Please Help Recruit Democratic Candidates

Too many school board, water board, and other seats go unchallenged in East County.

By Chris Pearson

Thank you for visiting the San Diego County Democrats for Environmental Action website, and thank you for your efforts and interest in furthering the mission of the San Diego County Democratic Party.

As successful as Democrats have been the last two election cycles in San Diego County, the reality is we need candidates. A lot more in fact, to contest and run in seats that otherwise go without any competitor against a GOP incumbent. Do you think that's the right way to carry on in a democracy? By letting seats go unchallenged? Then help us recruit candidates to run throughout San Diego County.

This Excel spreadsheet lists offices currently held by Republicans unopposed by Democrats. It's not secret information, it's all quite public, but we've pulled it all together for you in one handy document.

The takeaway? We need candidates, and we especially need them in East County.

Most of these seats have governing majorities recruited by Trump Republican-supporting megachurches like Skyline, Foothills, and Shadow Mountain that deny climate change, are anti-labor, support gay conversion therapy, and purchase school science books that teach creationism and evolution as equal theories.

For the most part, Democrats have never run for these seats – ever.  We need to change that. The filing period is Monday, July 13, to Friday, Aug. 7. There is no primary for these races, and it's winner take all in November.

We've never done a data dive like this into these races, i.e. "who's in the moderate to high propensity universe," or "where do their eyes go," or "what messaging works for persuasion and turnout," but a lot of these seats can be won with a few hundred or a few thousand votes. They're winnable. But first, we need candidates to run.

Please share this post on any platform you deem appropriate, and forward this to anyone you know who may be interested in running or helping to recruit candidates. A list of Democratic Party candidates currently running for seats in November is available on-line at the San Diego County Democratic Party website.

Many thanks.

Chris Pearson is a long-time Democratic activist who served as community development manager to San Diego City Councilmember Marti Emerald, and as a training coordinator with the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council. He currently serves as V.P. for political action with the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club, and can be reached at (619) 889-9257.

Photo by Tommy Hough

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