I hope you guys appreciate me, because I managed to get through the entire 90-minute debate for the June 26 primary in the 37th Congressional District to replace the late Juanita Millender-McDonald held on Thursday night. 11 Democrats were on stage, and because they were all given 2 minute opening statements, the debate really didn't cover much ground. But actually, the fact that the moderator was a clueless local news anchor from LA's ABC7 who had virtually no connection to the district was a good thing, as the persistent issues of race played out in the media in the campaign were fairly nonexistent in the debate.
Detailed two-day-late debateblogging on the flip...
I am back from maintaining radio silence for a few days. And I bring you this internal poll from the Laura Richardson campaign showing her with a 9-point lead in her Congressional primary against Jenny Oropeza and 15 other candidates. Richardson need only beat the other 10 Dems on the ballot to get into a runoff, where the Democrat will be very likely to win in this deep blue district.
Laura Richardson (D) 25%
Jenny Oropeza (D) 16%
Valerie McDonald (D) 7%
John M. Kanaley (R) 5%
Teri Ramirez (R) 2%
Ed Wilson (D) 2%
Other Democrats 4%
Other Republicans 2%
Minor Party Candidates 1%
Undecided 35%
That's a heavy amount of undecideds, so this obviously isn't over. It does seem to be getting even more tense, as tempers flared between Richardson and Oropeza after a candidate forum last week. Over..
LBPost.com, Charter Communications, and the Long Beach Democratic Club are co-sponsoring a debate among ALL THE DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES running to fill the vacated seat in the 37th Congressional District. If you live anywhere from Carson to Long Beach, then you'll definitely want to come to this. Come, and see for yourself what the candidates have to say about the issues that you care about most.
Follow me after the flip for all the details on next week's debate...
I know, another post about the open-seat Long Beach-area race that essentially looks at identity politics. But this is pretty interesting. The Congressional Black Caucus will not endorse a candidate in the race, which includes two high-profile black candidates, Assemblywoman Laura Richardson and neophyte politician Valerie McDonald, daughter of the late Juanita Millender-McDonald. Apparently, it got heated within the CBC:
The decision, in part, stems from an internal political feud between two of California's most visible black members of Congress: Rep. Maxine Waters and Rep. Diane Watson, who split over who should get the Caucus' backing in the June 26 special election. In the end, the Caucus declined to endorse either one in the Long Beach-area race. Waters favors Assemblywoman Laura Richardson and Watson supports Valerie McDonald, the daughter of the late congresswoman. The dispute over the endorsement was marked by heated exchanges involving Waters and Watson.
The Congressional Black Caucus' decision was in sharp contrast to the state Legislature's nine-member Black Caucus, which endorsed Richardson.
Diane Watson is one of the few California legislators to back McDonald, and she was enough to get the CBC not to endorse. I still think the California Federation of Labor support for Richardson will ultimately be crucial, but the CBC would have been a nice capper as well.
I'll be covering this race a bit more in my Congressional roundup (look for it next week), but I'd say right now, Richardson has a slight edge over State Sen. Jenny Oropeza because of the labor endorsement and the fact that turnout will be low.
Two big endorsements have come out in the last week for the special election down south. Sen. Jenny Oropeza walked away with the California Democratic Party endorsement, allowing her to say that she is officially endorsed by the CA Democratic Party. It sounds good, but does not mean extra resources. The bigger prize, that of the Los Angeles County Labor Federation goes to Assemblywoman Laura Richardson.
Like Steve Maviglo at CA Majority Report says, this means boots on the ground, especially useful in a low-turnout election like this one. The Fed will get their phone banks working, labor members walking precincts and spend money to message their own members. The LA Fed is a particularly strong one, in a very labor friendly area, making it a particularly plum endorsement.
(Note: I've amended the diary title to reflect that I'm saying there are clear differences between the candidates; although the facts presented in the article support such a conclusion, the author doesn't claim that.)
The 37th district is extremely blue and it's clear whichever of the Democratic favorites wins (Jenny Oropeza or Laura Richardson), she is going to vote the way progressives would want her to vote most of the time. On most issues, they'd vote similarly.
On gay rights, though, there appears to be a clear difference between them:
The upcoming special election to replace the late Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald is getting nasty. There are 19 people who have filed already, but there are just three front runners, State Assemblymember Laura Richardson, State Senator Jenny Oropeza and the daughter of the late Congresswoman Valerie McDonald. Power-brokers down in SoCal are taking sides. Yesterday, Senator Sheila Kuehl blasted Richardson for being "homophobic" in a letter and started fundraising for Orepeza.
The charges stem from an incident ten years ago when Richardson ran and lost to openly lay Gerrie Schipske for a State Assembly seat in Long Beach. Kuehl's letter yesterday charged that Richardson's campaign mailers during that race "were filled with homophobic hate speech so shocking that many of her biggest supporters withdrew their endorsements of her candidacy." Capitol Weekly:
It's behind the firewall, but Republicans in John Doolittle's district are determined to get him out of the 2008 race by threatening to run a primary challenger. I would assume that even the NRCC wouldn't be too keen to mount any resistance to such a challenge. They know well that Charlie Brown is poised to beat Doolittle the second time around, but it would be a more difficult task with a fresh opponent who is less tainted by scandal. My question would be, who could they possibly find up there that has no connection to Doolittle? Even mini-Rush Tom Sullivan, a non-politician, had Doolittle on his show as recently as last week. And the other "vultures" that are circling, to borrow Sullivan's phrase, certainly have some connection to Doolittle as well.
The other report would be a bombshell if true. CMR is reporting that Maxine Waters may retire this weekend to run for a seat on the LA County Board of Supervisors. I would hope this doesn't happen, but retirements like this in favor of elections closer to home are inevitable. Waters' seat is as safe as they come, but any election for it would be a free-for-all.
Speaking of free-for-alls, 19 candidates have filed for the June 26 special election to replace the late Juanita Millender-McDonald. This is pretty much a three-way race between Sen. Jenny Oropeza, Assemblywoman Laura Richardson, and neophyte politician and Rep. Millender-McDonald's daughter, Valerie McDonald.
I should have another full roundup in a couple weeks.
Yesterday I reported on Sen. Jenny Oropeza running for the late Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald's seat. Assemblywoman Laura Richardson is also running for that seat. While Oropeza may have greater name ID from her longer service, it will be no walk in the park.
The upcoming congressional race between Sen. Jenny Oropeza and Assemblywoman Laura Richardson has no shortage of subplots. There is an ethnic component: Richardson is African-American, Oropeza is Latino. Then there's the inherent Senate vs. Assembly rivalry. But the race may also become a proxy in the battle between labor unions and Indian tribes over new gaming compacts pending in the state Legislature. ... Oropeza, D-Long Beach, has long been a champion of organized labor. But earlier this year, she voted against labor, and with Senate leadership, to support the compacts on the floor of the state Senate.
Soon after the vote, a group of labor leaders, including Maria Elena Durazo, the powerful head of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, met with Oropeza to express their displeasure. "There were a lot of folks who were unhappy," says Mary Gutierrez, the organization's spokeswoman. (Capitol Weekly 5/3/07)
On the previous thread, some pointed out jennyoropeza.com, which is a hit site that lingered from her failed run against our current Speaaker. Or perhaps it was pre-emptive for just such a race. Either way, somebody has some bad blood with Senator Oropeza.
On the other hand, Assemblywoman Richardson is pretty new to this game. So, she still has yet to garner a whole lot of enemies, but converse may also be true. So, either way, I don't think this is going to end so smoothly as was anticipated. Term limits ensure that.
Sen. Jenny Oropeza has announced that she will run in the special election to replace Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald.
California state Sen. Jenny Oropeza (D) announced Wednesday afternoon that she will run in the special election to fill the seat of recently deceased Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D).
"We are all deeply saddened by the event that has brought me here today," Oropeza said in a statement.(The Hill 5/3/07)
Oropeza, who now represents much of the district, is the early favorite to win the seat.
