On Primary Election Night last month, early returns showed developer and Trump supporter Rick Caruso ahead in the Los Angeles mayoral race. National and statewide media spoke of “tough lessons for progressives” as they claimed progressive candidates were losing and that supposedly meant we had to moderate our messaging and platform in order to win the midterms.

A few days later, once the full election results came in, it was clear that this message was nothing but centrist spin: Progressives were winning around the city. In at least one case, a progressive candidate won outright during the primary, knocking off a longtime establishment incumbent. 

With Santa Monica’s own city elections on the horizon, we wanted to take a moment to meet some of the progressive candidates running in our neighboring city of Los Angeles in order to learn about how progressive candidates and messages can win in 2022. 

Guests:
LA Councilmember-Elect Eunisses Hernandez (CD1)
LA Council Candidate (CD11) Erin Darling
LA Council Candidate (CD13) Hugo Soto-Martinez
LA City Controller Candidate Kenneth Mejia

Our panel will be moderated by esteemed LA Councilmember Mike Bonin, longtime friend and member of the Santa Monica Democratic Club.

Date:  Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Time:  6:30pm Doors, 7:00pm Program Start
Place: Zoom Conference Call
RSVP here: https://forms.gle/4BNkvPxDL5TyRU447

In addition to this panel on progressive candidates running in Los Angeles, we will also vote to endorse in four remaining races where either our primary-endorsed candidate did not advance or we did not reach consensus when we voted:

LA County Sheriff – Robert Luna vs. Alex Villanueva
LA County Supervisor District 3 – Bob Hertzberg vs. Lindsey Horvath
LA Superior Court Judge Office #60 – Abby Baron vs. Anna Reitano
LA Superior Court Judge Office #118 – Melissa Hammond vs. Carolyn “Jiyoung” Park

The Membership may also consider a resolution pertaining to the rent adjustment cap of 3%, as proposed by the Rent Control Board, pending the outcome of the July 26 City Council meeting vote.