Two very interesting things about the local political climate that I didn't know until this morning
I woke up this morning and immediately went to the computer to check two things: 1) the results of the San Diego mayoral race, and 2) the returns for the California propositions.
The propositions didn't surprise me, but two things with regards to the mayoral race did.
The first is that, in the city of San Diego, 12% more Democrats are registered to vote than Republicans. This was something I did not expect to be the case, since San Diego is disproportionately conservative considering that it's the second largest city in California.* I figured that, if Democrats had any edge at all, it would be small, on the order to 2 or 3%. The fact that it's 12% is very interesting.
The second thing that I didn't know about until this morning is that the Republican candidate for mayor, Carl DeMaio, is gay.
Think about that for a second. A gay man is one of the front-runners in a mayoral race in America's eighth largest city . . . and it was never a campaign issue.
Seriously, how freaking cool is that? And it's as it should be! The fact of a candidate's being gay or not should have exactly zero relevance to a political campaign-and while I can't say for sure it made no difference at all, I think it's pretty clear that it made so little difference that it was statistically a non-issue. And that's huge!
I give my hearty "thank you" to both campaigns for leaving the fact of DeMaio's gayness off the table. For the first time in a long time, I feel as if I had a choice between two adults for a political office.
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*This may have to do with population density. There is a varying but undeniable correlation between population density and liberal politics. San Diego, although the second largest city in California by population, actually has a relatively low overall population density, well behind most of Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
The propositions didn't surprise me, but two things with regards to the mayoral race did.
The first is that, in the city of San Diego, 12% more Democrats are registered to vote than Republicans. This was something I did not expect to be the case, since San Diego is disproportionately conservative considering that it's the second largest city in California.* I figured that, if Democrats had any edge at all, it would be small, on the order to 2 or 3%. The fact that it's 12% is very interesting.
The second thing that I didn't know about until this morning is that the Republican candidate for mayor, Carl DeMaio, is gay.
Think about that for a second. A gay man is one of the front-runners in a mayoral race in America's eighth largest city . . . and it was never a campaign issue.
Seriously, how freaking cool is that? And it's as it should be! The fact of a candidate's being gay or not should have exactly zero relevance to a political campaign-and while I can't say for sure it made no difference at all, I think it's pretty clear that it made so little difference that it was statistically a non-issue. And that's huge!
I give my hearty "thank you" to both campaigns for leaving the fact of DeMaio's gayness off the table. For the first time in a long time, I feel as if I had a choice between two adults for a political office.
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*This may have to do with population density. There is a varying but undeniable correlation between population density and liberal politics. San Diego, although the second largest city in California by population, actually has a relatively low overall population density, well behind most of Los Angeles and the Bay Area.