San Francisco sends the most pro-housing legislators to Sacramento. With the leadership of our state delegation of Scott Wiener, David Chiu, and Phil Ting, California is finally starting to grapple with our unprecedented housing deficit and affordability crisis. But all our housing momentum is in a jeopardy on the weekend of January 12–13, at an election that flies under the radar.
That weekend San Francisco will host ADEMs (Assembly District Election Meetings). This is a non-governmental election where Democratic Party members elect Assembly District Delegates to represent them on the state level.
Why is this important?
Assembly District Delegates vote on the endorsements for state races.
You may remember in the November 2018 election that the Democratic Party endorsed Kevin de León for Senator, instead of incumbent Dianne Feinstein. Assembly District Delegates had a hand in that. Many undecided voters rely on the Democratic Party endorsements to guide their votes. This is especially true in down-ballot elections, like Assemblymember and State Senator, where voters don’t know the candidates as well.
If you want California to build more housing, it is critical to keep our elected officials in the state legislature.
In the Assembly, David Chiu and Phil Ting have drafted and sponsored great legislation to build housing across the state. Phil Ting plans to make it easier to build accessory dwelling units (also called ADUs or in-law units) with this year’s AB 68 and AB 69. David Chiu successfully passed AB 2923 in 2018, which enabled dense transit-oriented development around BART stations. In the State Senate, Scott Wiener championed bills such as 2017’s SB 35, which allows more homes in cities that have failed to build them. And next year, we should all be excited for SB 50, the More HOMES Act. SB 50 would loosen zoning restrictions and allow dense housing near transit and jobs. Our elected officials are leaders in state housing policy and we need to support them.
Our pro-housing state officials are in danger of losing their next election without our support in ADEM.
To ensure that California advances policy towards building more homes and solving our housing shortage, we need Democratic Party delegates who will support housing and who will support our current elected officials. Each district elects 14 delegates, and delegates in San Francisco team up to form slates. In David Chiu’s district on the east side, the United Resistance slate includes Laura Foote, the Executive Director of pro-housing org YIMBY Action, and Todd David, the Executive Director of SFHAC, an organization of homebuilders, architects and building tradespeople. In Phil Ting’s district, the UniTING slate is backed by the Assemblymember and includes pro-housing voices.
Ok, let’s review:
ADEM sets the State Democratic Party endorsements.
Democratic Party endorsements move elections.
Elections determine policy.
If you are a registered voter and if you support housing, please come out January 12–13 for ADEM.
- Are you eligible and a registered to vote as a Democrat in Assembly Districts 17 or 19? Check your voter status here. If you don’t have a state ID, use “Y123456”. You can register or change your registration (including party status) here.
- Check your Assembly District by entering your address here or checking this map. Different districts vote on different days!
- Show up in the voting window! Plan to be there 1–2 hours.
- Vote for the pro-housing slate. It’s important to vote for the entire slate, including the executive board members. That’s 15 names that you need to mark on your ballot!
Information for Assembly District 17 (West side of San Francisco and Daly City)
Location: Women’s Building, 3543 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94110
Time: Saturday January 12, 11am-1pm. Doors open 10am. Guaranteed to vote if you are in line by 1pm. (Link to Facebook event)
The United Resistance slate:
- Amber Parrish Baur
- Anita Lau
- Gladys Soto
- Julia Prochnik
- Kristen Asato-Webb
- Laura Foote
- Tyra Fennell
- Abdo Hadwan
- Austin Hunter
- Mawuli Tugbenyoh
- Mick Del Rosario
- Nima Rahimi
- Todd David
- Victor Olivieri
- Thea Selby (Executive Board)
Information for Assembly District 19 (East side of San Francisco)
Location: Doelger Café, 101 Lake Merced Blvd, Daly City, CA 94015
Time: Sunday January 13, 11am-1pm. Doors open 10am. Guaranteed to vote if you are in line by 1pm. (Link to Facebook event)
The UnitTING slate: (note: there are 13 delegates and 1 executive board member on this slate)
- Amy Bacharach
- Queena Chen
- Brigitte Davila
- Dorie Paniza
- Selina Sun
- Kalimah Salahuddin
- Rob Chua
- Ben Gonzales
- Thomas Li
- Sam Manneh
- Gabriel Medina
- A.J. Thomas
- Alan Wong
- Susan Pfeiffer (Executive Board)
