March Mono County Democrats Updates
- monocountydemocrat
- 47 minutes ago
- 10 min read
In this newsletter:
Dear Fellow Dems:
As has become the new norm, a lot is going on, and there is no sign of that slowing down anytime soon. It can feel very overwhelming, but organizing at the local level is often the best way to be part of enacting change.
So, what can you do to help? I think that most of the hard work that we will need to do will take place after the primary, when the candidates for most of the offices are set prior to the November election. That said, if there is one candidate for governor whom you feel strongly about, this is definitely the time to show your support for him or her.
We need to make sure that at least one of the top two vote-getters for governor is a Democrat, lest a Republican win by default. That also means it will be REALLY important to get out and vote in the primary.
Similarly, after the primary, we will have a better sense as to who will be the candidates for Congress here in CD 5, and assuming Michael Masuda emerges as one of the top two, then he will need Democratic support. Jaron Brandon is already doing phone banks prior to the primary, and he would love additional help and support. And, of course, there are other Congressional districts here in California that will require work, even after the Proposition 50 redistricting.
Contact me if you want more information on what you can do, and I will use this newsletter to update you on specifics, such as phone banks, as I learn more.
As Nancy Pelosi has said, don’t agonize, organize. You can do more than complain and feel helpless about the abysmal state of politics in our country now by taking action. We need help to retake the House (and dare I say it, the Senate?) in 2026 and to get ready for 2028. The stakes are high, and every vote really does count! Please do what you can to help save democracy.
-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
Political Updates
Democratic Convention Update
The big news this month is about the Democratic State Party Convention, which was held in San Francisco from February 20-22. Our four delegates were Chris Bubser, Rosemarie, Urs Willimann (who were substituting for Doug and Lou Stewart), and me. Chris and I were flying out of Bishop and were not sure we would even get there since 395 was closed from Monday until Friday morning, the day we were flying, because of snow. After what turned out to be a harrowing drive to the Bishop airport from June Lake (me) and Mammoth (Chris), we did make it and were glad we did.
At the convention, Friday afternoon was mostly spent registering and scoping things out, and then we met up with Kermit Jones, our candidate for Congress in 2022, and spent time catching up with him. He now heads a large Medi-Cal health group in the Bay Area, and seems very happy doing health care policy. It was great to see him again.
We spent Friday night at an event for gubernatorial candidate Eric Swallwell. We were advised by a member of Swalwell’s team to get there early, so we lined up at 8:00 for an 8:30 event, and were glad we did. They were letting in only a limited number of people at a time, so we were admitted and were able to get a table. There was music and some very lame comedians, but the highlights were the speeches by Adam Schiff and Swalwell. We also had the chance to catch up in person with some of the people from the CD 3 ROC we had been working with, but who, before this point, were only squares on Zoom, so that was great fun.
Saturday was mostly speechifying. In the morning, there were speeches by Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi (who was back in her stiletto heels), and a number of other notables from the political world, but also union organizers and other Dem-friendly organizations. After lunch, the candidates for various offices had the opportunity to speak, starting with the gubernatorial candidates who each had four minutes to make their case to the delegates. They were followed by the candidates for Lt. Governor, Treasurer, Insurance Commissioner, Supt. of Public Instruction, and candidates for the Board of Equalization in the different districts. A number of candidates, such as Shirley Weber for Secretary of State and Malia Cohen for Controller, were running unopposed.
Later that afternoon, we were invited to a caucus for CD 5, as no candidate had satisfied the pre-endorsement requirement. The only candidate who participated was Michael Masuda, who eventually did receive more than the 60% delegate votes necessary to be the officially endorsed candidate of the State party.
Voting for all offices took place electronically in the afternoon/early evening, with the results announced later. The delegate votes for governor were especially interesting.
Eric Swalwell came in first with 24% of the votes, followed by Betty Yee (17%) and Xavier Becerra (14%). Tom Steyer was just behind him with 13% of the delegate votes. No one else, including Katie Porter, broke double digits; Katie received just over 9% of the delegate votes.
What made that especially interesting was that newspaper polls that came out shortly after the convention had the two Republicans tied for first place, followed by Eric Swalwell, Katie Porter, and Tom Steyer. That discrepancy in the numbers for the Democratic candidates seems to highlight the difference in perspective between the party stalwarts and the “public.” But it also highlights the concern that was raised by party leaders that with that number of Dems on the ballot, votes could be split, leaving the road open for two Republicans to take the top two slots in the June primary, guaranteeing a Republican governor, which would be a disaster!
The hope is that some of the candidates who did not get a large number of votes, such as Antonio Villaraigosa, Tony Thurmond, and Ian Calderon, would drop out of the race and tighten the Democratic field. I have not heard anything about that happening yet, but I will update you all as I know more.
By the way, according to the delegate votes, Jane Kim and Ben Allen were virtually tied for the insurance commissioner, although neither received enough votes to get the endorsement. Similarly, Nichelle Henderson and Al Muratsuchi were virtually tied for Supt. of Public Instruction, although again, with neither getting enough votes for the endorsement. And although Eleni Kounalakis received more than 50% of the vote for Treasurer, it was not enough for an official endorsement. In those cases where there is no official endorsement, all the names will be on the primary ballot in June, with the top two vote-getters on the ballot in November.
The convention also held a farewell dinner for Nancy Pelosi, which none of the four of us attended. However, we understand that it was a fitting tribute to a woman who was a force in Democratic politics for decades. And we still return to her often-repeated refrain: don’t agonize, organize. We all need to remember that as we look to the future.
CD5 Update
Kevin Kiley recently announced that he has decided to run in CD 6, not our district, CD 5. That means that the contest is shaping up to be Democrat Mike Masuda versus incumbent Tom McClintock. The district is heavily Republican, although given the anger against Trump and the Republicans, anything is possible. Masuda got the official Party endorsement at the Convention in February.
One other point worth making here about CD 5: Although our next member of Congress will likely be a Republican, I did run into Heidi Hall at the convention. Heidi is running in new CD 3 (our old district), and many of you met her when she was in our area last spring, prior to redistricting. We had a lovely conversation, and she expressed her concern about the fact that we have been moved into a heavily Republican district. However, she also assured me that if she is elected in CD 3, she will also be willing to represent our interests in Congress, even if our own member does not. Please remember that if you want to continue to give Heidi your support.
SD4 Update
We have a terrific young candidate for Senate District 4, Jaron Brandon. Currently a Supervisor in Tuolumne County, Jaron stepped up to run against incumbent Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil (MAG). MAG ran for office as a Democrat and then switched her party affiliation to Republican, to the consternation of many.
Jaron has been campaigning for this seat for a while, and spent time in our area in June 2024, where we hosted a number of events for him. He was especially well received by the younger members of our community and impressed many of us older and more jaded members of the group with his enthusiasm and also his grasp of the issues.
He was ubiquitous at the convention and assured us that he plans to return to our area sometime in the spring/summer to continue to build support. I should also note that MAG has been working hard to remind her constituents of all that she has done on our behalf, including facilitating the renaming of part of 395 in honor of Dave McCoy. But the question remains whether she is the best person to represent us, or a young Democrat whose values are consistent with those many of us care about.
In Other News
Earth Day in Bishop
The Mono Dems once again will have a table at Earth Day, which will be Sunday, April 12, from 10:00 to 3:00 in Bishop City Park. Last year, thanks to Rachel, we gave out an Earth Day Fact Sheet as well as “Earth Day Bingo” cards, and thanks to Barb Phillips, had packets of seeds to give out to kids. This is a totally feel-good event, and we would love to have you join us, either to volunteer at our table for all or part of the day, or just stop by to say hello.
Coalition Mammoth Events
I know I have mentioned in previous newsletters the Coalition Mammoth group and what an asset they are to our community. One of the founders, Emily Markstein, came to our February Mono Dems meeting to talk more about her group and how we can work together. Since Coalition Mammoth and the Mono Dems share many of the same values, we really think it will be important to collaborate as much as possible. By the way, this is the group that has been spearheading most of the rallies that have taken place in Mammoth. Emily plans to join us for our April meeting.
They are planning several really amazing events to engage and build community. All ages and backgrounds are welcome!
Friday, March 13th: Rage Against War Protest
Thursday, March 26th: Family Dinner to celebrate Coalition Mammoth turning a year old!
Saturday, March 28th: No Kings Rally, in coordination with the Nationwide Mobilize
Bishop Events
Inyo350 is also doing a wonderful job of coordinating several events in Bishop. We will share more as they come through!
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!
Join us
I am pleased to report that at our March 9 meeting, the Mono Dems will welcome our 15th member. While that does not sound like a lot of people, it is a larger number than we have ever had on our committee, and we are authorized to go up to 20 members.
Remember that our meetings are open, and anyone is welcome to attend. Our March meeting will be on March 9th, and our April meeting will be on April 13. 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.
Local Community Announcement
Rest in peace to one of our own
It is with great sadness that I announce the passing of Wilma Wheeler on Monday, March 2. Wilma was 95 and had suffered a stroke, but her family was hopeful about her prognosis. Unfortunately, that was not to be.
Wilma was one of the founders of the Mono Democratic Central Committee (Mono Dems), and we would not exist without her vision. In the words of friend and fellow Dem, O.J. Zeleny, Wilma was "A strong woman who left us so many gifts. A huge emptiness in our community."
She marched with us in the July 4th parade in 2025, carrying one of the signs for the Bill of Rights, and was truly an inspiration in so many ways.
We have been told that there will be a celebration of life for Wilma in Mammoth later this summer. I will announce details when we get them. If you wish to send a note to Bryce and the family, the mailing address is P.O. Box 3208, Mammoth Lakes, 93546.
She will be missed by all who knew her, and by the community as a whole.
