San Diego delegates descended on Chicago this week for the Democratic National Convention, buoyed by what they say is the new energy of Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz on the four-week-old presidential ticket.
San Diego Democratic delegate Sarah Moga, a 42-year-old who works on San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria’s re-election campaign, said she respects President Joe Biden’s accomplishments in office: low unemployment, expanded access to affordable health care, getting legislation passed to rebuild the country’s roads and bridges and investing more money in science and technology research.
But she expressed relief that Biden withdrew from the presidential race July 21 because she didn’t think he could win. She said the move wiped out her angst and filled her with optimism about the Democratic prospects for victory in the November 5 election.
“Seeing Kamala Harris out there, showing how competent she is, how smart she is, how energetic she is,” Moga said. “And really, after the last few weeks, it just sunk in that this is going to be our first woman president. It's just so exciting. “
Andi McNew, 49, another San Diego Democratic delegate who works on local Democratic campaigns, said the enthusiasm has arisen organically and is a badly needed pivot from the election of President Trump in 2016, the pandemic and the general nastiness and scandals that have dominated headlines in recent years.
“I think that is why this campaign has caught fire so quickly because it's giving something to the American people that even we didn't realize we needed so badly,” McNew said. “There were some calls from certain corners of political discourse that we need to get back to that hopeful or joyful sense of belonging. But I think on this national stage now, the moment is here, and we finally realized it and have embraced it.”
Moga said she wants Harris to focus on climate change, gun control and reproductive rights, adding that women remain shocked that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled two years ago to take away a woman’s constitutional right to an abortion.
“I don't think any of us thought that Roe v. Wade would ever be struck down,” Moga said. “That will hopefully be a driving factor for women in November, especially seeing how many stories have come out about just life-saving medical care that women have not been able to receive in places like Texas.”
McNew said she’s astonished and heartbroken by those stories.
“In California, we are very fortunate to have it enshrined in our constitution, that right for reproductive choice,” she said. “I think we as Democrats and as women, feel that the entire country needs to have that right.”
McNew, Moga and San Diego Democratic delegate Codi Vierra, who is a field representative for Democratic Congressman Scott Peters, also want Harris to spotlight bread-and-butter issues in her upcoming speech.
All three are on board with Harris’s recent pitches to give families with newborns a $6,000 tax credit, ban price gouging by food companies and get 3 million new homes built, as well as offer a tax incentive for starter home construction for first-time buyers. That idea especially resonates with Vierra, 30.
“As someone who is a young person living in San Diego, I know all too well about the crisis we've had with affordable housing,” Vierra said. “To hear from Vice President Harris, both about her story and her parents' story, about how long it took them to save their down payment, I feel like she really understands where folks like myself are coming from.”
