Last night, members of our club's executive board formally accepted the honor of being named Democratic Club of the Year by the San Diego County Democratic Party.
My remarks from this evening are below:
Good Evening, Democrats!
First off, thank you to our amazing Senate President pro Tempore Toni Atkins for that introduction.
Join us for our upcoming club meeting on Thursday, April 20th at 6:30pm.
We will be considering friendly incumbent endorsements for our elected leaders who are running for re-election who serve in our education space. The incumbents we'll be considering include the races that will be up for election in the March 2024 Primary, including: County Board of Education, San Diego Community College, Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College, and San Diego Unified.
We will also consider an endorsement for the open San Diego City Attorney race, and consider Unacceptable Ratings for Lori Saldaña and Daniel Smiechowski.
Today, our San Diego County Democratic Party's Council of Clubs, a consortium of all the democratic clubs in San Diego County, voted to name name San Diego Democrats for Equality as the 2023 Democratic Club of the Year!
This is an amazing honor, and it speaks to the incredible, inspiring work that every single one of our members put in this last year to be successful.
Join us virtually for this month's club meeting on Thursday, February 16th at 6:30pm.
You can register for the virtual meeting here!
As noticed and rescheduled from our last meeting, we will consider an endorsement for State Senate District 39. Also, we will conduct our annual elections for positions on our executive board.
Join us virtually for our first club meeting of 2023 on Thursday, January 19th at 6:30pm.
You can register for the virtual meeting here!
We will consider a Bylaws amendment to cap our endorsement considerations to no fewer than 2 months before an election. Also, we will consider an endorsement for State Senate District 39, and consider a formal resolution calling on convicted wife-beating slumlord Mike Schaefer to resign from the Board of Equalization.
ADEM (Assembly District Election Meetings) elections are held every two years and are an opportunity for us to elect delegates -- 7 female-identified, and 7 other-than-female-identified -- from each Assembly District to the California Democratic Party's State Central Committee.
For the first time since the pandemic, ADEM elections are happening in-person, and for convenience you can also request a ballot to vote.
If you'd like to vote in the ADEM elections by mail, please register for a ballot at this link BEFORE Saturday, December 31st at 12:00pm.
Join us for a post-election virtual meeting on Thursday, November 17th at 6:30pm as we review November election results as they stand and we'll start looking forward to 2024!
Register for our November virtual meeting here.
We will consider friendly incumbent endorsements for our LGBTQ+ San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, our LGBTQ+ County Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer and LGBTQ+ community ally County Supervisor Nora Vargas, and our LGBTQ+ Councilmembers Stephen Whitburn and Andrea Cardenas.
Democrats for Equality,
First off, our club members voted overwhelmingly to endorse David Dodson for Board of Equalization District 4.
Recently, the San Diego Union-Tribune endorsed David Dodson highlighting Dodson's 30-year service with the Board of Equalization as a property appraiser, instructor, and supervisor. Dodson has also been a Coast Guard reservist.
Unfortunately, incumbent office holder Mike Schaefer has what could be charitably described as a checkered past. With that knowledge, club members voted with a 90% majority to rate incumbent Mike Schaefer as "unacceptable."
An "unacceptable" rating for our club is given in the event that a candidate has a poor position or record on one or more critical issues, and/or the candidate has demonstrated a lack of responsiveness or sensitivity to the LGBTQ+ community.
This will be one of our two final endorsement meetings prior to the November election, and will include a number of races with local party-endorsed candidates only facing Republicans: Palomar College, Chula Vista Elementary School Board, and San Marcos School Board.
We will also finalize our priority races for the November 2022 election.
Democrats for Equality,
We announced at our August 18th meeting that we will have a special endorsement meeting to be held on Thursday, September 1st at 7:00pm -- please note the usual time change!
Recently, Governor Newsom appointed San Diego County resident and current Associate Justice Patricia Guerrero as our new Chief Justice to our California Supreme Court. Filling Justice Guerrero's seat, Gov. Newsom appointed Alameda County Superior Court Judge Kelli Evans -- the first self-identified lesbian to the California Supreme Court.
Due to both appointments, there may be statewide judicial retention elections on the November ballot, so we will consider taking a position on both justices.