July Mono County Democrats Updates
- monocountydemocrat
- 6 hours ago
- 10 min read
In this newsletter:
Dear Fellow Dems:
As much as it appeared that Trump had hijacked July 4th and the celebration of America’s 250th birthday, in fact, here in the Eastern Sierra, we had our own celebration. As we did last year, the Mono Dems and friends highlighted the Bill of Rights, marching behind a banner that said: “We the People.”
Most excitedly, we were awarded the 2nd-place prize by the Mammoth Lakes Chamber of Commerce, which comes with $200 that will go straight to our Treasury.
There is much work to do leading up to the midterm elections, and I will keep you updated as things start to pick up.
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
Results of the Primary
Governor's Race
After much angst and nail-biting, the results of the primary race for governor were finally known. Although the results will not be formally certified until July 10, the results, as I write this (July 5), were pretty clear. Xavier Becerra (D) was leading with just over 28% of the vote, followed by Steve Hilton (R) with almost 25% of the vote. This puts to rest the fear that the top two vote-getters would be Republicans. And although nothing is certain until the votes are cast, given the heavily Democratic electorate in California, it looks very likely that Xavier Becerra will be our next governor, assuming people get out and vote!
A few points to ponder..
Becerra will be the state’s first Hispanic governor, despite the fact that around 40% of the population is Latino/Hispanic. Some say it’s about time. Becerra has an impressive background; he served as Joe Biden’s Secretary of Health and Human Services and, before that, was a member of Congress from California and California’s Attorney General. He has experience as the head of an executive agency, which would apply to his work as Governor. And, unlike other politicians, there is no hint of scandal or anything inappropriate.
Steve Hilton, the Republican, has a very different background. He is a Brit who emigrated to the United States to follow his wife, who is a British public relations executive. He became a citizen in 2021. She was in charge of communications and public policy at Google for nearly a decade and then joined Facebook and Netflix as chief communications officer. Hilton and his wife met when both were operatives for the Conservative Party in Britain. Hilton was known for his conservative views and was one of the most vocal proponents of Brexit, the vote for the UK to leave the European Union. In the United States, he did a weekly show for Fox News, which he suspended when he started his run for governor.
I recently returned from political science meetings in England, where I talked to a number of my British friends about Hilton, and it appears that his stance on Brexit reflects much of what his economic positions would be were he to become governor of California. When I got home, I did more research on Hilton, and there was quite a bit about his position on Brexit in the British press, especially around the time of the Brexit vote in 2016. More recently, the BBC wrote that "Steve Hilton, the former senior adviser to David Cameron, has told the BBC his bid to be California's next governor is a campaign to ‘save’ the state from what he describes as overbearing bureaucracy and economic decline." (BBC News, June 12, 2026).
He has also said that he would like to bring a DOGE version to CA. All this is consistent with his Brexit views. Apparently, in addition to his economic positions, according to the BBC, he advocated abolishing maternity leave, among other relatively extreme positions. I have seen very little of this reported publicly in the press here. He was endorsed by Trump.
Californians cannot afford to be complacent and assume that Becerra will win. We need to make sure that everyone gets out there and votes. I will update you about any get-out-the-vote efforts that I hear about so you can participate as you see fit.
CD5
Thanks to Prop 50, Mono County was moved into CD 5, a District represented by long-time Republican Congressman Tom McClintock. The district is around Republican +20, so it is unlikely we will be represented by a Democrat until the next redistricting effort after the 2030 census. Nonetheless, Democrat Michael Masuda stepped up to run and was the officially endorsed candidate of the Democratic Party. Although he will be on the ballot in November against McClintock, the results were not promising. McClintock won the primary with over 60 percent of the vote, while Masuda got 23 percent. Even combining his total with the other two Dems on the ballot, their combined total was just under 40 percent.
The only county that Masuda won outright was Alpine, with over 57 percent of the votes. In Mono County, Masuda took almost 42 percent of the votes, to McClintock’s 41 percent. And in neighboring Inyo, McClintock got almost 52 percent of the vote to Masuda’s 33 percent. That said, there is a lot of anti-Trump sentiment, especially here in California, and anything is possible.
SD4
Senate District 4 (SD 4) results were extremely interesting, I think. Three people were running, and incumbent Marie Alvarado-Gil (MAG) ended up in third place, which means she will not be on the ballot in November.
For those who need a refresher, MAG ran as a Democrat and then changed her party affiliation officially to Republican, which was actually more consistent with her positions. The number one vote getter in the primary was Democrat Jaron Brandon, who got 41 percent of the vote.
Jaron is a young, energetic supervisor in Tuolumne County. He threw his hat into the ring for the position more than a year ago and spent time here with us in Mammoth and also in Bishop last summer. He has been working hard to stake out his positions, especially as they apply to those of us in the Eastern Sierra, and has been very impressive. He will be running against a Republican woman, Alexandra Duarte, who got 32 percent of the vote. She is from Modesto, and her campaign materials stress that she is a wife, mother, and farmer and will work to bring down prices in California, although she does not specify how she will do this. Unlike Jaron, who reached out to us on the Eastern side of the Sierra, to the best of my knowledge, Duarte has not. The race will be determined in part by the almost 27 percent of the voters who voted from MAG.
State Assembly
We are in Assembly District 8, where we are represented by Assemblyman David Tangipa, a Republican, who ran unopposed. Unfortunately, no Dem came forward to contest this race, but the district is heavily Republican, and it is unlikely a Dem could ever win. So, anyone who is thinking of getting involved in electoral politics, here is an opportunity to try it in the future. (Just a thought.)
Other Positions
There will be other local races on the ballot in November. Three seats are up for the Mammoth School Board, although it is likely that all three incumbents will run again. For Mono County Supervisor, both Jennifer Kreitz (District 1) and Lynda Salcido (District 5) ran unopposed in the primary and therefore will retain their seats. Other positions might come up for the Mammoth Town Council and on various boards and commissions, but I am not aware of any at this time. The filing deadline is not until August, and we will know more then.
Anyone interested in running for any office at any time, please reach out to me or Chris Bubser. The State Party has a program called “Contest Every Race,” specifically to nurture candidates at all levels, and offers training if you would like to run for office. And a group that Chris is very involved with, Sierra Protection Action Network (SPAN), also offers training. So, you would not be doing this alone.
In Other News
July 4th Parade in Mammoth Lakes
Another great year representing the founding principles of our democracy! Thank you to all who showed up and helped us to carry our signs. We gave out copies of the Bill of Rights to adults as we were marching, and for the kids, we had red, white, and blue beads and little American flags.
We had 10 people each carrying a sign for one of the amendments – thanks to Lou and Doug Stewart for making the signs – and we made sure that one of us was carrying a large American flag, since the flag does not “belong” to the Republican Party. Shout out to all the announcers along the parade route who went off-script to highlight us, the amendments, and the importance of voting. I was amazed by the number of children who noted that we were carrying the amendments as we walked by.
One person asked whether we had the 14th Amendment, which, although not part of the Bill of Rights, has gotten a lot of attention lately. As one in our group noted, if we include that, then we should also include the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote. We will revisit this next year and will need extra volunteers to help.
Although we were the only group walking the full parade, which made us slower than some of the other “floats,” we also got a lot of love and, at least as I saw it, few comments in opposition (i.e., pro-Trump). Mostly, people applauded and whistled as we went by. And we also noted that we appeared to be the only group in the parade that actually remained true to the reason for the holiday: in celebration of our freedoms.
No Hot Creek Mine
As you may be aware, our local Hot Creek is being threatened by a gold mining company.
Four years ago, on September 27th 2021, the USFS granted Canadian company KORE Mining a Categorical Exclusion (CE) to drill at Hot Creek Geologic Site. A coalition of local organizations took KORE Mining and the Inyo National Forest to court and won.
But the current administration has dismantled many environmental protections and safeguards communities have against mining companies. This time, the process by which KORE Mining can submit applications for drilling and begin the project are much different. Because of these changes, they have once again submitted a proposal to the USFS for exploratory drilling.
What can we do to stop this?
Email USFS and tell them that this is not what the public wants on our public lands. On the No Hot Creek Mine website, there is a sample script to help you get started, but make sure to personalize your message. We have been suggesting that people email Mammoth District, Fred Wong, but we think it might be more productive now to email the broader USFS so that messages get read.
Join the Business Coalition and take a stand with the community
Join us July 26th for a paint and sip!
How We Take Action
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. Some of that work involves reaching out to voters in the four critical districts in California.
Phone Banking
Right now, there are two phone banks going on per week, on Tuesdays, from 5:30 to 7:30, for Congressman Derek Tran in CD 45 to help him hold his seat, and against Congressman Darryl Issa in CD 48 to flip that seat. Issa has indicated he does not plan to run, but it is still a Republican seat that we would like to flip. Then on Thursdays, from 5:30-7:30 PM, for Congressman Adam Gray in CD 13 to help him hold his seat (which he won by just under 160 votes in 2024) and against Republican Congressman Valadao in CD 22. Phone banking is one of the most effective ways to reach voters because of the direct contact and the conversations you can have. Training is provided at the start of each shift.
Please sign up to work the phones if you can. The mobilize link to sign up is:
Canvassing
In addition, we will probably do some canvassing here in Mammoth as we get closer to November, especially in support of Jaron Brandon. I will get you details as soon as I have them. Or for more information on canvassing, contact Chris Bubser (Chris@chrisbubser.com).
Rural Efforts by the Party
It is clear that people are angry and want to do something to stop the egregious anti-democratic 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, including here in Mammoth and also in Bishop.
The State Party has indicated its support for and commitment to rural areas like ours by assigning one of the members of the Party’s Organizing Team, Sue Hildebrand, to now head up a newly-formed Rural Coalition. That group has been meeting regularly, most recently to hear from the Executive Director of RUBI (the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative, https://ruralurbanbridge.org/) to talk about what happened in 2024 and what we can do in the future to overcome the divide that has emerged.
The RUBI training took place via Zoom on two Tuesdays in June, with the first part focused on “the problem,” specifically why the Dems are losing rural voters, and the second part dedicated to solutions. The latter boils down to three key phrases: Think Different, Talk Different, and Act Different. The critical lesson is to listen to what others are saying and know how to communicate without using jargon, but by drawing on common experiences and concerns. And while this might seem self-evident, these are important things to remember when talking to voters, including friends and family.
In another indication of how important rural voters are and will be in the upcoming elections, in June, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) also hosted a webinar about reaching out to rural voters. The meeting stressed the importance of reaching out to all members of the community, especially Hispanic and younger voters. And the DNC is dedicating money and staff time to help make this happen, including hosting rural regional forums. This is an exciting initiative and has given those of us in the rural areas momentum going forward. There will be further meetings and conversations, which I will keep you apprised of in future newsletters.
Join us
Remember that our meetings are open, and anyone is welcome to attend. Our July meeting will be on July 13, 2026. All our meetings are on Zoom, starting at 5:00, so you can join from anywhere.
Please get in touch with me (jpkaufman70@gmail.com) if you would like to be added to our Zoom invite for any of our meetings.