Victory in yesterday's election!
Well, we did amazingly well yesterday. Thanks to so many of you, and the people you brought, and the people that my slate-mates brought out, we were victorious overall. Thirteen out the the fourteen on our Groundswell Progressives Slate were elected yesterday. (I got 4th place on the men’s side.)
Wow.
I wanted to thank everybody who was able to come out to the election meeting yesterday. Thank you SO much. Friends and neighbors that I see all the time, and friends I’ve made in my recent political activity, and friends I only see once in a while seemed to all be there. And also thank you to everybody who wasn’t able to make it, either last-minute or being otherwise engaged — or even, arrived there but unable to vote due to the long lines — but still supported me. I am honored and humbled. It was so amazing to see so many people who came out to support me and what I — we — believe in.
It was especially amazing to have a couple of newly-turned-eighteen-year-olders come out, get registered to vote, and vote for us as their first election.
And it wasn’t a small sacrifice to be there! The union hall that they picked to hold this was embarrassingly small. You would think that they were expecting at most 200 people, and relying on good weather as well. I heard there were over 800 ballots cast! The last-minute changes to the schedule they performed also meant that people had to wait around in a unnavigably crowded auditorium or wait in long lines around the building, outside, in the (thankfully light) rain. (Past venues for this kind of election have been in much larger spaces with a good foyer area where people could get indoors quickly and get checked in without so much hassle.)
Politically, this victory sends an important message — that the voters are not confident with the “business as usual” approach, that has failed so miserably, put forth by our leaders.
And what’s really amazing is that I’ve seen the results from across the state — elections like ours were held either yesterday or will be held today — and yesterday’s results brought progressive sweeps or near-sweeps into a vast majority of the districts. I’m predicting something similar for today’s districts as well.
One of the big issues that our slate has been behind is to get fresh leadership in the California Democratic Party, and that is by supporting Kimberly Ellis to be chair of the party. She is the underdog, but with these big victories I think she has an increasing chance.
If you are interested, Kimberly Ellis will be presenting her vision of the California Democratic Party at the next meeting of the Alameda Democratic Club this coming Wednesday, January 11, at 7 PM at the Alameda Hospital. You don’t need to be a member of the club to attend; I am predicting that since this is going to one of Ellis's first local appearances since this sweep, there will be a lot of people interested in hearing her talk, so arrive early if you want to come. (Kudos to Slate-mate Gaby Dolphin for arranging for her to come present in Alameda!)
Here are the results of the AD 18 election, highest votes at the top.
Female:
Pamela Harris
Rabia Keeble
Eleanor “Ellie” Casson
Amber Childress
Mara Schechter
Gabrielle “Gaby” Dolphin
Malia Vella
Male:
Sean Dugar — also elected to Executive Board
Michael Lee
Jeromey Shafer
Dan Wood
Carter Lavin
Michael Fortes
Michael Katz
I'm looking forward to working with these people, including councilmember Malia Vella who also garnered a spot.
I will be posting update to this blog about my involvement as a delegate. Stay tuned!
Wow.
I wanted to thank everybody who was able to come out to the election meeting yesterday. Thank you SO much. Friends and neighbors that I see all the time, and friends I’ve made in my recent political activity, and friends I only see once in a while seemed to all be there. And also thank you to everybody who wasn’t able to make it, either last-minute or being otherwise engaged — or even, arrived there but unable to vote due to the long lines — but still supported me. I am honored and humbled. It was so amazing to see so many people who came out to support me and what I — we — believe in.
It was especially amazing to have a couple of newly-turned-eighteen-year-olders come out, get registered to vote, and vote for us as their first election.
And it wasn’t a small sacrifice to be there! The union hall that they picked to hold this was embarrassingly small. You would think that they were expecting at most 200 people, and relying on good weather as well. I heard there were over 800 ballots cast! The last-minute changes to the schedule they performed also meant that people had to wait around in a unnavigably crowded auditorium or wait in long lines around the building, outside, in the (thankfully light) rain. (Past venues for this kind of election have been in much larger spaces with a good foyer area where people could get indoors quickly and get checked in without so much hassle.)
Politically, this victory sends an important message — that the voters are not confident with the “business as usual” approach, that has failed so miserably, put forth by our leaders.
And what’s really amazing is that I’ve seen the results from across the state — elections like ours were held either yesterday or will be held today — and yesterday’s results brought progressive sweeps or near-sweeps into a vast majority of the districts. I’m predicting something similar for today’s districts as well.
One of the big issues that our slate has been behind is to get fresh leadership in the California Democratic Party, and that is by supporting Kimberly Ellis to be chair of the party. She is the underdog, but with these big victories I think she has an increasing chance.
If you are interested, Kimberly Ellis will be presenting her vision of the California Democratic Party at the next meeting of the Alameda Democratic Club this coming Wednesday, January 11, at 7 PM at the Alameda Hospital. You don’t need to be a member of the club to attend; I am predicting that since this is going to one of Ellis's first local appearances since this sweep, there will be a lot of people interested in hearing her talk, so arrive early if you want to come. (Kudos to Slate-mate Gaby Dolphin for arranging for her to come present in Alameda!)
Here are the results of the AD 18 election, highest votes at the top.
Female:
Pamela Harris
Rabia Keeble
Eleanor “Ellie” Casson
Amber Childress
Mara Schechter
Gabrielle “Gaby” Dolphin
Malia Vella
Male:
Sean Dugar — also elected to Executive Board
Michael Lee
Jeromey Shafer
Dan Wood
Carter Lavin
Michael Fortes
Michael Katz
I'm looking forward to working with these people, including councilmember Malia Vella who also garnered a spot.
I will be posting update to this blog about my involvement as a delegate. Stay tuned!
posted by ProgAla | 9:12 AM
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