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From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch.

Voters gave their verdicts Tuesday on nearly 150 statewide ballot measures and untold local

initiatives covering a host of issues, including crime, rent control, voting, abortion taxes,

and school choice. Today we'll take a look at some of the prominent

results and what they might say about the political mood of the country this November 24.

Welcome, I'm Kyle Peterson with the Wall Street Journal. We're joined today by my colleagues,

columnists Alicia Finley and Kim Strassel, and editorial board member Manet Uquay-Brua. Let's begin again in

California, which a couple of weeks ago we called the Golden State for Direct Democracy.

Alicia, some conservative results, believe it or not, in these California initiatives.

Let's start with the one on crime. What did the voters say and what will the effects be in

California? So voters approved a Proposition 36, which was backed by a lot of the local

district attorneys. And this would roll back actually parts of the Prop 47 that voters approved

in 2014. Now that initiative, if you recall, bankrolled essentially by George Soros,

and it effectively decriminalized shoplifting and theft of less than $950 and drug possession.

Now, as we've seen in the last decade or so, what has happened as a result of that is that, well, theft has spiked, especially

shoplifting. You've had all these smash and grab burglaries, not just of big department stores,

but also of mom and pop shops, small businesses. You've also seen increased homelessness,

open-air drug markets, and that is a direct result of Proff 47. So these local DAs sponsored this

initiative that would roll back some parts. And when I say rollback, what it effectively mean is

that shoplifters who had two or more past theft convictions could be charged with felonies.

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