San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria is running. So are his counterparts in Coronado, Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos and Santee.
Half of the San Diego City Council also is campaigning for seats on the Democratic Central Committee, as are school board trustees, political appointees and top aides to elected officials.
In all, more than 40 politicians and political appointees are vying for election to the local Democratic and Republican parties’ central committees this coming spring.
That means the mayors and other elected officials seeking reelection to public office will appear on the ballot in two places. The winners will enjoy the fruits of public office but also the benefits of directing policy — and spending — by their party committees.
The number of current office holders and appointees running in the March 2024 campaigns is far higher than in previous years, when control of the two major political parties was most often delegated to volunteers, activists and former elected officials.
Under state campaign rules, central committee candidates can raise unlimited amounts of money — not just from individual donors but from corporations, labor unions and other entities that are not permitted to contribute to candidates for local public offices.
The donations cannot directly benefit any concurrent campaigns by those candidates for elective offices like city councils and school boards. But they can help raise the candidates’ profiles.
They can also be directed to political parties, which may spend the contributions promoting specific candidates.
Experts say there is little research into why so many public officials are running for central committee seats and their elected offices.
But they are quick to cite familiar suspects: money and power.
“Party endorsements can matter, and they have mattered a lot in recent San Diego elections,” said UC San Diego political science professor Thad Kousser. “Being in the room where that happens is a political advantage for someone to advance their own career and also to advance careers of their key allies.”
Beyond endorsements, Kousser noted that parties’ central committees are responsible for deciding how to spend millions of dollars in political donations.
“Campaign finance, especially San Diego campaign finance law, opens up a window for parties to spend huge sums on behalf of their candidates,” he said. “Being part of the party leadership can be vital for that, which is controlling the party.”
In San Diego County, the local Democratic party has sharply boosted fundraising and spending in recent years.
During the presidential election year of 2012, for example, Democratic party officials in San Diego raised and spent just under $2 million. That nearly doubled in just two election cycles: By 2020, contributions had climbed to $3.6 million, and the party reported spending just under $4 million.
The Republican Party of San Diego County, meanwhile, has seen the sums it raises and spends drop by half over the same period.
The county GOP reported $2.6 million in contributions in 2012 and $3.5 million in spending. By 2020, when former Vice President Joe Biden defeated President Donald Trump, those totals had dipped to $1.4 million and $1.8 million, respectively.
The crush of elected officials seeking dual roles in the upcoming primary election also comes as local Democrats have been weathering a scandal involving one of its most prominent voices.
Political consultant Jesus Cardenas and his sister, Chula Vista Councilmember Andrea Cardenas, were charged with a combined 12 felonies last month related to a federal COVID-19 relief program.
District Attorney Summer Stephan said the two cheated the U.S. government by illegally collecting $176,000 in Paycheck Protection Program funds through Grassroots Resources, the company founded by Jesus Cardenas.
The political consulting firm, which employs Andrea Cardenas, claimed it had 34 employees whose jobs would be saved with the federal pandemic aid. Most of those actually worked for a local cannabis dispensary, prosecutors alleged.
Grassroots Resources raised and spent millions of dollars for San Diego County candidates and ballot measures during the last several election cycles.
The criminal charges against the Cardenases led rank-and-file Democrats last month to demand an independent audit of party finances.
‘Factions are forming’
The central committees are made up of dozens of people who are elected by voters every four years. They act as the governing bodies for various political parties.
The committees decide whom to endorse for elective office and how to spend millions of dollars contributed by donors to the Democratic and Republican parties, which legally are private entities. They also help write the public policy platforms designed to guide local decision-makers.
Members are elected by voters in each of the state Assembly districts that serve San Diego County, with six people per district. The format means local elected officials running for office who also seek committee seats will appear on the March 2024 ballot in two places.
State and federal representatives who were elected as members of a specific political party also are awarded seats on their respective party central committees.
Not every politician seeking a position on their party’s governing board would discuss their secondary campaigns.
Several either did not respond to requests for comment or limited their responses to prepared statements that did not address issues raised by the dual roles.
A spokesperson for Todd Gloria said the San Diego mayor is running for the Democratic Party central committee so he can help direct the party in the way he was able to when he served as a state lawmaker.
“He’s not currently able to speak during central committee meetings unless it’s during public comment,” said Nick Serrano, Gloria’s deputy chief of staff, who is also running for a seat on the panel.
“Because the mayor takes his leadership role as a Democratic elected official seriously and wants to continue to help lead and shape our party into the future, he is running for the central committee in March 2024,” he added.
Serrano, who joins Gloria’s deputy policy director Matt Yagyagan on the central committee ballot, said he wants a seat on the panel to improve services to constituents.
“I’m running now to have my own voice on the central committee with the goal of helping to ensure our Democratic Party is supporting candidates, elected officials and common sense policies that will deliver for San Diegans,” he said by email.
If Gloria and his aides win their party committee seats, the San Diego mayor would wield even more influence with the board that controls endorsements — and millions of campaign dollars.
San Diego Council President Sean Elo-Rivera is also running for a central committee spot, along with council colleagues Vivian Moreno, Raul Campillo and Stephen Whitburn. That means four of the eight current members will be on the ballot.
Elo-Rivera said his central committee candidacy is about improving governance practices across the Democratic Party leadership — not simply a response to the criminal charges against Jesus and Andrea Cardenas.
“There needs to be accountability for the party, but I don’t think it’s solely about Jesus or Andrea,” he said. “We have, generally speaking, individual indicators where improvements can be made in the system.”
Andrea Cardenas now serves on the Democratic Party central committee; her brother previously ran but did not file paperwork needed to appear on the March ballot.
The San Diego Union-Tribune identified at least 27 elected and appointed officials seeking election to the local Democratic Party central committee in March. By comparison, 15 or more elected and appointed Republicans are running for that party’s governing board.
Four years ago, at least seven Democratic office holders and political appointees and five Republicans sought central committee seats, according to a Union-Tribune review. In the 2016 campaign, nine elected and appointed Republicans and seven Democrats campaigned for the panels.
Political experts said Democrats may exceed Republicans in numbers this election season because the party now has a tighter hold on local politics, most notably the San Diego City Council and the San Diego County Board of Supervisors.
Brian Adams, who teaches political science at San Diego State University and follows local politics, said when local municipalities are dominated by one party, the dominant party tends to split into factions.
“Now that Democrats have a significant registration advantage over Republicans in San Diego, I would suspect that factions are forming within the Democratic Party, although it’s not clear to me what those factions are and who belongs to them,” he said.
“If that is happening, it makes sense that elected officials and party activists would jockey to make sure their faction controls the central committee,” Adams added.
Effective workaround
Elected Democrats are not alone in working to secure more direct control of their central committees. Prominent Republicans also will be well represented on the March ballot for seats on their party’s governing board.
They include county Supervisor Joel Anderson, Coronado Mayor Richard Bailey, Escondido Mayor Dane White, San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones and Santee Mayor John Minto, among others.
Bailey, the Crown City mayor who has served on the local Republican Central Committee for years, said it makes sense that more officeholders are recognizing the benefits of holding the dual positions.
Not only is there a low barrier to qualify and a modest time commitment to perform the job, he said, it’s an important role that helps elected officials identify and support qualified candidates for public office.
Plus, committee service helps raise a candidate’s profile and political donations, Bailey noted.
“Although I’ve never utilized the central committee position as a fundraising vehicle, it’s undeniable that it presents what is effectively a workaround to campaign finance limits for most offices,” he said.
“As understanding of this workaround has increased, it’s not a coincidence that more electeds are running for their respective central committees,” he added. “In fact, if an elected (official) is not doing this, they are putting themselves at a disadvantage for future campaigns since their political opponent likely will.”
San Diego political scientist Carl Luna agreed. The Mesa College and University of San Diego professor said in politics, cash is king.
“Follow the money,” he said. “As more and more money pours into even local politics, being on the central committee allows office holders to try and put dibs on party money for their preferred campaigns.”
Luna also echoed San Diego State professor Adams, noting that controlling one or more seats on the party governing board expands an elected official’s overall influence.
“Being on the central committee would give a Todd Gloria-like figure the ability to either be the peacemaker between factions or victor for his own, establishing him as the ultimate local party leader,” he said.
According to Luna, it may be inevitable that even more county supervisors, council members, school board trustees and senior political aides will run for seats on the governing boards of the political party to which they belong.
“If other elected officials are joining the central committee, more will think about doing so too — if only to not be left out of decisions affecting money and the party’s future,” he said.
