Methodology
Every race gets one clear recommendation. Data last refreshed October 12, 2026.
Sources
League of Women Voters of California
Statewide propositions only — LWVC never endorses candidates.
California DSA
Statewide guide. An “Endorse” (membership vote) outranks a “Recommend.”
KQED voter guide
Non-endorsing. Used for candidate rosters, party labels, and key-supporter lists to identify the left-leaning option.
Reform California — inverted
Whatever this right-leaning guide endorses, we recommend the opposite. Its endorsed candidates are flagged “not recommended.”
Confidence levels
Sources agree with no dissent.
Sources conflict. The tiebreak order is Reform-inverted, then DSA, then LWV, then KQED. The race is flagged for review.
Little source data. We default to the Democratic or left-most eligible candidate, or the inverted Reform CA position on measures.
No left-eligible option exists (for example, two Republicans).
Coverage gaps
- County and city candidate races, judges, school boards, and special districts are covered only by “not recommended” flags from Reform California.
- KQED covers only statewide races and nine Bay Area counties.
- All reasoning is paraphrased from fixed templates. No source text is copied.
- Recommendations update only when the scraper runs.