The Bee weighs in on Nov. 6 ballot choices | The Modesto Bee

Newspapers have been endorsing candidates for office since their inception in colonial America when they were the only form of mass media. Times have changed, but newspapers continue to make endorsements in an effort to to help readers put candidate positions and ballot proposals into perspective – not to “tell” people how to vote.

Each of our recommendations is linked to an editorial. For those reading in print, we’ve provided the dates recommendations appeared. In some cases, The Bee is reiterating endorsements made prior to the June 5 primary. Races for which we have not decided whom to endorse do not appear. In the case of measures to move city or board elections to even-numbered years (Measure F for Modesto City Schools; Measure Z for Modesto City Council), state law now requires – as does simple logic, as we argued in 2015 – moving all elections to even-numbered years. Additional recommendations will be made prior to the election.

U.S. Senate:

Dianne Feinstein

House of Representatives:

District 10: Josh Harder (Sept. 30)

District 9: Jerry McNerney (Oct. 9)

District 20: Jim Costa

State Offices

Governor: Gavin Newsom (May 18)

Lieutenant Governor: Eleni Kounalakis (May 18)

Attorney General: Xavier Becerra (Oct. 5)

Insurance Commissioner: Steve Poizner (Oct. 5)

Superintendent of Schools: Tony Thurmond (Oct. 5)

Secretary of State: Alex Padilla (Oct. 5)

State Treasurer: Fiona Ma (Oct. 5)

State Controller: Betty Yee (Oct. 5)

Board of Equalization: Tom Hallinan (May 22)

State Assembly

District 21: Adam Gray

State Senate

District 8: Andreas Borgeas or Paulina Miranda

District 12: Anna Caballero (Oct. 17)

Statewide Ballot Measures

Proposition 1, Affordable housing support: Yes (Oct. 6)

Proposition 2, Housing for mentally ill: Yes (Oct. 6)

Proposition 3, Funding for water projects: Undecided

Proposition 4, Children’s hospital funding: Yes

Proposition 5, Alter some property tax valuations: No

Proposition 6, Revokes gas tax for road projects: No

Proposition 7, Year-round daylight-savings time: No

Proposition 8, Limits charges for kidney dialysis: No

Proposition 10, Allows cities to have rent control: No

Proposition 11, Keeps private emergency workers on-call: Yes

Proposition 12, Caging rules for farm animals: No

Stanislaus County

Supervisor, District 3: Terry Withrow

Supervisor, District 4: Frank Damrell

Turlock Mayor: Amy Bublak

Local Ballot Measures

D, $74 million bond, Modesto City Schools: No

E, $57 million bond, Modesto City Schools: No

F, Moves school board elections to even years: Yes

Z, Moves Modesto council elections to even years: Yes

Cannabis Measures

The cities of Ceres (Measure W), Patterson (Measure Y), Oakdale (Measure C) and Riverbank (Measure B) have measures allowing cities to impose sales taxes and business fees on the growth and sale of recreational marijuana. Most put the sales tax at 15 percent; Riverbank has set it at 10 percent. The Bee supports all four measures.