On Saturday, January 17, 2026, the Democratic Party of Sacramento County held a pre-endorsement candidate forum. The forum was held at the Valley Hi Library in Sacramento.

Democratic candidates for California’s 3rd, 6th, and 7th Congressional Districts were invited to attend the meeting.

On this edition of Elk Grove News Podcast, you will be able to hear 3rd District candidates incumbent Ami Bera, who currently represents the 6th District, Chris Benett, and Heidi Hall.

Congressman Bera was in Washington, D.C. and was represented by staff members, including Phillip Norton.

The format allowed each candidate an opening statement followed by four unique questions and one audience question.

The candidates in all of the forums appeared in alphabetical order.

1:15 Ami Bera/Phillip Norton

10:10 Chris Bennett

20:01 Heidi Hall

On Saturday, January 17, 2026, the Democratic Party of Sacramento County held a pre-endorsement candidate forum. The forum was held at the Valley Hi Library in Sacramento.

Democratic candidates for California’s 3rd, 6th, and 7th Congressional Districts were invited to attend the meeting.

On this edition of Elk Grove News Podcast, you will be able to hear 6th District candidates Martha Guerro, Thien Ho, Richard Pan, Lauren Babb Tonlinson, and Tyler Vandenberg.

The format allowed each candidate an opening statement followed by four unique questions.

On Saturday, January 17, 2026, the Democratic Party of Sacramento County held a pre-endorsement candidate forum. The forum was held at the Valley Hi Library in Sacramento.

Democratic candidates for California’s 3rd, 6th, and 7th Congressional Districts were invited to attend the meeting. On this edition of Elk Grove News Podcast, you will be able to hear 7th District Congresswoman Doris Matsui and her challenger, Sacramento City Councilwoman Mai Vang.

The format allowed each candidate an opening statement followed by four unique questions.

We will also produce the recordings of the 3rd and 6th District candidates. The candidates in all of the forums appeared in alphabetical order.

By Dan Schmitt |

My kids started playing Tee Ball around the age of five. I still can remember the smiles on their faces the first time they were given a medal for playing baseball. The fact that every kid on the team got a participation medal didn’t bother my children in the least. They were so very proud of their medals which they displayed on the bookshelf at home, so every visitor was sure to see their accomplishments.

My kids continued playing baseball and other sports, and they continued receiving participation medals. Around the age of eight, they came to realize that those end-of-season awards didn’t really mean anything, given every kid on the teams got one just for showing up. When receiving their medals, smiles were replaced by eye rolls that screamed, “Where’s the nearest trash can!”

In a few days, the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. will be honored across the nation. It is worth remembering that during his lifetime, Dr. King was not universally revered.

He was viewed with deep suspicion by those in power andsubjected to near-constant surveillance by J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI. Yet history has been both kind and accurate in its judgment of him.

As someone who has paid into Social Security for over 50 years and now enjoys benefits, you would think I would be happy about legislation to make these payments tax-free. There is a dark side, though.

By DanSchmitt |

So, our dictator-wanna-be-president, a president I remind you, who incited an insurrection of our nation’s CapitalIn 2021, attempting to overturn the results of a free and fair election, we just had our military capture and arrest Nicholas Maduro, the unduly elected dictator of Venezuela, for drug trafficking.

Trump is the same dictator-wanna-be-president who recently pardoned his good buddy, Juan Orlando Hernandez, the ex-narco-dictator of Honduras, serving a 45-year sentence in aU.S. prison for drug trafficking!

It seems Conservative U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh has misgivings about giving ICE a "get out of the Fourth Amendment free" card.