Garry’s List Civic Impact Awards 2026: Voting Is Now Open

Civic accountability in California doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because specific people do the work: the organizers who show up to every meeting, the journalists who file the FOIA requests, the creators who make politics legible to people who’d otherwise tune out, and the technologists building tools that make participation possible.

The Garry’s List Civic Impact Awards exist to recognize them.

We’ve been overwhelmed by this community’s engagement. When we opened nominations for the first-ever Civic Impact Awards, we didn’t know what to expect. What came back was extraordinary: hundreds of submissions from Garry’s List members across California, naming the people, platforms, and publications that matter most to them.

The nominees below reflect those submissions. Every name on this ballot was put forward by the GL community. The result is a ballot spanning ten categories, with nominees from San Francisco to Los Angeles, from print journalism to political ads to AI.

The range of the awards reflects our belief that civic impact doesn’t belong to any single medium, geography, or ideology. It belongs to anyone doing the work.

The Ballot

1. Voice of the Year

Recognizing the individual whose public voice most shaped California’s civic conversation this year.

Brooke Jenkins (@BrookeJenkinsSF) — San Francisco’s District Attorney has been at the center of the city’s public safety debate, navigating the post-recall landscape while prosecuting high-profile cases and defending her office’s direction against critics on both sides.
Carl Chan (@CarlChanOakland) — The longtime Oakland Chinatown leader and chamber of commerce president has been one of the East Bay’s most persistent advocates for public safety and small business, amplifying the concerns of a community too often overlooked.
Mike Madrid (@madrid_mike) — The Republican strategist and co-founder of the Lincoln Project has become one of the most cited voices on Latino politics, realignment, and the future of California’s political coalitions, drawing from decades of campaign data and demographic research.

2. Organizer of the Year

Recognizing the organizer or organization that most effectively mobilized communities for civic change.

Gina McDonald, MADAAD (Mothers Against Drug Addiction & Deaths) (@Gina_McDee) — McDonald has led MADAAD’s California advocacy with a focus on fighting drug addiction and open air drug markets, turning personal tragedy into sustained legislative pressure.
Rudy Corpuz Jr., United Playaz (@UP4LIFE) — For over two decades, Corpuz has run one of San Francisco’s most respected violence prevention programs, working directly with at-risk youth in the Tenderloin and beyond. His organization’s model has influenced citywide policy.
Brian Hanlon, California YIMBY (@hanlonbt) — Hanlon has built CA YIMBY into arguably the state’s most effective pro-housing advocacy organization, pushing legislation from Sacramento that has reshaped local zoning fights across California.

3. Best Political Ad

Recognizing the political advertisement that most effectively communicated its message to voters.

Patrick Wolff, “Experience” (@WolffOnYourSide) — A striking ad that leveraged Wolff’s personal biography to connect with voters on public safety and governance.
Spencer Pratt, “They Not Like Us” (@spencerpratt) — The reality TV star turned political ad creator delivered a viral entry that used cultural fluency to reach audiences traditional political media can’t.
Xavier Becerra, “You Have the Power” (tie) (@xavierbecerra) — A direct-to-camera appeal that centered voter agency, cutting through cynicism with a simple, repeatable message.
Charles Curran & Damilare Sonoiki, “Pratt Summer” (tie) (@charliebcurran, @dsonoiki) — The creative duo behind some of the cycle’s most shared political content produced an ad that blurred the line between entertainment and civic engagement.

4. Best Creator

Recognizing the content creator who most effectively used digital media to advance civic engagement.

Charles Curran & Damilare Sonoiki (@charliebcurran, @dsonoiki) — The pair have built a following by making political content that’s genuinely entertaining without sacrificing substance. Their work reaches audiences that traditional outlets miss entirely.
JJ Smith (@war24182236) — Smith’s digital-first approach to political commentary has carved out a distinctive voice in California’s crowded media landscape.
Julian Mulvey, Fight Agency (@julianmulvey) — Mulvey’s agency has produced some of the most visually compelling civic content in the state, bringing a design-forward sensibility to political communication.

5. Best Civic Tech Platform

Recognizing the technology platform that most advanced civic participation or government transparency.

Claude (Anthropic) (@AnthropicAI) — Anthropic’s AI assistant has become a tool for civic researchers, journalists, and policy analysts across California, enabling faster analysis of legislation, public records, and government data.
Vote.org (@votedotorg) — The nonpartisan platform continues to be one of the most effective tools for voter registration and election information, reducing barriers to participation for millions.
CalMatters Digital Democracy (@CalMatters) — CalMatters’ suite of digital tools for tracking California legislation and political money has made state government more transparent and accessible to everyday residents.

6. Best Community Newsletter

Recognizing the local newsletter that best serves its community with original reporting and civic information.

Wind Newspaper (@windnewspaper) — A community-driven publication that has filled a critical local news gap with original reporting on neighborhood issues that larger outlets overlook.
LA Material (@sherlyholmes) — Covering Los Angeles with a focus on culture, policy, and the built environment, LA Material has become essential reading for Angelenos who want to understand the forces shaping their city.
Fresnoland (@Fresnoland) — The Central Valley’s nonprofit newsroom has established itself as the region’s most reliable source of accountability journalism, covering the issues — water, agriculture, poverty, development — that define life in California’s heartland.

7. Best Political Newsletter

Recognizing the newsletter that best informs readers on California politics and policy.

On California, David Crane (@DavidGCrane) — Crane’s newsletter brings a fiscal hawk’s eye to California governance, dissecting pension obligations, budget gimmicks, and policy tradeoffs with a depth few other outlets match.
SF Standard Power Play (@SFStandard) — The Standard’s political newsletter has become a go-to source for inside-baseball coverage of San Francisco’s City Hall, tracking the deals, feuds, and votes that shape the city.
POLITICO California Playbook (@PoliticoCa) — The state edition of POLITICO’s flagship franchise delivers a daily briefing on Sacramento that’s read by virtually everyone in California politics.

8. Best Political X Account

Recognizing the X (Twitter) account that most effectively informs the public on California politics.

Kane (@kane) — An anonymous account that has become one of the most influential voices in California political X, known for sharp analysis and a willingness to challenge conventional wisdom across party lines.
Rob Pyers (@rpyers) — The research director for the California Target Book, Pyers is the go-to source for California election data, campaign finance information, and voter registration trends. If you’ve seen a California political map on X, it probably came from him.
Erica Sandberg (@EricaSandberg) — The San Francisco journalist and commentator covers crime, public safety, and city politics with a data-driven approach, often surfacing stories and statistics before they reach mainstream outlets.

9. Best Political Podcast & Video

Recognizing the podcast or video program that best covers California politics and public affairs.

All-In Podcast (@theallinpod) — The “besties” — Jason Calacanis, Chamath Palihapitiya, David Sacks, and David Friedberg — have made their tech-and-politics show one of the most listened-to political podcasts in the country, with significant influence on California and national policy debates.
MeidasTouch (@MeidasTouch) — The progressive media operation has built a massive audience with its rapid-response video content, covering everything from national politics to California-specific issues.
This Is Gavin Newsom (@thisisnewsom) — The Governor’s own podcast, which has become a unique window into how California’s chief executive frames the state’s biggest policy challenges and his own political future.

10. Best Investigative Journalism

Recognizing the journalist or team whose investigative reporting most advanced public accountability in California.

Susan Dyer Reynolds, Voice of San Francisco (@susandreynolds) — Reynolds has built a reputation for dogged reporting on San Francisco city government, nonprofit accountability, and public safety, often breaking stories that larger outlets later follow.
Alexei Koseff & Sophia Bollag, San Francisco Chronicle (@akoseff, @SophiaBollag) — The Chronicle’s political reporters have produced deeply sourced investigative work on state and local government, following the money and the power with precision.
Ashley Zavala, KCRA (@zavalaa) — The Sacramento television reporter has become one of the Capitol’s most respected journalists, combining broadcast reporting with persistent, detailed coverage of state government and political accountability.

How to Vote

Voting is open now. Cast your ballot here.

Voting is exclusively available to Garry’s List members. One vote per member, per category. Voting closes Tuesday, June 2 at 8:00 PM PT — exactly when California’s polls close.

Not a member yet? Sign up at garryslist.org to join the community and make your voice heard. Membership is free, and your vote directly shapes which voices, organizers, creators, and journalists we recognize this year.

Cast your CA ballot (if you haven’t already!) and your Garry’s List ballot by the deadline to make your voice heard. Winners will be announced shortly after voting closes.

Why This Matters

California is home to 39 million people, the world’s fifth-largest economy, and some of the most consequential policy experiments in the country. The people on this ballot are the ones making sure that power is watched, that communities are heard, and that the public has the information it needs to participate.

The Civic Impact Awards are our way of saying: we see you, and the work matters.

Cast your vote here.