CDT Update on Local Primary Races for 2024
2 min readMar 22, 2024
- Sacramento — Progressive candidate Dr. Flo Coffer came in first place and will face off with Kevin McCarty for the November election. Here’s a great rundown of the Sacramento mayoral race and which voters voted for which candidate: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article286824715.html Unfortunately, CDT-endorsed champion Sacrmento City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela came 1,000 votes short of retaining her seat. Challenger Phil Pluckebaum is likely to win outright with 51% of the votes cast.
- Contra Costa — Pittsburg City Council member Shanelle Scales-Preston will advance to November for the Contra Costa Board of Supervisors. Lastly, Senate District 7 saw the most money spent in a state contest this cycle. Alameda-Contra Costa Transit Board member Jovanka Beckles surprised and will advance to November against Uber, realtors and police union-backed Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin.
- Alameda — Oakland City Council Member Nikki Fortunato Bas will advance to November in her Alameda Board of Supervisor race. Sadly, our other Supervisor candidate, Jen Esteen, did not succeed in beating the 24-year incumbent in the primary, and because there were only 2 candidates in the race, he won outright, and there will be no general election. While this is not an election yet, we are closely monitoring the recall efforts against both Alameda DA Price, and Oakland Mayor Thao.
- Orange County — There was pushback against MAGA extremist electeds. Orange Unified School District voters recalled two right-wing anti-LGBTQ and anti-CRT champions. The recalls passed with 53% of the vote in both districts.
- Los Angeles — Incumbent LA Supervisor Holly Mitchell and incumbent LA City Council Member Nithia Raman both won outright against a single opponent each and will have no runoff! CDT funded an independent expenditure for Mitchell just for this outcome. Incumbent LA District Attorney George Gascon came in first and will advance to a runoff election this November. His challenger last ran for office as a Republican, so this should be an easier race.
- Inland Empire — In 2022, Riverside County elected its third Democratic Supervisor. In 2024, there was a new district created that had an open race. Since two Democrats advanced to November for a runoff, in 2025, Riverside County will have a Democratic supermajority.
- San Diego — San Diego City incumbent Mayor Todd Gloria (D) will face off with independent Larry Turner in November because San Diego city and county are some of the few regions that mandate fall elections. Neither progressive Democratic Supervisors Terra Lawson-Remer nor Nora Vargas had primary fights since they each only had one challenger. November will be a priority for both supervisorial seats as San Diego currently has a 3–2 Democratic Supervisor majority.
