Randy Bayne reports that Gary Davis, a member of the Elk Grove City Council, has announced that he will run against Dan Lungren in CA-03.  He’s unveiled an official campaign website named Davis Beats Lungren, which certainly displays confidence.  

Davis also works as the Political Director for EdVoice in addition to serving on the Elk Grove City Council, and was a legislative director for Darrell Steinberg when he served in the State Assembly.  EdVoice has lined up on the “reformer” side of the divide inside the Democratic Party over education, supporting charter schools and vouchers, and often raising the ire of teacher’s unions.  CEOs like Reed Hastings of Netflix and Don Fisher of the Gap fund EdVoice, and they have played in many local races with independent expernditure money.  See this very lame EdVoice attack on eventual winner Mariko Yamada used in AD-08 last cycle on behalf of Christopher Cabaldon for an example.  Simply put, EdVoice has used deep pockets to try and become a special interest player in Sacramento, with mixed results.

I’ve been adamant that we need a real candidate in CA-03 to take advantage of this opportunity in that district.  I still believe Phil Angelides, who has been unusually active in the special election battle (advocating a No vote, I might add), could make a good fit here.  Hopefully, I’ll have a chance to talk to Davis in the next couple weeks, but his association with EdVoice doesn’t exactly make me leap to the phone to make a donation.