There Are More Progressives Running For Congress In California

Of course we've been all over Norman Solomon's campaign to replace the retiring Lynn Woolsey and Dr. Lee Rogers' campaign down in the L.A. area to take out arch-reactionary and warmonger Buck McKeon. Both are on our Blue America page and both are major DWT priorities. But there are other races worth watching and we'll be covering them too. One, which we've written about before, Is Mark Takano's race in the new 41st CD, a heavily Democratic district in Riverside-- and that one is starting to look like a sure-shot. The other, in the heavily Democratic 51st is a 3-way primary, with one progressive, John Brooks, and it looks more like a long-shot.

Under the new lines, Obama would have won the 41st with something like a 20% margin. The problem in the district is that the progressive, Mark Takano, is up against a conservative Republican, John Tavaglione, beloved by developers, business interests, fat-cat Republicans and... both corrupt Republican zombie Ken Calvert, who used to represent the area, and the conservative Democratic mayor of Riverside, Ron Loveridge. Early last October we asked Mark, who is openly gay, to tell us what he thought about the Occupy/99% Movement. He brought it right to his county's residents:

To date no one has been prosecuted for the outright fraud that has precipitated so much economic suffering. In fact, the very financial institutions who caused the economic mess were actually bailed out by the government. Ordinary citizens and homeowners were for the most part hung out to dry.

The home mortgage crisis wrecked Riverside County's economy. Home foreclosures are high, many in my community who are hanging on to their homes have upside down mortgages, and many construction workers are unemployed. The official unemployment rate here is 15%. Are they to blame for not reading the fine print on the mortgage instruments sold to them? In some cases yes, but in many cases mortgage lenders deceived them. I cannot believe the Republicans in the Senate refuse to confirm an effective leader at the new Consumer Protection Agency whose mission is to protect citizens from this sort of fraud in the future. I am running for Congress in the new 41st Congressional District that covers highly impacted cities of Riverside, Moreno Valley, Perris, and Jurupa Valley. I will fight for effective consumer protection when I get to Congress. I will fight for banker accountability.

Last week the L.A. Times handicapped the race-- and pretty much called it for Takano. It's a new day in the Inland Empire.

The Inland Empire was heralded as California's new conservative frontier -- the "new Orange County"-- just 10 years ago. But political districts have been remade. Weed-covered fields have metamorphosed into Spanish-tile suburbs packed with new voters.

In the district Tavaglione is eyeing, Democrats hold the edge in registration, symptomatic of the GOP's slide countywide... Democrats have a shot at winning at least three congressional seats in Riverside and San Bernardino counties this year, after holding just one since the Vietnam War ended. And they could pick up enough state Senate seats in the Inland Empire to help put an iron grip-- the rare and coveted two-thirds majority-- on Sacramento's upper house.

In 2002, the majority of registered voters in both counties were Republican. Democrats now claim a slim majority in San Bernardino County. In Riverside County, the GOP's 13-point registration advantage has dwindled to 4.7 points over the last decade.

...Riverside County voters have not elected a Democrat to Congress since liberal Rep. George Brown's district was gerrymandered into San Bernardino County after the 1990 census. Brown had been the only Democratic congressman in either county since 1972 until he died in office in 1999 and [Blue Dog Joe] Baca won his seat.

Democrat Mark Takano is trying to break that streak. Takano is a teacher and Riverside Community College trustee who narrowly lost to Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) in 1992 and 1994, even though the district they ran in was solidly Republican and included a conservative chunk of Orange County.

Takano says his campaign will be about creating jobs in a county still ailing with 12.5% unemployment. "The No. 1 focus is on unemployment," he said. "Republicans in the House have not been focused on what's best for America... including creating jobs."

Tavaglione, his Republican opponent, finds himself in the unfamiliar realm of a partisan dog fight. He's been elected to the county Board of Supervisors five times, all in nonpartisan elections.

The race in the 51st CD is very different-- no Republicans play there, at least not seriously. The new lines make it a 68% Latino district and Obama would have taken it with 65%, Jerry Brown with 58%. It's been represented by Bob Filner, a staunch progressive, but he's running for mayor for some unfathomable reason-- and he's made a deal with his nemesis, Juan Vargas, who was going to primary him for the House seat but is now supporting him for the mayoralty. Because of there are no serious Republicans involved, the conservative/Big Business interests are financing Vargas, a very corrupt, homophobic, pro-Business Dem, and the most reactionary insurance industry tool in the state legislature. Sacramento Democrats-- including the labor unions-- are so eager to get Vargas out of the state (he refused to vote for the single payer bill in January... which lost by 2 votes) that they're heavily backing his congressional race! Sounds shocking, right? You don't sit in the meetings I do with these union bureaucrats; some of 'em are as bad as any hacks from the other side of the aisle and have as little to do with working men and women as any Republican does. Anyway, Vargas-- who, if he gets into Congress, will be one of the most corrupt and conservative Democrats to ever serve in that body-- is the heavy favorite. And his best known challenger, Denise Ducheny, is almost as bad as he is! So I was really relieved a few days ago when I found out about John Brooks who claims he was inspired by the Occupy Movement to run. We'll be looking more closely at this one in the coming weeks.