Republicans are turning to local elections to rebuild, after losing the city of San Diego, the county, and state. They’re leveraging school boards and the governments of small cities — like La Mesa — to spread their toxic, MAGA, white supremacist, Trump-supporting, election-denying, forced-birth, LGBTQ-phobic agenda.
But Democrats are pushing back, as we saw at a recent, rousing club meeting, where we heard from more than a dozen candidates for La Mesa local offices—as well as a few surrounding communities—who will make East County blue(r) this year.
The big news from the meeting is that Kathleen Brand said she’s dropping out of the La Mesa City Council race. That’s a bittersweet development. On the plus side, it leaves us with two strong Democratic candidates for two open seats—Mejgan Afshan and Patricia Dillard. We’ll avoid the infighting that cost us the city council seat last year, when two Democratic candidates ran for one seat, and lost to Republican Laura Lothian.
However, the development is also sad, because Brand would have been a great city council member. She said she plans to run for the next open seat, in two years. We’re looking forward to that, and we thank Brand for making a difficult sacrifice.
Afshan told club members about her background as a 31-year La Mesa resident who attended local schools as well as San Francisco State University, interning for Gavin Newsom and working for Nancy Pelosi. Her goal is to focus on houselessness, fulfill the city’s climate action plan and “do right by community members” who are struggling, to provide equitable policy change and equitable access to government resources. The city needs to take advantage of federal and state government funding for programs such as programs to the Home Investment Partnership Program and increasing mental health services, she said.
Dillard told those at the meeting she ran at the urging of community leader Mary Castellanos and Dr. Akilah Weber (currently State Assembly member, recently on the La Mesa City Council). Dillard serves on the city’s Police Oversight Board, “Which is where I have worked countless hours with dedication to help protect our black and brown community from police brutality, excessive force and racial profiling,” she said. She supports unions, equal pay, and working wages for all.
Her priorities on the council will be to support clean, renewable, and sustainable energy—including more charging stations for cars—clean air, public spaces and parks, walkable communities and a safe environment.
Matt Strabone, who’s running for La Mesa City treasurer, turns an election that would normally have been dry into an interesting race. “What if I told you we could raise more money for La Mesa—hundreds of thousands of dollars—without raising taxes or cutting services?” Strabone said. The city has a rainy day fund more than $60 million, which is being invested poorly, earning less than 1%. The Treasurer’s job is to invest that money wisely. “I have a clear, well-researched, prudent, and safe plan to do just that,” Strabone said.
While Strabone is running on sound fiscal policy, Strabone’s opponent is a MAGA Republican, who donated thousands of dollars to Donald Trump, Mitch McConnell, and Ted Cruz.
Those were just a few of the speakers we heard from this month.
Also speaking:
– For La Mesa-Spring Valley School Board: Rebecca MacRae, current board president, running for re-election; Brianna Coston; Caitlin Tiffany.
– Andrea Beth Damsky, running for Helix Water District, Division 2
– Debbie Justesen, for Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District Governing Board. Justesen is currently board president.
– Arnie Levine, for El Cajon Mayor
– Mike Schaefer, for State Board of Equalization, 4th District
– Victoria Abrenica for Spring Valley Community Planning Group
– And Steve Jesionka, speaking on behalf of Stephen Houlahan, who’s running for U.S. Congress against MAGA favorite Darrell Issa.
To watch a video of the entire meeting, go to mfdems.com and click the YouTube link at the top of the page.
Editor’s note: This column was provided by Mitch Wagner. Wagner writes on behalf of the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club.
