The California Midterm Election – A Different Story
From Mobilize the Immigrant Vote!
Dear Friends,
This year, Mobilize the Immigrant Vote (MIV) California Collaborative partner organizations and community allies across California have strengthened the power and voice of immigrant families, communities of color, and working people in the civic process and beyond! We hope you will enjoy reading these key updates from what happened in our state and look forward to building greater community movements for change in 2011 and beyond.
The California Midterm Election Results – What Happened and the Role Immigrants Played
While the country saw many elected seats shift from Democrat to Republican hands, California reported a different story on Election Night. Despite Meg Whitman’s close to $175 million in campaign spending, Democrat Jerry Brown, took the Governor seat with 53.6%* of the vote. Incumbent Democrat Barbara Boxer held her U.S. Senate seat with 52.1% of the vote, and Democrats took the majority of statewide seats. While the results of the race for Attorney General may not be finalized until December, Democrat Kamala Harris, the daughter of an immigrant, currently leads Republican Steven Cooley with fewer than 14,000* votes even after a heavy campaign on the part of Cooley to paint Harris as soft on criminals. In a year when 680 state legislature seats across the country were gained by Republicans, the California State Assembly did not lose a single traditionally Democratic seat to the Republicans. A small number of anti-immigrant/pro-Tea Party candidates such as Tim Donnelly and Allan Monsoor were elected to the State Assembly, but these wins were all in districts that have historically been solidly Republican.
National media outlets underscored the key role of Latinos and immigrants in California and national races, and the failure of race-baiting and anti-immigrant campaigns overall. Headlines such as “Latino Vote Saves the West for Democrats” peppered newspapers on November 3rd. Several Asian American and Pacific Islander voters voiced strong support for Brown, with Chinese American and Korean American likely voters reporting supporting Brown at a rate of 55% in a late October survey conducted by Field Poll. Adam Serwer wrote in The Washington Post, “Among the silver linings for Democrats – and society, really – in the massive victories won by Republicans yesterday is that there is a very clear price to pay for exploiting anti-immigrant sentiment for political purposes. As Elise Foley notes, Colorado gubernatorial candidate Tom Tancredo, California gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman, and most infamously Nevada Senate candidate Sharron Angle went down in defeat after running campaigns that promised to crack down on immigration.”
The results of California’s statewide ballot measures were a mixed bag. Californians voted down Proposition 23 which had threatened to roll back California’s landmark anti-pollution and clean energy law and approved Proposition 25 which changed the required vote to pass a state budget from 2/3 to a simple majority, making it significantly easier to pass a budget on time. Proposition 20, which will put drawing of Congressional district lines into the hands of a new 15-person commission, passed. Proposition 24 which would have closed corporate tax loopholes failed, and Proposition 26, which will make it harder to approve state fees, passed. Immigrants and communities of color played an important in local policy victories including the passage of Measure N in San Francisco to increase city revenue from real estate transactions of $5 million or more.
Immigrants and the children of immigrants stood out as high profile candidates for both Republicans and Democrats in California. Van Tran was a high profile opponent of Loretta Sanchez in the race for the 47th Congressional District, representing Garden Grove and Santa Ana. Dr. Ami Bera challenged Dan Lungren for Sacramento’s 3rd Congressional District. Dr. Richard Pan, son of Chinese immigrants, defeated Andy Pugno in Sacramento’s 5th State Assembly District, which had been Republican for more than two decades. In local races, immigrants and Latinos took seats that they had never held before including the election of Rudy Salas, Jr. to the Bakersfield City Council, the first Latino to be elected to this office, and of Jean Quan, the daughter of immigrants, who will be the first Asian American and first woman Mayor of Oakland. Immigrant Madison Nguyen held onto her San Jose City Council seat in a contentious election, remaining the first Vietnamese American to serve on that body.
2010 Achievements in California Immigrant Civic Engagement
In 2008, pundits asked whether California voters and the “new” immigrant and Latino voters would turn out in force again in 2010. Mobilize the Immigrant Vote partner organizations and allies were committed to making this a reality – committed to trying new approaches and to increasing their impact on critical policies at the local, state and national levels. “Our goal is to harness the power of the immigrant vote,” shares MIV Program Director, Lolita Roibal. “While partners are still inputting results, it appears that our Impact Partner allies saw at least a 50% increase in their voter contacts this year as opposed to 2008. For a midterm election year, this is quite impressive and demonstrates the tremendous opportunity for immigrants and low-income communities of color to increasingly become more influential voters and leaders in their local communities.”
Key themes in MIV’s 2010 efforts included supporting regional strategies with local partners both in immigrant centers as well as historically low-infrastructure, more anti-immigrant regions, leveraging economies of scale, and partnering with experts in the field. “We are committed to trying new approaches and leveraging resources to the local level in 2010,” adds MIV Coordinating Director, Aparna Shah. “Two of the highlights were bringing in outside electoral organizing experts to provide training and coaching to all of our regional tables and establishing an internal voter file coaching infrastructure led by Yongho Kim of the Korean Resource Center.”
Grassroots immigrant and community leaders came together in five regional issue analysis forums to discuss the implications of the nine measures on the November 2nd California ballot in August, which resulted in a statewide slate card of recommendations from immigrant communities. “Our one-page analysis briefs available in six languages continue to be a valuable resource to immigrant communities,” states Horacio Arroyo of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA). “The propositions are often confusing so these resources continue to be one of the top tools for which MIV is most known.” MIV co-sponsored the California Shared Prosperity Forum in August to strengthen the dialogue between immigrant communities and key state candidates, train over 500 grassroots leaders, and build and sustain greater statewide collaboration. Overall, California community organizations showed an ever increasing commitment to building power including the collaborative efforts of PowerPAC, the California Alliance, Equality California and MIV to produce a collective voice on economic issues across the state.
Moving Forward: Staying True to Our Roots, Taking Risks, and Trying New Strategies
Low-income immigrant communities of color are forging ahead in California and across the country. Grassroots immigrant organizations will continue to unite through the Mobilize the Immigrant Vote California Collaborative in 2011-2012 with a specific emphasis on impact, alliance building, and leveraging the latest strategies and tools for low-income immigrant communities of color.
“Our niche is ensuring that immigrant leaders are at the forefront of the issues most impacting them and are building long-term alliances with diverse allied communities,” says Patricia Diaz of Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network in Santa Clara County (SIREN). “There were some significant gains and losses for Californians on November 2nd,” says Nancy Berlin of California Partnership. “We’ve made powerful strides in building understanding in our communities about governance and tax and fiscal issues, but we cannot let up. The votes on the November 2010 ballot initiative were contradictory at times, suggesting that voters still don’t completely understand the implications of all these measures and issues. The next few years will be critical for engaging and mobilizing immigrants, youth, and communities of color at large.”
Immigration reform continues to be a priority for MIV partner organizations with groups making clear links between jobs, the economy, and the issues in MIV’s Statewide Platform . Immigrant leaders and allies reaffirmed their commitment to federal immigration reform following the midterm elections while also promising seize every opportunity to protect immigrant rights and fight back against attacks at the local and state level in 2011-2012. America’s Voice reported promising results of a recent poll completed by Lake Research Partners on behalf of the organization. They shared, “The research finds that, despite midterm election gains by conservatives and Republicans, Americans’ support for comprehensive immigration reform has actually increased and that voters of every demographic and political subgroup remain broadly and intensely in favor of a national and practical fix to the immigration system….When we simply ask voters whether they support or oppose comprehensive immigration reform without describing it, 67% support it (55% strongly support). However, when we provide a description, support jumps to 81%, with 68% strongly in support.” Earlier this week, student and community activists applauded the California Supreme Court decision to uphold AB 540 which allows undocumented students who graduate from a U.S. high school to pay in-state student fees for California public colleges and universities. On November 16, President Barack Obama urged action on the DREAM Act and called on Congress to act on comprehensive changes to federal immigration law.
In 2010, there were 1,448,775 more registered voters than in the last 2006 midterm election year. The population and electorate of California will only grow further for the 2012 Presidential elections and beyond. Immigrants of all ethnicities, the children of immigrants, Latinos, and youth will no doubt profoundly impact the landscape of California and the country – the time is now to invest in their activism, their vote, and their power.
Tools and Resources to Help Us Get There
The next few months will be a key period for analyzing the quantitative and qualitative results of our 2010 civic engagement programs and making adjustments for 2011-2012. For California, 2011 will bring more elections as well as the finalizing of new district lines by August 2011. Below are a few resources to support organizations in continuing to build their integrated voter engagement and civic engagement programs:
- California Election Results and Voter Information: sos.ca.gov and vote.sos.ca.gov
- California VoterConnect
- MIV MOVE Toolkit
- PILA MIV Toolkit
- Coalition of Asian Pacific Americans for Fair Redistricting
MIV 2010 Impact Partner Organizations and Special Projects Partners : Bay Area Iranian-American Voter Association (BAIVOTER); Ethiopian Complete Count Committee; Filipino Advocates for Justice; Fresno Center for New Americans; Immigrants Vote: Asian American Center of Santa Clara County, ACCE – San Jose, Asian Law Alliance, Californians for Justice – San Jose, Filipino Community Support (FOCUS), Somos Mayfair, Student Advocates for Higher Education; Priority Africa Network (PAN); PUEBLO; San Bernardino Table: ACCE – San Bernardino, Librería Del PUEBLO, Riverside Latino Voter Project; San Francisco Yes We Count Coalition; San Francisco Rising: Causa Justa::Just Cause (CJJC), Chinese Progressive Association (CPA), Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth, Filipino Community Center (FCC), Mujeres Unidas y Activas (MUA), People Organizing to Demand Environmental and Economic Rights (PODER), People Organized to Win Employment Rights (POWER), SF Day Labor Program / La Colectiva de Mujeres, South of Market Community Action Network (SOMCAN)
MIV’s General Campaign Partners – please see our website for the full list of 130+ organizations !
MIV’s Funding Partners including: Akonadi Foundation, Color of Democracy Fund, Educational Foundation of America, Evelyn and Walter Haas, Jr. Fund , Four Freedoms Fund, French American Charitable Trust, Mitchell Kapor Foundation, Ms. Foundation , Power PAC Foundation, Rosenberg Foundation, San Francisco Foundation, Solidago Foundation, The California Endowment, Unitarian Universalist Veatch Program at Shelter Rock
All of MIV’s Partner and Allies including: Alliance for Justice, California Alliance, California Immigrant Policy Center, California VoterConnect, Equality California, PowerPAC, Progressive Technology Project, We Are America Alliance
In solidarity and with hope for the work to come,
The MIV Statewide Steering Committee and Regional Staff
California Partnership (CAP)
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA)
Korean Resource Center (KRC)
Partnership for Immigrant Leadership and Action (PILA)
Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network (SIREN)
The MIV Statewide Staff
Aparna Shah, Coordinating Director
Lolita Roibal, Program Director
Mari Ryono, Senior Staff
* Preliminary results from the California Secretary of State website, 11/14/2010.
The Mobilize the Immigrant Vote (MIV) California Collaborative is a non-partisan fiscally-sponsored project of Partnership for Immigrant Leadership and Action.
November 19th, 2010 at 7:41 am
You guys are amazing! Congratulations for all you’ve done this year!