San Diego County 2018 Election Results

Local San Diego County election results are complete. More commentary to follow this evening. Visit these links to see the results:

https://www.sdvote.com/content/rov/en/elections/results.html

https://www.nytimes.com/elections/results/california-house-district-50

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/11/06/us/elections/results-california-elections.html

https://apnews.com/apf-politics?

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BEHIND SCENES, CA50 TURNOUT DRIVEN BY PROGRESSIVE PACs

An unprecedented campaign by independent progressive groups to oust Rep. Duncan Hunter in CA50 has boosted the candidacy of Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar through an aggressive voter outreach drive.

The San Diego grassroots group Independent Indivisible (known as Indi Squared) collaborated with progressive PACs, such as Indivisible Action, Flip the 14, Code Blue, MoveOn and Mayday USA, to raise voter awareness of Hunter’s criminal indictment and to promote the candidacy of Campa-Najjar. The campaign primarily targeted new voters and Democrats with a history of skipping midterm elections.

“Our independent, under-the-radar campaign made possible a significant third wave of voter turnout in the race for 50, beyond the capacity of the campaign and party alone,” said Maureen Gupta of Bonsall, organizer for Indi Squared. “In such a close race, we strove to give Ammar Campa-Najjar every advantage. Indi Squared also registered more than 2,000 new voters across the district.”

“This was the first major progressive voter drive in CA50 history and it won’t be the last,” said Indi Squared organizer Carolyn McGraw of Valley Center. “We will build on this foundation – the voter data we’ve collected, the partnerships we’ve forged and the volunteer army we’ve trained – to support progressive candidates up and down the ballot, in 2020 and beyond.”

As an independent expenditure campaign, Indi Squared broke ground for progressive organizing in CA50. Indivisible Action, the hybrid PAC affiliated with the Indivisible Project, gave local organizers direct access to the district’s voter database and apps to conduct paperless phone banks and canvassing. Flip the 14 hired a CA50 activist as a field organizer to manage the Indi Squared canvassing campaign, which launched on Labor Day weekend.

Prohibited from coordinating with the Democratic Party or the Campa-Najjar campaign, the group and its partners marshalled more than 325 volunteers to independently reach voters. Voter outreach accomplishments, as of 11/5/18, include:

• 77,000 texts
• 66,000 postcards
• 45,000 phone calls
• 5,000 homes canvassed

In addition, Flip the 14’s partnership with the Courage Campaign generated another 30,000 phone calls to CA50 voters from California call centers. Flip the 14 also texted CA50 voters in Spanish, sent two rounds of Spanish-language postcards and sponsored a robocall to voters from civil rights icon Dolores Huerta.

Both Flip the 14 and Indivisible Action produced campaign literature to educate voters. MoveOn, Indivisible and Flip the 14 also recruited new volunteers to work with Indi Squared and promoted its events. Mayday USA, a PAC that targets corruption, co-sponsored a media event with Indi Squared at the federal courthouse during a September hearing on Hunter’s embezzlement case. MoveOn sponsored a voter awareness event with Ben Cohen, of Ben & Jerry’s, to promote Campa-Najjar.

Indivisible is known for direct engagement of elected officials through town halls, advocacy and office protests, and for voter engagement through rallies, endorsements and creative demonstrations. “But behind the scenes,” said Pamela Hughes of Point Loma, Indi Squared organizer.

“Indi Squared has piloted a new model for grassroots groups to build their own infrastructure to influence elections,” Hughes continued. “With access to the digital voter file, and all the data we collect, Indivisible groups can now conduct effective, low-budget electoral campaigns without reliance on the Democratic Party or candidates. Our ambitions include greater engagement in down ballot races across San Diego County to elect leaders who better represent the voters.”

Independent Indivisible (INDI² or “Indi Squared”) is a community of patriots that values justice, equality and caring for the common good. We are a coalition of grassroots, volunteer leaders in the San Diego region that affiliates with the Indivisible Project and works independently from candidates and parties.