Following the generalized electoral failures of the Democrats last year, the activists of the party in California who met for their annual convention this weekend fought to balance how to follow their values and at the same time reconnect with the voters who were traditionally part of their base, especially working -class working class.
The progressive policies of California and its democratic leaders were mistreated by the Republicans during the 2024 elections, with the then vice president and presidential nominee Democratic Kamala Harris taking the worst part of it. Harris finally lost the elections against Trump, partly due to the reduction of support between traditional democratic constituencies, including minorities and voters of the working class.
“We have to be honest in what happened, because losing elections has consequences,” said the governor of Minnesota, Tim Walz, Harris formula partner, during an exciting speech on Saturday afternoon. “We are in this disaster because some of them are our own.
Walz, a potential presidential candidate of 2028, said that Democrats do not need to retire from their ideals, such as protecting the most vulnerable of society, including transgender children. But they need to show voters who are capable of a bold policy that improves the life of voters instead of offering incremental progress, he said.
“The Democratic Party, the working class party, lost a large part of the working class,” he said. “That last choice was a primary cry on so many fronts: do something, do something, stand up and make a difference.”
California is the home of the majority of the Democrats of the Nation, as well as a large number of the deepest donors of the party, which makes the State a popular place for presidential candidates throughout the country.
In addition to Walz, another potential candidate of the White House 2028 who went to the 4,000 delegates and guests at the Anaheim Convention Center was the New Jersey senator, Cory Booker. Booker argued that the Democrats must remember the courage of their ancestors who fought for civil and vote rights and created the social security network for the most vulnerable Americans while trying to fight Trumpism.
“The real change does not come from Washington. It comes from the communities. It comes from the streets,” he said in a speech on Saturday morning. “People's power is greater than people in power.”
Harris, who is weighing a 2026 governor career and is also seen as a potential 2028 presidential candidate, addressed the video convention. Governor Gavin Newsom, also seen as a possible White House contender, did not appear in the Convention.
Delegate Jane Baulch-Enloe, a secondary school teacher from Pleasent Hill in the Bay area, said she was not sure that the private brand of California liberalism is sold on the national stage.
“I don't know if a California Democrat can win a presidential choice,” she said while she and her daughter ordered through Swag's flyers and campaign in the Café de la Convention. “California is considered crazy … I do not mean that in a way, although I know that some people do it, but we do things differently here.”
She said she learned from the memoirs of President Obama, “Audacy of Hope”, that the majority, if not all, the Americans “want the same things”, but they talk about them differently and have different approaches to get there. The Democrats of California, Baulch-Enloe said: “I need the people on our side and help them understand that we are not only liberals of Wacko, and teach people who are fine to want things” like medical care for all and the high salaries of the Union.
But the 2028 presidential race was not the focus of the Convention of the California Democratic Party of this year. The delegates were more concerned with the presidential and congress losses last year, although California was a weird bright point for the party, turning three districts held by the Republican Party and preparing for the middle of the period of the next year. Delegates expect Democrats to take control of Congress to prevent Trump from promulgating their agenda.
Aref Aziz, a leader of the Asian Caucus of the Pacific of the party, said the party needed to sharpen their messages on economic issues if they want to have a victory opportunity in the next elections.
“When it comes to the problem of affordability, when it comes to economics, those are the things that in the broad spectrum of our coalition, all those things care to all,” said Aziz. “And what really is that the important thing is for us to focus on that economic message and how we are going to improve everyone's quality of life in these half -period elections and future presidential elections.”
He pointed out that he was in his honeymoon recently, and was walking through a grocery store and buying half a dozen eggs for 1.50 euros (the equivalent of $ 1.70) when the news realized that California's economy had grown up to the world's largest fourth.
“When you look at many of our economies, California and New York, to all accounts, GDP, the numbers you look, they are very good,” he said. “But when it comes to the cost that consumers are paying in these places, they are so high and so above other countries that we end up reducing any value in our GDP, because everything is so expensive.”
Some Democrats questioned the impact of the weapon of the liberal policies of California, including the defense of transgender rights, in voters in the battlefield states in 2024.
But delegates and party leaders argued to a large extent that the State must continue with the avant -garde of such matters.
“People like to point out a finger somewhere, and I think California is an easy target, but I do not agree,” said delegate Melissa Taylor, president of Democrats from the Footill community. “Because I think California is defending the values in which the Democratic Party believes, as we believe in work, we believe in medical care, we believe in women's rights, we believe in rights for LGBTQ people.”
Jodi Hicks, president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, said issues such as access to reproductive health also have an economic impact.
“We have to walk and chew gum at the same time,” he said, adding that the losses of 2024 of the party were probably promoted by multiple factors, including the nominated Democrat for just over three months after the then President Biden decided not to seek re -election.
“We are going to analyze 2024 for a long time,” Hicks said. “They were such unique circumstances.”
Times's personnel writer Laura J. Nelson contributed to this report.
