Category Archives: 2020 Presidential Election

2020 election, 2020 Presidential Election, Benicia City Council, Benicia elections, Benicia Mayor, Endorsements

Benicia Election Results November 2020

Congratulations to our endorsed candidates, Mayor-elect Steve Young and Councilmember-elect Terry Scott!

Here are links to an important KQED report by Ted Goldberg, and other Benicia election details and analysis by Roger Straw on the Benicia Independent:

For additional incoming Benicia updates and information on our local vote totals for California races and propositions and the US Presidential race, go to the Solano County Registrar of Voters ELECTION RESULTS PAGE.

2020 election, 2020 Presidential Election, Get Out the Vote (GOTV)

Kathy’s PDB Letter Writing Parties – WRAP UP

October 21, 2020

Kathy Kerridge and the Progressive Democrats of Benicia sponsored 12 letter writing parties to train people how to write letters for Vote Forward and to write and send the letters.

Letters were written to low propensity  voters (those who did not vote in at least three of the last four elections) located in “super states.”  Super states are not only key for the Presidential election, but also either have a Senate race or a need to elect a democratic state legislature for redistricting reasons.

The letters encouraged people to vote.  They were hand addressed and had a personalized handwritten message.  This has been shown to be effective in increasing voter turnout.

Kathy hosted the 12  parties on Zoom.  They started in May and went through October 12.

The Big Send date was October 17.  Kathy wrote, “I had over 40 people participate.  Many people came to several parties.  We were from all over the country and ranged in age from high school to 90 years old.  We wrote 8,395 plus letters.”

Over 16 million letters were sent to voters all over the country.  This far surpassed the original goal of 10 million letters.  Kathy continued, “Our top letter writer wrote 2600 letters.  One couple wrote 1340.  With every letter went a hope to get that person to the polls.  This was a fun way to contribute to the election without having to leave home.”

Kathy Kerridge, Treasurer, Progressive Democrats of Benicia

Our HUGE thanks to Kathy Kerridge and her 40+ helpers!!

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/.