Final election numbers, both in California and nationwide, show that Donald Trump and the Republicans made significant gains, winning the White House and the Senate. There seems to have been a shift to the right among the electorate, even here in deep blue California. Kamala Harris did not do as well as Joe Biden did four years ago, the voters approved Proposition 36 to crack down on retail crime, ten California counties that voted for Joe Biden in 2020 voted for Donald Trump this time.

But was there really a shift in voter sentiment? Trump wound up below 50% of the national popular vote. He won almost exactly as many votes in California this time as he did last time. The difference is that Kamala Harris won almost two million fewer than Joe Biden did, even though she’s a native Californian. And as all the votes have been counted, it turns out the Democrats flipped three Republican Congressional seats, and progressives won many local races.

To dig into this a bit deeper, KCBS Radio's Doug Sovern spoke with Kimi Lee, Executive Director of Bay Rising, an alliance of progressive community organizations in the Bay Area.