our courts, our marketplaces, our hospitals and even funeral homes.
By Jackeline Luna
January 12, 2026
Politics
Rep Ro Khanna demands prosecution of ICE agent in Minneapolis fatal shooting
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Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., called for the arrest and prosecution of the ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Good in a residential neighborhood of Minneapolis, Minnesota on Jan. 7.
Khanna also urged Congress to back his legislation with Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, to require ICE agents to wear body cameras, display visible identification, stop wearing masks during operations and be subject to independent oversight.
In a post shared on X, the former Obama administration official said: “I am calling for the arrest and prosecution of the ICE agent that shot and killed Renee Good.”
“I am also calling on Congress to support my bill with @JasmineForUS to force ICE agents to wear body cameras, not wear masks, have visible identification, and ensure ICE has independent oversight,” Khanna added.
MINNESOTA BUREAU OF CRIMINAL APPREHENSION DROPS OUT OF ICE-INVOLVED SHOOTING INVESTIGATION
An ICE agent shot and killed the 37-year-old Minneapolis woman during a federal enforcement operation in south Minneapolis. Federal officials have said agents were attempting to make arrests when the woman tried to use her vehicle as a weapon against officers, prompting an ICE agent to fire in self-defense.
Good’s death sparked widespread protests in Minneapolis and across the U.S. as demonstrators called for changes to federal immigration enforcement.
Renee Nicole Good moments before she was shot and killed by a federal agent in Minneapolis. (Obtained by Fox News)
Local officials, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, criticized the federal account of the incident and rejected the claim that the officer acted in self-defense. Minnesota has since sued the Trump administration, claiming the immigration enforcement surge in the state is “unlawful” and “unprecedented.”
“What we are seeing right now is not normal immigration enforcement,” Frey said. “The scale is wildly disproportionate, and it has nothing to do with keeping people safe.”
The Trump administration pushed back sharply against the lawsuit, with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) accusing Minnesota leaders of undermining public safety and obstructing federal law enforcement.
MINNESOTA SUES TRUMP ADMIN OVER SWEEPING IMMIGRATION RAIDS IN TWIN CITIES
Federal officials, including DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, maintained that the agent fired in self-defense.
Renee Good’s crashed car after the shooting. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Noem critisized Democrats on Sunday amid an Illinois lawmaker’s push to impeach her following the deadly shooting.
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“These law enforcement officers are trained to be in situations that are dangerous, and they rely on that training each and every day to make the right decisions,” Noem said during “Sunday Morning Futures.”
Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner contributed to this report.
Politics
Democrat-turned-Republican Gloria Romero announces run for lieutenant governor
Gloria Romero, a former Democrat and state Senate Majority Leader, announced Monday she is running for lieutenant governor as part of a ticket with GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator.
“At the end of the day, it’s really about one-party rule in Sacramento. I’ve seen it. I left it,” Romero said in an interview. “We’ve got to make a change, otherwise we will never turn around on accountability or affordability and fight for working families like the Democrats once said the party stood for. Those days are gone. It’s a new day, and I’m proud to work alongside Steve in this exciting race to make California Golden again.”
Hilton, who has a long-standing political relationship with Romero, said her expertise in the state Capitol is among the reasons he selected her. Romero served in the state Senate and Assembly for about 12 years, including three as the state Senate’s first female majority leader.
“She’s been incredibly helpful already, helping me understand how Sacramento works and doesn’t work,” Hilton said. “When I’m the governor I will have to work with the legislature. And one of the most important things that I see as a real benefit from having Gloria there with me is that she’s not just been in the legislature, she’s led one of the chambers. She really understands how it works and still has relationships.”
Other candidates running for lieutenant governor include Treasurer Fiona Ma, former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs and Josh Fryday, a member of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s cabinet, all Democrats, and state Sen. Brian Jones (R-Santee).
Romero was a lifelong Democrat, including co-chairing President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign in California. But she began to break with her party over education reform, notably her support for school choice.
“Education is the key to the American dream, and yet my party was so beholden to the teachers union, the alphabet soup of power influencers in Sacramento,” she said.
Invoking the words of the late President Reagan, Romero said she didn’t leave the Democratic party, the party left her. She became a registered Republican in September 2024 after what she calls a “political coup” to oust President Biden as the Democratic nominee. She then endorsed President Trump and spoke at a rally supporting him near Coachella.
She said the lieutenant governor’s role is typically a sleepy perch for politicians as they bide their time to run for higher office.
“It should not be that way,” Romero said, adding that the lieutenant governor’s role on the boards that oversee the UCs, Cal States and community college is a particularly good fit for her wheelhouse. “Education and turning around education, it’s in my blood, it’s in my dreams. It’s my passion.”
Unlike presidential elections, statewide contests do not feature running mates; each candidate must be elected on their own merits.
Hilton said Romero was the first member of his “golden ticket for California” and that he planned to roll out other statewide candidates who will join their effort.
“I know it hasn’t been done before. It’s not how things are normally done,” he said. “But right from the beginning, when I was thinking about my race for governor, one of the things that I really wanted to do was to put together a strong team, because turning around California is going to take a strong team.”
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