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December 20th, 2023 Political Note #608 George Whitesides California 27
2024 General Election
George Whitesides’ primary opponent is appealing.
Franky Carrillo, supported by the Innocence Project, was released from prison after serving 20 years of a life sentence for murder. The eyewitnesses to the murder who erroneously identified him from a picture were told by the police he was their main suspect. Now he is a probation officer.
George Whitesides’ father is astonishing.
George Whitesides Sr. did not win a Nobel Prize for chemistry, but he has been awarded many other scientific prizes. After a career in as a chemist at MIT and at Harvard, he had authored 1200 scientific articles and had 134 patents. His focus on the chemistry of surfaces has led both to further research by others in several fields and to some striking photography.
Using the standard of articles cited, in 2011 he was identified as the most influential living chemist. An active leader of the scientific community and a businessman, he co-founded more than a dozen companies worth a total of more than $20 Billion.
George T. Whitesides is no slouch.
While the father graduated from Phillips Andover Academy and Harvard, the son graduated from Newton North High School and Princeton. George Whitesides then spent four years on Princeton’s Board of Trustees. He was awarded a Fulbright to study in Tunisia and earned an M Phil from Cambridge where he studied geographical information systems.
George Whitesides became the Executive Director of the National Space Society, served as a Senior Advisor to Virgin Galactic’s exploration of space tourism, worked on Barack Obama’s transition to the presidency, and became chief of staff for NASA. In 2010, after he left the Obama administration, he became CEO of Virgin Galactic where he remained for over ten years.
George Whitesides married Loretta Hidalgo, whose degrees from Stanford and Cal Tech led her to travelling to hydrothermal vents two miles below the surface of the ocean. With her husband, she is planning to travel into space on Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. Also with her husband, she initiated the annual April 12th Yuri’s Night celebration of space exploration milestones including Yuri Gagarin’s first human flight into space.
In 2021, George Whitesides announced plans to explore public service, which plans became his campaign for California’s 27th Congressional District.
George Whitesides will be one of the top two in California’s multi-party primary. On October 1, Franky Carillo had none of the $35,000 left that he had raised while George Whitesides had #1.7 Million available for campaigning. He had slightly more than the incumbent Republican Mike Garcia at $1.6 Million.
In 2018, homeless advocate Katie Hill defeated the Republican incumbent and was elected to CA 27. After she denied having had a relationship with a staffer but admitted to having had a relationship with a member of her campaign staff and after a British newspaper published nude photographs of her, against Nancy Pelosi’s advice, she resigned from Congress.
Mike Garcia won the 2020 special election to replace Katie Hill, defeating Assembly Member Christy Smith. He relied on his military credentials and attacks on Democrats as socialists and unwillingness to build Trump’s wall for his victory. Democrats believed they would do better in a general election with a larger turnout. That did not happen. Garcia defeated Christy Smith again in the 2020 general election. Christy Smith ran against Mike Garcia again in 2022. She lost again.
George Whitesides presents Mike Garcia with an entirely new problem in this inland district north of Los Angeles and east of Santa Barbara. He has some of the star quality that Christy Smith just never did have. Mike Garcia has created an entirely new problem of his own for himself. The press has discovered that he, in 2020, weeks before his Congressional committee reported on Boeing’s culpability is the 737 Max airliner, he sold up to $50,000 in Boeing stock.
Mike Garcia is a navy guy. He flew more than 30 missions from the USS Nimitz during the Iraq War. He spent ten years working for Raytheon managing business development. In Congress, he has been an advocate of defense spending. Regarding Ukraine, he has joined his Republican colleagues in opposition – or at least in demanding to know more about where money for the Ukraine military would go. He is with his colleagues in support of military aid for Israel.
Opposition to Democratic policies on immigration was part of his campaign from the beginning. He would build Trump’s wall. He opposes a path to citizenship for the DREAMers and opposes amnesty for any “illegal” immigrant.
On other matters, he opposes abortion and supported a federal ban. He has voted to repeal the affordable care act and would do so again. He opposed prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation. On the other hand, he supported the Respect for Marriage Act that made same sex marriage legal by statute.
Let’s help George Whitesides make a loser of Mike Garcia. Help George Whitesides flip a Republican seat and erode the slim Republican House majority. DONATE TO GEORGE WHITESIDES.
Support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
Help sustain the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris campaign. Every donation, large or small, makes a difference. Larger donations mean more money for the campaign. But many in the media count the number of small donations as a measure of enthusiasm for the candidate. DONATE TO JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/web-bfp-december-2023
House races in the Northwest and the Pacific. There are a lot of potentially close races.
What appear to be the very closest races
Will Rollins in CA 41 is running against Incumbent Republican Ken Calvert who is #17 on Len’s List of vulnerable Republican incumbents and tied at #19 on Daily Kos’s List. This promises to be a high spending race. The incumbent had $2 Million on October 1, Will Rollins had $1.5 Million. DONATE TO WILL ROLLINS. See Len’s Political Note #588
George Whitesides CA 27 will be the Democratic nominee against Incumbent Republican Mike Garcia, who is #19 on Len’s List of Vulnerable Republicans, tied for #7 on Daily Kos’s List. Garcia’s good fortune may have run out in running against former CEO George Whitesides. On October 1, George Whitesides had a slight lead in the money race — $1.7 Million to $1.6 Million. Help him win this. DONATE TO GEORGE WHITESIDES
Other races where your donations might make a difference
Adam Gray in CA 13 is running against Republican incumbent John Duarte, who is #2 on Len’s List of vulnerable Republican incumbents and #1 on Daily Kos’s List. With $200,000 in the bank on October 1, Adam Gray has to catch up with the incumbent who had $1.2 Million. DONATE TO ADAM GRAY. See Len’s Political Note #586
Incumbent Marie Gluesenkamp Perez WA 03 is #4 among vulnerable Democratic incumbents on Len’s List and #2 on Daily Kos’s list of vulnerable Democratic incumbents. On October 1, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez had $1.6 Million available for her campaign. Her previous opponent, right wing extremist Joe Kent had $400,000. Help her stay well ahead of him. DONATE TO MARIE GLUESENKAMP PEREZ. See Len’s Political Note #543
Incumbent Andrea Salinas OR 06 is #6 among vulnerable Democratic incumbents on Len’s List and tied for #22 on Daily Kos’s list. As of October 1, Andrea Salinas has $750,000 available for her campaign. Her probable opponent had less than $50,000. Help Andrea Salinas dominate this race. DONATE TO ANDREA SALINAS. See Len’s Political Note #548
Rudy Salas CA 22 is running against Incumbent Republican David Valadao who is #7 on Len’s List of vulnerable Republican incumbents and #3 on Daily Kos’s List. The incumbent had $1.2 Million on October 1 to Rudy Salas’s $150,000. Rudy Salas has some catching up to do. DONATE TO RUDY SALAS. See Len’s Political Note #602
National Security Figure Jessica Morse will be the Democratic nominee for CA 03 against Republican first term incumbent Kevin Kiley who is #24 on Len’s List of vulnerable Republicans and tied for #7 on Daily Kos’s List. On October 1 Kiley had $1.5 Million available; Jessica Morse had a respectable $500,000. If she can ramp up her fund raising, she can flip this seat. Help Jessica Morse. DONATE TO JESSICA MORSE.
Incumbent Mike Levin CA 49 is #25 among vulnerable Democratic incumbents on Len’s List and #25 on Daily Kos’s List. Mike Levin has some opponents raising money. He had $1 Million on October 1. One opponent had $900,000. Another had $800,000. DONATE TO MIKE LEVIN. See Len’s Political Note #591
Incumbent Mary Peltola AK AL is #35 among vulnerable Democratic incumbents on Len’s List and is #18 on Daily Kos’s List. On October 1, Mary Peltola had a substantial lead in the financial race with $1 Million. Her previous opponent had only $200,000. The Lt. Governor, Nancy Dahlstrom, however, had not yet entered the race for that reporting period. The addition of Dahlstrom and the complexities of Alaska’s system of ranked voting for the preliminary four leading candidates makes the whole process unpredictable. Help Mary Peltola dominate the race. DONATE TO MARY PELTOLA. See Len’s Political Note #600
Some races where the Democrat is looking good
Incumbent Jim Costa CA 21 is #14 among vulnerable Democratic incumbents on Len’s List. On October 1, Jim Costa had a modest $650,000, while his Republican opponent had $150,000. DONATE TO JIM COSTA. See Len’s Political Note #566
Incumbent Kim Schrier WA 08 is #32 among vulnerable Democratic incumbents on Len’s List and tied for #22 on Daily Kos’s List. She had $1.8 Million available on October 1. Her opponents had very little in the way of funds. Help her dominate this race. DONATE TO KIM SCHRIER
Incumbent Val Hoyle OR 04 is #36 among vulnerable Democratic incumbents on Len’s List. Val Hoyle’s$400,000 on October 1 would seem anemic for an incumbent. However, her potential opponents’ fund raising was negligible. Help Val Hoyle dominate this race. DONATE TO VAL HOYLE.
The Big Senate race in the Northwest
Incumbent Jon Tester of Montana. See Len’s Political Note #550. With Joe Manchin no longer running for reelection, many see Jon Tester as the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent and the place that Republican money will go. Jon Tester is prepared financially. On October 1, he had $13 Million available, ten times as much as Tim Sheehy his probable opponent who has enough money to make up the difference from his personal checkbook. Help Jon Tester stay ahead in this high dollar race. DONATE TO JON TESTER. See Len’s Political Note #550
