In politics, an enemy of my enemy is my friend. What if Republican Stephen Slauson with 5,725 18th Assembly votes in Oakland, Alameda and San Leandro in June had endorsed Democrat Janini Ramachandran
over Democrat Mia Bonta in 18th Assembly District race last election night (July 31) as our draft column (see excerpt below) intimated?…
UPSET DONKEY STOMACHS: Mia won barely over Janani by 4,609 votes (see below). Ramachandran, underdog progressive candidate, nearly came close to duplicating the Green Audie Bock upset over Harris in 1999. Slauson could have been a “kingmaker” (or “queenmaker”)….
TOTAL RECALL MOMENTUM: Republicans could have defeated Mia but embarrassed Attorney General Rob Bonta and given a boost to the Sept. 14 statewide Republican recall against Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom who appointed Bonta as AG…
SOUTH ASIAN BIG TENT: For Republicans, it also would have shown Indian Americans that they are part of their “big tent” (GOP has backed Governors Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina for cabinet appointments and ascendancy as major White House candidates in competition with Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris) …AVOIDING ELEPHANT EXTINCTION: If Bay Area and California GOP are looking for a path out of wilderness (Democrats dominate all California statewide offices except for House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s in Bakersfield corner of the Golden State), they need to take chances as what the San Francisco Republican Party did in supporting liberal-centrist Willie Brown for re-election for San Francisco Mayor over progressive Board of Supervisor President Tom Ammiano in 1999. The Republicans, although roundly criticized in ’99, won appointments and a voice in mayoral policy from their newly reelected but once nemesis Brown… Unofficial Results (July 31, Assembly District 18 race):
Mia Bonta | 25,712 | 54.92 % |
Janani Ramachandran | 21,103 | 45.08 |
Except from our column last month: LOSERS SPLIT ON MIA-JANINI: In two August tweets, Bonta highlighted endorsement of San Leandro Vice Mayor Malia Vella ,
the Filipina American who lost but finished strongly in third place of the June primary against Bonta and Ramachandran with 10,053 votes or 16.9% of vote.…Ramachandran picked up support of gay Latinx San Leandro Vice Mayor Victor Aguilar and gay San Leandro school trustee/student James Aguilar (no relation to Victor). They respectively finished with 3,938 or 6.6% in 5th and 1,039 votes or 1.7% in 6th…Unlike 1999 race where GOP tipped the Bock-Harris race (see below), Republican and engineer Stephen Slauson has not endorsed Janini or Mia either after finishing 4th with 5,725 votes or 9.6%…
JANINI ATTACKS BONTAS: Ramachandran’s website platform has attacked corporate donations for Democrats (tinyurl.com/ehkhkj6d) weakening pro-tenant policies. Her website took on the Bontas over casino interest and health insurance lobbyist influence as her platform called for electing a “bold advocate who isn’t bought by corporate interest groups”…That might resonate with some voters recalling 1999 Assembly special election which came down to questions over candidate Elihu Harris using fried chicken meals to boost voter turnout. Over this, Green Party candidate and East Asian film scholar Audie Bock attracted alienated Democrats, Greens and Republicans in an upset of Harris, a former Democratic legislator trying to return to the State Assembly. In 2000, Wilma Chan unseated Bock for the assembly seat…