California Dems snubbing their party’s moderates
With a deeply unpopular President Trump on the November 2020 ballot — assuming he isn’t impeached and thrown out of office — California Democrats are looking to paint the state an even deeper shade of blue. But that’s not stopping party leaders from taking shots at some of their own incumbents.
At a Democratic conference Saturday, Reps. Ami Bera of Elk Grove (Sacramento County) and Jim Costa of Fresno were blocked from getting the party’s early endorsement for the March primary. So was state Sen. Steve Glazer of Orinda.
With a state party that’s moving steadily toward the left, all three are on the moderate end of Democratic officeholders.
Bera, first elected in 2012, represents a swing district in the Sacramento suburbs that is regularly targeted by Republicans. But despite the district’s conservative leaning, Democrats have called for Bera to take more progressive stances on issues like the environment and health care.
Jeff Burdick, Bera’s progressive challenger from ArdenArcade (Sacramento County), argues that the district is now solidly Democratic.
“Bera’s centrist positions and many votes for Republican bills no longer represent where (the district) and the Democratic Party are,” Burdick said in a news release.
Bera fell short of the 70% needed for the party’s early
endorsement, collecting 62%, with the rest of the ballots calling for no endorsement.
Costa also is being targeted by a progressive, Fresno City Councilwoman Esmeralda Soria. In a video announcing her campaign in July, Soria called Costa “a D.C. politician (who) puts the interests of corporations over us.”
Costa is former chair of the Democrats’ Blue Dog Coalition in Congress, a group representing conservativeleaning districts.
He barely beat Soria in the endorsement vote, 49% to 46%, a number well short of what was needed to get the party’s support. The seventerm incumbent came out swinging after the weekend vote, accusing Soria of painting her secondplace finish as a victory.
“Maybe Esmeralda has been listening to the president too much,” Costa said in a campaign email. “She’s starting to tell whoppers just like Trump does.”
Glazer’s lack of party support comes as no surprise. The former Orinda mayor got on the wrong side of labor when he opposed the 2013 BART strikes and called for a ban on all walkouts by public transit workers.
He beat Democratic Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla for his state Senate seat in 2015, a special election that left Democrats even more unhappy with the selfdescribed moderate.
“Everything we see tonight is a victory for the Republican Party,” Josh Pulliam, Bonilla’s campaign consultant, said the night Glazer won. “Republican voters turned out, and they voted for Glazer.”
Glazer finished second in his district in Saturday’s endorsement voting, well be
“Everything we see tonight is a victory for the Republican Party.” Josh Pulliam, the opponent’s campaign manager, about the election of state Sen. Steve Glazer, DOrinda
hind Marisol Rubio, founder of San Ramon Progressives and a disabled rights activist. The vote was 52% to 34%, with the rest voting for no endorsement.
Because Bera and Rubio received better than 50% of the votes cast Saturday, they will have a chance to get the support needed for the actual endorsement at the state Democratic convention in Long Beach in November.
“They’ll just have to get out and work the delegates at the convention,” said Roger Salazar, a state party spokesman.
Because neither Costa nor Soria reached the 50% mark, the party will make no endorsement in that primary race.