San Diego Free Press

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San Diego Women Running for Office as Democrats

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I’ve been searching for ways to highlight many of the local down-ballot candidates who readers might not be aware of. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by internet and tv ads touting big-name candidates for major offices, and when the time to fill in the ballot arrives, a bunch of unfamiliar names makes filling in many bubbles a crap shoot.

Today, I’m going to list women running for local offices as Democrats in San Diego County, along with basic contact information when available, going you the opportunity to learn more. While I hope to provide additional coverage on some of these candidates, there is simply no way I’ll get to all of them. 

While there is nothing guaranteeing a woman running for office will be a better choice (every group has its outliers), I can say with certainty we certainly can’t do worse than we are these days.

This listing is about more than just the contests for the seats in the fall election. It’s also about building a better pool of candidates for the future. And, as much as the media likes us to want to believe in (s)heroes coming out of the blue, the reality is those good stewards of the public trust usually come up through the ranks.

Women are running for office in increasing numbers, thanks–I think–to the implied and intentional misogyny of the Trumpanistas.  On a national level, Politico reports “A flood of women, minorities and first-time candidates is poised to radically alter the composition of Congress next year after winning Democratic primaries in record numbers in 2018.”

White males are actually a minority among Democrat House nominees for the general election. 180 female candidates won House primaries — shattering the party’s old record of 120, according to Rutgers’ Center for American Women and Politics.

Republicans can hardly contain their misogyny, as they envision a wave of nastiness overwhelming their female opponents. I suspect their testosterone-laced blinders don’t allow them to grasp what’s going on.

From Politico:

Republicans have seized on many of these first-time candidates, hoping to personally disqualify them this fall. The Congressional Leadership Fund, the flagship GOP House super PAC, rolled out more than a dozen TV ads in recent weeks, detailing everything from arrest records to sexual harassment allegations against the wave of new candidates.

But some Republican strategists acknowledged that the unprecedented number of female candidates could put the GOP further on defense in the general election.

Female candidates attract female suburban voters, “who are not trending toward us right now,” said Mike Noble, a Republican consultant based in Arizona. “Those suburban women are a key bloc that we’re tracking, and they’re not big fans of Trump.”

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Not all the candidates listed in this article are endorsed by the party, and a listing here does not imply endorsement by the San Diego Free Press.

I’m sure there are others of the non-partisan progressive persuasion or non-endorsed Democrats, and if you’ll reach out (dougporter@sandiegofreepress.org), I’ll add you to this list. (Sorry, Republicans. Not this time.)

What I’ve done here is to attach a link (where available) to each name leading to more information. Sometimes it’s a candidate’s web site; sometimes it’s Facebook page, and there are a few candidates whose names link to media accounts describing them.

Once again, if I’ve missed a better place for information on a candidate, reach out to me directly.

State Legislative Offices Representing San Diego

State Senate
District 36: Marggie Castellano 

State Assembly
District 77: Sunday Gover
District 79: Shirley Weber
District 80: Lorena Gonzalez 

Community College Boards

Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College Board
Area 1: Linda Cartwright Area 2: Debbie Justeson

San Diego Community College Board
District A: Maria Nieto Senour

Southwestern Community College Board
Seat 4: Nicole Jones, Leticia Cazares,

Boards of Education 

Carlsbad Unified
Area 1: Veronica Williams

Chula Vista Elementary
Seat 3: Leslie Bunker

Encinitas Union
Marla Strich

Escondido Union Elementary
Area 4: Georgine Tomasi

Fallbrook Union Elementary
Caron Lieber, Susan Liebes

Fallbrook Union High
Diane Summers, Elana Sterling, Lita Tabash

Grossmont Union High
Peggy Weaver

La Mesa/Spring Valley School District
Charda Fontenot, Rebecca McRae

National Elementary
Maria Betancourt-Castañeda, Thelma Sanchez, Maria Dalla

Oceanside Unified
Area 3 Stacy Begin

Poway Unified
Area C: Terry Norwood Area D: Michelle O’Connor Ratcliff

San Dieguito Union High
Area 1: Amy Flicker Area 3: Rhea Stewart Area 5: Kristin Gibson

San Marcos Unified
Area E: Stacy Carlson,  Christina Linden

San Pasqual Union Elementary
Dara Czerwonka

San Ysidro School District
Irene Lopez

Solana Beach Elementary
Gaylin Allbaugh, Vicki King, Debra Schade

South Bay Union Elementary
Mary Doyle

Vista Unified
Area 2: Carol Weise Herrera

City & County Offices

San Diego County Board of Supervisors
District 5: Michelle Gomez

Carlsbad Mayor
Cori Schumacher

Carlsbad City Council
District 1: Barbara Hamilton District 3: Priya Bhat Patel

Chula Vista Mayor
Mary Salas

Chula Vista City Council
District 2: Jill Galvez

Coronado City Council
Mary Sikes

Encinitas Mayor
Catherine Blakespear

Encinitas City Council
District 3: Jody Hubbard

Escondido City Council
District 1: Consuelo Martinez District 2: Vanessa Valenzuela

Imperial Beach City Council
Paloma Aguirre

La Mesa City Council
Akilah Weber

Lemon Grove City Council
Jennifer Mendoza

National City Mayor
Alejandra Sotelo-Solis

National City Council
Mona Rios

Poway Mayor
Emily Johnson

Poway City Council At-Large Seat
Torrey Powers

San Diego City Council
District 2 Dr Jennifer Campbell
District 4 Myrtle Cole, Monica Montgomery
District 8 Vivian Moreno

Santee City Council
District 1: Evlyn Andrade-Heymsfield

Solana Beach City Council
Kristi Becker, Kelly Harless

Vista City Council
District 1: Corinna Contreras
District 4: Tazheen Nizam

Special District Boards

Fallbrook Healthcare
Kate Schwartz

Grossmont Healthcare
Gloria Chadwick

Palomar Health
Linda Carol Greer, Vanessa Gutierrez

San Dieguito Community Planning
Mid Hoppenrath

Tri-City Healthcare
Division 2: Laura Mitchell

Valle de Oro Community Planning
Catherine Gerhart, Kouwthar Muhssan Cookie

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Doug Porter

Doug Porter

Doug Porter was active in the early days of the alternative press in San Diego, contributing to the OB Liberator, the print version of the OB Rag, the San Diego Door, and the San Diego Street Journal. He went on to have a 35-year career in the Hospitality business and decided to go back into raising hell when he retired. He won numerous awards for his columns from the Society of Professional Journalists in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Doug is a cancer survivor (sans vocal chords) and lives in North Park.

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