Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation Wednesday that aims to shield California elections from federal interference, saying he expected President Donald Trump's administration to try to meddle in the midterms this year.
The law, which took effect immediately and came days before next Tuesday's primary, prohibits any person — including federal agents — from accessing voter rolls or election technology without a court order. Law enforcement officers are restricted from disrupting election workers, except in public safety emergencies.
Trump administration officials so far have said they have no plans to send immigration agents to polling locations across the U.S., a concern raised this year by several Democratic secretaries of state. But Newsom warned “we have to be prepared for everything” because “there’s no rules anymore with the Trump administration.”
Voting is already underway in California's closely watched primary for governor, where a crowded field of Democrats and two viable Republicans are vying for just two spots on the November ballot. Under the state's open primary system, only the top two vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.
Newsom, who cannot seek a third term, said the election law is a response to “legitimate anxiety” about Trump's tactics, primarily in Democratic-led states, where the president has deployed federal agents over the objections of local leaders. The Democratic governor warned against underestimating someone who “doesn’t believe in free and fair elections.”
“I expect the worst with Trump because he’s done the worst,” he said at a news conference.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Associated Press later Wednesday that Trump is committed to ensuring that Americans have full confidence in the administration of elections.
“Instead of levying false attacks at the President, Newscum should look in the mirror,” she said in a statement, using Trump's derogatory nickname for Newsom.
In an interview last year with Vanity Fair, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles knocked down the idea that Trump would deploy the military to suppress voting, saying it was “categorically false.”
The California law also makes it a crime to knowingly take voted ballots out of the custody of election officials.
Earlier this year, the FBI under Trump seized the 2020 general election ballots from Georgia’s most populous county, which is heavily Democratic and has long been at the center of the president’s false claims that fraud cost him the race. The FBI and Justice Department also have sought records from previous elections in the largest counties in Arizona and Michigan.
Trump triggered a national redistricting frenzy ahead of the midterms when he urged Republicans in Texas and elsewhere to redraw their U.S. House districts to help the party retain control of the closely divided chamber. Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Florida and Tennessee also have enacted new maps that could benefit Republicans, and Louisiana is expected to be next.
Republicans so far think they could gain as many as 14 seats from redistricting in November, while Democrats think they could gain six in California and Utah.
Associated Press writer Sudhin Thanawala contributed to this report.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom delivers his final state budget plan at the Capitol Annex Swing Space in Sacramento, Calif. on Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Gabrielle Lurie/San Francisco Chronicle via AP)
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Yordan Alvarez was expecting to take a strike with a 3-0 count and the score tied in the eighth inning for the Houston Astros against the Texas Rangers.
Then came a slider, and the Houston slugger just liked the look of it.
Next thing Alvarez knew, he had homered twice in consecutive games for the first time in his eight big league seasons, and put the Astros in front for good in a 4-3 victory Wednesday night.
“Like, who swings on a 3-0 slider and hits it 110 (mph) to the batter’s eye?” Jeremy Peña asked as part of an answer to what he thought was Alvarez's most impressive at-bat in a 3-for-4 night. “That goes to show that he’s two steps ahead. He knew that they weren’t going to challenge him with something hard.”
The Rangers weren't trying to challenge him at all. And they didn't in the ninth inning, when they walked Alvarez intentionally right after Peña's single. That led Houston's leadoff hitter and shortstop to playfully tell the powerful man following him in the lineup, “You’ve got to thank me for that walk. You owe me that walk.”
The question for Texas manager Skip Schumaker was why he didn't walk Alvarez intentionally an inning earlier when Rangers reliever Tyler Alexander had already thrown him three balls.
“It’s tough to walk the leadoff hitter, no doubt, with a tie game in the eighth inning,” Schumaker said while also mentioning he would have been fine with a walk to Alvarez in that spot. “I don’t know if I’ve ever done that before. But the way he’s hitting, hindsight is always maybe we should have just put him on at that point.”
Alvarez has 17 home runs in 33 games at Globe Life Field, including five in the first three games of this four-game series that ends Thursday night.
“Apparently, I love playing here,” Alvarez said through an interpreter.
He reached 20 for the season in his 56th game — the fastest Houston slugger to reach that mark while doing it on the same night as Munetaka Murakami of Chicago White Sox. Philadelphia's Kyle Schwarber leads the majors with 21 homers.
Alvarez's first solo homer pulled Houston even at 2-2 against Texas ace Jacob deGrom, who struck out Alvarez in the first inning.
“I was joking with the guys in the dugout that it was kind of like he was throwing me, like, Playstation style, just dotting the corners,” Alvarez said. “But in the second at-bat, I was able to adjust.”
The homer off Alexander went 448 feet to deep right-center field, landing not far from his 449-foot drive a night earlier — a three-run shot that was the first of two when Houston lost 10-7 after falling behind 8-0 in the first inning.
Alvarez leads the American League with a .306 average and is fourth in the AL with 39 RBIs, one behind teammate Christian Walker.
“It is a combination of skills and intelligence,” Houston manager Joe Espada said. “You guys see the skills. I see the intelligence. In between at-bats, how he talks through an at-bat, ‘This is what I’m looking for, I’m going to stay within myself and I’m going to try to do something.’ There is a level of intelligence and calm through his at-bats that I have never, ever seen in my career.”
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Houston Astros' Yordan Alvarez walks out of the batters box watching the flight of his solo home run in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Houston Astros' Yordan Alvarez, left, and Jeremy Pena (3) celebrate in the dugout after Alvarez hit a solo home run in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Houston Astros' Yordan Alvarez celebrates his solo home run in the fourth inning of a baseball game against the Texas Rangers Wednesday, May 27, 2026, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
