After win, Democrats continue to look forward to future elections

DEMOCRATIC CLUB

By Mary Larson

LW contributor

The November election broke records for both voter turnout and campaign spending and delivered a convincing victory for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. The LW Democratic Club continues to celebrate this victory. However, Republican Michelle Steel’s recent narrow win over Democrat Harley Rouda in the 48th Congressional District means there is still so much work to be done.

Elections are not over yet for Leisure World Democrats. As one campaign ends, others are just beginning. The first actual election is scheduled to take place early in 2021.

Leisure World voters will be among those asked to vote to replace Michelle Steel as the District 2 representative on the Orange County Board of Supervisors sometime between late February and mid-March.

Electing a second Democrat to the five-member Orange County Board is possible with an aggressive get-out-the-vote effort. According to a recent Registrar of Voters report, there are 119,065 registered Democrats in the district, with only 74,421 registered Republicans. The outcome of this election may well depend upon how many of the 71,206 persons in District 2 who are registered as Declined to State decide to vote for the Democratic Club’s endorsed candidate. It will be important for all 2,578 Leisure World Democrats to vote and to talk whenever possible about why they are doing so to their neighbors.

Congressman Rouda plans to run for Congress again in 2022. His campaign has already begun. There are currently 25,413 more Republicans than Democrats in our 48th Congressional District. The 110,000 persons in the district who are not registered with any party will be key to this election. Rouda believes the Democratic Party will need to deliver a more assertive and moderate message if it wants to claim districts like the 48th.

As we look to the 2022 elections, the extent that the country can be unified under the leadership of President Biden will be extremely important. Hopefully, the party can continue to energize its base without alienating a bigger share of the electorate.

What will this mean for Orange County, which now has 652,743 registered Democrats to 611,997 Republicans? Can we increase this margin? Will the Democratic Party be able to win the support of the over 400,000 persons in the county who are currently registered as Declined to State? What role will we, as a club chartered by the Democratic Party, have in the future? There will be much to talk about in the coming months.

•••• If you are a Democrat or a supporter and want to know more about the club, subscribe to the free electronic newsletter by emailing the editor, Mary Larson, at mlarson.telfords@gmail.com or by calling (562) 296-8521 with your full contact information.

Democrats interested in joining the cub or renewing their membership can find an application on the club’s website at https:// sblwdems. wordpress. com/. Memberships received during November or December will not need to be renewed until Jan. 1, 2022.