Sponsored link
Friday, September 29, 2023

Sponsored link

News + PoliticsElection update, Day 4: Progressives solidify gains

Election update, Day 4: Progressives solidify gains

Will the old guard at the DCCC make one last play to cling to power?

The latest round of election results continues yesterday’s pattern: It now appears that the progressive Reform Slate is guaranteed at least 15 seats on the Democratic County Central Committee.

Leah LaCroix is now in ninth place, with ten seats available, and the trends have her moving up. That gives the progressives a solid 15 seats.

Leah LeCroix is the 15th progressive seat on the DCCC
Leah LeCroix is the 15th progressive seat on the DCCC

And it leaves open the possibility that the incumbents may try any number of dirty tricks to hold onto power. This isn’t just academic – the DCCC will have a significant influence on the fall elections for supervisors, which is why Big Tech and the real-estate industry poured so much money into these down-ticket races.

Here’s the deal: When all the votes are finally counted, the odds are pretty good that one of the progressives will be the next chair of the DCCC. That’s a powerful position, since over a four-year term, a few of the members inevitable resign for whatever reason, and the chair has the unilateral authority to appoint replacements.

That’s how Mary Jung, the current chair, has cemented her power (and put people like Joel Engardio and Josh Arce, who are now running for supervisor, on the panel).

There’s already an item on the agenda for the DCCC June 15 meeting that would allow the lame-duck panel – the groups that the voters have rejected – to make early endorsements for supervisor. That’s just disgraceful.

It’s almost as if the DCCC is some old-school dictatorship where the corrupt incumbents who get ousted at the ballot refuse to leave office. Message to Mary Jung: To quote President Obama, elections matter. You lost.

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit here. We also invite you to join the conversation on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Tim Redmond
Tim Redmond
Tim Redmond has been a political and investigative reporter in San Francisco for more than 30 years. He spent much of that time as executive editor of the Bay Guardian. He is the founder of 48hills.

Sponsored link

Top reads

Welcome to Best of the Bay 2023!

Thousands voted in our 49th annual Readers' Poll, celebrating the best place on Earth. Here are the results.

Best of the Bay 2023: Food + Drink Winners

READERS' POLL: Best Burrito, Best Pizza, Best Chinese, Best Brunch, Best Dive Bar, Best Sports Bar, more

Best of the Bay 2023: City Living Winners

READERS' POLL: Best Salon, Best Bike Repair, Best Podcast, Best Hotel, Best Tour, Best Gym, more

More by this author

A chron oped on the housing hearing is wrong, and signals a new attack on the supes

Board members asked for a modest delay to consider the mayor's amendments to a complex housing bill. The Chron talks of "Nimbys."

How will the city implement forced treatment for people with mental illness?

Plus: Does the Mayor's Office have a real homelessness plan—and what's going to happen new to Laguna Honda Hospital? That's The Agenda this week

Twitter trolls attack Preston for the most common sense approach on crime

The Big Money assault on progressive politics is gearing up for 2024.
Sponsored link

You might also likeRELATED