00:00With less than 24 hours to go before polls open on Election Day in California, there are a number
00:05of very close races. For statewide office, one of the most closely watched will be the race
00:10for insurance commissioner between Ben Allen and Jane Kim. Both are Democrats. Allen represents
00:16the moderate side of the party, and Kim, who was endorsed by Bernie Sanders, represents the left
00:21wing of the Democratic Party. On the local level, there's also a very tight race for LA mayor
00:26between incumbent Karen Bass and socialist challenger Nithya Rahman. And looking further afield,
00:31there are also close races in some congressional districts. One of the most closely watched will
00:35be the race for the 6th congressional district between former Republican Kevin Kiley, who is
00:39now running as an independent, and state senator Richard Pant. That race has been neck and neck,
00:44even though the district is leaning Democrat. There are also important propositions on the
00:48ballot. Proposition 39 is the voter ID initiative, which has been pretty close in the polls, even
00:54though the no vote does seem to have the edge. And then there's Proposition 40, the billionaire taps,
00:59where the yes vote has been declining in the polls, and it remains too close to call, but the no
01:05vote
01:05does seem to have the edge going into Election Day. Those are the very close races. Of course,
01:10the race for governor between Javier Bucera and C. Hilton will be important, but Bucera has a big
01:14enough lead that most people consider it a foregone conclusion. Here's another question on the eve of
01:19Election Day. How will national politics affect California races? The big national story heading
01:24into Election Day is that Democrat Haley Stevens withdrew her endorsement of Democrat Senate
01:30candidate Abdel Bel-Sayed in Michigan and endorsed his Republican rival, Mike Rogers. She said she did
01:34that because El-Sayed wouldn't criticize or distance himself from anti-Semitism and anti-Semitic ads.
01:41Democrats are very upset about this because they feel that Stevens's defection could tip the Senate
01:46toward Rogers, which could have implications for the overall control of the U.S. Senate. It also could
01:51have an effect in California because Democrats have been having an internal struggle over whether
01:57some of their candidates are just too left-wing to support in this cycle, and Stevens's defection to
02:03the Republican candidate gives other moderate Democrats permission to vote against their party,
02:08if quietly. So it could affect some of the races we've mentioned in California if moderate Democrats
02:14decide that they have to come out and vote either for a Republican candidate or against a left-wing
02:19candidate who just is too extreme for them. We'll see how the results shake out. We won't know on
02:24election night. This is California. We take forever to count votes. It may be days or even weeks until the
02:29final results are known. But for all of those results, you're going to want to stay tuned to
02:33the California Post at californiapost.com or, of course, in print.
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