The Democrats of Greater Irvine held their summer BBQ/Potluck Sunday, ahead of the DPOC endorsement, and conducted a straw poll of the candidates. Military Veteran and former Teacher Ed Pope got 80% of the 73 counted ballots for Mayor, which should speak volumes to voters in Irvine.
Pope led the successful No on Measure B campaign to stop the FivePoint landswap, despite being outspent more than two to one (I’m still waiting on disclosure reports of actual spending). More interestingly, Pope is not seeking the DPOC endorsement tonight because, frankly, he doesn’t need it. I’ve invited Pope to be my guest at the party meeting, but I don’t expect him to show.
No candidate got the required 60% of the vote for DGI endorsement for city council. Farrah Khan came closest with 42 of the 73 votes for 57.5% and Kev Abazajian got one fewer vote with 41 for 56%.
Lauren Johnson-Norris scored a disappointing 27 votes for 37%, and we’ll note from friends in attendance that she showed up at the meeting with 15 UCI Democratic club students wearing her candidate T-shirts who signed up for DGI that day to cast a ballot for her. Over the weekend, Johnson-Norris invited members of the “Keep Irvine, Irvine” Facebook group to the picnic to cast a ballot for her and a significant number of members of this social media group are not DGI members and are openly supporting Republican Anthony Kuo. So with this context and without these students, Johnson Norris would have received only 12 votes for city council. So remove the 15 from the 73 ballots cast, and Johnson Norris would have gotten 12 of 58 or 20.6%.
Abazajian did not make the recommended DPOC endorsement list and it’s largely due to a number of Johnson Norris supporters on the interview committee for the Irvine races. But his DGI showing is promising among those who really matter — the voters of Irvine. Johnson Norris comes up to the Party before Farrah Khan tonight and I will not be pull LJN’s name if someone pull’s Khan’s name because of timing.
DGI did not take a position on Measure B prior to the June primary while the DPOC endorsed a Yes on B resolution — and as I am reminded — joined every elected official in Orange County to support the Land Swap. But Irvine Democrats are frequently at odds with the Party on issues affecting the city.
So 20% of the Democrats of Greater Irvine didn’t vote for Ed Pope for Mayor? That should speak volumes to the voters in Irvine. If 20% of Democrats aren’t voting for him, he doesn’t have a shot in November.
What happened to Agran’s hand-picked candidates Woods and McGill? If Farrah and Kevork get the votes, what happens to Larry’s Dream Team?
Ed got the highest endorsement numbers from DGI and did not apply to DPOC endorsement because, let’s be honest, the Fox knives would be out for him there. The notion of other Dems running a write in campaign for Mayor just won’t sit well with many Democrats in Irvine.
There are a lot of candidates on both sides of the aisle running for city council. Mid term elections typically need 20,000 or show to make the mark.
Kev is showing momentum and independence; I know the Fox’s met with him to encourage him not to run, and he ignored them. He’s stronger than LJN is now. I don’t believe either LJN or Farrah had 60% of the vote for DPOC endorsement, so suspending the rules to endorse both by acclamation saved the party from having no Irvine City Council candidate endorsements.
I applaud Ron V for standing up tp tell the party they should follow the guidance of Democrats in Irvine. They should.