By TINA RYNBERG and JEFF BENESCH
The board of directors of the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club has voted to cancel our Campaign Kick-off meeting on April 1. Our May 6th meeting is to be determined at a future time.
“Changing our actions for a short period of time will save the life of one or more people you know,” said Governor Newsom. “That’s the choice before us. Each of us has extraordinary power to slow the spread of this disease. Not holding that concert or community event can have cascading effects — saving dozens of lives and preserving critical health care resources that your family may need a month from now. The people in our lives who are most at risk – seniors and those with underlying health conditions — are depending on all of us to make the right choice.”
If “Dump Trump” is the clarion call for all Democrats running for national office this fall, then “Our Blue County” is the appropriate slogan for most San Diego area elections this cycle. Democrats dominated the March 3 primaries, with great results from north to south and even out East County way. With a couple of exceptions — the District 2 County Supervisor seat to replace termed-out Dianne Jacob will go to a Republican and the 71st Assembly seat shows our Liz Lavertu a tremendous underdog — the election results are pretty darn encouraging. Even Ammar Campa-Najjar in the heavily Republican 50th Congressional District had a great showing, garnering the most votes against two out-of-district, well-funded Trumpers. It’s still going to be a very uphill battle, but one has to give him at least a chance against disgraced former Congressman Darrell Issa.
In our immediate backyard, the 53rd Congressional District, vacated by a retiring Rep. Susan Davis, will pit former Obama staffer Sara Jacobs against San Diego City Council President Georgette Gomez. While Jacobs garnered the most first-place votes, there were many Democrats in this race, so it will be most interesting to see how the votes are allocated in the fall. We are guaranteed to be represented by a great Democrat in either case.
The local state races show our incumbent Assembly member Shirley Weber with an almost insurmountable lead over her Republican opponent in the 79th Assembly District, and Senator Toni Atkins is running unopposed in Senate District 39. Council member Chris Ward is way ahead of another Democrat, Sarah Davis, in the 78th Assembly District race and will face her again come November. And club favorite Lorena Gonzalez has again dominated in her 80th Assembly District race.
And in the San Diego mayor’s race, it looks like Assembly member Todd Gloria will face Republican Scott Sherman in the fall, though fellow Democrat Barbara Bry is not mathematically eliminated as of this writing. Either way, Gloria appears to have an insurmountable lead to become San Diego’s next mayor.
Even more locally, in San Diego’s 7th Council District, club member Raul Campillo out-performed Republican and chicken wing entrepreneur Noli Zosa, and a few fellow Democrats to appear to be the presumptive favorite to win the seat in the fall. Zosa received less than 31% of the vote, while the Democrats in the contest totaled almost 70% of the votes cast. While the Republicans are sure to pour thousands of dollars into this city race, the math doesn’t look good for them at this time. There’s a similar scenario playing out in the city’s 5th Council District, so it’s not out of the question that the Democrats could see an 8-1 City Council majority and a Democratic mayor — an unprecedented occurrence in San Diego political history. In Districts 1, 3 and 9, all November contestants are Democrats.
This Democratic wave was seen in the South Bay where the Supervisor District 1 race will feature two Democrats squaring off in the fall, and a near sweep of all the Council races in Chula Vista, along with Juan Vargas’ overwhelming showing in Congressional District 51.
To the north, Mike Levin and Scott Peters are comfortably ahead in their respective Congressional races, as is Brian Maienshchein in his Assembly District 77 race. The Board of Supervisors District 3 race shows the two Democrats totaling many more votes than the incumbent Trumper, Kristin Gaspar, and the Newland Sierra measure was soundly defeated by voters.
Even the countywide court contests looked good for our endorsed judicial candidates Alana Wong Robinson and Michelle Ialeggio, both winning their seats outright. Tim Nader, in Superior Court Office 30, will survive the primary to face a challenger in the fall. Our County Board of Education seats, along with the Community College and San Diego Unified contests, were largely dominated by endorsed Democratic candidates.
— Tina Ryneberg is president and Jeff Benesch is vice president of programming for the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club.
