Next: The General Election
This is it! The final stretch! The next stop! The November 2024 General Election!
Our Democratic organizations are gearing up to Get Out Every Vote (GOEV) to protect our Democracy. The reality is that every vote is needed, not only to elect our candidates, but also to protect our political system of Democracy. Achieving this goal is dependent on EVERY voter in our Democratic Party universe, along with all non-party members who support our agenda. These two groups must turn out in larger numbers to re-elect President Biden. Electing Jessica Morse as our next congressional representative will add her strength, along with the many strengths of our other Democratic party representatives whom we elect. The success of these local candidates will support Biden’s pro-democracy administration.
The primary was only the beginning. The expected strength of Democratic voters in the primary election, and the number of donations to our congressional candidate were both determinants that attracted National Democratic Party attention to our local congressional campaign.
The good news is that the national attention was shown to be justified. Jessica Morse garnered a greater percentage of the votes in our area than Democrats have ever done before.
In Congressional District 3, Jessica Morse garnered 102,854 votes representing 42.2% of the total, compared to Kevin Kiley’s 136,065 votes at 55.8%. In previous elections, the Democratic percentage was less than 20%. That means that this primary’s percentage of Democratic votes more than doubled.
In Placer County, Jessica Morse received 39.9% compared to Kiley’s 58.2%. According to the Placer County Elections Office, the total number of registered voters was approximately 281,255. (That number most likely didn’t include same-day registrations.) Of the 281,255 registered voters about 89,092 were Democrats, 114,264 were Republicans, 54,171 were No Party Preference. and finally, 23,744 were “Other.”
In the Placer County primary vote count, Jessica received 51,437 votes, while Kiley obtained 75,243. The third candidate on the ballot was the No Party Preference candidate, who received 2,495 votes. Placer County primary voter turn-out was about 46% of all registered voters. Votes for each candidate represent a combined total of political party plus No-Party-Preference voters.
This voter turn-out percentage of 46% represents the gap between those who did vote and those who didn’t. The pathway to win this coming election lies within that gap between those who voted and those who did not. In the months leading up to the General Election, it is important to encourage those who did vote to again vote in November. Additionally, we need to motivate those who didn’t vote in the primary election. We will need to convince registered Democrats to vote, as well as those who are Democratic leaning No Party Preference voters. This is the pathway to victory.
The Placer County Democratic Party voter outreach program, under the auspices of the California Democratic Party, is working hard to engineer the November Election drive toward achieving this goal. In my opinion, for our congressional district, this is the strongest, most organized operation in recent history. There is a plan of action.
The Auburn Area Democratic Club (AADC) is a strong participant in this strategy. We are currently nearing the final phase of seeking a location for our 2024 Election Campaign Headquarters. Our AADC team has accomplished much to reach this point. After we succeed in this endeavor, we will need volunteers to staff the office and to participate in voter outreach operations. In the meantime, we need volunteers to sign up for phone banking, canvassing, and post carding whenever those types of events are held. Now is the time to volunteer to support our candidates during this final stretch to the November Election.