A whole lotta shakin’ up in the OC, with this Congressional redistricting thing, has transpired. Greg and I will have better maps for you soon, but some of the highlights:
- Democrat White Board Superstar Katie Porter‘s Irvine district has become a coastal district including Irvine – district 47 – so she’s running there as an incumbent, and will likely soon be representing Newport and Huntington – take that, Surf Nazis!
- Former Congressman Harley Rouda, (D of Laguna), who was itching to take his coastal seat back from Michelle Steel (R from wherever) has thus been pushed out by the popular Porter, and looks like he probably won’t run after all. In what sounds like a little jab at progressive firebrand Porter, Harley wrote yesterday: “I believe this district’s voters want moderate, pragmatic leadership, and I firmly believe that I am the most electable Democrat in this district, but I am also a realist, whose goal has always been to put my constituents and our country first.” Thank you, sir! You did take out Dana Rohrabacher.
- Young Kim, Republican from La Habra, has had her district shifted such that she’s now gonna run in a new Northeast OC district including Brea, Yorba Linda, Rancho Santa Margarita and Chino Hills – what bold Democrat there can defeat this Stepford Trumpy? (Greg is thinking that Harley could do that – hell, they’re all “carpetbagging” anyway!)
- Somewhat less interestingly, decent Democrat Alan Lowenthal who’s been serving a bit of west OC along with Long Beach for years, has seen his district sucked into the Tar Pits or something, and is retiring in his dignified way.
But the biggest news … no, wait, another thing first:
It’s going to be every patriotic Orange County citizen’s duty in 2022 to defeat Young Kim and Michelle Steel. THIS IS CALLED FIGHTING FOR OUR AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, which is at its last gasp. If the Nihilist Party retakes the Congress, that will lead to the return of Trump, or Trump Mach 2.
(Of course we should also be giving every cent we can afford to the most hopeful Senate Races: endangered incumbent Rafael Warnock in Georgia, Mandela Barnes in Wisconsin, Val Demings in Florida, whatever Pennsylvania Democrat makes the primary, and incumbents Mark Kelly of Arizona and Catherine Masto of New Mexico.}
But my real story today is:
Central OC’s new Asian-plurality District 45!
Here I can report that old OJ favorite Jay Chen, who’d been thinking he’d be running against Young Kim and has been fundraising up a storm since January, will instead be taking on old OJ least favorite Michelle Steel. This new district pretty much stretches from Fullerton, over to Cerritos, and then takes up all of Little Saigon (Garden Grove, Westminster, Fountain Valley.)
Is Jay going to move there, from his Hacienda Heights? Well, I don’t know yet! But it should be pointed out that the mansion Steel owns with her wealthy husband Shawn is in faroff Rancho Palos Verdes, which she lied about the whole time she was illegally (and BADLY) representing west OC as a Supervisor.
Jay, as we’ve had the pleasure to report, is fucking brilliant, a Navy veteran, and an education leader. Michelle, unlike Young Kim, is not a smooth sneaky Trumpy, but a dumb and shameless Trumpy. The annals of her bad acts and baffling statements are long and we’ll be mining them through 2022. But, now let me hand things over to Jay’s people:
To: Interested Parties
From: Lindsay Barnes, Jay Chen Campaign Manager
Date: December 20th, 2021
New Lines and New Opportunities
CA45 is a new Asian opportunity swing seat with a 3.6%* Democratic registration advantage. The district voted for Biden by 6.2% and Clinton by 13.2%. The district is 37% Asian American with significant Vietnamese, Chinese, Korean, and Indian populations. This district is primed to support a strong Democratic challenger like Jay Chen, a Navy Veteran, Community College Trustee, and child of Taiwanese immigrants. ….
Record Breaking Fundraising: As of his October 2021 filing, Jay Chen has the most cash on hand of any Democratic challenger in a targeted seat nationwide. Jay is the first Dem in district history (previously CA39) to surpass $1 million raised by October and is on track to end the year with close to $1 million cash on hand.
Here is Jay speaking at a Fullerton fundraiser recently:
Yeah, Fullerton, Little Saigon, Cerritos. You’re gonna want Jay, not Michelle. And you’re gonna want Jay, not a resurgence of Trump and the end of the American experiment. Vern out.
Who has the new map?
I’m posting them later today; still working on the commentary.
That is one ugly-looking district, but as it was one of the few places (other than San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and maybe Pasadena) where enough Asian votes could be cobbled together to give Asians a decent change at electing someone from this grossly underrepresented constituency, I can see why they wanted to do it.
Jay is an outstanding choice. He doesn’t *have* to move there to run in this district — and for Steel to criticize him if he didn’t would be a huge laugh — but he’s a Democrat who can achieve mutual respect with Little Saigon voters in the south, Korean voters in the north, and voters of all races and ethnicities throughout. Needs to learn how to speak loud enough to drown out hecklers (or whatever that was in the video) though!
Greg, I had a hard time finding real clear maps of the new districts. Do you know where I could find them? Or do we have to wait for them to be 100% official?
For one thing, is any of Anaheim in the new Chen/Steel district? And what about Buena Park?
You and Greg have no money to spend. Fuck you for being cheap assholes
I’ll putting together my post now. They are very user unfriendly. I literally had to download a file, out it into one program, and then take a screenshot and put it into another program to mark it up. Now I’m trying to find reliable Cook’s Political Report data on all six districts, if you’d like to chip in!
Jay’s press release quoted 39.6% AAPI CVAP. But the Citizens Redistricting Commission still has CVAP for only draft maps at https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/ccrc/pages/368/attachments/original/1636745954/CD_Draft_Table_1110.pdf?1636745954 . I’m curious how it compares with the PRE-redistricted CA-39 and CA-45.
The Asian CVAP for the FINAL CA-45 was 36.86% as surveyed in 2019, according to the Commission at https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/ccrc/pages/397/attachments/original/1640050154/CD_Proposed_Final_Stats_%281%29.pdf?1640050154 .
As estimated in 2019, CVAP for “Asian Alone or In Combination” in the PRE-redistricted CDs were: CA-39 (23.23%), CA-45 (17.44%) and CA-48 (15.25%).
(Sorry about live-commenting my research. I’d have just updated my original comment if I could.)
Don’t apologize! This is good stuff! Still finishing off my Congressional post. I decided to sneak at a peak at the State Senate boundaries, which appear to have been constructed by spiders dosed with LSD, and I had to lie down for about 18 hours.
Congressional post is now up! Have at it, James!
Did you get your free Xmas presents and free food you drunk piece of shit in a 652 sq ft barrio apartment?
neither one of you have a dollar to give; shut the fuck up. And I know you will delete this. Fuck you for hearing the truth
Deep and profound. Thank you!
Thank you, 18.144.21.112. You talk trash here anonymously and you have no reasonable expectation of keeping your IP address private. (And that goes for you too, 107.22.110.22.)
Your last sentence is — unintentionally, I’ll bet — pretty revealing. Same to you for refusing to acknowledge the truth.
Again, I usually trash these comments, but sometimes they have such recurring themes… whoever it is, one or six people using different names, they’ve been obsessed with you and I and Donna and Zenger supposedly not making much money… and thus (apparently?) our opinions don’t matter.
It’s hard to know how to respond to this, I usually ignore it. (And also btw, they obviously use IP scramblers so I don’t think they care about you giving away their one-time IP.)
It’s hard to know how to respond to this because it’s like getting into a pig sty with a pig. First of all, what difference does it make to what I’ve written, whether I make a lot of money or not? This is the most important thing to these people? Then, if I start to talk about the fact that, yes, I do make thousands of dollars a month with my music, I know I’m falling into some petty trap.
I feel pulled down to these trolls’ levels when I confirm that, yes, I have contributed hundreds to Jay Chen, Pete Hardin, Ashleigh Aitken, and several other candidates, without causing my household any hardship. But ,,, now I have “touched the pink toad.”
Okay, next time not. And this blog wants to hear everyone’s opinions no matter how much money they make!
The piddling cash nexus is a big deal in the world of all pink toads. Being a stupid wage slave and being weighed down by a crabgrass mortgage is mistaken work substance.
Right on Dave! Who wants to work and own a home when you can do this!
And when you’re buried in a lousy cemetery with a cheesy headstone, a trail of lackey decisions and nobody who cares, be sure to leave a note that nobody will read.
Your wife pays your mortgage Dave. You haven’t really works since Shawn Nelson fired you.
David, why are your haters (like mine) so illiterate?
It’s so funny. The anonymous globs seem fascinated by our financial wherewithal as a mark of credibility. Chemical Lewinsky used to love this Dickensian sort of thing: “I bought 28 lbs turkey for Thanksgiving.”
Then there’s the predictable mockery of people’s talent by a guy who can’t write a simple sentence let alone draw a straight line. They can’t even gin up a respectable hatred!
And every holiday season they fantasize that Donna and I are forced to accept free turkey and free Xmas presents for “our kids.” A very, VERY recurring theme.
Hey, anybody who doesn’t take a free turkey when it’s offered is a dope. Anyhoo, I BBQ’d a pork loin.
Right on David. One question: is a lousy cemetery different from a fancy one?
Orange Juice Blog being the Potters Field of blogs, I would ask Mr. & Mrs. Zenger The Catnors or the Taits or the venerable Aiken clan, what ya all thing about Vern and Donna’s mail blitzkrieg and how this is in any way acceptable in 2022?
Maybe the women in your life appreciate being being called whores, counts and chinks. Says more about you folks than the rest of us employed productive members of society.
Roll It BIG Bad Painter!
There really IS only one of you, isn’t there?
I’ve been hearing threats of “mail blitzkriegs from Vern and Donna” for 4-5 months now. To “important people” in the Democrat party or Anaheim staff. And I’ve heard that a couple of those things have been sent out now, not that anyone will believe they’re from us.
And you’ve talked about this plan for four months under about 30 different names.
There couldn’t be more than one of you, you’re just too freaky. ARE YOU MARDAHL? Or some other weirdo? Law enforcement is looking into this.
You’re here at the cemetery of blogs, whatever your name really is, it must be doing something right.
Were you the one I asked to introduce yourself next time you saw me at the Brea TJ? Or the one at Pearson Park? I have so many big talking, yet shy fans it’s hard to keep track.
Basically it’s the only people who will give the irvine troll the time of day: Jim Fisler; Mike tardiff; and that HB Hammer white supremasist guy. That’s all it is.
I’d like to know what evidence there is for Vietnamese supporting Chinese, Koreans supporting Vietnamese or either of the above supporting Koreans. The notion makes no sense and is typical of lazy, ethnic generalizations.
There’s evidence in both directions. The real reason for their doing this is sheer seemliness. Asian Americans have a significant proportion of the state electorate, yet have reasonable pluralities or more in very few. CRC does not want to let the problem holding back their advance to be district lines that crack them into several districts — despite the fact that it’s their existing distributed housing patterns that do so. So it doesn’t really bother me, even if the new CD-45 looks hideous.
*First off, Happy Holidays to all. Secondly, watching the Re-Districting Process sounds exciting…..who did that? What a hoot. A Nice Korean Lady…..running against a Asian Military Vet? There is a Buddha after all. Thank you Confucius for your eternal wisdom.
Poor Harley, should have just run for Supervisor and called it. Ah, what can those of us
with decorum and ethics and wisdom do……..without a spokesperson like Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity or Laura Ingram?. Ah yes, but we still have Larry Elder…..and Mary Carey
so how can we go to seed just when we need precious consultants to lead us in these
troubled times?
We will pray to Buddha, follow our collective thoughts and move on to 2022 with all the hope and good wishes we can muster……during these Omicron, Rho, Sigma, Tau, Phi, Chi ,Psi – Omega times! February 4th, is the launch of the Water Tiger and a year of constant conflict…….so batten down the hatches and prepare to save our Republic.
This may not rise to the level of its own STORY, yet, unless Michelle Steel makes a big deal about it, but it’s worth a comment on our last Open Thread.
Last night my son was watching (out of curiosity) Ingraham on FOX News, when he saw my name along with some footage of Jay Chen, and took a few stills:
I figured, knowing FOX News, that there was probably some kind of 1% kernel of truth to this, and that we’d be hearing about it from Michelle Steel soon, so I wanted to know what it was based on, and asked Jay.
And this is great – this little “controversy” was “pre-butted” on the Daily Show way back when John Stewart was in charge – the “correspondent” is Aasif Mandvi, and Jay doesn’t seem to realize that it’s satirical, unless he’s doing a really great deadpan. [UPDATE: Jay tells me he did know about the Daily Show, and had agreed to be “the straight guy.” He did a good job, he really looks baffled.]
What it was was a Mandarin-language program, and the Chinese government did help fund it. Watch this clip though, it’s real funny…
https://www.cc.com/video/kir3p5/the-daily-show-with-jon-stewart-socialism-studies