The 2024 presidential election so far has been a whirlwind of unprecedented shocks and surprises, and that’s even before votes have been cast. Though the race for the White House inevitably looms large, voters in the nation’s most populous state are facing plenty of election drama and critical decisions in their own backyard.
Californians across the state this November will cast their vote in the contest for the first open Senate seat in decades, wade into hotly contested debates over crime and rent control and decide on measures that will alter the state’s constitution.
U.S. Senate race in California
California voters selected Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and Republican baseball legend Steve Garvey in the 2024 primary to duke it out in November for one of the state’s two seats in the U.S. Senate. The two are vying for California’s first open Senate seat in decades, left vacant last year following Sen. Dianne Feinstein’s death. Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Democrat Laphonza Butler to the seat shortly afterward, and she will cede to the winning candidate. As a result, Californians will vote twice for their chosen candidate November — once to fill the remainder of Feinstein’s term ending January 2025, and a second for a full six-year term ending 2031.