California State Capitol Building – Credit Pixabay
Today: California Statewide Offices & Local Legislative Seats
The San Diego Free Press and OB Rag are pleased to present part three of our 2018 Primary Election Progressive Voter Guide. As usual, we tried not to let perfect be the enemy of good in our decision making. This year we’re breaking it into parts to make it more digestible.
We endorsed (or didn’t) contests where editors and contributors had some working knowledge of the contests. Generally speaking, we didn’t endorse in non-competitive races with a Democratic incumbent (who you should probably vote for). Candidates with low fundraising totals or no campaign organization were not included.
Endorsements or lack thereof reflect a majority opinion of the Editorial Board, which includes: Brent Beltrán, Anna Daniels, Frank Gormlie, Patty Jones, Rich Kacmar, Annie Lane, and Doug Porter. It should be noted there were many non-unanimous decisions.
Democratic Candidates are Blue * Republican Candidates are Red
Many candidates names are linked to their websites.
An asterisk (*) next to a name indicates an incumbent.
A Summary of Our State of California ▲Endorsements▲
Governor – John Chiang
Attorney General – Xavier Becerra
Controller – Betty Yee
Treasurer – Fiona Ma
Secretary of State –Ruben Major
Insurance Commissioner –Ricardo Lara
Superintendent of Public Instruction –Tony Thurmond
Senate District 36 – Marggie Castellano
Senate District 38 – Jeff Griffith
Assembly District 71 – James Elia
Assembly District 75 – Alan Geraci
Assembly District 76 – Tasha Boerner Horvath
Assembly District 77 – Sunday Gover
State Executive Offices
Governor
Our Endorsement – ◆John Chiang◆
The two top vote-getters, regardless of party, will move on to the November election. There are links embedded in each name if you want further information.
Why John Chiang? There are lots of things to like about most of the high-profile Democrats running for Governor. John Chiang appeals to us because he’s the total package; somebody who’s good at figuring out how to pay for innovative policies and programs based on progressive ideals.
Democrats: Akinyemi Agbede, Juan Bribiesca, Thomas Jefferson Cares, ◆John Chiang◆, Delaine Eastin, Robert Davidson Griffis, Albert Caesar Mezzetti, Gavin Newsom, Amanda Renteria, Michael Shellenberger, Klement Tinaj, Antonio Villaraigosa. John Chiang & Delaine Eastin are favored by many progressives. Gavin Newsom is the choice of party regulars. Antonio Villaraigosa’s flirtations with corporate charter school types have hurt him in many circles.
Republicans: Travis Allen, John Cox, Yvonne Girard, Peter Yuan Liu, Robert Newman
Travis Allen wants to scare everybody about the ‘illegals’. John Cox thinks pot smokers should be hospitalized.
Green Party: Christopher Carlson, Josh Jones
Libertarian: Zoltan Istvan, Nickolas Wildstar
Peace & Freedom Party: Gloria La Riva
No Party Preference: Shubham Goel, Hakan “Hawk” Mikado, Desmond Silveira, Jeffrey Edward Taylor, Johnny Wattenburg
Lt Governor
No SDFP Endorsement – No candidate received a majority of votes from the editorial board
A mostly ceremonial position, and a great launching pad for higher office. Indy candidate Gayle McLaughlin is popular with progressives.The Dem candidate raising the most money is Eleni Kounalakis. Ed Hernandez has key progressive union support.
Democrats: Jeff Bleich, Cameron Gharabiklou, Ed Hernandez, Eleni Kounalakis
Republicans: David Fennell, Lydia Ortega, David Hernandez, Cole Harris
Libertarian: Tim Ferreira
No Party Preference: Gayle McLaughlin, Danny Thomas
Attorney General
Our Endorsement – ◆Xavier Becerra◆
Democrats ◆Xavier Becerra◆*,Dave Jones
Republicans: Steven Bailey, Eric Early
Controller
Our Endorsement – ◆Betty Yee◆
Democrat: ◆Betty Yee◆*
Republican: Konstantinos Roditis
Peace & Freedom: Mary Lou Finley
Treasurer
Our Endorsement – ◆Fiona Ma◆
Democrats ◆Fiona Ma◆, Vivek Viswanathan
Republicans: Greg Conlon, Jack Guerrero
Peace & Freedom: Kevin Akin
Secretary of State
Our Endorsement – ◆Ruben Major◆
Democrats: Alex Padilla*, ◆Ruben Major ◆
Republicans: Mark P. Meuser, Raul Rodriguez Jr.
Green Party: Michael Feinstein, Erik Rydberg
Libertarian: Gail Lightfoot
Peace & Freedom: C.T. Weber
Insurance Commissioner
Our Endorsement – ◆Ricardo Lara◆
Democrats ◆Ricardo Lara◆, Asif Mahmood
Peace & Freedom: Nathalie Hrizi
No Party Preference: Steve Poizner
Superintendent of Public Instruction
Our Endorsement – ◆Tony Thurmond◆
Steven Ireland
Lily Ploski
◆Tony Thurmond◆
Marshall Tuck
California State Senate
Most of these seats are not competitive. Incumbents are marked with an asterisk (*). Clicking on the district name will take you to a page about that contest, including a map. We don’t endorse in non-competitive races with a Democratic incumbent (who you should probably vote for, anyway).There are links embedded in each name if you want further information.
Senate, District 36: Patricia Bates*, ◆ Marggie Castellano ◆
Senate, District 38: Joel Anderson*, ◆ Jeff Griffith,◆ Antonio Salguero (L)
Senate District 40: Ben Hueso*, Luis R. Vargas
California State Assembly
District 76 is an open seat, due to Assemblyman Rocky Chavez’s decision to run for U.S. Congress. Clicking on the district name will take you to a page about that contest, including a map. We don’t endorse in non-competitive races with a Democratic incumbent (who you should probably vote for, anyway). There are links embedded in each name if you want further information.
Assembly, District 71: ◆James Elia◆, Randy Voepel*, Larry Wilske
Assembly, District 75: Marie Waldron*, ◆Alan Geraci◆
Assembly, District 76: ◆Tasha Boerner Horvath◆, Elizabeth Warren, Philip “Phil” Graham, Thomas E. Krouse, Maureen “Mo” Muir, Amanda Rigby, Jerome Stocks, Brian Wimmer
Assembly, District 77: Brian Maienschein*, ◆ Sunday Gover◆
Assembly, District 78: Todd Gloria*, Maggie J. Campbell
Assembly, District 79: Shirley Weber*, John Moore
Assembly, District 80: Lorena Gonzalez*, Lincoln Pickard
Already Published:
Progressive Voter Guide for County of San Diego Elected Offices
A Summary of Our County ▲Endorsements▲
Judicial Office #37– Victor Torres
Assessor/Recorder/Clerk – Matt Strabone
Sheriff – Dave Myers
District Attorney – Geneviéve Jones-Wright
Board of Supervisors District 4 – Omar Passons
Board of Supervisors District 5 – Michelle Gomez
Community College Board – Maria Nieto Senour, Craig Milgrim, Rafael Perez
SD County Board of Education – Alicia Munoz, Rick Shea
San Diego City Council | Progressive Voter Guide 2018
A Summary of Our San Diego City Council ▲Endorsements▲
City Council District 2 – No Endorsement
City Council District 4 – Monica Montgomery
City Council District 6 – No Endorsement
City Council District 8 – No Endorsement
Upcoming:
Monday-Federal Offices, plus Ballot Measures
Tuesday: Voter Guide Crib Sheet (All Contests)
Doug Porter
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I like your recommendations. I am so glad you chose Chiang instead of seen as inevitable political choice Newsom. I view him as a neoliberal and neoliberal Democrats have turned against labor, the poor and public schools. They have also become entangled with big technology. Chiang is the only candidate that knows how to balance a budget. Villaraigosa was a notoriously bad manager in LA plus he is owned by the charter industry. So, I am thrilled with your recommendation.
My nephew is Jesse Gabriel, who is running for State Assembly in the 45th and who has the endorsement, among many others, of the CA Democratic Party. Am wondering why he and the District are not listed. Here’s the link to Jesse Gabriel’s website: https://jesseforassembly.com/
Our coverage of Assembly races was limited to those in (or partially in) San Diego County. The 45th is in Orange County. We wish your nephew luck with his endeavor.
I’m amazed that Gaye McLaughlin didn’t make the cut for Lt. Governor.
She’s an amazing woman who helped to turn the city of Richmond around.
I don’t understand why you call this a “Progressive” voter guide without mentioning ANYTHING about campaign finance. Gavin Newsom has received close to $1million from Blue Shield, how do you think he will do on Single-Payer Healthcare? 70% of Californian’s support Single-Payer and Newsom runs his campaign on donations from Health Insurance companies. As for Chiang, here’s an insightful take on him as a candidate: “Why I can’t support John Chiang for governor, a longish post. Bear with me while I tell a story.
Over a year ago, the Dakota Access Pipeline was a major concern for activists, and organizers across the nation were targeting Wells Fargo for its investment in the pipeline. Brad Johnson and I came up with a novel strategy: ask California’s giant pension fund, CalPERS, to likewise divest. And I took it directly to John Chiang. Paid $100, which is a lot of money for me, to pitch it to him directly, face to face, me and him on someone’s living room sofa. Told him that he could be a hero to the climate community if he’d push for divestment from a destructive pipeline.
He turned it down. Gave me the same line I was used to hearing from other CalPERS folk about how CalPERS doesn’t divest. It prefers to be an activist engaged shareholder (which, generally, means pushing symbolic shareholder resolutions). And a few weeks later, the CalPERS board (including Chiang) voted to stay invested in DAPL. On top of that the board voted in a new policy that could be described as “STFU Activists — we’ll never divest from anything, ever again.”
Fast forward many months later. John Chiang is pushing CalPERS to divest from assault weapons. Good cause. But directly contradictory to all the blather he gave me last spring about CalPERS not divesting and instead being an activist engaged shareholder.
You can draw two conclusions from this.
1. Chiang genuinely cares about assault weapons but he doesn’t care about climate change and all the financial risk it presents to the California economy, Native American tribal rights, and all the issues exposed by the Dakota Access Pipeline; and/or
2. Chiang made a political calculation that voters care about assault weapons but don’t care about climate change and all the financial risk it presents to the California economy.
Neither one is consistent with his carefully cultivated public persona of the thoughtful grownup in the room.” — RL Miller
All progressives should consider their options and vote for the most progressive candidates they can find. Many of which are running #CorporateFree campaigns.
Here are a few: Delaine Eastin for Governor, Gayle McLaughlin for Lt C, Alison Hartson for Senate.
FYI, this is what a “Progressive Voter Guide” looks like: https://www.voxpublica.org/2018/03/17/these-are-the-progressive-corporate-free-candidates-running-for-office-in-california/
The only beef I have with this ^^ voter guide is that they choice the Our Revolution supported candidates and not the Justice Democrats endorsed candidate, Alison Harston.