City Journal undercover: CHIRLA employee relayed candidate endorsements while helping reporters with a ballot at an L.A. County Flex Voting Center

Reporting: Christopher Rufo, Kenneth Schrupp, Austen Hufford — City Journal / Manhattan Institute (@christopherrufo · @kennethschrupp · @austenhufford)
Created: 2026-11-05T06:55:00-05:00 (America/New_York)
Last updated: 2026-11-05T06:55:00-05:00 (America/New_York)
Living page — updated in place as new primary drops land.

The short version

Christopher Rufo, Kenneth Schrupp and Austen Hufford report that a CHIRLA employee walked undercover reporters through a ballot at an L.A. County Flex Voting Center, relaying endorsements of Karen Bass, Marissa Roy, Xavier Becerra and Rob Bonta. CHIRLA defended its staff’s assistance on the record. City Journal says the conduct potentially violates California’s electioneering rules.

Published by City Journal / Manhattan Institute, the investigation combines firsthand attendance, county-record reporting and a direct response from the organization. Mainstream coverage described the center’s opening but largely missed the endorsement allegations. This is the original reporting worth following: what happened inside, what the employee said and how CHIRLA answered.

On Nov. 4, 2026, City Journal published a bylined undercover report from Christopher F. Rufo, Kenneth Schrupp and Austen Hufford. City Journal is a publication of the Manhattan Institute, a free-market think tank. Rufo is a Manhattan Institute senior fellow and City Journal contributing editor who also describes himself as an activist; Schrupp is a City Journal investigative reporter; Hufford is a City Journal senior investigative reporter (ex–Wall Street Journal).

The reporters write that they attended a CHIRLA get-out-the-vote event at the group’s Los Angeles headquarters the prior week, where they found Smartmatic voting tablets and a ballot drop box. County Registrar records, they say, confirm CHIRLA hosted a County Flex Voting Center that day. USA Today separately covered the Flex center’s Oct. 30 opening and quoted Registrar program language; that piece does not cover the undercover endorsement claims.

According to City Journal, a man in a CHIRLA polo whom they later identified as a CHIRLA employee took them through a ballot line-by-line and relayed endorsements: Karen Bass for mayor, Marissa Roy for city attorney, Xavier Becerra for governor and Rob Bonta for attorney general (Bonta “very supportive”). The employee also said they were “free to vote” for others, while the endorsements were, in the reporters’ words, “crystal clear.” City Journal writes that this conduct “potentially violates” California Elections Code §18370’s misdemeanor ban on soliciting a vote or speaking to a voter about marking a ballot within 100 feet of the entrance to a building that contains a polling place or ballot-drop location. This page uses the same soft framing — “may have” / “potentially” — and does not adopt harder “is violating” language from social posts.

Reached for comment, CHIRLA defended the employee’s conduct on the record (full quote below). As of 6:55 a.m. ET, Nov. 5, no public L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk comment on the endorsement allegation was located. Whether the endorsement conversation was recorded, and the measured distance from that room to the voting tablets or building entrance versus the 100-foot rule, remain open. The piece’s “$100 million+” California-grant figure is stated in the lede without an on-page citation; treat it as from prior City Journal reporting and open.fiscal.ca.gov unless independently re-verified.

Research quality: Primary is the Nov. 4 City Journal article; Flex-center co-location is independently corroborated by USA Today’s Nov. 2 Flex-center opening story and Registrar program language. CHIRLA’s on-record response is in the City Journal piece. No Registrar-Recorder comment on the endorsement allegation found. Whether the endorsement conversation was recorded is not disclosed in the article; The Media Now has not reviewed Rufo’s X video package. Distance to the 100-foot line is unresolved. Legacy pickup of the undercover scoop is thin (RedState / Beltway Report rewrites; no AP / LAT / NYT hit found on the endorsement claims). Response and open-item status last checked 6:55 a.m. ET, Nov. 5.

Attribution: City Journal / Manhattan Institute. Rufo is both a Manhattan Institute senior fellow and a self-described activist. Legal language is City Journal’s own “potentially violates” framing; this page makes no finding that any law was broken. Featured image is illustrative (2020 “I Voted” sticker, Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters, public domain via Wikimedia Commons), not the CHIRLA site.

What City Journal reports (attributed)

Every bullet below is attributed to the Nov. 4 City Journal article unless another source is named.

Undercover attendance: reporters say they went undercover to a CHIRLA get-out-the-vote event at CHIRLA headquarters in Los Angeles the week before publication (speeches, mariachi, press conference).
Flex Voting Center: inside, they report Smartmatic tablets and a ballot drop box; they say County Registrar records confirm a County Flex Voting Center that day. USA Today (Nov. 2) independently covered the Oct. 30 Flex center opening at CHIRLA and quoted Registrar “reach voters with distinct needs” language — not the undercover endorsement walkthrough.
Endorsement walkthrough: a CHIRLA-polo employee, per the article, went through the ballot line-by-line and named Bass, Roy, Becerra and Bonta; also said voters were “free to vote” for others while endorsements were “crystal clear.”
§18370 framing (soft): City Journal says the conduct “potentially violates” the misdemeanor ban on soliciting/speaking to a voter about marking a ballot within 100 feet of an entrance to a building with a polling place or drop location; it also argues the remarks “could constitute” an offense given voting infrastructure in the building. This page does not harden that to a finding of violation.
501(c)(3) angle (attributed): City Journal separately argues the voting operation might also raise federal electioneering issues for a 501(c)(3), noting CHIRLA Action (related 501(c)(4)), that the center was advertised as a CHIRLA event, and that the employee said “I’m with CHIRLA.” That is the outlet’s legal analysis, not an IRS finding.
Funding figure (flagged): the lede states California has granted CHIRLA “more than $100 million” since 2019 without an on-page link in the fetched article. Prior City Journal / open.fiscal reporting and a Lead Stories Feb. 2026 fact-check discuss payouts in a similar magnitude while rejecting a “mainly to pay protesters” framing. Mark as from CJ prior reporting / open.fiscal unless independently verified for this page.

CHIRLA on-record response

Quoted in City Journal’s Nov. 4 piece. No separate CHIRLA statement located beyond that reply.

CHIRLA representative (via City Journal): “Our Civic Engagement staff are trained to give every voter who asks for assistance clear, accurate guidance… This is yet another example of the dirty, underhanded tactics anti-immigrant opponents have used to target CHIRLA because of who we are.”
CHIRLA executive director Angelica Salas, at the event’s press conference (per City Journal): described the group as a 501(c)(3) and said members participate in campaigns year-round; “Every campaign and election cycle is an opportunity for us to flex our electoral muscles.”

Publisher and byline context

City Journal is published by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research (501(c)(3)). Article footers and MI’s about page state that relationship explicitly.
Rufo: Manhattan Institute senior fellow, City Journal contributing editor, and self-described activist.
Schrupp: City Journal investigative reporter (staff). Hufford: City Journal senior investigative reporter; previously Wall Street Journal.

Chronology of drops

2026-10-30 — USA Today: CHIRLA opens L.A. Flex Voting Center — Covers mariachi opening and Registrar Flex program language; not the undercover endorsement claims.
2026-11-04 — City Journal: “Inside CHIRLA’s Secret Voter Campaign” — Bylines Rufo, Schrupp, Hufford. Undercover narrative; CHIRLA on-record reply; soft “potentially violates” on §18370.
2026-11-04 ~12:41 PM ET — Rufo X post amplifying the exclusive — Social post uses harder “violating the law” language than the article; this page does not adopt that phrasing. Includes a video package (not reviewed by The Media Now). · As of ~2:45 a.m. ET Nov. 5: ~82.5K impressions · 2.2K likes · 694 reposts
2026-11-04 — RedState rewrite of the undercover claims — Also cites a separate Oct. 31 Jennifer Van Laar video claim about photographing/recording voters — distinct from the City Journal endorsement walkthrough.
2026-11-04 — Beltway Report rewrite — Aggregator/rewrite; not independent confirmation of the endorsement conversation.

Sources

Pointers to originals. We do not close-paraphrase their prose — read the primaries.

City Journal primary: Inside CHIRLA’s Secret Voter Campaign (Nov. 4, 2026) — Primary undercover report; bylines Rufo, Schrupp, Hufford; includes CHIRLA on-record reply
USA Today: CHIRLA Flex Voting Center opening (Nov. 2, 2026) — Independent corroboration of Flex center co-location / opening — not the endorsement walkthrough
L.A. County RR/CC: prohibition of electioneering PDF — Mirrors 100-foot electioneering rules referenced in the §18370 discussion
Rufo X post (Nov. 4, 2026) — Amplification; harder legal phrasing than the article — do not copy into TMN voice
City Journal About — Magazine self-description; investigative-reporting framing
Manhattan Institute About — States MI is publisher of City Journal
Lead Stories fact-check on CHIRLA funding framing (Feb. 2026) — Discusses payout magnitude; rejects “mainly to pay protesters” framing — use for $100M+ caution only

Open questions

Has the L.A. County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk commented on the endorsement allegation? (None found as of 6:55 a.m. ET, Nov. 5; USA Today quotes Registrar only on Flex program purpose.)
Was the endorsement conversation recorded? (Not disclosed in the City Journal article; Rufo’s X video package has not been reviewed by The Media Now.)
What is the measured distance from the conversation room to the voting tablets and/or building entrance relative to the 100-foot rule in Cal. Elections Code §18370?
Can the “$100 million+ since 2019” California-grant figure be independently verified for this page (open.fiscal / state grant records), or must it remain attributed to prior City Journal / open.fiscal reporting?
Will any prosecutor, the Registrar, the IRS, or CHIRLA Action issue a follow-up on the §18370 or 501(c)(3) electioneering angles City Journal raises?

Mainstream coverage note

USA Today covered the Flex Voting Center opening (mariachi, Registrar program language) but not the undercover endorsement walkthrough. As of Nov. 5, pickup of the City Journal scoop was thin beyond RedState and Beltway Report rewrites; no AP, Los Angeles Times, or New York Times hit found on the endorsement allegations. Treat legacy silence as a coverage note, not proof the conduct did or did not occur.