Jessica Gomez ran and lost. It was a Democratic District and a Democratic year. She faced a Blue Wave.
The campaign was a good experience, she said. "I like people. Really, I enjoyed the meeting-people part of the campaign. Really."
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| Jessica Gomez |
Jessica Gomez was the Republican candidate for Oregon State Senate in the November election. She won 45% of the vote to her opponent's 55%.
She is smiling, looks relaxed, and said she was happy to talk about the campaign.
She is smiling, looks relaxed, and said she was happy to talk about the campaign.
When State Senator Alan DeBoer chose not to run for re-election he had a successor in mind, Jessica Gomez. Gomez and her husband own a microchip fabrication company in Medford. She is a mother of young children. She was a Democrat until less than a year before she filed for the campaign to replace DeBoer.
Possibly someone with her politics could hold the seat for Republicans. She was not a typical Republican in today's GOP. She ran into trouble in the Republican primary, coming within a whisker of losing to Curt Ankerberg. She is pro-reproductive rights. She is not anti-immigrant. She is put off by Trump's divisiveness. She had voted for Hillary. But I am a Republican, she said. "I am a fiscal conservative and I believe in personal responsibility. I believe in the value of hard work. I believe those are Republican values."
Possibly someone with her politics could hold the seat for Republicans. She was not a typical Republican in today's GOP. She ran into trouble in the Republican primary, coming within a whisker of losing to Curt Ankerberg. She is pro-reproductive rights. She is not anti-immigrant. She is put off by Trump's divisiveness. She had voted for Hillary. But I am a Republican, she said. "I am a fiscal conservative and I believe in personal responsibility. I believe in the value of hard work. I believe those are Republican values."
I asked if she were hassled by local Republicans who thought you were maybe not Republican enough.
"Yeah, in the primary I got a lot of comments. People unhappy about my views on 2nd Amendment things, Immigration. I was called a RINO." [RINO means Republican in Name Only.]
"Our Republican Party locally doesn't have enough infrastructure to really connect with people," she said. "Voters adopt the policy preferences of their leaders. We could benefit from a broader group of people in my Party. We have some great people, but the Party has gotten too narrow--just like the Ds [Democrats] in my opinion. I would love to see more diversity of opinion. Both party caucuses want to control their members too much."
"Yeah, in the primary I got a lot of comments. People unhappy about my views on 2nd Amendment things, Immigration. I was called a RINO." [RINO means Republican in Name Only.]
"Our Republican Party locally doesn't have enough infrastructure to really connect with people," she said. "Voters adopt the policy preferences of their leaders. We could benefit from a broader group of people in my Party. We have some great people, but the Party has gotten too narrow--just like the Ds [Democrats] in my opinion. I would love to see more diversity of opinion. Both party caucuses want to control their members too much."
"I was diversity," she said. Republicans may not have been thrilled with her, but Democrats were energized by Trump and they turned out. "Democrats voted for Democrats."
She said she was hurt by the fact that there were social issues on the ballot as initiative positions. The ballot issues were "polarizing," she said. "That hurt me. My whole theme, my whole idea of running, was to get away from polarizing talk. I wanted people to start working together. It was hard to talk about that in the face of those ballot issues."
She said the ballot issues were designed to divide and energize the electorate, and they did their job. It heightened partisanship in a Senate district with a Democratic majority. "If they hadn't been on the ballot,' she said, "well, who knows?"
The District has an eleven point Democratic edge, with some precincts in the Ashland-Talent are voting over 80% Democratic. People in thos areas turned out to vote in much higher numbers than the voters in the marginally-Republican Medford area. This blog reported the disparity in turnout numbers between the two areas of the Senate District in a post titled "Turnout Matters." Click
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| Low spot: From a GOP attack ad |
She said the ballot issues were designed to divide and energize the electorate, and they did their job. It heightened partisanship in a Senate district with a Democratic majority. "If they hadn't been on the ballot,' she said, "well, who knows?"
The District has an eleven point Democratic edge, with some precincts in the Ashland-Talent are voting over 80% Democratic. People in thos areas turned out to vote in much higher numbers than the voters in the marginally-Republican Medford area. This blog reported the disparity in turnout numbers between the two areas of the Senate District in a post titled "Turnout Matters." Click
Were there bad moments in the campaign, I asked?
She cited the mailer that attacked Golden based on a sentence in a book he wrote fifty years ago as a twenty year old. She said that was a low spot.
"I don't know who authored it. It was a stupid ad and did no good whatsoever." That ad was unidentified beyond an anonymous Post Office box in Virginia.
The mailer's message was consistent with the query by Evan Ridley, the Political Director of the Leadership Fund, the Republican PAC with the goal of electing Republicans to the State Senate. Ridley had contacted me a week before the mailer, wondering if I knew any sexual dirt on Jeff Golden, perhaps a woman with a complaint, or anything. I said I knew of nothing. After the mailer came out I asked him directly if the Leadership Fund did the anonymous ad. He denied they did the ad.
Mixed with advertising from her own campaign, the Leadership Fund sent multiple mailers on her behalf (Similar ones were done on Golden's behalf by the Democratic PAC.) Those PACs are required by law not to coordinate with campaigns, but the mailers look as if they were authored by the candidate, and few voters can distinguish the actual source of the ads. Those PACs sent a mailer every other day in the closing weeks of the campaign, a conspicuous amount.
She cited the mailer that attacked Golden based on a sentence in a book he wrote fifty years ago as a twenty year old. She said that was a low spot.
"I don't know who authored it. It was a stupid ad and did no good whatsoever." That ad was unidentified beyond an anonymous Post Office box in Virginia.
The mailer's message was consistent with the query by Evan Ridley, the Political Director of the Leadership Fund, the Republican PAC with the goal of electing Republicans to the State Senate. Ridley had contacted me a week before the mailer, wondering if I knew any sexual dirt on Jeff Golden, perhaps a woman with a complaint, or anything. I said I knew of nothing. After the mailer came out I asked him directly if the Leadership Fund did the anonymous ad. He denied they did the ad.
Mixed with advertising from her own campaign, the Leadership Fund sent multiple mailers on her behalf (Similar ones were done on Golden's behalf by the Democratic PAC.) Those PACs are required by law not to coordinate with campaigns, but the mailers look as if they were authored by the candidate, and few voters can distinguish the actual source of the ads. Those PACs sent a mailer every other day in the closing weeks of the campaign, a conspicuous amount.
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| September 2018, Campaigning at Multicultural Fair |
Was running a good experience overall, I asked.
"Yes," she said. "I did have a good time. It was uncomfortable sometimes, but good for me. I have a day job as CEO of a technology company. The campaign gave me a chance to learn about the big issues. Forestry, immigration, health care, taxes. It helped me understand how things work together."
Tomorrow, Part Two: Gomez talks about campaign finance, Jordan Cove, minimum wage, and her future plans.
4 comments:
Gomez speaks in platitudes.... But I am a Republican she said. "I am a fiscal conservative and I believe in personal responsibility. I believe in the value of hard work. I believe those are Republican values". As if fiscal conservatism is lodged in the Republican party. And personal responsibility, what does that even mean? Should people go bankrupt when they get cancer? I know many southern Oregonians of both parties, or no party, who work hard. Her word salad cliche's are washed up.
Gomez fails to see that she was an uninspiring, naive candidate who thought it well and good to advocate for the Jordan Cove project via the Chamber, an issue with bipartisan opposition, and thought it was quite fine to take the corporate money that Pembina sent the Chamber of Commerce while she was on the Board. Her inability to stand for specific causes rather than straddling the fence and trying to keep her head down did not help her cause either. She may have just had bad advice and a bad campaign but I think any person with any calling as a leader would have more drive to stand out as a candidate and speak on her vision. She had a great deal more money than Golden and for the district, lost handily. Not because of the social issues on the ballot but because she is an uninspiring leader.
This is interesting. I would take note of a few things:
1) Any Republican would have lost that seat. Alan DeBoer would have made it closer, because of his decades of public service. He has his own brand, but he still only won by a hair in 2016. Two years of votes in State Senate, and being a Republican in a Democratic year, would have been incredibly tough to overcome.
2) The ballot measures were bad for Jessica, because they were revealing. Candidates generally don't like to answer divisive questions. Ballot measures are yes/no, and that's what people remember. Jessica tried to middle-ground her support of 106 (ban of public funding of abortions), but it puts her on record of restricting access.
On Measures 103, 104, and 106, Jessica stayed with the Republican brand by supporting them. People voted in Jackson County against those ballot measures.
3) Polarization is at an all-time high. While Jessica's position on ballot measures might have swung a few votes, it was likely a very small amount of 65,000 votes cast. I don't imagine thousands of people that voted for other Democratic candidates were on the fence about whether to vote for Jessica. Having an (R) next to her name was the biggest anchor possible.
Forestry? Surely you jest, State owned lands only make up 4-5% of Oregon lands where 50%+ of Oregon lands are managed by multiple Fed agencies. Learning forestry is the job of your Congressman or Senator. I find it unlikely Jessica has any Forestry knowledge and if she does she certainly never displayed it in public.
Jessica should cross back over as a Dem candidate and she would do well. She has a nice personality and swishy middle of the road neoliberal values ...
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