Voting for the March 5 “primary”* election — early this year because our state leaders want to be on Super Tuesday — will start in a couple of weeks, so it’s time to take a look at that ballot! *[Vern insists on using quotes on “primary” since this month is the first and only election for several important races.]
[OJ priorities this month: Barbara Lee, Dr. Nancy Watkins, Recall Ledesma & Miner,
Frances Marquez, NO on HB Measures,
Bea Mendoza, David Johnson, Allyson Damikolas, Derek Tran, Joanna Weiss.]
1. What Kinds of Elections Will Occur?
Knowing what kinds of elections will occur helps you determine what margin is required for victory — or even for moving along to a runoff round.
PARTY-NOMINATED – President, and Party Delegates.
Each party has its own rules for (1) who can vote for its nominee to the office of President, (2) who can vote for delegate to the party’s central committee (3) what (if any) district a delegate would represent. The Presidential race falls in this category, it isn’t much of one this year — so we’ll list this category last.
VOTER-NOMINATED
All of the federal and state legislative races in this category below are “Top Two” primaries. That means that the top two vote-getters will proceed to a runoff in November. In the event that only one candidate files for election, the top write-in candidate can win — even with (unless this has changed) one vote. Only if no on-ballot or write-in candidate claims a spot in the primary is the election decided in the primary.
- U.S. Senator Partial Unexpired Term and /Unexpired Term & Full Term (Laphonza Butler was appointed to shortly after Dianne Feinstein’s death to serve for the period between then and certification of the results of the special “full-term” election noted below, which will decide who will serve during the period between election certification and the end of that Feinstein Senate term on January 3, 2025.)
- Representative in Congress – all districts
- State Senator, 37th District
- Member of the Assembly – all districts
NONPARTISAN
- Judicial – Offices No. 3, 16 & 35 — each race will be decided in March!
(NOTE: I realize that I forgot to notify readers that the filing deadline for judicial races was coming up because it’s set so incredibly early. It’s sort of set up so that those who need to know, know. This year, only three races are on the ballot — which usually means that three judges have vacated their seats, and the Orange County Bar is pretty hostile to anyone challenging an active judge (with which I disagree in principle, but also think is usually a pretty good thing).)
- School – County Board of Education – NO RUNOFF! (Areas 1, 3 & 5)
I break out this election for commentary because it is the only one in which there is no runoff and plurality wins. So this becomes an occasion for mischief, such as putting up extra candidates to split the vote. This year there is a progressive slate to take on some atrocious incumbents, so you’ll need to memorize a candidate’s name (if you’re in one of these districts and ACCEPT NO SUBSTITUTIONS – David Johnson, Beatriz Mendoza & Dr. Nancy Watkins!
- Orange Unified School District (OUSD) Trustee Recall Election – Madison Miner & Rick Ledesma
A majority vote required to remove. Under the “Newman Reforms,” we have no replacement candidates and a recalled candidate will be replaced by a vote of the remaining members of the Board. (You’ll hear this mentioned in my foul-mouthed commentary on the recall of Anaheim’s Natalie Rubalcava.)
- County Supervisors – 1st District and 3rd District.
As with most city officers elected this year, it takes a majority to avoid a runoff.
State Proposition – Proposition 1
Local Measures
- A – City of Huntington Beach, Charter Amendment Measure 1
- B – City of Huntington Beach, Charter Amendment Measure 2
- C – City of Huntington Beach, Charter Amendment Measure 3
- D – City of Irvine, Charter Amendment to Expand City Council and Establish City Council Districts
- E – City of Westminster, Westminster Safety, Services Stabilization Measure
AND NOW, the moment you’ve been waiting for…
YOUR CANDIDATES!
These lists are all taken from the OC Registrar of Voters site (the 10 year history of registration report) as of the evening of January 21. (More will likely be added.) All tables list candidates alphabetically by first name; it’s not my choice.
United States Senator (Partial/Unexpired Term)
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe |
| Adam B. Schiff | Democratic | Los Angeles | 2013-2023 |
| Barbara Lee | Democratic | Alameda | 2013-2023 |
| Christina Pascucci | Democratic | Los Angeles | 2019-2023 |
| David Peterson | Democratic | Contra Costa Nevada Contra Costa | 2022-2023 2016-2022 2013-2016 |
| Denice Gary-Pandol | Republican | Kern | 2013-2023 |
| Don J. Grundmann | No Party Preference (prev. Alameda) | Santa Clara | 2017-2023 |
| Douglas H. Pierce | Democratic (GOP until ’15) | Los Angeles | 2015-2023 |
| Eric Early | Republican (Amer. Ind. until ’15) | Los Angeles | 2013-2023 |
| Forrest Jones | American Independent (GOP pre ’15) | Tulare | 2015-2023 |
| Gail Lightfoot | Libertarian | San Luis Obispo | 2013-2023 |
| Harmesh Kumar | Democratic | Contra Costa | 2013-2023 |
| James Bradley | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| James “Jim” Macauley | Republican | Sacramento Prev. got around a Lot | 2022-2023 |
| John Rose | Democratic | Sonoma | 2013-2023 |
| Jonathan Reiss | Republican | Riverside | 2013-2023 |
| Katie Porter | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Laura Garza | No Party Preference (prev. out of state) | Los Angeles | 2016-2023 |
| Major Singh | No Party Preference | Alameda | 2013-2023 |
| Mark Ruzon | No Party Preference (Dem until ’16) | Santa Clara | 2016-2023 |
| Martin Veprauskas | Republican | San Diego | 2013-2023 |
| Perry Pound | Democratic | Los Angeles | 2013-2023 |
| Raji Rab | Democratic | Los Angeles | 2013-2023 |
| Sarah Sun Liew | Republican | San Bernardino | 2013-2023 |
| Sepi Gilani | Democratic (prev. out of state) | San Diego | 2015-2023 |
| Sharleta Bassett | Republican | Butte | 2013-2023 |
| Stefan Simchowitz | Republican (prev. NPP) | Los Angeles | 2023-2023 |
| Steve Garvey | Republican | Riverside | 2013-2023 |
Preview: Vern and I are both pro-Barbara Lee and (less so) Katie Porter; we’d both vote for Schiff over anyone besides them in the runoff. Republicans would be better off voting for a serious candidate, 2022 nominee Eric Early, than for deeply unserious “stunt candidate” Steve Garvey.
Vern says: I think for the sake of the Senate race(s) alone, I’ll put off my vote till March, to see how Barbara is doing in the polls – I prefer Barbara but might end up voting for Katie, just to not be stuck with the choice between the conservative Adam Schiff and right-wing clown Steve Garvey!
United States Senator (Full Term)
| Candidate | Party Preference |
| Adam B. Schiff (D) | Democratic |
| Barbara Lee (D) | Democratic |
| Christina Pascucci (D) | Democratic |
| David Peterson (D) | Democratic |
| Denice Gary-Pandol (R) | Republican |
| Don J. Grundmann | No Party Preference |
| Douglas H. Pierce (D) | Democratic |
| Eric Early (R) | Republican |
| Forrest Jones (AI) | American Independent |
| Gail Lightfoot | Libertarian |
| Harmesh Kumar (D) | Democratic |
| James Bradley (R) | Republican |
| James “Jim” Macauley (R) | Republican |
| John Rose (D) | Democratic |
| Jonathan Reiss (R) | Republican |
| Katie Porter (D) | Democratic |
| Laura Garza | No Party Preference |
| Major Singh | No Party Preference |
| Mark Ruzon | No Party Preference |
| Martin Veprauskas | Republican |
| Perry Pound (D) | Democratic |
| Raji Rab (D) | Democratic |
| Sarah Sun Liew | Republican |
| Sepi Gilani (D) | Democratic |
| Sharleta Bassett | Republican |
| Stefan Simchowitz | Republican |
| Steve Garvey | Republican |
Preview: Same Lee > Porter > Schiff ranking here. I’m thinking about voting Lee for the partial term — so that she gets her “get elected to the U.S. Senate” merit badge to cap off her career — and Porter for the Full-Term. Your thoughts on that are welcome! Republicans, again, Early over Garvey.
Vern – see above!
United States Representative District 38
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe |
| Eric J. Ching | Republican | Los Angeles | 2018-2023 |
| No Party Preference | Los Angeles | 2013-2018 | |
| John Sarega | Republican | Los Angeles | 2013-2023 |
| Linda T. Sánchez | Democratic | Los Angeles | 2013-2023 |
| Robert Zhang Ochoa | Republican | Los Angeles | 2013-2023 |
Preview: Sánchez vs. Ching is a rematch of 2022 — and we’re still for Linda.
United States Representative District 40
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe | |
| Allyson Muñiz Damikolas | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 | |
| Joe Kerr | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 | |
| Young Kim | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
Preview: Joe Kerr has some fine qualities (how many, we don’t wish to debate here) but he is neither a good candidate nor a competent campaigner and Young Kim would reduce him to barely smoldering ash. Damikolas is a proven winner and a vibrant speaker with a good platform; she has a shot at winning. Kerr, an inveterate carpetbagger, should find an uncontested Congressional race somewhere and run there. Do the party a service! [Vern would change that first sentence to “Joe Kerr presumably has some fine qualities.”]
United States Representative District 45
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe |
| Aditya Pai | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Cheyenne Hunt | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Derek Tran | Democratic (with two brief NPP interludes, probably for strategic voting reasons) | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Kim Bernice Nguyen-Penaloza | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Michelle Steel | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
Preview: You have to like Michelle Steel’s chances to make the runoff here! But against whom? Aditya Pai doesn’t likely have a chance. Cheyenne Hunt probably doesn’t have much of a chance either, and probably couldn’t win, but she’s sending me a bunch of emails (probably others as well) and they’re pretty good! I had thought KBNP was likely the establishment favorite, but apparently DPOC and 2022 candidate Jay Chen have both endorsed Derek Tran — and that’s a good sign!
United States Representative District 46
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe | |
| David Pan | Republican | Orange | 2023-2023 | |
| Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 | ||
| Lou Correa | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 |
Preview: I’m printing the entire chart here because, as I’ve been saying for years, a basically Democrat running as a Republican is likely the only way to beat Lou Correa without a fortune or an eye-blistering Correa scandal. If David Pan convinces the Republican Party that he’d carry their flag — and Correa is so far right wing that they may not want to be convinced — then Republicans and progressives could put Correa into a second Biden Administration where he belongs. When asked to endorse Trump, the proper answer is that such an endorsement is pointless in California and you want to see how the trials go. I think that the Republicans might let that slide — unless Lou gets to them.
United States Representative District 47
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe |
| Bill Smith | NPP, prev. GOP before Trump term and Dem after it | Orange | 2023-2023 |
| Boyd Roberts | Democratic (prev. Riverside) | Orange | 2016-2023 |
| Dave Min | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Joanna Weiss | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Long Pham | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Max Ukropina | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Scott Baugh | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Shariq Zaidi | Democratic (NPP until ’16) | Orange | 2016-2023 |
| Terry L. Crandall | No Party Preference | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Tom McGrath | No Party Preference (*except Dem from 2020-22) | Orange | 2013-2023* |
Preview: First. hats off to Bill Smith, Shariq Zaidi, and Tom McGrath, whose party registration histories document some of the various ways that Trump has affected reasonable voters. Now all three of them ought to drop out and take Boyd Roberts with them. Only five candidates should play a role in this race for Katie Porter’s open seat: Weiss, Min, Pham, Baugh, and Ukropina — because we do need one true wingnut in the race and he also reminds me Preview: First. hats off to Bill Smith, Shariq Zaidi, and Tom McGrath, each of whose party affiliation history in various ways document the effect that Trump has had upon reasonable voters. Now all three of them ought to drop out — and take Boyd Roberts with them. Only five candidates should play a role in this race for Katie Porter’s open seat: Dave Min, Joana Weiss, Long Pham, Scott Baugh and Max Ukropina — not only because he’s an unapologetic wingnut but also because he reminds me of my single favorite placekicking fail ever. It will probably be Baugh vs. Weiss or Min in the runoff — and Katie’s endorsement of Min is one reason why every time I think of it I tilt another half a degree towards Barbara Lee.. It will probably be Baugh vs. Weiss or Min in the runoff — and Katie’s endorsement of Min is one reason why every time I think of it I tilt towards Barbara Lee. another half of a degree.
United States Representative District 49
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe |
| Kate Monroe | Republican | San Diego | 2013-2023 |
| Margarita Wilkinson | Republican | San Diego | 2013-2023 |
| Matt Gunderson | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Mike Levin | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Sheryl Adams | Republican (not in CA pre-17) | San Diego | 2017-2023 |
Preview: I’d bet heavily on incumbent Mike Levin making the runoff, har-har. The notion of his opponent being Matt Gunderson is depressing, except that Levin has already show that he can beat him in a lower turnout non-Presidential year, so this year should be easier. So I think that Republican voters should support one of the San Diego candidates — but I’m still trying to decide which and am open the suggestions.
State Senate District 37
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe |
| Alex Mohajer | Democratic (mostly LA, sometimes OC) | Orange | 2023-2023 |
| Anthony C Kuo | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Crystal Miles | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Gabrielle Ashbaugh | Democratic (GOP ’22, NPP ’19-21, born ’99?) | Orange | 2023-2023 |
| Guy Selleck | Republican (prev. GOP, NPP, Libertarian) | Orange | 2023-2023 |
| Jacob Niles Creer | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Jenny Suarez | Democratic (NPP ’13-’23) | Orange | 2023-2023 |
| Josh Newman | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Leticia Correa | Democratic (unregistered until ’21, then NPP) | Orange | 2023-2023 |
| Stephanie Le | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Steven “Steve” Choi | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
Preview: Everyone but Josh Newman, Alex Mohajer, Stephen Choi, and Anthony Kuo — get out of the pool! You’re just going to take votes away from your side and possibly throw the election to party you like less. Newman is the incumbent in a district seemingly drawn specifically to destroy him. (Seriously, this map should have drawn a lawsuit.) Mohajer is pushing his intersectionality — being young, Iranian, queer, etc. In a different election that might have mattered, but here he’s running against one of our best current State Senators. (He may also want to try for some other elected office this fall, to prove his electoral aptitude.) Choi probably has an advantage over Kuo, but the junior varsity candidates seriously could tilt this into being a two-Dem or two Reep runoff. Is that what they want to accomplish?
State Assembly Member District 59
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe |
| Dave Obrand | Democratic | Orange | 2015-2023 |
| Democratic | Los Angeles | 2013-2015 | |
| Phillip Chen | Republican | Orange | 2016-2023 |
| Republican | Los Angeles | 2013-2016 |
I know that I shouldn’t say this, but my Representative Phillip Chen is probably as reasonable of a Republican candidate as will be on a non-Presidential race this year. (And I don’t say that just because I need to call his office about a bill I want introduced to allow gigantic tricks who park in compact spaces to be claimed by the first person to call in to the local police.) I don’t know as much about Dave Obrand, for whom I’ll probably, but it’s nice to have a race that doesn’t nauseate me.
State Assembly Member District 64
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe |
| Blanca Pacheco | Democratic | Los Angeles | 2013-2023 |
| Raul Ortiz Jr. | Republican | Los Angeles | 2013-2023 |
Preview: Another 2022 rematch — and Pacheco will smoke him once again.
State Assembly Member District 67
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe | |
| Elizabeth “Beth” Culver | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 | |
| Jacob Woo Ho Lee | Came to CA in ’18, GOP until ’23 — now NPP? Splain that! | Orange | 2023-2023 | |
| Sharon Quirk-Silva | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 |
Preview: Most likely we’ll see SQS v. Culver in the runoff. Lee probably figured out that he wasn’t getting either party endorsement … so why not claim to be fiercely independent?
State Assembly Member District 68
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe | |
| Avelino Valencia | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 | |
| Mike Tardif | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
Preview: Another 2022 rematch. Tardif will no longer have the element of <s>shock</s> surprise on his side against Valencia.
State Assembly Member District 70
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe | |
| Jimmy D. Pham | Democratic (newly) prev. 10 years was NPP) | Orange | 2023-2023 | |
| Tri Ta | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
Preview: Is simply switching from NPP to Dem enough for us to favor Pham over Tri Ta? Stay tuned! (Hey, Vern, where’s our Jimmy Phan file?)
State Assembly Member District 71
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe |
| Babar Khan | Peace and Freedom | Riverside | 2023-2023 |
| Republican | Riverside | 2020-2023 | |
| Not-eligible to be registered | 2013-2020 | ||
| Gary Kephart | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 |
| Kate Sanchez | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
Preview: It’s not every day that you see a candidate become eligible (I’m guessing it was new citizenship, in which case congratulations, Babar!), spend three years as a Republican, and then switch to Peace & Freedom. But it is almost every day that you don’t. Incumbent Sanchez has an advantage in this district, but Kephart has taken on this sort of “show the flag” campaign before — and he knows that “slaughtered” is just an overdramatic metaphor.
State Assembly Member District 72
| Candidate | Party Preference |
| Diane Dixon | Republican |
| Dom Jones | Democratic |
Preview: We’ll probably show a lot of pictures of these polar opposite candidates in this race. Obviously, we’ll favor Dom.
State Assembly Member District 73
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe | |
| Cottie Petrie-Norris | Democratic | Orange | 2013-2023 | |
| Hengameh Abraham | Republican | Orange | 2020-2023 | |
| American Independent | Orange | 2020-2020 | ||
| No Party Preference | Orange | 2018-2020 | ||
| Democratic | Orange | 2013-2018 | ||
| Scotty Peotter | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
Preview: OJB is resolved to determine whether this Peotter has ever called himself “Scotty” in print prior to running against Cottie — “Cottie vs. Scotty”! I’d go with Cottie — against the purists, because while her voting record can be frustrating it really does reflect her district. Abraham’s political evolution looks … wow, interesting.
State Assembly Member District 74
| Candidate | Party Preference | County | Timeframe |
| Chris Duncan | Democratic | Orange | 2020-2023 |
| Democratic | Alameda | 2016-2019 | |
| Democratic | San Diego | 2013-2015 | |
| Laurie Davies | Republican | Orange | 2013-2023 |
Preview: This is an interesting race between experienced politicians. Duncan over Davies is the easy part; coming up with decent jokes about the race will take some thought.
JUDGES
For Office 3, I do get to vote for Dan Jacobson, of the mainstream Democratic Foundation of Orange County, after all! That’s because he’s running against a OC Deputy District Attorney named Jason Baez. Diversify OC’s Judicial Bench!
For Office 15, I will vote for Binh Dang, who not only is not an OC Deputy DA like his opponent Richard Zimmer, but who is a Deputy Public Defender in Los Angeles County! Now that’s really diversifying the bench!
For Office 35, I expect to vote for Daniel Kern, because he’s running against an OC Deputy District Attorney named Whitney Bokosky. Diversify the Judicial Bench! (But I want to read up on him and check his OC Bar Association ratings first.)
BALLOT MEASURES
A – City of Huntington Beach, Charter Amendment Measure 1 — NOOOOOO!
B – City of Huntington Beach, Charter Amendment Measure 2 — NOOOOOO!
C – City of Huntington Beach, Charter Amendment Measure 3 — NOOOOOO!
D – City of Irvine, Charter Amendment to Expand City Council and Establish City
Council Districts — YEEEEEEESSSSS!
E – City of Westminster, Westminster Safety, Services Stabilization Measure — WE’LL SEEEEEEE!
STATE MEASURE 1 — More beds, housing, mental health treatment — and $6.4 Billion in Bonds.
PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES
Democratic Party
| Joe Biden |
| President Boddie |
| Eban Cambridge |
| Gabriel Cornejo |
| Stephen Lyons Sr. |
| Armando Perez-Serrato |
| Dean Phillips |
| Marianne Williamson |
Preview: Those of you that must vote for Marianne Williamson, go ahead. Those of you who think you must vote for Dean Phillips, vote for someone else. (He wants to claim delegates from New Hampshire, because Biden had the guts to finally remove New Hampshire from its “first primary” status, just like Hillary tried to do with the illegally held Michigan primary when she ran against Obama in 2008. Bad then, bad not.) Everyone else should, yes, vote for Biden. But if you can’t, I have a recommendation as to whom I’d vote for if I didn’t care about Biden looking strong: Eben Cambridge. Gabriel Cornejo has a sweet story about his religious motivations, if that’s for you, but Cambridge has a platform that’s worth plagiarizing!
Republican Party
| Candidate |
| Ryan Binkley |
| Chris Christie |
| Ron DeSantis |
| Nikki Haley |
| Asa Hutchinson |
| Vivek Ramaswamy |
| David James Stuckenberg |
| Rachel Hannah Swift |
| Donald Trump |
Preview: If Nikki Haley is still in the race, vote for her. If not, vote for Chris Christie if he gets back in. If neither, vote for Asa Hutchinson. Basically, anyone whose votes will count for something — and that’s probably going to be Haley.
Third Parties
Preview: This is really not the year for it. Greens will vote for Jill Stein; Peace & Freedomers will probably vote for Cornell West (although they should vote for Jasmine Sherman to support a Black woman or Claudia de la Cruz if they want a bona fide old-school Marxist-Leninist.) Libertarians will vote for, uh, Charles Ballay. This will once again be a year to make gentlepersons’ agreements with third-party oriented voters in swing states that you’ll support their third party candidate if they’ll agree to vote for Joe Biden where it matters.
PARTY DELEGATES!
We … don’t know yet. Are you running? Do you want an endorsement for your run? Ask for it in comments! Want to publicize your run? Go ahead, within reason! Know of any officeholder-created slates? Tell us about them so we can denounce them!
All I have in front of me are the Central Committee Member candidates for the 59th Assembly District. I’ll vote enthusiastically for Lourdes Cruz and Isabella Rubio, happily for Elizabeth Galindo and Izeah Garcia, and also for Eugene Fields because of who he isn’t.
Our idiot Troll likes to rush over here and tell us when Dan at Liberal OC has “beat us” to some great important story, as though we care much what Dan writes. Even if Dan does print something first which is no big deal, he usually doesn’t have anything intelligent or honest to say about it. “For a group of people who like to think you are “in the know” in Anaheim you are certainly out of the loop on recent events… Scooped by Dan C. LOL!”
So I had to go and look and see if Dan has something really interesting. Well, all I could find was that former Congressman Harley Rouda has written a really angry anti-Katie Porter piece in the Register (because Katie has a new book out in which she trashes Harley and his wife a lot, falsely and gratuitously – that Katie sure has a mean petty streak which we’ve noted before.)
https://www.ocregister.com/2024/01/22/harley-rouda-character-matters-thats-why-katie-porter-is-unfit-for-the-united-states-senate/
Worth reading like a ten-car pile-up. One paragraph that Dan pointedly didn’t quote is this:
“Drama is great for reality TV, but what we desperately need in Washington D.C. is leadership, people who will reach across the aisle to get things done. Not show people like Katie Porter and Marjorie Taylor Greene who use the office as their own personal promotional outlet. In the 2022 election, Katie had to spend $29 million – 9 times more than her opponent and 99% of it from donors outside the district – and still barely won the seat. Yet Katie still managed to cost our party a seat in LA by backing a primary challenger to Christy Smith, and likely cost Democrats two more seats in Orange County by her musical chairs conducted solely for personal gain. After winning, what does Katie do? She served a total of three days before announcing she was abandoning her constituents and running for the U.S. Senate, and hand-picked a convicted drunk driver as her hopeful replacement.” [Our bold.]
Well, WE didn’t say it, Harley did! I’m trying not to trash Katie too much. For one thing, she’ll be speaking at our March 7 Anaheim Democrats Club meeting – two days after the primary – so she’ll either have just triumphantly made top two against conservative Schiff, or been beat out by Barbara or some stupid Republican football player… or maybe will be on tenterhooks because it’s still too close to call!
(At this point the OJ Blog still prefers Barbara.)
(You mean stupid baseball player, right? And I think that Garvey is more vapid than stupid.)
Yeah I guess, baseball. Katie’s most memorable line in a recent debate, reportedly, was “Once a dodger, always a dodger.”
Yeah, her friends at Sen. Warren’s PCCC flogged that in an email blast. I was horrified: making fun of the name of the Dodgers, which she may not realize was exactly what she was doing, was completely tone deaf.
There were several ways to make that joke that wouldn’t Release the Cringe, such as:
“The Dodgers are strong on the field, but we have too many dodgers weakening Congress.”
“He was great in the infield 50 years ago, but in the Senate he wouldn’t know how to get to first base.”
“How can Steve have good family values when he won’t reject a Presidential candidate who brags about how whenever he steps away from home he can immediately steal third base?”
(OK, I admit that these need work….)
Now Troll is insisting they were referring to a recent PLEA DEAL by LAURA CUNNINGHAM (which will supposedly allow Harry Sidhu to “run off to Bali or wherever.”) This would be interesting news (although Dan sure didn’t write about it, and probably wouldn’t.)
But this is from the same Troll who gave us garish details on Jordan’s death that we couldn’t confirm and didn’t print, and we also can’t confirm yet any plea deal from Laura Cunningham. We’re looking into it, and you read it first here, in this comment.
What’s this about a plea deal by Laura Cunningham ? Was she scooped up by the fbi is the corruption scandal?
LOL well now the word is out!
Duh we have no idea if it’s true. This troll mostly pulls things out of his ass.
No more comments on this, this piece is about the coming election.
Dan has kicked your ass all week
Whatever you say, troll.
I do see that he’s finally roused himself to write a couple of pieces that aren’t just someone else’s press releases. Good for him!
The OTHER races that are NOW OR NEVER are the three JUDICIAL RACES (that is, the other races besides OC Board of Education, the OUSD Recall, the measures, the Supervisor race between Farrah & Wagner, and maybe the other Supervisor race if Frances or Janet can beat 50%.)
I’m sure Greg will update this to comment on the three judicial races, but for now I have the DPOC endorsements, and I think we USUALLY agree with those:
Dan Jacobson https://jacobsonforjudge.com/
Daniel J. Kern https://danieljkernforjudge.org/
Richard Zimmer https://zimmer4judge.com/
uhmm, yeah, sure, you will hear from me … at some point.
Generally I’ve come to the position of: “no more ADAs until the bench is more balanced out.” The only one I know is Jacobson, who is in private practice and was the head of the Democratic Foundation of OC — and his endorsements tell that Dem establishment story quite well — but that doesn’t have much to do with the issues facing judges so I’m likely to endorse him. It’s been a while since we’ve had contact, but I recall that psychically and to some extent even in his behavior he reminded me quite a bit of the actor Richard Kind. One could do a lot worse than that. I also need to see who they’re running against, of course.
Allyson defeated a 24-year Republican incumbent in a majority Republican district by 10 points during the height of COVID-19 in 2020 with dedicated volunteers who convinced independents and moderate Republicans to vote for her. While held by a Republican, CA40 elected President Biden by 2 points.
Protecting reproductive rights will be a critical issue in the 2024 election. As a trusted and outspoken champion of reproductive freedom, Allyson is endorsed by EMILY’s List and the National Organization for Women, is the OCYD Young People’s Choice for Congress, and is backed by BOLD Pac (the Congressional Hispanic Caucus).
After being ELECTED as a Tustin Unified School District Trustee, she quickly produced results for her community. When far-right extremists tried to recall her, the community refused to sign the petitions, choosing results over rhetoric.
Under Allyson’s leadership as board president with 2 Republicans, 2 Democrats, and 1 NPP, she has proven she can govern effectively to bring resources to her community and reject extremism even in these divided times.
Allyson has the endorsement of 43 OC elected officials who count on her to address issues together. When the Tustin Hanger fire broke out, Allyson, a chemical engineer, worked with city, county, and state officials to mitigate the harm to students and school property. Allyson’s credibility as a problem-solver has earned her the gratitude and respect of the community.
Joe Kerr’s campaign team is i77 Strategies, a firm that primarily works to elect Republicans. They worked to elect Greg Raths and Freedom Caucus Congressman Morgan Griffith, orchestrated the defeat of Measure G in 2022 (a school bond to update Capistrano Unified schools, resulting in the loss of matching state funds), and helped elect San Clemente Councilman Steve Knoblock who proposed his city become an abortion-free, “sanctuary for life” zone. Donors to Joe Kerr’s campaign help support i77 and their extensive work for Republican candidates and causes. Allyson’s consultants support only Democratic candidates and issues.
Allyson has won the support of all the Dem clubs in CA-40 who have voted to support a candidate, including Laguna Woods Dems, Central OC Dems, OC Young Dems, Dems of North OC, and Anaheim Dems. Harnessing the energy of our best grassroots activists in CA-40’s Dem clubs will ensure Allyson beats Young Kim.
I did not know that about i77 Strategies. Can anyone with remaining ties to OC’s Dem establishment find out why the hell he would do that? (Note that I’ve supported Raths in Republican primaries because he’s a thoughtful decent human being, politics aside. Unfortunately, these days politics are rarely as “aside” as they once were.)
Temper those nice Raths words (based on our feelings of several years ago) with my https://www.orangejuiceblog.com/2022/07/second-and-third-thoughts-on-greg-raths/
And MAGA trainwreck Knoblock, the nightmare of San Clemente, makes it even worse.
I know, I know. Those were sad developments, and I have nothing nice to say about Knoblock.
I should have a bombshell about Knoblock very soon, when I’m given the green light.
*Linda, Lou and the whole crew! Yee Haw! Adam flying to the lead no doubt! Mikey and Cottie both very cool. Mike Tardif? OMG…he never liked us much….did he? Our buddies
Long and Scott are venerable, old warhorses…..kicking up the hay in the fields again?
Diane is the sneaky one ….that somehow never finds competition? How is that possible?
Katie, oh Katie how we love thee……but why didn’t you stay in the House for goodness
sake? Can someone, anyone beat Michelle and Young Kim? Wouldn’t that be lovely?
Can’t wait to recount all the Trump votes….you guys too? How many Republicans will
write in Daisy Duck?
Read the story again about Young Kim’s race. Yes, someone can beat her. Beating Steel will be harder, but not at all impossible.
“conservative Adam Schiff” is an oxymoron (and if you don’t know what an oxymoron is, throw away your ballot).
He’s much more conservative than Barbara and Katie, duh. And I don’t call folks like Trump and his supporters conservative, they are radical.
Barbara Lee is a radical as well. I’d happily use the terms “left-wing radical” and “right-wing radical,” but each is overinclusive. Once you get much past Bernie and AOC, for example, you reach a part of the left-wing that wants to see this country destroyed for its crimes, and therefor allies with Putin (sometimes de facto, sometimes explicitly) and hates Ukraine (buying into the fake “Nazi regime” narrative, just as the MAGAts do. (Note that this is not true of everyone to the left of AOC; many of whole radical change that pays no attention to what is political possible or the costs of losing an election to MAGA.)
I can see why you keep your anonymity, non-oxy moron.
He’s slightly to the left of Feinstein, but not enough to be other than a centrist. He’s well to the right of Porter. And he’s way to the right of Lee.
I’m not sure where I called him conservative, but if I did it would have been “conservative in the context of the Democratic field in this race.” And I know that there are some unicorn conservatives who are neither right-wingers nor MAGAts, but the term had had a pretty standard meaning up to 2015 or so, until Trump got to it.
Maybe it was I who called him conservative. I use the word differently from you. There are many ways in which Adam is cautious, very respectful of traditions and norms, and maybe overly respectful of (certain) authorities.
We got our sample ballots in the mail today. Will you be updating this story with all the candidates, Greg?
I haven’t gotten mine yet, so you can go ahead. If it’s a whole lot you can send them to me. I find the Registrar’s site a lot less user friendly then it was under Neal.
God forbid, if Trump isn’t jailed, assassinated or sheltered-in-place at Mar-a-Lago by the FBI, there is only one other candidate who will get my vote, Robert Kennedy, Jr. It is not okay to let pharmaceutical companies dictate what poison goes in your newborn’s (up to college age) helpless arm. I hear their cries when I go to CVS. The Dept. of Defense is over 40% funded by big pharma companies. They are making DNA altering poisons and our military buys millions of doses for you and I. The FDA approves it because of top executives hop-scotching between jobs at Pfizer, J & J, Moderna, and the FDA. America’s defense is supposed to protect us from bioweapons. I have never voted for a Democrat because they want more control over my life. How many questionable deaths have you mourned since 2021? Take it from an authentic flower child from the 1960’s…never take a pill or shot unless you know exactly what is in it.
Wykoff was an “authentic flower child in the 60s” – checks out!
It’s “millions of doses for you and me,” not “… for you and I.” “I” is a subjective pronoun; “me” is the objective pronoun and is proper to use here.
Sorry for the correction, but … I didn’t want you to look ignorant.
When in doubt always say “you and me,” because it’s better to sound ignorant and folksy than ignorant and pretentious.
Ohhh, I don’t think you fully got the joke at the end.
In other words, if an obvious sociopath gets any consequences for his actions, you’ll escape to the silver lining of being able to vote for a babbling idiot who foments bad conspiracy theories, even if he doesn’t also do the criming you so adore.
That’s how important fighting vaccines is to this flower child of the 60’s.
Precious bodily fluids (except amniotic.)
“never take a pill or shot unless you know exactly what is in it.”
Which is ALL pills and shots. Thanks for nothing.
There is an uodate on the past power motor behind our politicians. Melamet Raifei was denied court permission to “Visit Canada”. Her next hearing is May 10, 2024. I count on the general media to bury their skeleton stories.
Don’t count on US doing that! We’ve had May 10 written down for months.
Dan C on the other hand will either ignore it or spin it to make her look good, whatever she instructs him.
Keep an eye on this, Pamela! You are now our “Melahat Hearing Scheduling Correspondent”