Big wins for progressives in Richmond’s City Council

Big wins for progressives in Richmond’s City Council

By Lynda Carson - November 5, 2020

There are some big wins in Richmond for Gayle McLaughlin, including Melvin Willis, and Claudia Jimenez for the Richmond City Council.

All three progressives are members of the Richmond Progressive Alliance, founded by former Richmond Mayor, and City Council member, Gayle McLaughlin.

According to Wikipedia, “the Richmond Progressive Alliance supports various community efforts including campaigns to force the local Chevron refinery to pay higher taxes and reduce pollution; opposition to racial profiling; and opposition to urban casino development in Point Molate. It supports candidates for the nonpartisan races in the city.”

Former Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin has been featured on Democracy Now numerous times for her activism, and is a staunch supporter of tenant’s rights in Richmond.

During a brief phone discussion with Claudia Jimenez a moment ago, she thanked me for reaching out to her, and she wanted to thank Richmond voters for voting for her, and she said, “Thank you, to everybody who trusts me and my campaign. Thank you very much to all of you who voted for me in District 6! Your votes were not just for me, but they were votes for everybody in the City of Richmond.”

In an email I received earlier today from Gayle McLaughlin, she said, “Hi Lynda,  So sorry I didn't have a chance to send you a quote.  If you haven't written the article yet or can edit it, please feel free to include this (or any part thereof):”

Message received from Gayle McLaughlin on November 5, 2020, see below.

Dear District 5 voters, friends and supporters,

Although there are still some remaining votes to be counted, it is clear that our campaign has won the District 5 Richmond City Council seat! We currently have a 22 point lead and I am deeply honored and thrilled to have the opportunity to serve the people of Richmond once again.

My two teammates, Councilmember Melvin Willis and Claudia Jimenez, have similar leads and together, along with Councilmember Eduardo Martinez, we will make up a strong progressive majority on the City Council. We also will work with the others who remain on the Council (Mayor Tom Butt, Councilmember Demnlus Johnson and Councilmember Nat Bates) on issues of agreement. Part of the work of campaigns is to educate and challenge. We hope that much has been learned in this campaign season and that we will have many points of agreement with those who have opposed us. And if we find ourselves on different sides of fights, so be it.

This was a dynamic campaign season. I want to thank all our mighty District 5 volunteers (with a special thank you to key campaign strategist Juan Reardon, to Kay Willis and to my wonderful husband Paul Kilkenny), as well as to the many grassroots organizations, progressive unions and community leaders and activists that endorsed our District 5 race. See our long list of endorsers HERE. Most importantly, I want to thank the voters of Richmond for casting your votes for change.

In addition, I want to thank the other District 5 candidates (Ahmad Anderson, Mike Vasilas and Najari Smith). It is not an easy task to run for office, and I thank them all for running, putting forward their campaign messages, and for the stimulating debates we had. Democracy is always strengthened when candidates speak their minds to the people they seek to serve.

We have multiple challenges in front of us and the road ahead will be long and hard, but we are already laying the groundwork for new solutions to bring forward once sworn into office on the second Tuesday of January 2021. Issues of health, safety, justice and sustainability must be addressed with bold solutions. We are ready to tackle them all, bringing in all segments of the community to chart a pathway to continue Richmond's transformation.

We will be serving in Richmond in an overall national political landscape that remains rocky and uncertain, but we know from history that change begins at the grassroots and that all politics is local. The progressive movement in Richmond, made up of many grassroots organizations, unions and individuals, will be working together to face our challenges head on. And we are not alone in Richmond. There are many other progressive groups and individuals throughout our state of California and beyond who are allied with us in this fight for the long haul!

I will be taking a short period of time for rest and reflection and will be back in touch again soon!

In solidarity,
Gayle

GayleforRichmond.org
(510)929-2200


I wish to thank Gayle McLaughlin for her friendship and support of the people of Richmond and the Bay Area. I wish the best for her during her new term on the Richmond City Council in these deeply troubled times of political upheaval causing instability across the nation, and the deadly coronavirus covid-19 pandemic that seems to have no end in sight after killing over 240,000 loved ones in our nation, and infecting over 9,900,000 others in the U.S. Over 100,000 Americans were infected yesterday by the deadly virus, being the most infections in one day in the U.S.

Lynda Carson may be reached at newzland2 [at] gmail.com

>>>>>>
>>>>>>