This may come as a surprise but I absolutely hate election night. Everyone wants to be a part of the winning team but the reality of politics is most often you are not; and election night is the moment you find out if all of your efforts were enough. Per my usual, I stayed up until 5 am and unlike elections past, I had at least ten races I was tracking statewide.
Representation is at the forefront of my personal agenda and for the first time in my political career I had the opportunity to vote for so many Black and Brown candidates. Seriously, we had an opportunity to elect the first Black Woman Mayor of San Francisco, the first Latino U.S. Senator from California and the second African American Superintendent of Public Instruction in California history. I was excited to cast my ballot and immediately developed anxiety because the unfortunate reality is Mid-year June Primary is the hardest election for a minority candidate to win.
Mid-term elections always yield the lowest voter turnout and the June Primary is statistically the most difficult ballot for a Democrat to win. To further compound this challenge, the June primary also traditionally yields the lowest minority turnout. For example, here in Sacramento County only 20.85% of registered voters turned out to vote June 5th, 2018. In comparison, 75.5% of registered voters cast their ballot in the November 8, 2016 Presidential Election. In a county that is 10.1% African American and 21.2% Latino, the Black and Brown vote is literally significant enough to control any election so when I see low voter turnout I can’t help but question where we went wrong.
Despite the clear disadvantage to running this June, we still had an unprecedented number of candidates of color who stepped-up statewide to challenge the institution and status quo. Please keep reading to learn more about the Miracle Candidates of the 2018 California Primary Election.
U.S. Senate Candidate Kevin De Leon: Our immediate past California Senate Pro Tempore did the unthinkable: he ran against U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein. The challenges I cited earlier are not unique to Sacramento. Statewide this is literally the hardest race for a minority candidate to win and as an added challenge, he faced a longstanding incumbent. De Leon ran a solid campaign and still managed to block her Democratic Party endorsement. For his valiant effort, KDL is truly a hero to me.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction Candidate Tony Thurmond: Education is the most popular topic of every political conversation ever had. Yet, for some reason, California fails to really pay attention to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction seat. This statewide office is up for grabs this November and we have a great leader in the form of miracle candidate Tony Thurmond. He made the “top two” this June and will proceed to the November ballot. If elected he will become only the second African American to serve in this role and the only African American in California statewide office.
San Diego County District Attorney Candidate Genevieve Jones-Wright: Words cannot express the great level of Black pride I felt while working on her historic campaign. San Diego County is only 43% Democrat and less than 5% African American. Despite these odds, this powerhouse of a candidate stepped up to run against an appointed Republican candidate that enjoyed the unfair ballot designation of “incumbent.” Her criminal justice driven campaign shed a light on a system that is long overdue to be broken and I couldn’t be more proud of her for running such a brilliant and respectable campaign for a traditionally unchallenged seat.
San Francisco Public Defenders for San Francisco Judge: Four seasoned San Francisco Public Defenders stepped up this election cycle to run against Republican appointed incumbent judges who have not represented the best interest of their constituents. Maria Evangelista, Kwixuan Maloof, Niki Solis and Phoenix Streets banded together to create an anti-institution ticket that is truly a model for success. They barely fell short of earning the votes needed but I would argue that they would have swept during a high voter turnout election. They are truly heroes of justice and we should applaud them for running a landmark campaign on behalf of all people of color.
The June Primary results prove that Black and Brown voters have the voting power needed to elect candidates that best represent us. As an added value, we have minority candidates who are willing to run but we need to show up to support them. I pray this is the last election cycle where I experience so much defeat and hope this serves as the example needed to prove that our vote counts. We were the last Americans to be given this power so please don’t take it for granted: please vote in every election.
Peace and blessings!
Julie M. Waters is a California Lobbyist from Oakland, CA. She enjoys ballet, basketball and world travel alike and is convinced her rapper alter ego is Juicy J.
You can follow Ms. Waters on Social Media @seejulierun
