POLITICAL UPDATE

With Top-2 Races, Republican Candidates Offer Opportunities for CPF

Even as the 2024 election cycle features an eye-popping 36 open seats where the incumbent legislator isn’t running for re-election, it’s a virtual certainty that Democrats will retain their two-thirds supermajority in both the State Senate and Assembly.

Nevertheless, CPF has taken a sharp interest in the elections in very conservative parts of California, such as the Gold Country, Central Valley, North State, and rural Southern California, where the top two candidates are Republicans. Through our Political Department’s research and the participation of CPF Locals in the interview process, we can identify key differences between these Republican candidates on critical issues that are core to our advocacy for firefighters and their families – the same way we do in safe Democratic seats.

But why are Republican candidates so important to CPF if they represent fewer than one out of every four legislators in the Capitol? Simply put, there is a dangerous movement that exists in Republican politics to strip down public services to the bone, and that includes cutting fire and emergency medical response. You’ve probably seen it for yourself on the City Councils and Boards that govern your Fire Departments.

No one is a more glaring example of this anti-government, anti-public safety behavior than Carl DeMaio, a candidate for Assembly District 75 in East San Diego County. If the name “Carl DeMaio” sounds familiar, that’s because you probably remember his attempts more than a decade ago to eliminate firefighters’ pensions, cut death and disability benefit eligibility for firefighters’ families, and even privatize firefighting services when he was on the San Diego City Council.

Now he’s running for State Assembly to stop CPF’s work to create better jobs, benefits, and working conditions for our members. And he’s planning to run a whole slate of legislative candidates around the state so he can take over the state’s Republican Party. CPF is doing everything we can to keep him from being elected to the Legislature.

In an email to his supporters, DeMaio said he wants to start a “reform caucus” that acts just like the Congressional Freedom Caucus in Congress in Washington, D.C. Who or what do you think DeMaio wants to “reform” with the reform caucus? You don’t need to look any further than the nearest mirror. Based on his track record, DeMaio is dead-set on cutting public services like fire and EMS to help corporations save money on taxes and cushion their profits.

CPF is supporting Andrew Hayes in the race against Carl DeMaio. Hayes is a Republican, a school board member, and the district director for Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones. He’s a pro-public safety candidate and will make an excellent advocate for firefighters in the Assembly. CPF will be leading a major Independent Expenditure in the general election – just as we did in the March primary – to elect Andrew Hayes and to stop Carl DeMaio from defunding public safety at the State Capitol.

You can expect your CPF Political Department to size up every angle in the coming November election to protect the strength of firefighters’ voices in the halls of power and CPF’s advocacy work to create a better life for firefighters and their families.