Passage of Prop 30, Defeat of Prop 32 and Bilbray, Filner and Roberts Victories All Are Cause to Celebrate

By Lorena Gonzalez

San Diego’s progressive community has a lot to be thankful for this November. We passed Proposition 30, defeated Proposition 32, took down Brian Bilbray and elected Bob Filner our next mayor! And for good measure, we elected Dave Roberts as the first Democrat and first fresh blood of any kind on the county Board of Supervisors in two decades.

In the process, we swept through dozens of school board and city council races across the region and elected leaders like Dr. Shirley Weber to continue the good work in Sacramento – now with a supermajority that has the ability to break the stranglehold of Grover Norquist’s no-tax pledge.

When we started the A Better San Diego coalition, this was exactly the moment I was hoping for. We have a tremendous opportunity now to fundamentally change how business is done in San Diego, and that opportunity only exists because of the progressive coalition that came together like never before in this election.

We now have a singular opportunity to empower communities that have been neglected for far too long, and demonstrate what progressive policies can accomplish. Our electoral victories are a tremendous success, but we’ve only just begun. Now we face the challenge of turning these opportunities into stronger communities and a durable coalition that can be transformative in San Diego.

This is an opportunity to push for full equality and fair treatment for all workers. It’s an opportunity to provide meaningful infrastructure investment in struggling neighborhoods and bring communities of color into our civic conversation. It’s a chance to invest in smart transit options, protect our environment, and make sure the jobs we create renew communities instead of threaten them. It’s a chance to make sure everyone has access to sufficient health care and affordable housing, and ensure that San Diego provides our children with the best possible opportunity to succeed.

With an unprecedented coalition, we built that chance. Thank you.

—  Lorena Gonzalez is Secretary-Treasurer, San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council