January Mono County Democrats Updates
- monocountydemocrat
- 3 days ago
- 9 min read
In this newsletter:
Dear Fellow Dems:
This is a rather long newsletter, so bear with me. Lots of things have been happening.
It is clear that people are angry and want to do something to stop the egregious actions being taken by the Trump administration. That has been clear in the number of people across the country who have turned out for rallies, and the vigil recently held in Mammoth.
That said, there are already discussions within the CD 3 Regional Organizing Council (ROC) about next steps, including broadening from what was just CD3 to a Sierra Regional Organizing Council that can work to ensure that even in “safe” districts, Democrats are elected. And of course, there are other races going on at all levels, from the state to local contests. We have seen the damage that a school board can do when it tries to ban books or take over a curriculum. So, we still have work to do.
Right now, however, I am not clear on what form the next set of actions will take – but stay tuned, and I will let you know. We will continue to need your help with contested Congressional races as well as local races.
We, as Democrats, have to look out for and protect that which is in the common good. We can do that if we work together!
-Joyce Kaufman
Mono County Democratic Central Committee Chair
Chair: Joyce P. Kaufman (June Lake) jpkaufman70@gmail.com
Vice chair: Urs Willimann (Bridgeport) willimann.urs@gmail.com
Comptroller: OJ Zeleny (Mammoth Lakes) ojz@mac.com
Recording Secretary, Rosemarie Willimann (Bridgeport) rawillimann@yahoo.com
What is Going On?
The Devastation in Minnesota
As we all know by now, 2026 started with a bang, as it were, with ICE and CPB agents being deployed to Minnesota and the resulting shooting deaths by them of two innocent people, Renée Nicole Macklin Good and Alex Pretti.
What further inflamed the situation was how quickly the administration, led by Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller, blamed the victims, accusing them of being “domestic terrorists,” and in the case of Pretti, who was carrying a gun (licensed), accusing him of being there to massacre the federal agents.
As usual, these accusations were made immediately after the incidents and with no evidence to back up these claims. It did not take long for Trump to jump on the bandwagon, backing down just a bit when it became clear how public opinion had shifted against him. The areas in which he was most popular, immigration and the economy, quickly became major liabilities for him, as even his own supporters backed away from the unfounded claims about the victims, and as public opinion blamed him for the behavior of ICE and the CPB.
Further, Trump has shown little attention to the domestic economy, speaking disparagingly of the concept of “affordability,” which was one of the areas that helped get him elected.
Of course, it is unclear whether the movement of personnel in Minnesota will result in any real change or just the cosmetics of moving Greg Bovino out of Minneapolis (and back to California, by the way), to be replaced by “border czar” Tom Homan. It is telling that the fact that Homan was captured on video by the FBI taking a paper bag filled with about $50,000 in cash seems to have been forgotten. Compared to Bovino, Homan seems like a “good guy.”
The Democrats in Congress have decided it was time to push back, and, with some Republican support, managed to get a bill funding DHS separated from other government funding packages. The Dems are making important demands for changes to DHS, although it does not appear that the desire for Kristi Noem to be fired or to resign will be met; Trump continues to back her, at least for now.
Congress has two weeks to negotiate the DHS funding bill. But perhaps what is most telling is how many Republicans are now finally speaking up against the outrages perpetrated by ICE and CBP, and against the blatant lies being told by members of the administration. Perhaps they can sense the change in public mood leading up to the mid-term elections, and the fact that it now appears unlikely that the Republicans will hold the House. Flipping the House has to be among our highest priorities. More on this below.
Local Mono County Political Updates
As you think about the candidates, especially where several people are vying for an office, it is worth thinking about which ones have reached out to us here in Mono County and have joined us for meetings.
Kate Sills, candidate for Congress in CD5, joined us at our January meeting, as did Patrick Wolff, candidate for State Insurance Commissioner. At our December meeting, we were joined by Nichelle Henderson, candidate for Superintendent of Public Instruction, as well as Michael Masuda, candidate for Congress in CD 5.
Before December, we had the following candidates at our meetings: Janelle Kellman, candidate for Lt. Governor (in August); Josh Newman and Al Muratsuchi, both candidates for State Supt. of Public Instruction (October 13 and November 10, respectively); Jaron Brandon, candidate for State Senate District 4 (in Mammoth June 27 and 28); and Josh Engel, candidate for Assembly District 8 (October 13). And State Senator Ben Allen, also a candidate for Insurance Commissioner, reached out to me specifically to learn more about our insurance challenges in Mono County and plans to join us in February.
Our January meeting was especially well attended, as people seemed to be eager to learn more about Patrick Wolff’s ideas regarding insurance. And, as noted above, our meetings are open, and should you wish to join a meeting, simply let me know (jpkaufman70@gmail.com), and I will get you the Zoom link.
Congressional Candidates
CADEM held its pre-endorsing convention in January. To get the official party endorsement at that time, any candidate needed to get 70 percent of the delegate votes cast. For us here in CD5, where we had four Democratic candidates, Michael Masuda, Kate Sills, Mike Barclay, and Paul Danbom, none met the 70 percent threshold, so there will be an endorsing caucus held at the Party convention later in February. At that point, the successful candidate needs to get only 50 percent of the delegate votes to get the official party endorsement. We will be discussing this more at our monthly meeting on February 9. And we still do not know what Kevin Kiley will do, whether he will run in the new, heavily democratic CD3, or will move to our CD5. Papers must be filed by March 6, so we might not know more until then.
Gubernatorial Candidates
In answer to a question many of you have asked, none of the gubernatorial candidates were on the ballot for the pre-endorsement. I assume that the position will be addressed at the endorsing convention in February. Right now, there doesn’t appear to be any frontrunner on the Democratic side. For those who lose track of such things, currently running on the Democratic side are: Katie Porter, Eric Swalwell, Antonio Villaraigosa, Xavier Becerra, Tom Steyer, Betty Yee, Tony Thurmond, Ian Calderon, and, recently joining the race, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.
There are two Republicans in the race as well, Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton. Given the “jungle primary,” it is possible that the Dems will split the vote and the top-two vote-getters will be Republican, thereby ensuring that the next governor will be a Republican. While the way to possibly avoid this from happening would be for some of the Dems to leave the race, right now, none seem willing to do so.
It is also important to note that of this group of Dems, Betty Yee and her husband Stephen spent time here with us in September, Tony Thurmond was here in his capacity as Supt. of Public Instruction last spring when he announced his intention to run for governor, and the Swalwell campaign has reached out to me about having him possibly attend one of our meetings. Unfortunately, he has another engagement on February 9, but we will see if we can schedule him for another meeting prior to the primary. You now know as much as I do about the gubernatorial race.
Senate Candidates
On the State Senate side (for SD 4), Jaron Brandon, who is running against Marie Alvarado-Gil (MAG), received 99 percent of the vote at the pre-endorsing convention, so he is the officially endorsed candidate for that position. Many of us met him when he was in our area in June. While the district remains leaning Republican, Jaron has a chance to unseat MAG, who not only changed her party affiliation from Dem to Republican but has been embroiled in a scandal involving her chief of staff. I am not going to go into the details, but you can find them if you Google Marie Alvarado-Gil and Chad Condit. There is probably more information available than anyone needs to know.
Looking Ahead to 2026
The election cycle has started in California, leading up to the primary on June 2, 2026. Especially in races where there are multiple candidates, like the governor, that will be critical, and we will certainly know more after the primary results are in.
Obviously, the next big thing coming up in 2026 will be the Congressional elections. It is also important to note that even though Proposition 50 passed by a large margin, there will be at least four contested races here in California. Those include two endangered Democrats, Adam Gray (CD 13) and Derek Tran (CD 45). In 2024, Gray won his district by about 150 votes, and we know that Republicans will be targeting both these races. On the Republican side, Dems are targeting David Valadao (CD 22) and Darryl Issa (CD 48).
If we are to take the House, we need to keep every seat and take some additional ones, and even though Prop 50 was designed to give Dems an extra 5 seats, we need to fight to keep Gray and Tran’s seats, and flip Valadao and Issa’s seats.
As I get more information about what we can do to help in those contested races, I will let you know and also reach out for help. And there are going to be other close races in other parts of the country where we can help, especially by phone banking. That is one of the most effective and efficient ways to reach voters, and I know from experience it is not nearly as difficult or scary as it might appear to be. More details on places where help will be needed as I get that information.
CADEM Chair Rusty Hicks always says that the road to taking the House runs through California, and he is correct. That will be especially true in 2026 with Trump desperately trying to hold on to the slim Republican majority, which is looking less and less likely. But a Democratic victory is by no means guaranteed, and we still have work to do. Be sure to let me know if you are interested in helping in any way, and I will let you know how to do so.
How We Take Action
Contest Every Race
The State Party is overseeing a program called “Contest Every Race.” Led by Organizing Director Sue Hilderbrand, the goal is to identify those local races that are likely to have open seats in 2026, and match them with Democrats who might be willing to run for office.
We are now in the process of identifying those races and have passed that information on to Sue. The goal is for CADEM to reach out to Dems and see whether anyone might be interested in running for local office. (That means you!) And lest you think that that would be too daunting, the State Party will also be doing training for candidates, as is Chris Bubser’s group, the Sierra Protection Action Network (SPAN). And if 2026 is not the right time for you, you can still get your name on the list and get ready to do something in 2028. Or get in touch with Chris about her candidate training (Chris@chrisbubser.com) if you want to learn more about what it takes to be a candidate for office.
The Republicans have been very effective at building a bench by working from the local level and up. The Dems are now trying to do so as well, and Contest Every Race is a way to identify possible candidates. Think about it!
Participate in Local Rallies
Mammoth and Bishop recently held vigils to recognize the lives recently lost at the hands of ICE agents, and to gather the community together as a stand against unconstitutional and illegal injustices happening across the country.
The next Nationwide Mobilize Protest is scheduled for March 28th, and we plan to have local events for anyone who would like to participate. If you have not joined a local protest, they can be very inspiring and uplifting events. It can sometimes feel like everything is working against us right now, and these events can help to put things into perspective. There are far more people who do not support what is happening than those who do.
Coalition Mammoth
Coalition Mammoth is a relatively new organization in Mammoth, spearheaded by a group of young women. They are the driving force behind organizing the rallies that many of us have attended. In one of our Mono Dems meetings, we decided that it will be important for Coalition Mammoth and the Mono Dems to learn more about each other and work together, since we share many of the same goals and values. In our January meeting, we will be chatting with Emily Markstein, one of the founders of Coalition Mammoth, about how we can better work together. They have been doing an inspiring amount of work to engage the younger generations, and the impact was clear at our latest Mammoth rally!
On February 20th, they will be hosting a "Girl Winter Film Tour" at the Minaret Theater in Mammoth. It will feature a collection of femme-forward and gender-nonconforming films, elevating new voices in the outdoor industry. It's a great opportunity to build community and meet some great people!
