At first glance, the 36th annual Sonoma County Democratic Party convention appears to be the most politically talkative one in nearly four decades.
For $70, Sonoma County residents can “meet their elected officials” over a North Coast meal of Dungeness crab, salad and pasta served with locally produced red and white wine. But Democratic discord was simmering beneath the niceties at the February 23 dinner.
The internal dispute between the two parties involves who will replace Assemblyman Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg), who is retiring from his North Shore seat two years earlier than most people expect. The shock November announcement that Wood would not seek re-election to his final term after 10 years in the state Assembly sent candidates scrambling for campaign support with only a few months to raise money and support before Tuesday's primary.
In his bid for the State Assembly, Santa Rosa Councilman Chris Rogers emphasized his leadership in helping guide the region through drought, wildfires and the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Josh Edelson/For The Times)
Three top candidates quickly emerged: California Democratic Party Chairman Rusty Hicks, Healdsburg City Council member and nonprofit executive Ariel Kelly, as well as former Santa Rosa mayor and current council member Chris Rogers.
A dispute among local Democratic leaders over who should represent Assembly District 2 — a left-leaning, geographically diverse district stretching from Santa Rosa to the Oregon border — has turned the race into one of the most expensive and divisive in local history.
The Democratic trio is vying for top two spots in the March 5 primary, and along with the lone Republican in the race will likely have enough GOP votes in the district to send it to the general election in November. The majority of the district's voters are registered Democrats, so a Democratic candidate who succeeds in the primary has a good chance of winning in November.
The area spans five counties — part of Sonoma plus all of Mendocino, Trinity, Humboldt and Del Norte — and is about a seven-hour drive from top to bottom. It accommodates 307,000 voters, many of them working class, across its rural geography. Many residents suffer from a lack of affordable housing, good-paying jobs, and limited access to health care. The region faces increasing environmental threats, including deadly wildfires exacerbated by climate change.
Intense jockeying between candidates to win voters' support was evident at the crab event.
“Vote for Chris Rogers” buttons competed with “Ariel” posters, while Hicks sponsored a table prominently placed at the front of the hall, where he sat across from Wood and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister).
A supporter wearing a pin defends Chris Rogers for the State Assembly at a crab eating event in Santa Rosa.
(Josh Edelson/For The Times)
Much of the political buzz revolves around Hicks, 44, who moved to the area from Los Angeles just a few years ago — a short period of time by some local standards — but brings with him a significant amount of funding and influence. He has been endorsed by outgoing Assemblyman Wood, Governor Gavin Newsom, U.S. Senator LaFunza Butler, veterans groups, and a long list of powerful statewide labor organizations, among others.
Hicks has proven to be a formidable candidate. He is a Texas native and Afghanistan War veteran who was president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor before being elected Democratic Party chairman in 2019. His reputation as a skilled strategist and skilled leader in the labor movement has helped him dominate this race as the front-runner. The party sought a course correction in the wake of an internal sexual misconduct scandal.
His campaign messaging focuses on protecting area jobs, creating more affordable housing options and expanding access to health care in an area with few medical clinics. He has also emphasized environmental conservation, an issue that resonates in a region home to towering redwoods and vast state and national parks.
“I'm running because I have a long track record of getting real results for real people,” Hicks said.
Rusty Hicks, chairman of the California Democratic Party and a longtime labor leader in Los Angeles, says he and his wife moved to Humboldt County in 2021, after falling in love with the area. Opponents of his General Assembly bid question his North Coast credentials.
(Josh Edelson/For The Times)
His opponents describe him differently.
Skeptics accuse Hicks of moving from Los Angeles to Humboldt County with the ambition to run for office, and criticize the long list of donations from Southern California and Sacramento as evidence of his lack of connections with the people he wants to represent.
He also faced criticism for maintaining his influential position as party president while campaigning for the Assembly elections. Hicks said he suspended his salary and benefits during the race and pledged to step down if elected.
Hicks said he and his wife bought their home in Arcata, Humboldt County, in 2021 after falling in love with the North Shore while he was running for party chairman. He said his campaign is “funded by individuals, workers and the unions that represent them,” a coalition that many supporters of his candidacy say no Democrat should be criticized for.
Hicks faces a powerful opponent in Kelly, 41, a former mayor of Healdsburg, whose endorsements include local government officials and statewide groups dedicated to electing more women to office and expanding access to safe abortion services.
The political action committee supporting Kelly — heavily funded by her sister, who has pumped at least $200,000 into the PAC — has sponsored ads accusing Hicks of covering up sexual harassment in the Democratic Party, an allegation he and his supporters angrily deny. His campaign sent letters to local television stations warning them not to continue running ads that Hicks asserts are “patently false.”
Hicks responded with criticism of Kelly's investments in the oil industry and questioned her ties to a local developer who recently donated $50,000 to a political action committee.
“It is unfortunate that some candidates and their supporters conclude that they can no longer speak for their own record or run on their own record, and decide to lie about my record,” Hicks said.
Kelly said she does not communicate with her political action committee or her sister about her strategy, and agrees that negative campaigning is not helpful. She said that her father died last year and left her an investment fund “in a number of industries,” and that she plans to abandon investments in the field of oil and gas.
Ariel Kelly, a former mayor of Healdsburg, is a Democratic candidate for the North Shore Assembly seat. She has been endorsed by local government officials and statewide groups dedicated to electing more women to office.
(Josh Edelson/For The Times)
She called the attacks “completely baseless” and a distraction from the real issues facing district voters, such as the need for paid family leave for rural families, ensuring access to reproductive health care, improving housing affordability and reducing homelessness.
“I'm really focused on just talking about my track record. Because it's a very strong track record of providing services to this community, in terms of homelessness, wildfire prevention, housing, access to health care,” she said.
Rogers, 36, who also waged an aggressive campaign, called on his opponents to end the “smears,” even as he expressed many of the same concerns about Hicks' fundraising strategies.
Rogers grew up in Sonoma County and worked for a decade as an aide to congressional and state legislators in the area before beginning his career in local politics. He asserts that he is most qualified to represent the region after guiding the region through one emergency after another as Mayor of Santa Rosa and during his time on the City Council, including the COVID-19 pandemic, drought, floods and devastating wildfires.
Rogers was endorsed by Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), for whom he worked as a legislative staffer, a long list of city and county officials, a local firefighter group and environmental organizations. He said he is focused on mitigating climate change, protecting local health care facilities from closing and addressing critical narrowing of access to homeowners insurance in Northern California communities.
“I have that experience. It's not just understanding the perspective, but how to translate the needs in the region into legislative action,” Rogers said.
Frankie Myers, 43-year-old Yurok tribal vice president, is also running as a Democrat, hoping to become the second U.S. citizen elected to the California State Assembly. Myers received support from tribal communities across the state.
He has tried, with limited success, to break up the fray with his message about uplifting tribal issues, the importance of environmental stewardship and universal health care.
“I know that running for the state Legislature is a privilege. It faces a lot of barriers for low-income people, people who come from historically underserved communities,” he said. “We have only had one Native American elected to the state Legislature in the history of this state.” . Now that I'm campaigning, there's some realization I've come to as to why that is.
Frankie Myers, vice president of the Yurok Tribe, hopes to become the second U.S. citizen elected to the California Legislature.
(Josh Edelson/For The Times)
The fifth Democrat, Mendocino County Supervisor Ted Williams, has not raised money and is in fact using his campaign to encourage candidates to focus on rural issues. A sixth Democratic candidate, Cynthia Click, withdrew from the race even though her name will appear on the ballot.
Michael Greer, the sole Republican candidate for the seat, has focused his campaign on bread-and-butter issues familiar to many California families, including public safety, growing numbers of people living homeless and rising housing costs, along with issues specific to the North Coast. Concerns similar to those raised by other candidates.
“As one vote, as one Republican, can I change the votes on all of these things?” Greer talked about his potential influence in the Democratic-led Assembly. “No. But I can raise my voice loud enough to make sure the rural areas are heard.”
The 36th Annual Crab Feed Convention in Santa Rosa gave voters a chance to meet the leading candidates trying to represent residents in the geographically diverse Assembly District 2, which straddles California's northern coast.
(Josh Edelson/For The Times)
Wood said many candidates use too broad rhetoric to describe the challenges the district faces and appear unaware of the progress he has made in addressing specific policy areas during his decade in Sacramento. He said that the real challenge lies in building on his successes in improving these policies.
“It's a very difficult area,” Wood said. “So you have to really commit to spending time learning it and respecting it so you can help solve some of the problems we face.”
Wood was quick to endorse Hicks' bid for the Assembly, saying he was confident the party chairman would serve as a “backbone” for the district.
“I respect anyone who wants to run here, but I think the depth and breadth of his experience and the things he's done and his life experience makes him the best candidate,” Wood said.
However, Wood noted that he was surprised and disappointed by the negative election campaign.
“This is not what we are used to on the North Coast,” he said. “I don't like it, and I don't think voters really like it either.”
