SAN FRANCISCO— While united against a common political enemy in the White House, the California Democratic Party remains deeply divided over how to address the state's affordability crisis and who is best suited to lead the state in this turbulent era of President Trump.
Those fractures were revealed during the party's annual convention in California's liberal epicenter, San Francisco, where a slate of Democrats running to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom presented very different visions for the state.
Former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter and wealthy financier Tom Steyer were among the leading candidates who leaned left, with Porter promising to enact free childcare and college and Steyer backing a proposed new tax on billionaires. Both candidates also support universal healthcare.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, the latest major candidate to enter the race, opted for a partisan middle ground and chastised Sacramento leaders for allowing the state budget to balloon without tangible improvements in housing affordability, homelessness and public schools.
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin), a vocal critic and consistent target of the Trump administration, emerged from the convention with added momentum after receiving the most votes for the endorsement of the California Democratic Party, with the backing of 24% of delegates.
“The next governor has two tasks: one, keep Donald Trump and ICE off our streets and out of our lives, and two, reduce the costs of health care, housing and utilities,” Swalwell said. “Californians need a fighter and a protector, and for the past 10 years I have been on the offensive against the worst president of all time.”
Still, none of the top Democrats running for governor received the 60% of votes needed to win the endorsement, indicating how uncertain the race remains just months before the June primary.
Betty Yee, former state comptroller and party vice chair, came in second in the endorsement vote with 17%; former US Health and Human Services Sec. Xavier Becerra had 14%; and Steyer had 13%. The remaining candidates garnered single-digit levels of support among the more than 2,300 delegates who cast endorsement votes.
Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) takes a selfie with supporters during the California Democratic Party's annual convention at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on Saturday.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Despite the anxiety and infighting over the gubernatorial race, many in the party agreed that the most effective way to fight Trump is to regain control of the House in November's midterm elections.
“We're going to win the House. There's absolutely no doubt we're going to win the House,” former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco) said at a Young Democrats event Friday night. “We are going to protect the elections, we are going to win them and we are going to tell people the difference we will make.”
Thousands of delegates, party allies and guests attended the California Democratic Party convention over the weekend at the Moscone Center in the South of Market neighborhood. The meeting included a tribute to Pelosi as she serves her final term.
Party leaders have rallied behind one of the Democrats running to replace Pelosi, Scott Wiener, a liberal state senator vying to be the first openly gay person to represent San Francisco in Congress.
The convention comes as party members and leaders continue to do some soul-searching after Trump's second election. California remains a bastion of opposition to the president, but its next governor will also have to confront a growing cost of living crisis in a state where utility costs continue to rise and the median price of a single-family home is more than double that of the nation.
Under increasing pressure, gubernatorial candidates went on the offensive at the party meeting. Candidates criticized each other (though rarely by name) for being too rich, too indebted to special interests, or having voted in the past. in support of ICE and the border wall funds.
Although widely criticized by delegates who tend to lean further left than the typical California Democratic voter, Mahan has quickly shaken up the race Raising millions from tech industry leaders and targeting moderate voters with a message of getting the state “back to basics.”
“We risk losing the trust of the people of California if we do not hold ourselves accountable for achieving better outcomes in public education, housing construction and public safety,” Mahan said. “We're not getting the results we need for the dollars we spend.”
Mahan has raised more than $7.3 million since entering the contest in late January, according to disclosures of large campaign finance contributions. Many of the donors are tied to the tech industry, such as Y Combinator, Doordash, Amazon and Thumbtack. Billionaire Los Angeles developer Rick Caruso has also contributed the maximum amount allowed to Mahan's campaign.
Tech entrepreneur Dennis Bress of Newport Beach wears a Planned Parenthood support pin and a Yes on Proposition 50 T-shirt at the California Democratic Party convention at the Moscone Center on Friday in San Francisco.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Other candidates have expressed concern about the cash injection, notably Steyer, who has already invested more than $37 million in his self-funded campaign and is billing himself as a “billionaire who will take on the billionaires.”
“This is the thing about big donors: If you take their money, you have to take their calls,” Steyer said during his speech.
Delegates and party leaders said California's next governor will have to continue leading the state's aggressive opposition to Trump while addressing problems at home.
“I think people want a fighter,” said Rep. Dave Min (D-Irvine), who represents Porter's former congressional district and has endorsed her in the governor's race. “They want someone who will stand up to Donald Trump but also fight to help average people who feel like they're getting a raw deal in today's America.”
Several of the candidates argued that they could do both.
During his speech, Porter held up a whiteboard (his signature item while questioning Trump administration CEOs and officials while serving in Congress) with “F— Trump” written on it.
“I will stand up to Trump and his cronies just as I did in Congress,” he said. “But this gubernatorial election is about much more than defeating Trump.”
Porter, a law professor at UC Irvine, called on Democrats to “send a message about democracy by rejecting billionaires and corporate-backed candidates.” He also laid out a long list of “true affordability measures,” including free child care, free tuition at public universities and single-payer health care, though he did not specify how he would pay for them.
Countering Trump is “the bottom line,” said Gregory Hutchins, 29, an academic labor researcher from Riverside. “We need to go beyond the floor: What can be done for the people of California? We all recognize that this is a beautiful and wonderful state, but it is very difficult to afford to live here.”
Even some delegates (often the most politically active members of a party) have yet to make a decision in the gubernatorial race. Nearly 9% chose not to endorse any particular candidate at the convention.
“You want that perfect candidate. You want yes, this is the person,” said Sean Frame, a Sacramento school labor organizer running for state Senate. “And I don't feel like there's a candidate for me who fits all of that.”
For all the focus on affordability, there were undertones of growing frustration even from trusted Democratic allies over the lack of tangible results in a state where the median home price is more than $823,000. SEIU California President David Huerta said workers have “been deferring our power to elected leaders” for too long.
“I think we should be the ones to set the agenda and hold them accountable for that agenda,” Huerta said. “And they need to lead from the direction of the workers.”
It's a constant battle with Democrats at the state and local level to get a fair wage, said Mary Grace Barrios, who left her career in insurance to care for her disabled adult daughter.
Barrios earns $19 an hour as a home caregiver for other clients in Los Angeles County. When Newsom signed a law to raise wages for most health care workers to $25 an hour by 2030, home support staff like Barrios were not included.
“It is very important that we are given the respect and the salary that we need to live because we cannot live on that amount,” he said, adding that it feels like a “constant attack by people in our own party that we support, who forgot us.”
“As citizens, you get what you vote for, right? So we have to do it. We have to make the change.”
