{"id":186890,"date":"2026-02-21T01:06:56","date_gmt":"2026-02-21T01:06:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/186890\/"},"modified":"2026-02-21T01:06:56","modified_gmt":"2026-02-21T01:06:56","slug":"furious-with-trump-california-democrats-plot-election-strategy-in-san-francisco-the-mendocino-voice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/186890\/","title":{"rendered":"Furious with Trump, California Democrats plot election strategy in San Francisco \u2022 The Mendocino Voice"},"content":{"rendered":"

This was written by staff at the nonprofit newsroom CalMatters. It was republished by The Mendocino Voice in partnership with CalMatters to bring relevant nonpartisan news to Mendocino County readers. Learn more about CalMatters here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

SAN FRANCISCO, CA., 2\/20\/26 \u2014 California Democrats this weekend in San Francisco\u00a0have\u00a0an opportunity to set the tone in a pivotal election year when their voters could decide control of the U.S. House.<\/p>\n

As Democrats across the country push to harness dissatisfaction with the Trump administration into a transformative November midterm, all eyes are on the nation\u2019s largest state party as it chooses who to support in California\u2019s June primary.<\/p>\n

Party leaders are riding high after voters backed\u00a0Proposition 50<\/a>, the ballot measure to gerrymander congressional districts in favor of Democrats. The three-day gathering gives it an early opportunity to build on that momentum for the upcoming elections.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s marquee\u00a0race\u00a0this year is the one to succeed outgoing\u00a0Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a>, a national Democratic star with presidential aspirations who terms out at the end of this year. But\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0expect a rousing party endorsement there: With\u00a0nearly 10\u00a0candidates,\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0unlikely any of them will attract enough of the 3,500 expected Democratic delegates to secure the nod. Newsom himself\u00a0won\u2019t\u00a0attend, a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

Instead, one of the biggest questions will be whether California Democrats continue to anoint establishment candidates \u2014 those with backing from elected party leaders, high-dollar donors and powerful lobbying groups \u2014 or if political newcomers can convert their grassroots support from the party into actual endorsements.<\/p>\n

For years, young Democrats\u00a0in particular have\u00a0urged the party to\u00a0embrace bolder, more progressive ideas<\/a>\u00a0such as universal health coverage, tuition-free college, banning the sale of arms to Israel and eschewing the Democratic Party\u2019s longstanding deference to seniority and incumbency through term limits. The brashness of the second Trump administration has given new urgency to those demands as the Democratic base tires of what activists call a milquetoast \u201cradical civility\u201d approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that we\u2019re in a national emergency means there\u2019s no time for incrementalism or moderation,\u201d said Heidi Hall, a Nevada County supervisor and the first Democrat to announce she is challenging incumbent GOP Rep. Kevin Kiley to\u00a0represent\u00a0a competitive district east of Sacramento.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny Democrat in office who\u2019s not willing to fight this hard should get out, should step aside and let someone else in who is going to fight it,\u201d Hall said. \u201cOr they\u2019re going to be complicit in what\u2019s happening.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kiley has since said he will run for Congress again, but not in his current district, which has changed dramatically since the passage of Prop. 50.<\/p>\n

Early signs suggest\u00a0there\u2019s\u00a0at least some appetite for new blood in California\u2019s overwhelmingly Democratic congressional delegation of 52 members. In January, local delegates blocked five sitting Democratic congressmembers \u2014 Reps. Ami Bera, John Garamendi, Doris Matsui, Brad\u00a0Sherman\u00a0and Mike Thompson \u2014 from securing endorsements that incumbents typically receive by default. Those members instead have had to court delegates to earn the party\u2019s nod as they face challenges from further\u00a0left-leaning, and mostly younger, candidates.<\/p>\n

And while Thompson, Garamendi and Sherman were able to amass enough support from local delegates in a pre-convention endorsement vote, Matsui must continue seeking support at the convention. Bera was iced out of an endorsement entirely since he was unable to secure even a simple majority of votes from delegates in his district.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople on the ground are tired of insider politics like this,\u201d Hall said. \u201cThey want to be\u00a0heard\u00a0and they want the opportunity to choose the candidate they want.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hall\u2019s team spent more than a month calling delegates and gathering petition signatures to deny Bera an automatic endorsement. She criticized the seven-term\u00a0congressman\u00a0from Elk Grove, who\u00a0represents\u00a0the Sacramento-based 6th Congressional District, for jumping into the race in the neighboring 3rd District where she is running after the new Prop. 50 maps made the seat far more favorable to Democrats.<\/p>\n

In a\u00a0preliminary endorsement vote<\/a>, Hall placed third behind Bera and fellow grassroots candidate Chris Bennett, who also switched districts in November.<\/p>\n

Another endorsement fight to watch is in the 22nd Congressional District, where two Central Valley Democrats have\u00a0embraced different tactics to win swing votes<\/a>\u00a0as they vie for the chance to topple\u00a0incumbent GOP Rep. David Valadao<\/a>, a top target for Democrats nationally this cycle.<\/p>\n

Randy Villegas, a community college professor, Visalia school board trustee and political newcomer, is hoping to win his party\u2019s endorsement over establishment-favorite Assemblymember\u00a0Jasmeet Bains<\/a>, who is endorsed by the powerful Service Employees International Union of California.<\/p>\n

Villegas is campaigning on the economic populist message popularized by progressives such as U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, while Bains, a physician from Kern County, portrays herself as a moderate \u201cValleycrat\u201d who\u00a0isn\u2019t\u00a0afraid to buck party leadership.<\/p>\n

Winning the party endorsement over the incumbent or establishment favorite will still be an uphill battle, said Mai Vang, the progressive Sacramento city council member challenging Rep. Matsui in the 7th Congressional District. To her, the party\u2019s endorsements signify more than just an infusion of campaign money and volunteer\u00a0door-knockers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about the future of this country and what kind of Democratic Party we want to be moving forward,\u201d Vang said. \u201cIn this moment, we\u00a0have to\u00a0ask ourselves, \u2018What type of leaders do we want to send to the halls of Congress to fight this authoritarian administration?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Who will Democrats support for governor?\u00a0<\/p>\n

One race in which there will\u00a0almost certainly\u00a0be no endorsement is the wide-open\u00a0governor\u2019s race<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s\u00a0typically hard to secure the party\u2019s endorsement in any race without an incumbent, requiring a candidate to get 60% of delegates\u2019 votes. This weekend, a whopping eight Democrats running for governor will give speeches before delegates on Saturday \u2014 and that\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0even include all the Democrats in the race.<\/p>\n

Those vying for the endorsement include former Rep. Katie Porter, a consumer attorney who made her name in Congress challenging corporate executives; Rep. Eric Swalwell, a former prosecutor known for playing a role in the second Trump impeachment; and the self-funding billionaire Tom Steyer, who has poured some of his hedge fund-gained wealth into environmental activism.<\/p>\n

Lagging them in campaign cash and polls are former Attorney General Xavier Becerra, former state Controller Betty Yee, state public schools chief Tony Thurmond and former Assemblymember Ian Calderon.<\/p>\n

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan<\/a>\u00a0was the latest to enter the race last month, missing a party deadline to seek the endorsement. But the moderate, who is not well known outside of the Bay Area, has quickly raised millions of dollars in campaign donations from tech executives like Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, making him a formidable opponent.<\/p>\n

Still, all the candidates will work the crowds this weekend. The gathering, which will feature both official work like voter registration training and boozy schmooze-fests hosted by interest groups and campaigns, represents the highest concentration of the most active party loyalists in the state. It\u2019s a chance for the candidates to win the attention of potential organizers, volunteers and benefactors.<\/p>\n

Failing to secure a sizable number of delegates could ramp up pressure on some candidates to drop out, as poll after poll points to the wide field of Democrats splitting voters\u2019 support and putting Republicans in the apparent lead. In California\u2019s top-two primary, the two candidates who receive the most votes move on to the general election, regardless of party, leading some Democrats to be anxious that two Republicans could advance.<\/p>\n

For months, polling has shown the top two Republican candidates, former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, besting most Democrats. In the\u00a0latest poll<\/a>\u00a0by Emerson College, published Wednesday, the top-polling Democrat was Swalwell, with 14% of likely voters supporting him. He was sandwiched between top-polling Hilton and Bianco, meaning the three are statistically tied. No other Democrat got more than 10% of surveyed voters\u2019 support.<\/p>\n

Party Chair Rusty Hicks dismissed the concerns that there are too many little-known Democrats in the race, and would not say whether he or the party would intervene to prompt candidates to drop out and consolidate support.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m committed to doing what\u2019s required to ensure we win in November of 2026, period,\u201d he said. \u201cThe reality is, by the time you get to the end of March and beginning of April, you\u2019re likely to see the field naturally thin itself out.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article first appeared in CalMatters\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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