By MITCH WAGNER
Join the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club for an informative in-person Zoom get-together Wednesday Oct. 7, with a rundown of candidates on the ballot in November. We’ve invited about 35 candidates to speak to our members, with each of them getting just two minutes to make the case why you should vote, volunteer and support them.
We’ll start with our usual 6:30 p.m. informal discussion, with programming starting at 7 p.m. Get the Zoom details at lmfdems.com/links.
Kicking things off: A brief review of all the state propositions on the ballot, from our own Sean Quintal, vice president for laws and legislation, delivering clarity and simplicity to guide your informed vote.
Then come the candidates! We’re expecting an aspirant army from key Congressional and local races.
We’ll kick things off with Todd Gloria and Barbara Bry, running for San Diego Mayor, and the two Democrats vying for Susan Davis’ old seat in the 53rd Congressional District, Sara Jacobs and Georgette Gomez.
These two races epitomize the change in San Diego from a solid Republican town to a major Democratic city. Neither race has ever had two Democrats in the November runoff. We do now. Winner take all. We’ve grown up. We’re blue.
We’ll hear from Ammar Campa-Najar, who’s running against Republican Darrell Issa for the 50th Congressional District seat vacated by convicted felon Duncan Hunter Jr.
Liz Lavertu will provide an update on her campaign for the 71st Assembly District seat, as well as Tim Nader in his quest to be elected to the San Diego Superior Court Bench as Judge for Seat 30.
We then plan a quick review of important, but frequently overlooked, down ballot races for city councils and school boards. All of these jurisdictions hire staff, spend taxpayers’ money, set policy, and have substantial influence on the quality of our lives. Democrats have rarely run for these seats in the past, nor have they worked to establish governing majorities. That’s changing.
Raul Campillo will review his plans to become only the second Democrat to hold the San Diego City Council District 7 seat which encompasses a substantial portion of our members’ neighborhoods in Del Cerro, San Carlos, and Allied Gardens.
Colin Parent and Jack Shu will discuss their efforts to turn the La Mesa City Council into a governing majority for Democrats, which would be another first. And we’ve asked Tyra Fleming and Abu-Bakr Al Jafri to update us on their races to turn the La Mesa-Spring Valley School Board blue.
We plan to hear from Sammatha Hurst in her quest to win a seat on the Santee City Council District 4.
The team running in Lemon Grove is led by Raquel Vasquez working to be re-elected as mayor supported by David Arambula and George Gastil for City Council and Yahaira Preciado and Cheryl Robertson for Lemon Grove School Board — a complete sweep for Democrats in Lemon Grove.
We’ve asked Stephanie Harper and Estela De Los Rios to speak about their efforts to win seats on the El Cajon City Council. And we plan to hear from Monica Hinton and Stacie Hoover about their quest to make a difference on the Cajon Valley School Board.
There are many more races to consider. Please take a look on the San Diego Democratic Party County website sddemocrats.org/candidates and the Registrar of Voters website sdvote.com. And vote blue – no matter who!
— Mitch Wagner writes on behalf of the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club.
