California votes a week from today. The candidates have made their cases as best they could through communication, forums, social media and by grassroots voter contact. Now the Get-Out-The-Vote crunch is on.
Our old friend, Derek Marshall, is up against GOP hack (and viable contender in any “Most punchable face” contest, Jay Obernolte in a district (CA-23) that encompasses a big chunk of suburban and rural San Bernardino County plus small remote areas of Kern and L.A. counties. At heart Derek is an organizer and his campaign is expert at turning out the vote, even in the relatively conservative communities in his district. Yesterday, he told me that their efforts are
“redefining the strategy for activating progressive support in communities that have long been written off as ‘too red.’ Following the motto, there are no red districts, only under-activated progressive districts, our campaign has made hundreds of thousands of phone calls and knocked tens of thousands of doors. We have also registered thousands of new voters. In the 2022 cycle, this was instrumental to Juan Carrillo flipping AD39. And in 2024, dozens of down ballot candidates are partnering with our volunteers to put fresh leadership in city councils, water/school boards, state races from Joshua Tree to Big Bear, Victorville to Redlands, California City to Barstow, and beyond. This is how we fight back against MAGA in the areas where they are strongest, by surfacing voters, many of whom are young, struggling, working class people who count for ~30% of the population. It is certainly where we should be investing time and money… Until every vote is counted on March 5th, we have the power to shape our future and make the changes our district truly needs to help working families.”
Another strong Blue America-endorsed candidate, Marisol Rubio, is running for the open State Senate seat in a massive East Bay district that stretches from Antioch, Pittsburg and Concord through Walnut Creek and Lafayette all the way down to San Ramon, Castro Valley, and San Leandro. Her opponent, one of the most conservative Dems in the Assembly, Tim Grayson— bubbling over with GOP ideas— is loaded with corporate cash, especially from Big Oil, whose interests he protects. Another red flag for him: as a part-time preacher he seems careful to be ‘unavoidably absent’ during any votes that call for protecting women’s rights.
Last night, Marisol told me that her team is working hard to overcome the financial advantages a corporate conservative has and is going door to door in Martinez, Moraga, Orinda, Danville and every city in the district. “This week is all about getting out the vote— getting voters to mail in their ballots or getting them to the polling stations next week. When voters learn how our records contrast on the environment and on reproductive health, for example, with my opponent’s record, they will be eager to vote and to vote in my favor. Even small contributions from Blue America members will help keep our team in the field.”
Maebe Pudlo is the only progressive running for the congressional seat Adam Schiff is giving up to run for the Senate— my district. She was recommended by the KnockLA Progressive Voter Guide, one of the most trusted local, independent journalism sources in the city that broke the stories of the LA County Sheriff’s Department gangs and the racist LA City Council tapes. Her campaign is picking up steam and was endorsed by LA City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez last week, one of just two campaigns to get an LA City Councilmember’s endorsement.
She told me what her campaign needs now, in the closing week, is “to expand our efforts as much as possible to make sure all our constituents know about those new endorsements. We’re canvassing every day and need money to buy our volunteers lunch and print new material. We’re running Google search ads that guide voters to the KnockLA guide when they look up ‘who to vote for,’ ‘election,’ ‘congress,’ and other search terms, getting hundreds of people each day to click on them. We can win this race, with the conservative Democrat vote split between 7-8 candidates, and we can really use the support of Blue America members to put everything we can into voter outreach before election day.”
San Fernando Valley progressive Angélica Dueñas is running for the open seat she scared Tony Cardenas out of. “The energy is palpable around our campaign for this open seat,” she told us. “Voters are enthusiastic about our community-focused, working-class message, and all the momentum we’ve built up over the last two cycles has carried over into this opportunity to pick up more undecided voters without an incumbent on the ballot. We sent out our first-ever targeted mass mailer, and received an enthusiastic response from people for its unique, welcoming design, creativity, and relatable message. Most exciting of all is the fundraising and voter enthusiasm we’re seeing from the Muslim community here in the Valley— as the decidedly pro-human rights candidate in this race, calling for a ceasefire in Gaza while my opponent stays silent and takes money from AIPAC, we’ve gained a valuable allies in the Muslim community. This is our chance to win, and we’re putting everything we can in this final week to encourage young people and progressives to vote and cross the finish line strong.”
When we first met Cheyenne Hunt, she told us she was running for Congress, because “our democracy is at a tipping point. We are running a campaign built to disrupt business-as-usual in Congress and deliver voters a representative with the experience necessary to get things done. We must constantly communicate with voters to cut through the political noise and misinformation, a task intentionally designed to be expensive. 100% of every dollar goes to outreach. Every contribution allows us to reach one more person and help them understand what’s at stake in this election. This is a must-win seat to take back the House, help us make history and secure the future we deserve.”
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