Written by Nicholas Vetrisek
Throughout the entire country, a war is going on within the Democratic Party. It’s waged between the moderate, Biden-esque Democrats and the progressive socialists such as Bernie Sanders and Rashida Tlaib.
In San Diego, a much smaller version of this is occurring in the race for the County Board of Supervisors South Bay seat.
Escondido Mayor Paul McNamara is very much an establishment Democrat. This is why he chose to drop Olga Diaz and decided to go with the much safer, less controversial Terra Lawson-Remer. The reason why is very obvious when you consider Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez’s response to the decision.
Terribly disappointing that Mr.McNamara clearly has a problem with the strong Latina that paved the way for HIS election. Reflects really poorly on him & on the notion that the Latino community can expect him to keep his word on anything.
— Lorena Gonzalez (@LorenaSGonzalez) December 3, 2019
Diaz’s campaign will be heavily reliant on identity politics, and as a result, she will seek to go much further than McNamara would ever consider with regard to issues like immigration. McNamara does not want to be pushed further to the left in this respect because he likely fears that it will hurt his chances among moderates, a fear he would be correct on.
This is worrisome for Democrats because the split between the center-left and far-left could clear an easy path for the remarkably unified Republican Party and incumbent Republican Kristin Gaspar. This would be a major blow to Democrats because whichever party wins her seat will likely decide the partisan leaning of the board.
This split does not seem like it will be remedied anytime soon and if the national stage is any indication, it will be a disaster for Democrats and yet another victory for the Republicans.
