Politics
Democratic Party chair Rusty Hicks assailed as outsider in bid for North Coast Assembly seat
At first glance, the Sonoma County Democratic Party’s 36th annual Crab Feed seemed the political schmoozefest it has been for nearly four decades.
For $70, Sonoma County residents could “bump elbows with elected officials” over a North Coast meal of Dungeness crab, salad and pasta served with locally produced red and white wines. But Democratic discord simmered beneath the pleasantries at the Feb. 23 decapod dinner.
The intraparty squabble involves who will replace Assemblymember Jim Wood (D-Healdsburg), who is retiring from his North Coast seat two years before most people expected. The shocking November announcement that Wood wouldn’t seek reelection for his final term after 10 years in the statehouse sent candidates scrambling to prop up campaigns with only a few months to raise money and support before Tuesday’s primary.
In his bid for State Assembly, Santa Rosa Councilmember Chris Rogers has 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 Chair Rusty Hicks, Healdsburg City Councilmember and nonprofit executive Ariel Kelley as well as former Santa Rosa mayor and current Councilmember Chris Rogers.
Disagreement among local Democratic leaders over who should represent Assembly District 2 — a left-leaning, geographically diverse region stretching from Santa Rosa to the Oregon border — has transformed the race into one of the most expensive and divisive in local history.
The Democratic trio are competing for a top-two placement in the March 5 primary, likely alongside the only Republican in the race who conceivably has enough GOP votes in the district to send him to the November general election. A majority of the district’s voters are registered Democrats, so the Democratic candidate who makes it through the primary has a good chance of winning in November.
The district spans five counties — part of Sonoma plus all of Mendocino, Trinity, Humboldt and Del Norte — a roughly seven-hour drive from top to bottom. It takes in 307,000 voters, many of them working-class, across its rural geography. Many residents contend with a shortage of affordable housing, well-paying jobs and limited healthcare access. The region faces growing environmental threats, including deadly wildfires exacerbated by climate change.
The intensive jockeying among candidates to gain traction with voters was evident at the crab event.
“Vote Chris Rogers” buttons competed with “ARIEL” stickers, while Hicks sponsored a table prominently positioned at the front of the hall, where he sat across from Wood and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Hollister).
A supporter wears a pin advocating Chris Rogers for State Assembly at a crab-eating event in Santa Rosa.
(Josh Edelson / For The Times)
Much of the political brouhaha revolves around Hicks, 44, who moved to the region from Los Angeles only a few years ago — a blip in time by some local standards — but who brings with him considerable funding and clout. He is endorsed by outgoing Assemblymember Wood, Gov. Gavin Newsom, U.S. Sen. Laphonza Butler, veterans groups and a long list of powerful statewide labor organizations, among others.
Hicks is proving a formidable candidate. He’s a Texas native and Afghanistan War veteran who was president of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor before being elected Democratic Party chair in 2019. His reputation as a skilled strategist and even-keeled leader in the labor movement helped him dominate that race as the party looked to correct course in the aftermath of an internal sexual misconduct scandal.
His campaign messaging centers on safeguarding district jobs, creating more affordable housing options and expanding access to healthcare in a region with few medical clinics. He has also emphasized environmental preservation, an issue that resonates in a region home to towering redwoods and vast state and national parkland.
“I’m running because I’ve got a long track record of delivering real results for real people,” Hicks said.
Rusty Hicks, chair of the California Democratic Party and a longtime Los Angeles labor leader, says he and his wife moved to Humboldt County in 2021, after falling in love with the area. Opponents to his Assembly bid question his North Coast credentials.
(Josh Edelson / For The Times)
His opponents describe him in a different light.
Skeptics accuse Hicks of carpetbagging his way from Los Angeles to Humboldt County with ambitions to run for office, and have blasted his long list of donations from Southern California and Sacramento as evidence that he lacks connections to the people he wants to represent.
He’s also faced criticism for maintaining his influential position as party chair while campaigning for Assembly. Hicks said he has suspended his pay and benefits during the race and pledged to step down if elected.
Hicks said he and his wife bought their home in Arcata in Humboldt County in 2021 after falling in love with the North Coast while he was running for party chair. His campaign, he said, is “funded by individuals and workers and the unions that represent them,” a coalition that many backing his candidacy say no Democrat should be criticized for.
Hicks faces a strong opponent in Kelley, 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.
A political action committee supporting Kelley — largely funded by her sister, who poured 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 proponents angrily deny. His campaign sent local TV stations cease-and-desist letters warning them against continuing to run ads that Hicks maintains are “patently false.”
Hicks has clapped back with criticism of Kelley’s investments in the oil industry and questioned her connections to a local developer who recently donated $50,000 to the political action committee.
“It’s unfortunate when some candidates and their supporters conclude that they can no longer talk about their own record or run on their own record and decide to lie about mine,” Hicks said.
Kelley said she doesn’t communicate with the PAC or her sister about its strategy, and agrees the negative campaigning is unhelpful. She said her father died last year and left her a trust that held investments “in a number of industries,” and that she plans to divest from those in oil and gas.
Ariel Kelley, a former mayor of Healdsburg, is one of the Democratic candidates for a North Coast Assembly seat. She is endorsed by local government officials and statewide groups dedicated to electing more women to office.
(Josh Edelson / For The Times)
She’s called the attacks “completely baseless” and a distraction from real issues facing district voters, such as the need for paid family leave for rural families, ensuring access to reproductive healthcare, improving housing affordability and reducing homelessness.
“I’m really focused on just talking about my record of delivering. Because it’s a very strong record of delivering for this community, on homelessness, on wildfire prevention, on housing, healthcare access,” she said.
Rogers, 36, who has also mounted a fierce campaign, has called for his opponents to end the “mud-slinging,” even as he’s expressed many of the same concerns about Hicks’ fundraising strategies.
Raised in Sonoma County, Rogers worked for a decade as an aide to congressional and state legislators in the district before launching his career in local politics. He contends he is most qualified to represent the district after steering the region through emergency after emergency as Santa Rosa’s mayor and during his time on the City Council, including the COVID-19 pandemic, a drought, flooding and devastating wildfires.
Rogers is endorsed by Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), whom he worked for as a legislative staffer, and a long list of city and county officials, a local firefighters group and environmental organizations. He said he’s focused on mitigating climate change, protecting local healthcare facilities from closing and addressing a critical narrowing of access to homeowners insurance in Northern California communities.
“I have that experience. Not just understanding the perspective, but how to translate needs in the district into legislative action,” Rogers said.
Yurok Tribe Vice Chair Frankie Myers, 43, is also running as a Democrat, hoping to become the second Native American elected to the California statehouse. Myers has received support from tribal communities throughout the state.
He’s tried, with limited success, to break through the bickering with his message about elevating tribal issues and the importance of environmental stewardship and universal healthcare.
“I’m learning it is a privilege running for state Legislature. It has a lot of barriers for low-income people, people from historically disadvantaged communities,” he said. “We’ve only had one single elected Native American in the state Legislature in the history of this state. And now having campaigned, there’s some realizations I’m coming to about why that is.”
Frankie Myers, vice chair of the Yurok Tribe, is hoping to be the second Native American elected to the California Legislature.
(Josh Edelson / For The Times)
A fifth Democrat, Mendocino County Supervisor Ted Williams, hasn’t raised money and is in effect using his campaign to encourage candidates to focus on rural issues. A sixth Democratic candidate, Cynthia Click, has withdrawn from the race, though her name will appear on the ballot.
Michael Greer, the one Republican running for the seat, has focused his campaign on bread-and-butter issues familiar to many California families, including public safety, the rising numbers of people living homeless and spiraling housing costs, along with North Coast-specific concerns similar to those raised by the other candidates.
“As one vote, as one Republican, can I change the votes on all these things?” Greer said of his potential effect in the Democratic-led Assembly. “No. But I can be loud enough to make sure that the rural areas are heard.”
Santa Rosa’s 36th annual Crab Feed gave voters a chance to meet leading candidates in the bid to represent residents in the geographically diverse Assembly District 2, which spans California’s North Coast.
(Josh Edelson / For The Times)
Wood said many of the candidates are using overly broad rhetoric to describe the district’s challenges and seem unfamiliar with the progress he’s made in addressing specific policy areas during his decade in Sacramento. The real challenge, he said, will be building on his successes to fine-tune those policies.
“It’s a hugely challenging district,” Wood said. “So you have to really commit to spending the time to learn it and to respect it to be able to help solve some of the problems that we face.”
Wood was quick to endorse Hicks’ bid for Assembly, saying he was confident the party chair would be a “workhorse” for the district.
“I respect anybody 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 make him the best candidate,” Wood said.
Wood noted, however, that he’s been surprised and disappointed by the negative campaigning.
“This is not what we’re used to on the North Coast,” he said. “I don’t like it, and I don’t think voters really like it either.”
Politics
Trump announces more nominations, including Kari Lake as director of Voice of America broadcast
President-elect Donald Trump nominated a few more candidates on Wednesday night to serve in various positions during his second term.
He tapped Kari Lake as the next director of the Voice of America, a state-funded U.S. government broadcaster. Lake was a longtime Arizona broadcaster who ran unsuccessfully for public office in 2022 and 2024.
“I am pleased to announce that Kari Lake will serve as our next Director of the Voice of America. She will be appointed by, and work closely with, our next head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media, who I will announce soon, to ensure that the American values of Freedom and Liberty are broadcast around the World FAIRLY and ACCURATELY, unlike the lies spread by the Fake News Media,” Trump wrote in a release.
Voice of America is an influential broadcast channel that provides news, information and cultural programming in over 40 languages on the Internet, mobile and social media, radio and television.
TRUMP ANNOUNCES MORE PICKS, NOMINATES KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE TO SERVE AS AMBASSADOR TO GREECE
President-elect Donald Trump nominated former Arizona broadcaster Kari Lake, who unsuccessfully ran for public office in 2022 and 2024, as director of the Voice of America broadcast. (Anita Pouchard Serra/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump also named Dr. Peter Lamelas, a physician, philanthropist, and businessman, as the next U.S. Ambassador to Argentina. Lamelas immigrated to the U.S. from Cuba and founded MD Now Urgent Care in Florida, the state’s largest urgent care system.
“As a child, Peter and his family fled communist Cuba and LEGALLY immigrated to the USA, starting with nothing, and achieving the American Dream,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Lamelas was previously appointed to the Department of Justice’s Medal of Valor Review Board during Trump’s first term and has served as a town commissioner in Manalapan, Florida, and on the state’s Board of Medicine.
President-elect Donald Trump nominated Dr. Peter Lamelas to be U.S. ambassador to Argentina. (Dr. Peter Lamelas/LinkedIn)
NEW POLL REVEALS WHAT AMERICANS THINK OF TRUMP’S TRANSITION DECISIONS
Also on Wednesday evening, Trump announced Daniel Newlin, a law enforcement veteran and personal injury attorney, as the next U.S. Ambassador to Colombia.
In addition to a 28-year career with the Orange County (Florida) Sheriff’s Office where he worked as a fugitive detective, Newlin is also a business executive and entrepreneur who founded Dan Newlin Personal Injury Attorneys – the second-largest firm of its kind in the country.
“With his Law Enforcement expertise enabling him to navigate complex international issues, and his business insights fostering economic partnerships, Newlin stands as a powerful advocate for U.S. interests, and a Champion for strengthening ties, and making a difference in the World,” Trump wrote.
President-elect Donald Trump nominated Daniel Newlin, law enforcement veteran and personal injury attorney, to be the U.S. ambassador to Colombia. (NewlinLaw.com)
The picks announced Wednesday night are the latest in a long string of nominations the president-elect hopes the Senate will approve.
Politics
California Sen. Alex Padilla urges Biden administration to protect immigrants before Trump takes office
WASHINGTON — Democratic lawmakers including California Sen. Alex Padilla are urging President Biden to take action now to protect immigrants with temporary legal statuses and work authorizations.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to move quickly to crack down on immigrants once he takes office, including mass deportations.
The lawmakers said during a news conference Wednesday that protecting hundreds of thousands of immigrants was not just a moral imperative, but an economic priority as well.
“By taking work authorization for hundreds of thousands of workers away, we’re gutting our own workforce,” Padilla said. “For all the voters who turned out in November, who told campaigns and pollsters that top of mind for them was the high cost of living, the cost of housing, the price of food and so much more: Let’s be clear that mass deportations will directly result in an economic disaster and higher prices.”
Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada said White House officials told her they are considering the request, but have offered no timetable for when they could act. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
She and Padilla, along with Sen. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico, sent Biden a letter last week asking him to redesignate eligible countries, including Nicaragua, El Salvador and Venezuela, for Temporary Protected Status, and to designate Ecuador for protections.
They also urged Biden to expedite processing of applications for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, an Obama-era program granting work permits and deportation protections to certain immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
California is home to about 68,000 Temporary Protected Status holders and 150,000 DACA recipients.
Temporary Protected Status is a presidential authority that allows people to live and work in the U.S. when conditions in their home country, such as war or environmental disaster, make it unsafe to return. More than 860,000 immigrants from 17 countries are protected under the program, which the Biden administration significantly expanded.
The program’s protection is granted for up to 18 months. Protections for some countries are due to end soon; designations for El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Nepal and Sudan, for instance, expire in March. Renewing them now would buy those immigrants more time to work legally and seek out alternative legal options.
During his first term, Trump revoked the humanitarian protections for people from several countries, but a class-action lawsuit kept their protections in place until the Biden administration took office and reversed Trump’s move.
It is widely anticipated that Trump will attempt to revoke the protections or let them expire soon after being sworn in.
The plea by lawmakers and advocates comes after Trump said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that the only way to prevent families from being separated is to deport them all, including children who are U.S. citizens. Trump also said he will “work with Democrats on a plan” to help DACA recipients remain in the country.
The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on Tuesday titled, “How mass deportations will separate American families, harm our armed forces, and devastate our economy.”
In a floor speech previewing the hearing a day earlier, Sen. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) said there’s reason to be skeptical, if not cynical, of Trump’s promises to work with Democrats.
“[In his] last term, President-elect Trump walked away from four different bipartisan compromises with Democrats to solve the DACA crisis,” Durbin said. “Democrats were willing to provide billions of dollars, at one point, for President Trump’s unpopular border wall in exchange for a bipartisan Dream Act, but we just couldn’t seem to reach a positive answer.”
Andrea Flores, a former Biden White House official who is now vice president for immigration policy and campaigns at the advocacy group Fwd.us, said Biden’s decision to protect hundreds of thousands of immigrants from dangerous conditions is being politicized in the aftermath of the election.
She noted that Temporary Protected Status is a bipartisan law created in 1990, has been used by presidents of both political parties and requires “a sober legal assessment of the diplomatic foreign policy and country conditions.”
“Factors that are not in the law could potentially stop the Biden administration from acting,” she said. “The usage of TPS historically has always reflected the best of what our country does, which is to protect people fleeing harm from oppressive regimes. To fail to act now, to protect those people that we welcomed in and provided refuge to, would be a stain on the Biden administration’s legacy for years to come.”
Politics
Border sheriff ignores county's new policy that blocks cooperation with ICE immigration enforcement
San Diego votes on blocking ICE cooperation
San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond joins ‘Faulkner Focus’ to discuss a vote from the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on a measure blocking police from working with federal immigration enforcement.
The San Diego County sheriff says her office will not change its practices with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after the county’s board of supervisors moved to further restrict that cooperation ahead of the Trump administration taking office next year.
“The sheriff’s office will not change its practices based on the board resolution and policy that was passed at today’s meeting,” Sheriff Kelly Martinez’s office said in a statement. “The board of supervisors does not set policy for the sheriff’s office. The sheriff, as an independently elected official, sets the policy for the sheriff’s office.”
The statement came after a 3-1 vote by the San Diego County Board of Supervisors on a resolution to restrict ICE cooperation with local law enforcement.
CALIFORNIA COUNTY VOTES TO RAMP UP SANCTUARY POLICIES AHEAD OF TRUMP DEPORTATION PUSH: ‘RADICAL POLICY’
In this undated photo, ICE agents arrest an illegal immigrant. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
The resolution says the county will not provide assistance or cooperation to ICE, “including by giving ICE agents access to individuals or allowing them to use County facilities for investigative interviews or other purposes, expending County time or resources responding to ICE inquiries or communicating with ICE regarding individuals’ incarceration status or release dates, or otherwise participating in any civil immigration enforcement activities.”
When ICE is aware of suspected illegal immigrants in local or state custody, it will file a detainer with law enforcement, typically requesting that the agency is notified ahead of the suspected illegal immigrants’ release and, in some cases, that they be held until ICE can take custody of them.
ICE says this helps detain illegal immigrants without having to go into communities and gets illegal immigrant offenders off the streets. Sanctuary proponents say that such policies chill cooperation between law enforcement and otherwise law-abiding illegal immigrants.
BLUE STATE COUNTY TEES UP VOTE ON ‘KNEE-JERK’ RESOLUTION TO PROTECT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS FROM DEPORTATION
“When federal immigration authorities, including the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Border Patrol coerce local law enforcement to carry out deportations, family members are separated and community trust in law enforcement and local government is destroyed,” an overview of the resolution claims.
“Witnesses and victims who are undocumented or who have loved ones who are undocumented are afraid to come to the County for help, which includes calling local law enforcement. This puts the public safety of all San Diegans at risk.”
Proponents of the resolution say California’s sanctuary law has too many loopholes and still allows agencies to notify ICE of release dates and transfer some individuals into their custody.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF THE BORDER SECURITY CRISIS
It was a claim with which Martinez disagreed.
Thomas Homan, the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, speaks during a Department of Homeland Security press conference to announce end-of-year numbers regarding immigration enforcement, border security and national security Dec. 5, 2017, in Washington, D.C. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
“As the sheriff of San Diego County, my No. 1 priority is protecting the safety and well-being of all residents of our diverse region. While protecting the rights of undocumented immigrants is crucial, it is equally important to ensure that victims of crimes are not overlooked or neglected in the process,” she said.
The San Diego County Sheriff is a nonpartisan office, but Martinez has identified as a Democrat personally.
“Victims include undocumented individuals. These vulnerable individuals express to me that their legal status is used as a weapon against them when offenders from their community victimize them,” she said. “We must protect the well-being of individuals, including those who are undocumented, which requires a careful approach that upholds the principles of justice, fairness and compassion for all individuals involved.”
It comes ahead of what is expected to be a historic mass deportation campaign by the incoming Trump administration. Incoming border czar Tom Homan has said no one is off the table when it comes to deportations, although public safety threats will be the priority.
Trump announces more nominations, including Kari Lake as director of Voice of America broadcast
'Bleeding eye' virus, new drug dangers and lead's toxic effects
NBA Hall of Famers Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter join Bills' ownership group
7 must-have apps to save big this holiday season
L.A. City Council backs $30 minimum wage for hotel and LAX workers in 2028
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
Trump announces more nominations, including Kari Lake as director of Voice of America broadcast
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,022
Mystery drones flying over New Jersey have residents and officials puzzled
Border sheriff ignores county's new policy that blocks cooperation with ICE immigration enforcement
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz requests confidence vote
-
News1 week agoRassemblement National’s Jordan Bardella threatens to bring down French government
-
World1 week ago
Freedom is permanent for Missourian described as the longest-held wrongly incarcerated woman in US
-
Technology4 days agoStruggling to hear TV dialogue? Try these simple fixes
-
Business2 days agoOpenAI's controversial Sora is finally launching today. Will it truly disrupt Hollywood?
-
World1 week agoBrussels denies knowledge of Reynders's alleged money laundering
-
Science1 week agoAll raw milk from Fresno dairy farm will be cleared from store shelves; cows have bird flu
-
News1 week agoRead Representative Jerrold Nadler’s Letter
-
Politics1 week agoOklahoma measure seeks to make school district superintendents an elected position