Yesterday’s Primary Election was a fantastic demonstration of the relevance of Young Democrats in the political process.  Members of the Los Angeles County Young Democrats were elected to seats ranging from Statewide Constitutional Office, to Democratic Party Central Committee to a seat on the second-largest City Council in LA County.

LACYD is very proud of James Johnson, a LACYD member who won his runoff election against an incumbent City Councilmember in Long Beach.  Councilmember-elect Johnson epitomized hard-working Young Dems by walking his district (Long Beach Council District 7) for more than 400 days in order to meet voters and talk about his vision for Long Beach.  With all precincts reporting, Johnson won nearly 53% of the vote and will now serve as the District 7 representative on the Long Beach City Council.

LACYD member Chris Parker was also victorious Tuesday evening.  Parker is now the Democratic nominee to be the next member of the California State Board of Equalization from District 2.  Chris had a novel idea when deciding to run for what is traditionally a seat occupied by termed-out Republican legislators. He thought that it would make sense for an actual tax attorney, someone that knows tax policy and could effectively enforce it, to serve in a role that is constitutionally charged with enforcing tax policy. During his Primary campaign, Parker traveled to each of the counties in this absurdly large district (which stretches from the Oregon border, down the eastern part of the state and into Los Angeles County) to talk with voters about how electing someone that is right for this job could bring in millions of dollars of revenue to the State that seat-filler Republicans have ignored for years. LACYD is incredibly proud to count Chris as a member and we are looking forward to working hard to get him elected in the fall.

Young Dems also recorded victories in races to serve on the Los Angeles County Democratic Party’s County Central Committee.  Up to seven representatives from each Assembly District in the County are elected to make up the governing body for the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.  LACYD members from the San Fernando Valley to the San Gabriel Valley, to South Los Angeles were elected Tuesday, including:

• Noel Barajas Jr. (AD 39)
• Ackley Padilla (AD 39)
• Patty Salazar (AD 39)
• Dante Atkins (AD 42)
• Ricky Choi (AD 49)
• Henry Lo (AD 49)
• Skyy Fisher (AD 52)

(If you are an LACYD member who was elected to Central Committee and your name was accidentally omitted above, please contact David Graham-Caso at d.grahamcaso@lacyd.org and we will correct the omission.  Thank you.)

Congratulations to all of our members on their success!