The votes have been counted, and we now know that former City Councilmember Carl DeMaio failed in his bid to oust freshmen Rep. Scott Peters in California’s 52nd District. It’s time to move on and start to heal some of the rifts left in the wake of a largely negative campaign. In that spirit, I think it’s important to look at some of the positive and laudable aspects of Team DeMaio’s effort.
DeMaio ran. This will sound familiar to fans of Aaron Sorkin shows, but you have to respect anyone willing to run for office these days. Whatever the full spectrum of DeMaio’s motives, one of them is a sincere belief in reforming government. After a tough mayoral loss, he jumped right off the mat to run again, knowing that the issues from that race, and more, would surface. That takes guts.
Republican leaders supported DeMaio. There remain Republicans who didn’t want to vote for DeMaio because of his sexual orientation. House Speaker Boehner came to San Diego and told them to do it anyway. How Boehner tells donors to support gay Republican candidates while attacking their right to marry is an enigma, but the fact that he and other Republican leaders are doing it is a step in the right direction. As is the fact that Republicans felt an openly gay candidate was their best shot at taking the district.
The video with Johnathan Hale. As recently as the 2008 “No on Prop. 8” campaign, it was dogma that anything possibly making voters think about sex, like having your gay partner in an ad, was taboo. While it wasn’t the lingering family shot that many candidates use, the fact that DeMaio put his partner in an ad is an important step toward LGBT families being seen as the same source of pride and strength they are for other candidates.
New people joined the conversation. Young voters (18-29) made up only 13 percent of the 2014 electorate, down from 19 percent in 2012. Anyone who is engaging them is doing the country a service. Since his 2008 City Council campaign, DeMaio has sought to engage young voters and activists, particularly in the LGBT community. Some have stayed with him and the Republican Party, some have joined the Democrats and some are currently unaffiliated, but many have remained active in San Diego politics.
He was gracious in defeat. If DeMaio and his team didn’t know they were in trouble when the first absentee numbers came in on Election Day, they must have known it by the end of the night. To his credit, DeMaio’s campaign made the appropriate expressions of optimism, but never tried to claim a sweeping victory or to question the legitimacy of the final tally. Instead, he said that counting all the votes was part of the process, and conceded when the numbers made victory impossible.
In his concession, DeMaio said, “Because I care about San Diego, I wish Mr. Peters the best and hope he will endeavor to represent the district well.”
After a bruising campaign in San Diego and its LGBT community, perhaps we can all agree on that.
Nicely written article, thanks. Good to see something positive after such an ugly campaign from both camps. Best of luck to Mr. Peters and Mr. DeMaio.