California Democratic voters aren’t happy with their party as midterm nears. Here’s why
”A lot of us feel Democrats have to get their act together.”
That was voter Steve Flance recently offering Democratic congressional candidate Kermit Jones some polite — but brutally frank — feedback during a Jones campaign stop.
Jones, vying to win in a Republican-leaning district, was not eager to praise his party.
“My real record is I care more about people,” he stressed, “than I do party.”
That reluctance to eagerly embrace the Democratic Party is a 2022 phenomenon that’s apparent not only in this small Lake Tahoe region town, but across the cities and suburbs along Interstate 80 and for that matter, up and down the state.
Democrats control the state government, and dominate the California congressional delegation. But in the eyes of voters The Bee engaged at party political events and in Sacramento area forums it conducted this month, Democrats have become, for many, a political party whose values, achievements and ambitions are difficult to define.
Voters routinely questioned why a party with such powerful political weapons isn’t doing more to help bring down the price of food and gasoline, restrict gun use or help people move out of tents in local parks.
Instead, they see a party where decision-makers are often at odds over what matters most.
“There’s a strong force within the party pushing elected officials to adopt more progressive policies and meet the moment on climate change and racial justice and criminal justice reform,” said Rose Kapolczynski, a veteran California Democratic consultant.
“On the other hand, I think the leadership of the Democratic Party is very strategic and is using resources to swing districts that could flip from red to blue,” she said, and that means being more centrist, more vague about ties to the party. That’s what’s happening in the Third Congressional District, where Jones faces Republican Kevin Kiley.
Voters also often see elected officials more interested in maneuvering for power, as was evident in Los Angeles this month when three city council members and a labor leader were caught on a leaked video during a discussion that included racist comments.
It all stokes voter disillusionment with the Democratic Party.
People at the Jones gathering liked the candidate. They were less enthusiastic about the party.
“I vote for the candidate, not the party,” said Alex Bebout, a Tahoma computer engineer.
Democratic power
Democrats appear headed for a big California night on Election Day.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is a strong favorite to not only win a second term next month but win big.
The party is poised to sweep all the top state offices.
Sen. Alex Padilla is expected to coast to a six-year term.
Independent analysts say most of the state’s incumbent Democratic members of Congress are in safe seats.
The state Legislature will almost assuredly retain its Democratic majorities.
But saying this is a mandate for the party to act on anything specific is tough. To get a good gauge of what voters are thinking, look at the votes on Nov. 8 on different propositions, said Mark Baldassare, president and CEO of the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California.
“People in California voted overwhelmingly for Joe Biden,” he said, “but the propositions tell you a different story about where California stands.”
In 2020, for instance, a proposition that would have meant higher taxes on businesses to help pay for schools and other projects, lost. So did an effort to end the state’s ban on affirmative action in public employment, education and contracting.
Disillusioned Democrats
Tahoma is one of those enclaves you pass on vacation, where the views of Lake Tahoe and the Sierra are surreal and the homes look as though someone from Architectural Digest planned the whole city.
Up Antelope Way on a crisp October evening, about 20 middle aged and older voters gathered to meet and schmooze with Jones. They mingled in a driveway big enough to hold a crowd twice that size..
They’re informed voters with much to say, mostly Democrats who have been sympathetic to the party all their adult lives.
They’re not angry or belligerent when they talk about the party’s shortcomings. But they are frustrated and puzzled about how to make the party more of a vehicle for change.
Democrats aren’t tough enough, said retiree John Winn. He used this example: Some Republicans have been hinting for years that they want to trim Social Security and Medicare. “I wish Democrats would hammer them for that,” Winn said. “Democrats are never as aggressive.”
What about Newsom, who since this summer has been pounding away at GOP conservatives in ads and billboards and winning praise from Democratic insiders around the country?
“He was better as a mayor (of San Francisco),” Winn said, citing Newsom’s early support for same-sex marriage.
Today, Winn said, ”he could be stronger in speaking about assault rifles, for instance.”
To win and govern, though, Newsom has had to build a coalition in this highly diverse state, and that means moving away from — and diluting — the progressive, aggressive agenda.
But doing that means losing some of the passion voters feel for the party.
“If we move too much to the middle and independents come out and vote for us, they don’t necessarily support the Democratic agenda,” said Elisa Tauber, who runs a Tahoma sushi takeout.
Up the road in Truckee, in another picture postcard community, there’s a different kind of frustration — that the party is too eager to please liberals. Jan Holan said he’s not a strong Democrat, and lamented how the party doesn’t seem sensitive enough to small business.
The owner of a co-worker space, he said he’s sympathetic to “social equity issues,” but he wants resources related to small businesses, which act as important local job creators.
Most of these folks in the Tahoe region concede there are no easy answers, no convenient way to define the party or point it towards common policies.
David Diamond has a marketing background. He sees the hard-hitting Republican ads slamming Democrats.
“It’s difficult to see the other side pulling the sort of tricks we’re not doing. Yet I’m glad we’re not doing that,” said Diamond, vice president of the local airport board.
What about abortion?
Noticeably absent from the forefront of California Democrats’ minds is the issue of abortion.
In California, where the governor ended the most recent legislative session signing a sweep of abortion rights bills, the Supreme Court’s June decision to overturn Roe v. Wade simply might not feel like an emergency.
In a forum the Sacramento Bee hosted with a group of women of color involved in local Sacramento politics and community organizing, no one brought it up.
When prompted, their thoughts echoed those of Sen. Bernie Sanders, the independent from Vermont, whose Oct. 11 op-ed in the Guardian made waves after he wrote that Democrats should stop using abortion as a major campaign talking point.
Working class women of color “are out there surviving,” said May Lee, a social worker and former director of Asian Resources, Inc.
“That is not going to be the next thing on their plate that they’re trying to deal with,” she said. “It’s like, the food on the table, and all the other issues on their back.” .
“Especially in the (Asian American and Pacific Islander) community, many of them are newly minted citizens,” she said. “They’re just trying to hang on. That is not the issue that’s going to resonate with them.”
Lorreen Pryor, president and CEO of Black Youth Leadership Project in Sacramento agreed: Women in her community are more concerned about immediate material support.
“If we can stay employed,” she said, “find adequate housing, know that our families are going to be fed, have enough money to put gas in our car, if transportation actually comes to our area – a multitude of things take precedence over abortion.”
Gabby Trejo, executive director of Sacramento Area Congregations Together echoed those thoughts.
“Our folks,” she said, “are just surviving.’”
Ahead for Democrats
All this confusion about what the party stands for and how it should act matters on both local and national levels.
It matters nationally because of its sheer size, with roughly 12% of the nation’s population and the world’s fifth largest economy, “California is a role model for other states,’’ at least those run by Democrats, said Darrell West, vice president of governance studies at Washington’s Brookings Institution.
So when representatives of the Black and Latino communities clash, as they did recently in Los Angeles, the political world wonders about the implications for party unity and, for that matter, its ability to affect policy.
Los Angeles City Council Members Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo and Kevin de León and Los Angeles County Federation of Labor President Ron Herrera were found to be involved in a discussion where Martinez used racist terms.
The speakers, caught in a leaked audio recording earlier this month, spoke about how to consolidate their power through redistricting. Every 10 years, after census data is released, new lines are drawn. In the wake of the scandal, Martinez and Herrera have resigned.
California also is positioned to be an incubator of potentially future national stars. Perhaps even presidents.
Vice President Kamala Harris took office last year after representing California as attorney general and U.S. senator. Rep. Karen Bass, now running for mayor of Los Angeles, was in the mix for the vice president job in 2020. .Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Fremont, was urged by liberals to run for president in 2024.
Newsom has won the hearts of Democratic insiders, at least for now, not so much with policy initiatives but his willingness to slug it out with Republican conservatives over abortion rights and other issues.
“He is in his own way hoping to elevate the conversation about what Democrats have done, and also highlight the (Republican) hypocrisy in ways that others have not,” said Antjuan Seawright, a Democratic consultant in South Carolina, traditionally the first Southern state to hold a presidential primary.
State party chairman Rusty Hicks does see his party promoting a unifying message.
“The Democratic Party stands for democracy. As simple as it is it is the party of democracy, of equality, of science, the party that believes in facts and truth,” he said, “and so our goal is to fight for not just 10 million Democrats but to create a California that improves the lives of all 40 million Californians so you can live your best life.”
Rep. John Garamendi, D-Walnut Grove, saw that message resonating in different ways with different audiences. Garamendi, who has served in statewide office as lieutenant governor and insurance commissioner, explained that candidates in swing districts such as Jones are doing what they need to do to win.
“The Democratic Party is what it’s always been,” he said. “The image of the party is being progressive but take a look at who wins. Look at the Legislature. I would say it’s progressive but not crazy.”
But the view from constituents is not as upbeat, not as hopeful. They ask the same sort of question over and over — one that is more pressing and intimate — and still aren’t sure of the answer.
Trejo, the executive director of Sacramento Are Congregations Together, framed it this way:
“How are [Democrats] going to use the limited resources we have to make our lives better?”
This story was originally published October 28, 2022 at 5:00 AM with the headline "California Democratic voters aren’t happy with their party as midterm nears. Here’s why."
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