Here are the morning’s top stories on Thursday, October 31, 2024…

• Young voter turnout across the U.S. has historically been low. But this year, youth voter registration has surged. And that could make a difference in the Congressional District 13 race in northern San Joaquin Valley. Two years ago, Republican John Duarte beat Democrat Adam Gray by less than 600 votes. 
• Another demographic that could sway the vote in California’s 13th District is Latinas. They make up 1 in every 4 voters in the District, according to Lucete Latina, a Federal Political Action Committee.
• The Los Angeles Dodgers won another championship in dramatic fashion Wednesday night, coming from behind to beat the New York Yankees 7-6 in Game 5 of the World Series. It’s the franchise’s eighth World Series championship.

In A Rural California House District, Young People Could Tilt Power In Congress

Young voter turnout across the U.S., including many California districts, has historically been low. But this year, youth voter registration has surged nationwide. Voter guide website vote.org has registered more than 300,000 people to vote since President Joe Biden withdrew from the race in July. Most are under 35 years old.

In counties that make up the 13th Congressional District – which includes Merced and parts of Madera, Stanislaus, Fresno and San Joaquin – about a third of registered voters are between 18 and 35 years old. Their votes could make a difference in this district, a swing district in the northern San Joaquin Valley. In the last general election, in 2022, Republican John Duarte beat Democratic challenger Adam Gray by 564 votes. Youth turnout for that race, according to Cal Matters, was only 23% in 2022.

That’s led a lot of civically engaged young people to go out to canvas and support their party and/or candidate, both locally and nationally.

Latina Vote Could Be Key In 13th Congressional District

Latinas could also play a huge role in determining the winner in the toss-up 13th Congressional District. According to Lucete Latina, a Federal Political Action Committee, they make up 1 in every 4 voters in the District.

Roxana Pantoja is a 19-year-old Merced resident. She’s been knocking on doors for the last several weeks in an effort to get fellow Latinas out to vote. “It’s honestly helping a lot of the Mexican community  because sometimes they don’t even know that it’s happening. They just think that it’s just the presidential elections,” she said. “One told me that they weren’t going to vote this year, but  since we’re trying to get them to vote, she was going to actually go and vote. That just made my day.”

Pantoja said some of her family members can’t vote because they’re not citizens. Her mom told her that she can’t vote for who she wants to represent her, “but you get that chance.”

Dodgers Beat Yankees To Become 8-Time World Series Champs

The Los Angeles Dodgers won their second World Series championship in five seasons, overcoming a five-run deficit with the help of three Yankees defensive miscues and rallying on sacrifice flies from Gavin Lux and Mookie Betts in the eighth inning to beat New York 7-6 in Game 5 on Wednesday night.

The Dodgers earned their eighth championship and seventh since leaving Brooklyn for Los Angeles — their first in a non-shortened season since 1988. They won a neutral-site World Series against Tampa Bay in 2020 after a 60-game regular season and couldn’t have a parade because of the coronavirus pandemic.