Category Archives: Endorsements

2020 election, Benicia City Council, Benicia Mayor, Endorsements, Local elections, Progressive Democrats of Benicia

Progressive Democrats endorse Steve Young for Mayor, Terry Scott for City Council

By Ralph Dennis, August 18, 2020

In this age of pandemic distancing, the Progressive Democrats of Benicia convened about 50 members and interested parties in a digital ZOOM Candidate Forum on August 11.

Candidate for Mayor Steve Young and candidates for City Council Trevor Macenski and Terry Scott gave opening statements, answered prepared questions and audience questions, and finished with brief closing statements.

Members of the Progressive Democrats voted whether and whom to endorse by an online poll on the PDB website.  Voting was open for a week following the Forum.

For endorsement, PDB bylaws require a vote of 50% plus one of those present and voting.

For Mayor of Benicia – Councilmember Steve Young

Results were overwhelming in the Mayoral race.  100% of the 43 members voting chose to endorse Steve Young for Mayor in 2020.  Congratulations, Steve!  Christina Strawbridge, who declined to attend, received no votes.

For Benicia City Council – Arts and Culture Commissioner Terry Scott

The race for City Council presented members with a wider choice.  Members could vote for up to two to fill the two vacant seats.  Incumbent Tom Campbell, who also declined to attend, received only 5 votes, or 11.6% of those voting.  Planning Commissioner Trevor Macenski received 13 votes, or 30.2% of those voting.  Arts and Culture Commissioner Terry Scott received support from 40 members, or 93.0% of those voting, and snagged our only endorsement for City Council.  Congratulations, Terry!

For more information or to order yard signs, volunteer or contribute, visit:

Endorsements, Meeting reflections

Meeting of August 11, 2020 – Local Candidate Forum


Endorsement Meeting
Tuesday, August 11
7:00pm on ZOOM…

Council and Mayoral Candidates

PDB’s August 11 General Membership meeting was a discussion with candidates running for Benicia Mayor and City Council. We  decided we no longer needed a second endorsement meeting (previously scheduled for Aug. 20) and so combined the meetings into one on Aug. 11.

All Democratic candidates running for Benicia Mayor and City Council were invited. Incumbent Councilmember Tom Campbell declined our invitation to attend without explanation. Vice-Mayor Christina Strawbridge, who is running for Mayor, also declined to attend citing “previous experiences with the group.”

As a result, we had plenty of time to hear from the Democratic candidates running for Benicia Council and Mayor who graciously accepted our invitation to discuss their campaigns and vision for Benicia with members of the Benicia community:

  • Candidate for Mayor: Councilmember Steve Young
  • Candidates for Council: Trevor Macenski and Terry Scott

Several members shared questions with us they would like the candidates to answer.  Here are the prepared questions that we asked each candidate.  And here is a video recording of the August 11 Forum.

Ralph Dennis
PDB Chair

HOW TO PARTICIPATE…

Endorsement meeting on August 11…
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Progressive Dems of Benicia will meet on Zoom.  Members and friends will receive Zoom login instructions by email.  If you are not currently on our member or interested parties email list and want to attend, you can either Become A Member,  OR,

if you are just interested and want to attend, go to our Contact Us page to ask for Zoom instructions by email.

The ballot and voting procedures…
For eligible members voting, the ballot will be posted with instructions on the PDB web site following completion of the Aug. 11 meeting. The voting period will be open until August 18, 5:00 pm PT.  You will submit your ballot via the online form.  We will verify members’ status. Results of the votes in each race will be published on Aug. 19.

2020 Presidential Election, Democratic Party, Endorsements, National Politics

Warren Tops in Local Club’s Democratic Candidate Poll

Club vote was highly competitive – no candidate achieved 51% for endorsement

Senator Elizabeth Warren was the top vote-getter in a recent poll of Democratic presidential candidates taken by the Progressive Democrats of Benicia (PDB), a local political club. Warren received 36.8% of the votes cast, with Sen. Bernie Sanders placing second at 28.9%. Also receiving votes were Amy Klobuchar with 21.1% and Pete Buttigieg with 13.2%. Candidates Joe Biden, Mike Bloomberg, and Tulsi Gabbard each received no votes.

The poll was the culmination of a panel discussion held on February 12 in Benicia by PDB in which representatives of six Democratic candidates for President had a lively exchange of ideas with an overflow audience at the Benicia Library. Members of PDB were eligible to cast votes through Feb. 19.

Ralph Dennis, chair of PDB, was pleased with voting and said “that’s a pretty strong showing by Warren among our members” but explained that it wasn’t enough to receive the Club’s endorsement which required 50% plus one of all votes cast. “This was the first time we allowed voting through our web site, and a lot of the votes were cast online after the meeting,” Dennis added. He believes the club will use the online voting option in future endorsements or polls conducted.

Well over one-half of the votes cast in the club’s poll were for one of the two progressive candidates in the race – Warren and Sanders. Dennis said that “this shows there is a strong progressive sentiment in this community which wants to see substantive change in Washington.” Dennis also recognized that the combined votes for Klobuchar and Buttigieg were 35.3%, reflecting, he said, “the current quandary among Democratic party analysts between progressive and moderate political positions within the national party and how it should best represent itself to defeat President Trump in November.”

A recent poll released on February 18 by the Public Policy Institute of California shows Sanders leading in California’s Presidential primary with 32% of likely voters. Biden, Buttigieg, Bloomberg, and Warren were in a statistical tie at 14%, with Klobuchar at 5%. California’s primary is March 3 and voting by mail-in ballot is already underway.  Details on the Solano County website, solanocounty.com/depts/rov/.