Santa Barbara County Democratic Party activists gathered at Tucker’s Grove County Park Monday afternoon to push back against the Sept. 14 effort to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom, and show support for three Democratic Party City Council candidates on the ballot in Santa Barbara in November.
“This year’s different,” said Darcel Elliott, chair of the Santa Barbara County Democratic Central Committee. “We have an election in just about a week. Next weekend is our last weekend to turn out the vote and make sure that people turn in their ballots against the recall.”
Democrats have spent much of the summer fighting the recall effort and plan a full-force challenge over the next several days.
“In less than 10 days, voters across California will decide whether or not our state will continue in a progressive direction on important issues like immigrants’ rights, climate change, protecting workers in our state, and so much more,” said Spencer Brandt, organizing director for the county Democratic Party. “The Republican strategy to take over our state is to ensure that Republicans are fired up and ready to go, and the Democrats are asleep at the wheel. Are we going to let that happen?”
The crowd responded with a loud “No!”
The 200-plus people attending the event also showed their support for the labor movement, as they gathered on Labor Day.
Isla Vista Community Services District Director Ethan Bertrand played and performed live music at the event.
Among the elected officials in attendance were Assemblyman Steve Bennett, D-Ventura; Das Williams, First District Santa Barbara County supervisor; Goleta Mayor Paula Perotte and City Council members James Kyriaco and Stuart Kasdin; Santa Barbara City Councilman Oscar Gutierrez; Santa Barbara Unified School District board member Laura Capps; and representatives from the offices of Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, and state Sen. Monique Limon, D-Santa Barbara.
Lompoc City Councilman Jeremy Ball was also in attendance.
The event also paid tribute to home health care worker and labor leader Elva Munoz.
“The labor movement is about making sure that workers are being treated well the way they want to be treated,” Elliott said. “It is really, really easy for employers to do big media, PR blitzes about just how well they are treating their workers, but it is usually on their terms, not the workers’ terms. And unions are about it being on the workers’ terms.”
In addition to talk about the recall effort, the day focused on the re-election campaigns of Santa Barbara Mayor Cathy Murillo and council members Meagan Harmon and Kristen Sneddon.
Councilman Eric Friedman is guaranteed re-election because he doesn’t have an an opponent on the ballot.
“There’s no place I would rather be than right here, right now, with all of you, paying tribute to the worker,” Murillo said. “Workers in our community and across the nation and everywhere. It means a lot to me that our local Democratic Party is a pro-labor organization.
“It means a lot to me that you are all here, confirming your commitment to helping workers have a decent salary, good benefits, safe working conditions, and a dignified retirement.”
Murillo is facing challenges from former councilman Randy Rowse, Planning Commissioner Deborah Schwartz, former legislative aide James Joyce, newspaper publisher Mark Whitehurst, and small business owner Matt Kilrain.
District 6 incumbent Harmon was appointed to her seat in 2019, and is on the ballot for the first time. She is being challenged by Nina Johnson, senior assistant to the Santa Barbara City Administrator, and small business owners Jason Carlton and Zachary Pike.
Harmon roused the crowd with a passionate speech in favor of labor.
“I love being part of the labor family,” Harmon said. “This is who we are. This is what we are fighting for.”
Harmon talked about the pro-labor policies implemented by the city of Santa Barbara.
“We passed the project labor agreement, the first in the county of Santa Barbara,” Harmon said. “That’s a huge deal. That’s a big deal. And there’s been a lot of rhetoric about it. But I want to tell you what it really means. It means keep local work, local. It means taking your taxpayer dollars and making sure those dollars are spent locally, that they go into the pockets of local working families, not Riverside, not to Modesto. Your dollars are going to stay here in Santa Barbara.”
She was joined by Sneddon, who also supported labor with her speech.
“We really need to bring up basic wages for everyone, livable wages, and start addressing that income inequality that really hurts all of us and our whole fabric of society,” Sneddon said. “I am really happy to be here to celebrate Labor Day, and to thank labor for all of us and keep us going.”
Sneddon, who is running for re-election against District 4 candidate Barrett Reed, said she really believes in the power of collective bargaining and the union voice.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.
