Note: I support Eric Bauman’s candidacy
I attended the California Young Democrats Executive Board meeting at UCSB yesterday to participate in and report on their endorsement process for state party offices, and catch up with my YD friends from other areas of the state. And we got to hear a speech on the federal budget and energy policy from Lois Capps,
Most of the endorsements were no surprise, especially as, in my experience, the CYD Executive Board tends to tack somewhat closely to the party infrastructure–so, to that end, the endorsements of Burton and Bradley were no surprise. Alex Rooker was the only candidate for female vice-chair that showed at up at the Executive Board meeting, so it was no surprise that she got the endorsement over Alicia Wong.
Eric Bauman’s endorsement, however, may be considered a little bit of a surprise. Eric Bauman actually does have an opponent, a 25-year-old named Evan Low who currently serves on the City Council of a city in Silicon Valley. Although Evan is by far the underdog, he actually could have been considered favored to get the CYD endorsement, since he is very active within CYD and well-known among the membership in Northern California.
There were passionate speeches on both sides, but Eric barely ended up winning the endorsement vote. After Eric received the initial endorsement, there was a motion made to do a co-endorsement so CYD could avoid the risk of losing face by not supporting its own, which passed rather easily.
CYD isn’t the first interest group or minority to issue a dual endorsement in the male Vice-Chair race, as Judy Chu, Betty Yee and Mike Eng have all done something similar. What will be interesting to see is how each candidate chooses to market the endorsement, because while each candidate has indeed received a CYD endorsement, the actual process was a little more complicated.