News from the Fresno County Dems May 18, 2022

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Newsletter: May 18, 2022
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** In This Newsletter:
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Fresno County Democratic Party Endorsements (#Endorsements)

The Tragedy of Conservative Victory on Roe (#Row-Tragedy)

What California’s New Budget Means for Electrification (#Electrification)

Lithium Bottleneck Could Be California Opportunity (#Lithium)

Local Campaigns Need Your Help! (#Local-Campaigns)

Southeast Fresno Park/Soccer Complex Begins (#Soccer-Park)

Why Is Fresno Building Away from Our Rail Connections? (#Fresno-Rail)

Volunteers Needed to Help with Campaign Signs (#Volunteer-Signs)

Precinct Captains (#Precinct-Captain)

Fellowship Program (#Fellowship-Program)

Democratic Party Website and HQ (#Dem-HQ)
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It seems as if we were just filling out our ballots for the last special election, but we have another round of voting currently under way. The Primary, done in California’s characteristic “jungle” free-for-all style, will be on June 6, and it is joined by a second round of voting to fill the last few months of Devin Nunes’ abandoned term and a particularly odd special election involving Alex Padilla’s U.S. Senate seat.

Get ready; being an informed citizen requires homework. What follows are endorsements from the Fresno County Democratic Party along with descriptions of a few candidates and races.

Our Party Endorsements

U.S. Senate (Special): Alex Padilla

U.S. Senate (Regular): Alex Padilla

(Yes, you need to vote for Alex Padilla twice.)

Senator Padilla has represented California in the Senate since he was appointed to fill Kamala Harris’ seat once she won the vice presidency. Now, in a confusing twist of law, Padilla is now part of two simultaneous elections being held to fill the same seat. The first vote is to affirm Newsom’s appointment and affirm that Padilla can continue to hold the term Harris was originally elected, a term that ends in January. If Padilla were to somehow lose the special election, his replacement would only serve for the space in between the November election and the beginning of the January term.

The second is for the next six-year Senate term.

Other Statewide Races

Governor: Gavin Newsom

Lieutenant Governor: Eleni Kounalakis

Secretary of State: Dr. Shirley Weber

Attorney General: Rob Bonta

Treasurer: Fiona Ma

Controller: Malia Cohen

Superintendent of Public Instruction: Tony Thurmond

Insurance Commissioner: Ricardo Lara

Local Races

Board of Equalization District 1: Braden Murphy

California’s publicly elected tax board is the only one of its kind in the nation, and Murphy is the best choice for the district, which covers most of California’s eastern half. Murphy is a public policy advocate from Folsom who wants to focus California’s tax burden more fairly on corporations instead of individuals and small businesses.

U.S. Congress District 5: Mike Barkley

While Republicans Tom McClintock and Nathan Magsig feud through the primaries over dragging the conservative movement down further, Barkley’s place in this round offers a bit of hope for sensible Californians. He has an uphill battle, as the district favors Republicans, but the fight between the two elephants might present an opportunity.

U.S. Congress District 13: Adam Gray

Assembly Member Gray is an experienced and effective state-level politician from Merced. He has worked for rail-travel expansion and groundwater recharge. Democrats have an edge in registered voters in this district, but there is a strong push from the Republican Party and we all know that Democrats can suffer from poor turnout. Gray’s principal Republican rival, John Duarte, made his name suing the federal government over the Clean Water Act.

U.S. Congress District 20: Marisa Wood
Wood is an experienced school teacher with deep ties to the Valley farming community. She now has the vital, if unenviable task of going up against Kevin McCarthy—the especially toxic Republican frontrunner from Bakersfield. Wood has worked with the community of Bakersfield for more than 20 years and understandably has education as a centerpiece of her platform, focusing on worker training programs and making college more affordable. She is adamantly opposed to the Republican assault on reproductive rights and champions a healthcare system that would include public buy-in options that are affordable and accessible to all along with an expansion of Medicare coverage.

U.S. Congress District 21: Jim Costa

For all his work on behalf of the Central Valley and the Democratic party, Costa deserves to be reelected. Costa’s district did not get through redistricting unchanged, but it remains more intact than some and his constituents should remember his effective tenure.

U.S. Congress District 22 (Special): Lourin Hubbard

Devin Nunes abandoned his job to run Donald Trump’s failing media company, but even in absentia he manages to confuse and frustrate his constituents. The former 22nd district is vanishing to redistricting in January, but it still needs a representative until then.

Lourin Hubbard is the operations manager at the California Department of Water Resources, leading frontline conservation efforts, supporting family farms and combating droughts. Hubbard was born in the Central Valley, the son of a single, Black, working-class mother. He worked for the Fresno County Department of Social Services before advancing to his current position. Hubbard has campaigned on tackling our water crisis, reforming our broken immigration system and increasing access to healthcare and affordable housing.

U.S. Congress District 22 (Regular): Rudy Salas

Residents of the transformed 22nd district might be surprised that they are now in the same district as Bakersfield, but that is the political map we have now. In this new arena, Rudy Salas is the best choice to unseat experienced double-talker David Valadao and fend off Chris Mathys, who describes himself as a Trumpist first and a Republican second. Valadeo stood with Trump’s Republican Party on nearly every issue right up until Jan. 6 put his own safety in question. Control of the House of Representatives could hang in the balance in this district.

Salas is an experienced Assembly member from Hanford and is fighting against Valadao’s sea of campaign cash with policies that will actually benefit the people of the Valley.

State Senate District 12: Susanne Gundy

State Senate District 14: Anna Caballero

Assembly District 27: Esmeralda Soria

Assembly District 31: Joaquin Arambula

Assembly District 33: Jose Sigala

Fresno County Board of Supervisors District 4: Jose Ramirez

Fresno City Council District 1: Annalisa Perea

Fresno City Council District 3: Miguel Arias

Fresno City Council District 5: Luis Chavez

Fresno City Council District 7: Nelson Esparza

The Fresno County Democratic Party furiously condemns the recently uncovered draft decision from conservative Supreme Court justices that would overturn the landmark Roe v Wade decision.

If finalized, this ruling would destroy the legal protection to pursue an abortion as a fundamental right to bodily privacy, leading to an instant 50-year snapback in half of the nation’s states. This outcome would be a national disaster of historic proportions albeit the culmination of decades of Republican strategy. The tragedy our nation faces cannot be understated.

This moment has been visible on the horizon since at least 2016, when Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R–Ky.) Republican-led Congress denied Barack Obama a vote on his nomination of Merrick Garland to fill the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat. With that treacherous act, the Republican-controlled Senate gave the fate of the Supreme Court to the 2016 November election, as Ruth Bader Ginsburg quietly discovered she no longer had the fallback option of retiring in the waning days of Obama’s presidency. When the American public failed to elect Hillary Clinton and punish McConnell’s radical rightists, the path toward our oppressive future was set.

This moment has been clearly visible on the horizon since 2016, when Mitch McConell’s Republican led congress violated the constitution to deny Barack Obama any vote on his nomination of Marrick Garland to fill the late Justice Scalia’s seat. With that treacherous act, the Republican-controlled senate gave the fate of the supreme court to the 2016 November election, as Ruth Bater Ginsburg quietly discovered she no longer had the fallback option of retiring in the waning days of Obama’s presidency. When the American public failed to elect Hillargy Clinton and failed to punish McConnell’s Republicans, the path towards our oppressive future was set.

Democrats in California have safeguarded our own residents with statewide laws to protect abortion rights, but millions upon millions will not be so lucky.

Governor Gavin Newsom’s recently released budget outline shows big investments in electric buses and diesel replacement, but not nearly enough. Newsom’s willingness to pause diesel tax increases to fight inflation shows how important these classes of vehicles are to our economy. Then it would be the responsibility of the state to push much harder in transforming these crucial engines to true electrification.

There are some real successes. The new state budget proposal includes billions to replace black soot belching school buses with new electric buses. The Bay Area is beginning to electrify its commuter ferry systems, with the first electric line coming online in a year or two, quickly followed by three more.

And we are finally placing an equal focus on installing solar and storage capacity on California’s flat-roofed expanses of commercial properties as on residential properties, which have inexplicably dominated the rooftop solar debate until now.

But there are still major problems with our path forward. Our state is also lagging behind on electric charging infrastructure. The deficiency of incentives for landlords to install chargers in apartment complexes and rental properties is a barrier to expanding the electric vehicle market that we can target. And again, the budget focuses on placing the burden of installing solar and storage capacity on residential properties without an equal focus on California’s flat-roofed expanses of commercial properties.

All grand transformations need to start somewhere, so when the state sits down to start parceling out this money the transformation should begin in the places currently hit hardest by diesel pollution. Places like our own county, particularly south Fresno and Calwa, should be first in line as they are experiencing the most harm from our current system.

Creating an all-electric economy requires batteries and batteries require lithium, which is only found concentrated in a few spots on earth. California has the potential to be a global tentpole of lithium for electric vehicle batteries, and the answer lies underneath the dry mud of the old Salton Sea bed. The hot, historically polluted Imperial Valley has acquired the optimistic name in planning circles as Lithium Valley.

Currently, much of the world’s crucial supply of lithium for battery production comes from China, something conservative opponents of electrification are always quick to mention. Previous explorations to set up mining operations by private companies have fallen prey to fluctuations in the global lithium market. However, a well designed commitment from the state government could help enhance our national economic security while putting us first in line to complete the electrification revolution.

California’s Imperial Valley has special advantages when it comes to considering sustainable industry. It is a prime location for solar and geothermal electricity generation, which can power the energy-intensive lithium extraction methods.

However, there is a worrisome possibility that an industrial lithium rush will harm the already impoverished and forgotten residents of the Imperial Valley. The slow drying of the accidentally man-made Salton Sea has left vast expanses of dried mud caked with toxic agricultural runoff, as global warming increases the oppressive desert heat and water shortages. These communities have little political visibility and are thus vulnerable.


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The Mayor’s Office and the City Council are finally announcing the $8.5 million funding of Phase I of the Southeast Fresno Regional Park and Soccer Complex (2155 S. Peach Ave.) in southeast Fresno.

This is a project that will provide more green space, better quality of air and health for residents and more recreational facilities and picnic areas for families in southeast Fresno. The federal government gave the 49-acre parcel at Peach Avenue and California Street to the city 16 years ago, but Fresno did not budget the funds to build or maintain the project until now.

With what sometimes seems like the same slow inevitability of global warming, high-speed rail will happen. It is just a matter of when.

And like with global warming, we need to align our economy and lifestyles now or suffer in the years to come. Why then is Fresno directing its long-term development to lean away from the valuable upcoming connection to the rest of the state?

Downtown, Chinatown and the Edison area are right at the site of the rail station, yet those areas seem almost invisible in Mayor Dyer's new housing plan. In fact, the continued concentration of commercial and industrial properties near south Fresno and Calwa are poisoning those areas.

San Jose, with all its tech giant money, has been pushing hard to secure its leg of high-speed rail as soon as possible, connecting the Bay Area to the Central Valley section just north of Fresno and south of Merced. They have just secured the environmental clearance for the connecting nexus that would make the Bay Area markets approximately a one-hour ride from Fresno.

With the insane housing prices in the global tech hub, Fresno stands to become a potential commuter bedroom community, especially with the proliferation of hybrid work schedules. One or two days in the office per week would make riding the train from the Central Valley attractive to Bay Area workers who have more money than space.

As Fresno is also desperate for new housing stock, why does Mayor Dyer’s housing plan seem to be intent on pushing development into the farthest reaches of Clovis and northeast Fresno rather than helping the downtown and south Fresno areas that will be the center of the train hub?

It is short-sighted and wasteful to continue to exacerbate Fresno’s poor city design of abandoning its center. Is it just willful blindness, as if politically motivated disapproval of the high-speed rail project means that the future will never happen? Or is it simply allowing more money to flow after rich housing flight, abandoning low-income areas from any prospect of renewal.

It is foolish to sacrifice our downtown and south Fresno areas to reckless commercial development and pollution when they could be an extremely valuable source of connection to the rest of our state

It’s an unfortunate reality that the general voter has a short memory and a strong herd instinct. Political signs fulfill a valuable function of increasing name recognition and swaying the public perception of levels of support. Democrats across Fresno County need volunteers to help place and install high-visibility signs.

Locations will be provided along with training and everything needed to place the sign. A pickup or SUV is recommended, and your schedule can be accommodated. As little as a few signs a week is appreciated. Once you’re shown the method, it takes moments and provides a visible mark in the world of your efforts to improve our region.
You will be volunteering for multiple campaigns working with Brian Bobbitt and Asignlum Printing providing Democratic campaigns the edge needed to help turn Fresno County Blue. If you’re interested contact Brian at 559-326-3181 (tel:559-326-3181) or stop by Asignlum, three doors from the Fresno County Democratic HQ on U Street.
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Want to help us win in 2022? Be a precinct captain! Join and become a part of our team! To join us, e-mail [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Re%3A%20Precinct%20Captains) .
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We are helping create the next generation of Democrats in the Central Valley! Are you a student interested in getting involved and learning more about the political world? You would be ideal for our fellowship program! For more information, e-mail [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Re%3B%20Fellowship%20Program) .

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Visit Your Democratic Headquarters! Our office is now open, and we can’t wait to see you again! Help us register people to vote or change to vote by mail. Pass out candidate or issue literature and pick up candidate swag! Sign up to help us around the office!

News and events will alway arise faster than this newsletter can come out. That is why the Fresno County Democratic Party website is the best place to get regular updates on upcoming events in the area, as well as information on ways to get involved. There is also information on scheduled meetings of the many Democratic clubs in Fresno County, so you can find one that most suits you and your interests

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The Democratic Party HQ (1033 U St ([link removed]) .) is open 10 a.m. – 2 p.m. Monday–Friday. Call 559-495-0606 (tel:559-495-0606) or e-mail [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]?subject=Re%3A%20Newsletter-5-18-22) for information or to volunteer.

Support your local Democratic Party by donation viaActBlue ([link removed]) or by mailing a check to Fresno County Democratic Party, P.O. Box 5795, Fresno, CA 93755.


Our newsletter is prepared by Francis Horan.

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