Hard Truths: February 2026

Hard Truths is a monthly newsletter about national, state, and local issues, with (sometimes sassy, other times serious) personal updates from the author – Heather Schmidt, M.PA. Heather is the owner of Heather Christena Schmidt Community Consulting, President of VC Voter Edge, and a busy Mom to three.

National Nonsense

I’ve mentioned before, and I’ll mention it again: the less I pay attention to national politics, the better I feel.

This month, the Super Bowl became ground zero for the newest iteration of left-versus-right culture wars. As if nothing can just be enjoyed for what it is anymore, the topic of the halftime show became partisan. Many people believed the NFL was making a “statement” by casting Bad Bunny as its half time feature this year. While that may have been the case, it seems more likely it was a reflection of the fact that the artist is one of the top rated musicians in this moment, and suited well with the NFL’s stated long term strategy of expanding its brand internationally.

Nevertheless, it turned into an all out war between the extreme left and the extreme right. Turning Point USA hosted its own “counter half time show,” featuring Kid Rock and some others; I believe country singers. And as it turns out, the politicization of this event – coupled with a lot of other factors related to that – left a lot of people watching both shows… well, disappointed, conflicted, or just ready for it to be over.

Video that has gone viral from the stadium at the Super Bowl showed fans a little unclear of what was going on. Either for production flare, or security reasons, Bad Bunny’s performance departed from how the NFL traditionally does it – packing the field with people from the stadium. Instead, people stayed in their seats, with many people clearly unable to even see much of what was going on due to the elaborate nature of the design.

Kid Rock et all was obviously not much better, although reporting today suggests many of the people at that counter-half time show were paid and therefore more noticeably into it. Post-production data indicates this counter show brought in over 130M views across multiple streaming platforms, and while paltry compared to the Super Bowl numbers, this was likely viewed a success by Turning Point and its conservative base.

For my own take, watching from the comfort of my home, I thought that the Bad Bunny performance was great, and was glad when it was over so everyone can move on to the next fight. Many of the visual elements made it feel more like a homecoming – things I see and love about my own home, here in Oxnard. The elote man, Villa’s Tacos, the homage to multiculturalism – I thought it was great. Of course the content was in Spanish, and that didn’t bother me one bit. And while I understand that some people would have liked to know what was being said, I also wonder: why? Who cares?

Though I want to be clear that at the same time, liberals posting on social media in tears about how he is “one of us” and a “man of small means” are… well… dead wrong. In fact, further propping up this false image of the singer now a week after the Super Bowl has come and gone with a meme about how the artist has traded in his $10M Bugatti for a modest Toyota Corolla are – for lack of a better word – simping for a multimillionaire. Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio is by no means a “man of small means,” and “one of us.” Owner of multiple multi-million dollar mansions, the artist now lives much of his time here in California in an $8M home. One of us? I think not.

From the Greatest State in the Nation

Well, the gubernatorial race has turned into a total and complete clown show. Two Republicans lead the polls at this moment, with Eric Swalwell and Tom Steyer closing in. Is it likely that two Republican candidates will ultimately go to the final in November? With the Democrats holding consilidated power in Sacramento for going on 16 years now, odds are currently around 10%(ish). But then the more news like this comes out, who knows…

In the meantime, the current governor’s wife has made a couple of recent gaffes in the news that evidence for us just why this election year is going to be complicated for Democrats up and down the state.

Last week, at an event where the governor was announcing $90M in emergency funding for Planned Parenthood, a predominantly female press corps was asking him questions that, well, the Mrs. did not like. Rather than focusing on women’s health and the money being directed towards it, members of the press were asking questions of the governor that were all over the map.

Now, this is very normal, in fact to be expected; and as a reflection of that, the governor seemed more than willing to respond to the questions as they were being asked. That didn’t, however, stop his wife from at one point taking over the podium to chastise (again, predominantly female) reporters for their questions. As numerous members of the press highlighted after the fact – this position is a departure from the norms, and hedges on violating at least some principles of freedom of the press.

Later the same week, Jen Siebel Newsom then made another viral gaffe during an interview, where she was asked about millionaires and billionaires in tech leaving California, and being more involved in partisan politics. She responded with some trite comments about wealthy people being “insulated in their bubbles of wealth” being dangerous. This was ironic – at best – given she and the governor recently purchased a $10M mansion, and have claimed the insulated, socially elite status wealth brings for decades.

But what consequence does this have to the general election that the Newsoms have termed out of? People are sick of how toned deaf so many of these politicians up in Sacramento and beyond really are.

Just Local Stuff

Things keep plugging along for us locally, here in Oxnard. The cost of living remains too high. Homelessness is still too burdensome for the cities and counties to really address. And local politics is gearing up for some real knock-down-drag-out battles in both the primary and general midterm elections.

More on that to come, in the meantime, my team and I recently completed an analysis of the City of Oxnard’s lighting policies… you can find our Policy Power Hour video of that analysis and discussion by clicking HERE, or watching below.

A Bit On Me

As I inch closer to my 44th birthday, I find myself doing what I unconsciously do every year in the months leading up to the (horrifying) day. More skincare, updates to my anti-aging routing…

This year I’ve added more collagen masks, hair oils, and I upgraded my desk to one where you can stand if you want, as though standing longer really is the key to youth. The more friends and family in the same general age range as me share posts about perimenopause and gray hairs (both of which I – thankfully – have not yet been graced with), the more I find myself looking for even more treatments and salves and oils and balms that can hopefully stop the inevitable march we all trudge on. Like that billionaire that says he wants to live forever, I too believe I am just one gold injection or vitamin infusion away from immortality. At least for a few months every year before my birthday.

Of course none of this truly eliminates the impending doom and dread of another birthday coming down the pipeline. Naturally, I’m being tongue in cheek – well, a little; as I age, I realize the precious aspect of life, that every year is really a blessing, one not guaranteed for any of us. That on my birthday I should celebrate that I am still here to experience and feel and survive, along with the rest of you. Still, the nagging tick of my biological clock (whatever that even means) ticks on like a metronome. I just hope one day I can find some sort of serum to silence it.

Until next month!