WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 With votes still being counted in several high-profile California races, Rep.-elect. James Gallagher, R-Calif., told The National News Desk that early returns suggest voters are looking for change in a state long dominated by Democrats.<\/p>\n
Gallagher, a former minority leader in the California State Assembly, pointed to early results in the governor\u2019s and Los Angeles mayoral contests. He told The National News Desk Steve Hilton was \u201cnumber one right now\u201d based on \u201cthe polls and the votes that have come in.\u201d (TNND)<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Gallagher, a former minority leader in the California State Assembly, pointed to early results in the governor\u2019s and Los Angeles mayoral contests. He said Steve Hilton was \u201cnumber one right now\u201d based on \u201cthe polls and the votes that have come in.\u201d He also said Spencer Pratt\u2019s campaign in Los Angeles has gained attention and that Pratt was \u201cgetting really close to Karen Bass.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll see how the rest of the votes, you know, come in,\u201d Gallagher said. \u201cBut right now it looks really good. It seems like people are actually voting for change here in California.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gallagher described the governor\u2019s ballot as crowded, saying there were \u201c65 different candidates or something\u201d and that voters were reacting to issues including homelessness, quality of life and what he called \u201crampant fraud in our programs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether the results amounted to a \u201cred wave\u201d or a \u201cred mirage,\u201d Gallagher criticized the pace of vote counting and raised concerns about mail ballots.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should be said, it\u2019s ridiculous that it takes this long, you know, to count the ballots. It should go a lot faster,\u201d he said, adding, \u201cThere are concerns about that, like what\u2019s going on with all these mail ballots.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gallagher also referenced his own race, saying a newly drawn district was \u201csupposed to be won by a Democrat,\u201d but that his side was leading with 47% of the vote \u201camongst all the candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n
On election security, Gallagher said there have been \u201ca lot of concerns\u201d about California\u2019s election process and claimed, \u201cWe know, for example, that a dog voted, you know, in Orange County. That\u2019s a fact.\u201d He said the broader question is whether such issues affect election outcomes, and argued for changes he said would strengthen election integrity.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need to have integrity in our elections,\u201d Gallagher said. \u201cWe are going to have the opportunity to change that here in California in November. Voter ID is going to be on the ballot, and we\u2019re seeing in the polls that it\u2019s going to pass.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gallagher also addressed fraud in public programs after an exchange at an oversight hearing involving Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and questions about SNAP fraud data. Gallagher said fraud diverts money from people who need services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen money is fraudulently taken out of the system, that\u2019s money they can\u2019t get to the people who need it,\u201d he said, citing Medi-Cal, health care clinics and hospice care. He also pointed to unemployment insurance fraud \u201cover $30 billion worth during COVID,\u201d and said a medical doctor \u201cbuilt the fraudulent build the system $270 million.\u201d<\/p>\n
He called for more cooperation between California and the federal government, saying, \u201cThe state should be cooperating with the federal government to ensure that those taxpayer dollars are getting to the people who need it most.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (TNND) \u2014 With votes still being counted in several high-profile California races, Rep.-elect. James Gallagher, R-Calif., told…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152],"class_list":["post-348785","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348785","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}