San Diego, CALIF.- The State of California's Republican Party hoped San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer would announce his plan to run for the top political post in the state.

It appears their wish will not become reality.

In a deep blue state, Faulconer was considered the top GOP contender. The race will likely now be highlighted by Democratic candidates. Lt. Governor Gavin Newsom leads a deep Democratic bench.

In a statement released on his Facebook Page, Faulconer wrote:

It has been a crazy 24 hours for "America's Finest City."

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, who serves as vice-chair of the Presidential Advisory Committee on Election Integrity, sent a letter to every secretary of state in the US this week asking them to send publicly-available data on their voter rolls.

The information requested includes: full names of every registered voter, addresses, dates of birth, political party (if available), last four digits of social security numbers, voting history dating back to 2006, active/inactive status, cancelled status, felony convictions, and more.

A bill that creates tougher policies for illegal re-entry into the US passed the House Thursday. It's called Kate's Law, and it nearly got unanimous approval from Republicans. Nearly. There was one Republican who voted against it.

Meet Justin Amash.

https://twitter.com/acbowen/status/880575437432160257

San Diego, CALIF. - The eighth largest city in America is no stranger to political scandals.

From Enron by the Sea, to the sudden resignations of Mayors Dick Murphy and Bob Filner, the City of San Diego has not been deprived of shortcomings. And now, the place affectionately called America's Finest City, has a new scandal brewing.

A bill re-introduced in the US House wants to open the electoral process for non-presidential federal elections, give voters more opportunities to vote, and reform the way electoral districts are redrawn.

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange outlined a list of six reasons "Why the Democratic Party is doomed" earlier this week, and in the process, spelled doom for all political partisanship.

Some of the reasons he listed were particular to the United States' oldest political party's recent electoral failures and short-sighted strategy of pushing the narrative that President Trump's team colluded with Russia to steal the election.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t0AvvstUAY

U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.) appeared on MSNBC's Morning Joe Thursday to discuss his solution to not only moving forward on health care reform, but bringing Republicans and Democrats to the table.

His solution: Essentially, split the baby.

The commander-in-chief made a controversial move earlier this month by handing the reins of authority over military operations in Afghanistan back to the Pentagon.

Maine ranked choice voting survives. The bill to fully repeal the first-in-the-nation, voter-approved ranked choice voting initiative for state and non-presidential federal elections died in the legislature Wednesday.

The legislative session will end without any further action being taken, which means ranked choice voting (RCV) is still on the books.

Lost in the video news of the day, where a CNN producer stated Russia was a "mostly bulls***" narrative, was the fact that Time Warner, the company that owns CNN, is likely going to be bought out by AT&T.

No official timetable has been made public, but if the merger goes through, and all indications say yes, CNN's days, as it's currently formatted, could be numbered.