Ben Allen, 48, is a third-term Democratic state senator who represents the Palisades fire zone and, since the blazes, has authored bills that provide tax relief to fire victims and raise payments for personal property losses. He previously made a name for himself on environmental issues, including leading the effort to put a successful $10-billion climate bond on the 2024 ballot. A native and resident of Santa Monica, Allen attended Harvard and has a law degree from UC Berkeley. He previously served on the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board. He is endorsed by California U.S. Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla.

Jane Kim is running for California insurance commissioner.

(Jane Kim)

Jane Kim, 48, is a Democrat from San Francisco who served as a city supervisor (2011-19) and has a progressive record. Her accomplishments include leading a groundbreaking campaign to make the city’s community college tuition free. She served as California political director for Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential run and is endorsed by Sanders, the progressive independent senator from Vermont. The daughter of Korean immigrants, she attended Stanford and has a law degree from UC Berkeley. Prior to her political career, she was an attorney at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and is a leader of the Working Families Party.

Steven Bradford is running for California insurance commissioner.

(Steve Bradford)

Advertisement

Steven Bradford, 66, served as a Democratic state senator from 2016 to 2024, representing parts of south Los Angeles County and the South Bay. Key accomplishments included a bill that created the first statewide process to decertify police officers who commit wrongdoing. He previously served in the Assembly and in 1997 was the first African American elected to the city council of Gardena, a community he grew up in and where he continues to reside. He worked at IBM and Southern California Edison before entering politics full time. A graduate of Cal State Dominguez Hills, he is endorsed by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

Patrick Wolff is running for California insurance commissioner.

Patrick Wolff, 58, is a Democrat, chartered financial analyst and real estate investor who’d never run for public office but has been active in local San Francisco politics. He serves on the citizen oversight committee for the San Francisco Unified School District bond program. A chess grandmaster who once played professionally, he pursued a career in finance, founding a hedge fund, working at a family office and building the auto and home insurance brokerage business of Capital One — relevant experience, he says. A graduate of Harvard, he has donated $500,000 to his campaign and loaned it another $100,000.

Robert Howell is running for California insurance commissioner.

(Robert Howell)

Advertisement

Robert Howell, 71, of San José, was the Republican candidate in the 2022 general election for insurance commissioner, which he lost to Lara by 20 points. He is the owner of Silicon Valley electronics testing firm Exatron and has been involved in GOP politics for years. A populist, Howell founded one of the first Tea Party groups in the state and is a member of the Santa Clara County Republican Central Committee. Howell also has run for state Senate and lost. He is endorsed by the conservative California Republican Assembly.

Stacy Korsgaden is running for California insurance commissioner.

(Stacy A. Korsgaden)

Stacy Korsgaden, 62, is a Republican and Grover Beach financial adviser who owned a Farmers Insurance agency for decades. A free market advocate who cites her industry experience, Korsgaden says Proposition 103, which regulates the industry, has limited the availability of insurance. She has lost in runs for Grover Beach mayor and for a seat on the San Luis Obispo County board of supervisors. A graduate of Cal Poly, she is endorsed by state Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones. Korsgaden attended the Jan. 6, 2021 rally at the U.S. Capitol but said she abhors the violence that took place. She is endorsed by the California Republican Party.

Merritt Farren is running for California insurance commissioner.

(Merritt Farren)

Advertisement

Merritt Farren, 65, is a lifelong Democrat who switched parties to run for insurance commissioner as a Republican. He is a newcomer to political office whose campaign leans heavily on his personal experience of losing his Pacific Palisades home in the fire. Last year, he intervened as a consumer advocate in State Farm’s request for a rate hike, seeking to tie it to its claims-handling practices. He points to his experience as an in-house legal counsel for Amazon and Disney as good preparation for running the insurance department. He is a graduate of Stanford and obtained a law degree from UC Berkeley.

Also running are Republicans Sean Lee, a financial services executive, and Eric Thor Aarnio, a contractor. Eduardo “Lalo” Vargas, a science teacher, is the Peace and Freedom Party candidate. Keith W. Davis, an insurance agent, is the American Independent Party candidate.

Wide-shouldered and lanky, Chizi makes a dramatic impression. A few days before the show, he shaved his famous dreadlocks. But when he walked onstage in an oversize white T-shirt, a pair of black pants, and white and red Nike sneakers, the nerves were still visible. He forgot a few lines. He paused awkwardly a couple of times. Later, on social media, he would offer an apology for what he considered his poor performance. “I could do better,” he wrote. The audience didn’t seem to mind. The people chuckled, laughed and applauded.

He riffed mostly about his childhood — teachers who humiliated him for disrupting class, a mother who loved and hit him, being an outlier in a country that didn’t tolerate curiosity and individuality. The material was personal, even tender at moments. Political references were sprinkled throughout, but they were subtle.

Then, near the end of the set, he referred to Mr. Xi, China’s paramount leader, obliquely as “the husband of Peng Liyuan,” the folk singer who was once far more famous than her husband. Several women in front of me who had been laughing and clapping went suddenly still. Talking about Mr. Xi in an unfavorable fashion is the ultimate taboo in China. Reducing him to his domestic relationship in a public event was shocking.

After the show, we sat down to talk. He chose his words carefully. When I relayed a friend’s criticism — similar to others’ online — that he seemed to have pulled his punches on Xi Jinping, he laughed. “It’s not meant to satisfy you,” he said. The choice he made onstage was deliberate.

Free speech is a tool, he told me. The temptation is to use it simply because you can. “It’s exhilarating,” he said. But that, he added, can be a trap, and chasing approval is its own form of corruption, as dangerous to comedy as censorship itself.

Everyone wants to be “The Devil Wears Prada 2,” as the 20-year sequel strutted to an estimated $77 million in the U.S. and Canada in its opening weekend, highlighting the spending power of women moviegoers at the box office.

The film, which returned stars Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway, Emily Blunt and Stanley Tucci, nudged out Lionsgate’s “Michael” for the domestic top spot at theaters this weekend. In its second outing, the Michael Jackson biopic brought in $54 million, upping its overall North American total to $183.8 million and its cumulative global haul to $423.9 million.

Worldwide, Walt Disney Co.-owned 20th Century Studios’ “The Devil Wears Prada 2” brought in $233.6 million, according to studio estimates. The theatrical revenue, both domestic and worldwide, edged studio expectations. Already, the film has brought in 72% of the total revenue that the original movie made ($326 million).

The 2006 original has become a cult classic, with lines like Streep’s infamous “that’s all” and Tucci’s “gird your loins” now millennial catchphrases. The popularity of that film has continued over time with repeat viewings on cable television and the Disney+ streaming service.

“Nostalgia is a big driving factor for movies like this,” Andrew Cripps, head of theatrical distribution for Walt Disney Studios, said. “It’s just one of those movies that got into the zeitgeist.”

The fashion-forward sequel had a production budget of about $100 million. The film notched a 77% approval rating on aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Women comprised the majority of the audience for “The Devil Wears Prada 2” this weekend, representing 71% of moviegoers, according to data from EntTelligence.

The strong showing for “The Devil Wears Prada 2” highlights the spending potential of female moviegoers, who have had few big movies aimed at them in the last few years.

Despite the billion-dollar blockbuster that was “Barbie” in 2023, Hollywood has largely failed to consistently deliver big films targeted to women. That’s led multiple box office analysts and studio executives to note that the industry is leaving money on the table.

In the past, comparable titles to “The Devil Wears Prada 2” would have been 2008’s “Mamma Mia” or the “Sex in the City” film, but those kinds of movies are now few and far between.

More recent female-focused fare includes last year’s “Wicked: For Good” and Taylor Swift’s “The Official Release Party of a Showgirl,” though “Wicked” has the benefit of also having a longtime Broadway fanbase.

“There haven’t been enough movies for females,” Cripps said. “When you can give them a good movie, as long as the movie plays well and I think this one plays brilliantly, there’s a big audience out there.”

Universal Pictures, Nintendo and Illumination’s “The Super Mario Galaxy Movie” continued its run with a third place finish of $12.1 million at the box office this weekend, followed by Amazon MGM Studios’ “Project Hail Mary” in fourth and Neon’s horror flick “Hokum” in fifth, according to Comscore data.