Developments in California’s Gubernatorial-Race Debacle; Mass Shootings, a Lot of Them, Keep Happening–Coachella Valley Independent’s Indy Digest: April 20, 2026

Indy Digest: April 20, 2026

Primary-election ballots will be arriving in our mailboxes in just a couple of weeks—so let’s see how the governor’s race is going, shall we?

First up: Finally, one of the lower-polling (but arguably best-qualified) Democrats has dropped out of the race. Our partners at Calmatters report:

Former state Controller Betty Yee dropped out of the governor’s race on Monday, saying she couldn’t see a path to get donors and additional support from undecided voters with six weeks left before the primary. 

“It was becoming clear that the donors were not going to be there,” she said. “Even some of my former supporters just felt like they needed to move on as well.” 

She did not immediately endorse another candidate, but said she would do so in the next few days. Six Democrats and two Republicans are leading in polling ahead of the June 2 election.

Yee was one of the earliest to enter the race, announcing her candidacy more than two years ago. She ran on her experience handling the state budget and her family’s middle-class, immigrant background. 

Speaking of polling: For many weeks, two Republicans—political advisor/commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco—were leading in most polls, because they are the only two bigger-name Republicans running, compared to what had been eight or so bigger-name Democrats. Seeing as the top two candidates advance in California’s open primary, regardless of party affiliation, that is a problem, as far as that whole “will of the voters” thing is concerned.

So, how are the polls looking as of now, with former Democratic frontrunner Eric Swalwell out of the race (and out of Congress)? (BTW: While we don’t normally do “horse race” style coverage, we’re making an exception here, to explain how there’s a very real chance that two Republicans advance in the gubernatorial primary.)

A poll commissioned by the state Democratic Party, done April 15-17, shows Hilton (16%) and Bianco (14%) are still leading, with Democrats Xavier Becerra (13%), the former state attorney general and former Health and Human services secretary; Tom Steyer (13%), a billionaire businessman; and Katie Porter (10%), a former member of Congress, in striking distance. Some 20% of those polled were undecided.

Similarly-ish, a Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics poll, conducted April 14-15, had Hilton at 17%; Bianco and Steyer at 14%; and Becerra and Porter at 10%; with 23% undecided.

How will this all play out? Stay tuned.

Finally, Los Angeles Times columnist George Skelton did a great job of explaining what would have happened in a hypothetical world where the Swalwell accusations came out after he finished as one of the top two in the primary election. Short version: It would have been a massive debacle. Slightly longer version:

Under California law, it would have been impossible to remove him from the ballot and insert a Democratic replacement.

“It would have been pretty devastating,” notes Assemblywoman Gail Pellerin (D-Santa Cruz), who heads the Assembly Elections Committee.

“It has given us a lot to think about.”

There’s a glaring flaw in California’s election system that should be fixed for the future. But exactly how is trickier than it might seem.

Prior to April 10—doomsday for Swalwell—the then-congressman from the East San Francisco Bay was leading the large field of Democratic candidates for governor. Just barely. But he was starting to pull away, based on polling and endorsements. …

If he had already won in the top-two primary, however, and a Republican had also qualified for the November ballot, Democratic voters would have been left high and dry.

As messy as the governor’s race is now … it could have wound up SO much messier.

—Jimmy Boegle

More News

• After a delay, it appears that The Onion is finally going to be taking over InfoWars. Variety says: “Under the terms of the agreement, the Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, would pay $81,000 per month to license the infowars.com domain name and associated intellectual property including its name, as first reported by the New York Times. The deal would run for six months with an option to renew for another six months. The agreement must be approved by a judge before it takes effect. … In November 2024, the Onion gleefully revealed its winning bankruptcy-auction bid for Infowars. Jones and his company filed for bankruptcy amid defamation suits the families of victims in the Sandy Hook mass shooting in Connecticut filed against him. … But a Texas bankruptcy judge in December 2024 rejected the Onion’s cash bid of $1.75 million to acquire the Infowars assets, saying the auction process lacked clarity and that the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims deserved more money. Now, under the new deal with the court-appointed administrator, the Onion said that in the coming weeks (and pending court approval) it will launch a new digital platform and comedy network at Infowars.com, led by creative director Tim Heidecker and head of programming Mia DiPasquale.“

• Sadly, here’s a periodic reminder that mass shootings happen in this country a LOT—so often that we’re becoming desensitized to the news about them. In Shreveport, La., a man killed eight children, ages 3 to 11—seven of whom were his own—over the weekend. As reported by The Associated Press, “A planned fight among young people escalated into a mass shooting at a (Winston-Salem) North Carolina park Monday morning that left two teenage boys dead and five other people injured, authorities said.” According to the Gun Violence Archive, 11 mass shootings have occurred in the U.S. from Friday to this writing.

• Happy 4/20! A drug-policy expert, writing for The Conversation, says the future of further cannabis legalization is, in the words of the clever headline writer, “hazy”: “Thousands of Americans will soon gather to celebrate April 20—or ‘4/20’—the most important day of the year for cannabis enthusiasts. But this year, a cloud of uncertainty will hang over these celebrations. After years of success, the movement to legalize recreational and medical cannabis has stalled. … Not so long ago, the movement had so much momentum that nationwide cannabis legalization felt virtually inevitable. That momentum is now gone. The strategy to legalize cannabis through ballot initiatives is no longer working. The coalition of supporters that made this strategy work has frayed, and new research is raising concerns about the health impact of regular cannabis use. All of this constitutes the most significant challenge to the movement since it went mainstream in the 21st century.”

• The Washington Post reports even some European nationalists are starting to distance themselves from our president: “Across Britain and Europe, nationalist leaders are retreating from Trump after having hailed his second term as something of a second coming for populists. Fifteen months in, the symbiosis between Trump’s MAGA and Europe’s nationalist parties has reached a potential breaking point. Pro-Trump politicians from London to Rome—who were already squirming around the Europe-bashing president’s punitive tariffs, threats to seize Greenland and surprise attack on Iran—have found starker red lines in his conduct of the war, genocidal rhetoric and verbal broadside against Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff. Tino Chrupalla, co-chair of Germany’s ascendant right-wing populist Alternative for Germany party (AfD), accused the Trump administration of potential ‘war crimes’ in targeting civilian infrastructure in Iran.”

• A clinical trial seems to indicate that a new mRNA vaccine may be a very effective treatment for pancreatic cancer. NBC News explains how the vaccines work: “Less than 13% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer live for more than five years, making it one of the deadliest cancers. There is no routine screening for pancreatic cancer, such as colonoscopy or mammogram, and symptoms typically don’t show up until the disease is advanced. Once detected, there are few options for treatment. Only about 20% of cases are operable, which is currently required for someone to be eligible to join a pancreatic cancer vaccine trial. The vaccines work as a type of so-called immunotherapy, harnessing a person’s immune system to fight cancer cells. The goal is not to eliminate existing tumors, but instead to stamp out lingering, undetected cancer cells, and later any new cells that form before they can cause a recurrence. Patients still have surgery to remove tumors. After that, the mRNA vaccines are personalized for each individual using genetic material taken from their unique tumor cells.”

• Can GLP-1s flatten one’s personality in addition to one’s belly? The Washington Post says: “Korrie Stevenson had been feeling off for months. She would look at a gorgeous birthday cake or walk outside to a pink-and-purple streaked sunset, but not really enjoy them. The 51-year-old mother of two had similar feelings about sports, something she had loved since she was a child. But it wasn’t depression, she said. Everything was just ‘meh.’ ‘Like you’re trying to be excited about a moment but can’t fully connect to it,’ she said. … Doctors say they’ve begun hearing similar accounts: a kind of emotional flattening, a dulled response not just to food but to other sources of joy such as reading, listening to music, dancing, gardening—or even sex. Some users also blamed the medications for falling out of love. Online, the phenomenon has taken on a name—anhedonia—and, more colloquially, ‘Ozempic personality.’”

• And finally … speaking of GLP-1s, taste-bud desensitizing can be a side effect of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic—and this fact is driving up the value of various hot-sauce brands. Yes, really. The Los Angeles Times reports: “For 55 years, the family behind Tapatío has refused to even write down the recipe for Los Angeles’ iconic hot sauce, passing its secret formula for success only from lip to ear in closed rooms. The Saavedra family put the ingredients on paper for the first time earlier this year as they sold the beloved brand to backers who plan to make their salsa picante even bigger beyond California’s borders. … Demand for hot sauces had taken off for unexpected reasons just as the Saavedras were looking to sell. The millions of people on Ozempic and other powerful weight-loss drugs often have cravings for more flavor. The values of some sauce companies have skyrocketed. Bachan’s, a Japanese barbecue sauce brand, was acquired in February for $400 million. While the Dallas private investment firm that bought Tapatío, Highlander Partners, wouldn’t share the terms of the deal, the company’s new chairman, Jeff Partridge, said it hopes to capitalize on the growing appetite for more heat to splash on proteins.”

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