CA Democratic Party Endorsing Convention 2022

By Connie Sullivan —

March 6, 2022

The California Democratic Party just wrapped up their 2022 endorsing convention in which the delegates endorsed, or attempted to endorse, candidates for statewide office in addition to legislative and congressional offices.  To be endorsed by the party, a candidate must receive 60% of the vote.

For the most part the statewide offices were uncontested with two exceptions, one of which is Controller, where Betty Yee is terming out.  There was a strong competition between Malia Cohen and Ron Galperin, with a third candidate in the mix, Yvonne Yiu, city councilwoman from Monterey Park.  Cohen is a current member of the Board of Equalization, a typical stepping stone for this position.  Additionally, she served as a member of the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco.  Galperin is the current Los Angeles Controller who is terming out of that position.  His support was largely from the Los Angeles area.  In the end Cohen was endorsed with 62.3% of the vote.

The other statewide contest of note was between Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara and challenger Assemblyman Marc Levine.  This was a major mudslinging event with Levine making the case that Lara is corrupt for taking insurance industry money and providing favors to the industry.  Lara countered that Levine votes with Republicans on issues important to labor.  Lara won with a bare 61.3% of the vote. (Your faithful reporter voted for Levine.)

All the other statewide office incumbents won with more than 90% of the vote.

Our elected representatives – Ted Lieu, Ben Allen and Al Muratsuchi—had no challengers and were endorsed on consent.

Two other races of note were Congressional District 42 where Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia is fighting it out with Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia.  Robert Garcia fell short by one vote to be endorsed, garnering 59.5%.

The other contest of note was Assembly District 65 (Carson, Harbor City, Harbor Gateway, part of San Pedro) where incumbent Mike Gipson is being challenged by Fatima Iqbal-Zubair.  Gipson won with 65.9% of the vote.  Fatima attempted to challenge the result and force a floor vote in the general session, but she apparently fell short of the 300 petition signatures required within the very short time frame allotted.

Every two years the party updates the platform.  The latest update was presented before the general session on Sunday and it was adopted.  You can view it on the CADEM.org website.

 

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