Democrats at state convention fired up but divided: Will they unite in time?

SAN DIEGO — In many ways, things look good for California Democrats in 2018: They’re seeing record-high levels of voter enthusiasm, strong fundraising numbers and an outpouring of credible candidates as state voters turn against the Trump administration.

But internal divisions underlie the chest-thumping on display this weekend at the state party convention, as delegates here clash over contentious primaries, sexual harassment scandals, and the party’s policy agenda.

With recapturing Congress in their sights, Democrats across the country are paying close attention to politics in California — and the struggles over the party’s identity could echo beyond the state borders. Democrats need to pick up at least a handful of the Golden State’s 14 Republican-held congressional districts if they want to take control of the House of Representatives.

In the Senate race between Sen. Dianne Feinstein and State Senate leader Kevin de León and in key House races across the state, Democrats are facing a bitter primary season, with crowded fields of well-funded candidates increasingly turning on each other.

“The stakes are so high, and it’s starting to get ugly,” said Jeff LeTourneau, a party vice-chair in Orange County, which is ground zero for the party’s attempts to wrest back the House.

The more than 3,000 delegates hobnobbing at caucus meetings, workshops and after-hour parties by San Diego Bay can agree when it comes to taking on President Trump. The biggest applause of the day Saturday was for Rep. Maxine Waters’ rousing call for impeachment. 

But in the divisive state races up and down the ballot, the party brass must strike a delicate balance: If they’re seen as putting their thumb on the scales, it could turn voters off — reviving the Hillary-Bernie animosity that bedeviled the party in 2016 and is still bubbling under the surface in San Diego.

Senior Democratic leaders have urged the campaigns to focus their fire on Republicans instead of each other. Party chair Eric Bauman asked statewide candidates not to compete for the party endorsement at the convention — a request all of them promptly ignored.

Candidates hopped from stuffy conference room to stuffy conference room at the San Diego convention center, pumping the crowds with stump speeches, while bands of supporters in colorful T-shirts roved the hallways, chanting their names.  

The battle for the party endorsement is especially fierce in the Senate race, where de León is challenging Feinstein, a 25-year-incumbent, from the left. The two have showered attention on party delegates, with Feinstein courting them over a breakfast of scrambled eggs and sausages Saturday and de León serving his supporters tacos at lunch.

“This is a battle for the soul of the Democratic Party,” de León declared in a meeting of union members, arguing that California needed a senator “on the frontlines, not the sidelines.”  

Feinstein, who has faced criticism from party activists for not doing enough to stand up to Trump, focused her message on gun control, an issue she’s led on in the Senate — and one with special resonance in the wake of the Florida school shooting this month.

“Now is time to take those weapons of war off our streets,” she told delegates.

Candidates in the governor’s race are also divided over issues like single-payer. But it’s seen as less likely that any candidate in the crowded field will be able to secure the 60 percent of delegate votes needed to win the party endorsement this weekend.

The battles between Democrats are especially important as the Republican Party veers closer to third-party status in California. New data released last week found that there are nearly as many Californians registered with no party preference as there are registered Republicans, and the GOP voter registration numbers have declined by more than 10 percent over the last two decades.

But the Republican-held congressional districts the party is targeting this year are still in historically red territory. Some Democratic candidates are worried that the party’s march to the left in recent years could undermine their chances.

“The danger we have with all these competitive races is everyone will move as far left as they can,” said Sam Jammal, who’s running to replace retiring Republican Rep. Ed Royce in a district that has voted Republican for decades — and says he supports Bernie Sanders’ Medicare-for-All bill. “It’s not a wave election unless you can ride a surfboard — if you can connect to voters in your district.”

Even as the delegates here strategize for 2018, they also got an early chance to size up some potential 2020 presidential candidates. The convention featured Sen. Kamala Harris, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, and San Francisco hedge fund billionaire Tom Steyer, as well as several rising stars from outside the state like Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley and Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.  

Garcetti — who has recently visited several early presidential primary states — counseled delegates to focus on what unites them.

“The internet trolls and Vladimir Putin are laughing every single time we’re fighting each other and not fighting the Republicans,” he said.

Gabbard, on the other hand, a Sanders backer with wide support on the left, spent part of her speech at the convention’s progressive caucus re-litigating the 2016 presidential primary and calling for reform to the Democratic National Convention. “The system is rigged,” she declared, to rousing applause.

That argument was echoed in at least one California race. In the campaign against Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Costa Mesa, a local party caucus voted to endorse neuroscientist Hans Keirstead — which prompted his rival, businessman Harley Rouda, to call foul. “It is a rigged process, with widespread corruption,” Rouda told his supporters in a vitriolic email blast.

On Saturday night, as Rouda collected signatures to force an endorsement vote by delegates statewide, Keirstead volunteers followed him around the convention center, urging delegates not to sign.

The biggest source of heartburn for Democratic leaders here is the fear that the crowded fields of candidates in these primaries could come back to bite them. In some districts — especially the two open-seat races for districts represented by retiring Royce and his fellow retiring Republican Rep. Darrell Issa — Democrats could split the vote and allow two Republicans to slip through the top-two primary.

Party officials are trying to winnow the field behind the scenes. In Royce’s district, “I don’t see how we’re going to get in the top two unless we trim the field by about three people,” LeTourneau, the Orange County leader, said. “How sad would it be if a nationwide target isn’t in play because we shot ourselves in the foot?”

Other candidates and activists argued that vigorous, crowded primaries make Democrats more likely to turn out and vote.

“This is part of democracy — it’s messy,” said Dave Min, a law professor at UC Irvine and candidate for another Republican-held seat in Orange County.

Meanwhile, a cloud of worry over sexual harassment is also hanging over the convention. Sen. Tony Mendoza, who recently resigned amid attempts to expel him, showed up in San Diego to declare that he’s running for re-election, although delegates voted not to give him the party endorsement. 

It was at the 2008 party convention in San Jose that Mendoza allegedly attempted to seduce his 19-year-old female intern, according to her account. This year, the party launched a new 24-hour hotline to report sexual harassment and assault and hired stepped-up security for events.

There’s also divisions in sunny San Diego over policies at the heart of the Democratic agenda. Tenants calling for stronger rent control protections have made their presence heard here, marching through the halls and chanting “the rent is too damn high.” Environmental activists have interrupted several speeches.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Paramount, avoided even giving a speech out of fears he’d get booed for opposing a controversial single-payer health care bill.

Amid the tensions, Democrats are trying to focus on what they agree on: The man in the White House. “Nothing unites the party like a common enemy, and this year that’s President Trump,” said Thad Kousser, a political science professor at UC San Diego.

And despite their internecine struggles, Democratic activists are clearly fired up. Ron and Larraine Bates, 70-year-olds from the Central Valley who’ve been involved with the party for years, sat in the convention hallway Friday night and watched as troops of cheering young volunteers marched back and forth.

“There’s so much energy this year,” Larraine marveled. “We have so many strong candidates that it gives us a lot of hope.”

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