By Robin Epley
The Democratic Party has clearly decided on a winning formula for the 2026 midterms:Affordability.
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., recently told Fox News: “We’re going to hold Republicans accountable for their policies that are hurting American families.” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said last week that “Republicans have failed the American people on the economy”and that “the cost of living in the United States of America is completely and totally out of control.”
But it appears California Dems haven’t gotten the message.
Our state’s ruling party continues to swim a leisurely backstroke through red ink,parroting affordability politics amid the state’s predicted $18 billion budget shortfall next year and failing to do enough for the millions of Californians who are struggling this holiday season to put food on their Thanksgiving table.
A series of financial blunders paints a damning picture of the state’s majority party’s supposed fiscal responsibility. But while Democrats are hardly known for financial prudence, in light of the nation’s tanking economy, they desperately need voters to believe in their budget discipline and fiscal stewardship.
That’s going tobe a hard sell in California.
Just last week,the California Office of Emergency Services admitted it would be scrapping a seven-year, $450 million state project to update 911 emergency communications technology from an analog system that dates from the 1970s to a modern, digitalone.
California paid four technology companies more than $450 million between 2019 and 2025 to build the “Next Generation 911”system, which promised a more advanced emergency communication tool, provide dispatchers with enhanced location services and give the public multiple ways to communicate with first responders.
“I’ll be the first to tell you that we don’t always get it right,” Cal OES Chief DeputyDirector of Policy and Administration Lisa Mangat said last week at a department board meeting in Sacramento. “Smart,thoughtful changes are necessary, and it’s also the responsible thing to do going forward.”
Of course, CalOES has yet to provide a cost estimate for the new system.
Given how long Californians had to wait for the ultimately non-functional NG911 system, will it take years — perhaps a decade — for a functioning emergency communications system to finally go online? How many rural communities will call 911 during future fire seasons only to hear a dial tone?
Simultaneously,California Dems are facing criticism, from within and without, over the soaring costs of the Capitol Annex Project, which was originally scheduled to be done by late 2025. It’s awfully hypocritical for the party to rail against President Donald Trump’s ballroom project when they’re also spending more than a billion dollars (of taxpayer money, to boot) on unnecessarily secretive and extensive renovations to a historical government building.
The California Legislature’s Joint Rules Committee, which is spearheading the project to add new office space and a parking garage on the Capitol grounds, has withheld public records and refused to offer any update on its budget for more than three years.
The annex project was approved by the state in 2018 for $543.2 million, but it has since ballooned to $1.1 billion. In 2022, an appeals court ruled that the project’s design had substantially deviated from the draft environmental impact report that was originally presented to the public. That court case was the last time the public got a good look at the financial status of the Annex project.
In a recent press conference with Attorney General Rob Bonta to discuss the state’s latest lawsuit against the Trump Administration over SNAP benefits, Gov. Gavin Newsom said that he “would separate from the ballroom and the desecration and the process that evolved… from the annex and what the Legislature is trying to do.”
“I’m not trying to defend those actions,” Newsom said about the annex project, claiming that he “didn’t know” the legislature wasn’t complying with requests for information, though it’s hard to believe the state’s party leader — and a much-rumored Democratic presidential candidate in 2028 — doesn’t know exactly what’s going on in his own front yard.
Now, for the fourth year in a row, California is expected to have a budget shortfall in the tens of billions, possibly as high as $35 billion by 2028, according to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office.
Making the economy their main talking point in 2026 may be a wise choice for the national party, but California residents know better. We have one of the highest tax burdens in the nation, our personal income has stagnated and more than one in five Californians are affected by food insecurity. We know what it’s like to pay $100 for two bags of groceries and have to decide which household bills don’t get paid this month. So please forgive if the argument for Democratic national leadership making any dent in affordability rings a little hollow.
These missteps are embarrassing not only for Californians, but for the entire Democratic Party. Our state may be a blue stronghold, but we aren’t blind to how our state is being run — seemingly right into the ground.
