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January 6th , 2024 Len’s Political Note #611 Jessica Morse California 03
2024 General Election
In 2020, President Trump noticed there were forest fires in California. His response was simple. He blamed California. He threatened to withhold federal money from California. He told Californians: “you gotta clean your floors, you gotta clean your forests – there are many, many years of leaves and broken trees and they’re like, like, so flammable, you touch them and it goes up.”
He was not making this observation for the first time. He said roughly the same thing in 2018 and in 2019. Had he consulted any staff member or looked it up on Google, he would have discovered that, of the 33 million acres of forest land in California, the federal government (the government that Donald Trump was in charge of) owned and managed 19 million acres – 57% of the forest land in California. He might have learned that 26% was owned by small landowners (mostly 50 acres or less). Three percent was owned by the State of California. The remaining 14% was owned by corporations (many of them timber companies) and Native American tribes.
Jessica Morse is running to defeat Trump acolyte Kevin Kiley, the incumbent of California’s 3rd Congressional District. From 2019 through August, 2023, Jessica Morse was Deputy Secretary for Forest and Wildland Resilience at the California Natural Resources Agency. In 2020, the same year that Trump made his threatening statement, under Jessica Morse’s leadership, California and the Federal Government made an agreement to work cooperatively on forest management. In 2023, she spoke on Berkeley Talks public affairs radio about what California was doing to reduce forest fires and to moderate the impact of those fires that do happen. Read the entire transcript. It is worth the time. occurhttps://news.berkeley.edu/2023/07/28/berkeley-talks-transcript-jessica-morse-wildfire-resilience
Increased state funding allowed California to lead in creating what Jessica Morse describes as a climate resilient forest. They have combined prescribed burns, thinning the forest, and the creation of fire breaks to create places from which they could fight fires and places through which people could escape. There is more. Some of her work was focused on saving the communities that have been built up in the forests, some of it focused on ensuring that the various program actually move from plans on paper to implementation.
Jessica Morse comes to her Congressional run from a busy life. She had already run for Congress. In 2018 in a + 25 Republican district, she lost by 7 points. She wrote a book about an American feminist, spent 2 ½ years as a program analyst for USAID, and was a Presidential Management Fellow for the US Pacific Command. Included in her international experiences are volunteering in Nepal, working for Save the Children in Addis Ababa, serving as an Iraq Country Coordinator for the State Department after a year and a half in Iraq, and advising the Pacific Command on issues related to India.
Jessica Morse describes herself as a fifth generation Californian, a descendant of a family that crossed the Sierra Mountains in covered wagons and settled in the foothills west of those mountains. She grew up hiking and fishing – an outdoorswoman. She and her family before her have been committed to the preservation and enjoyment of California’s forest lands. And consider the following as preparation for her Congressional race. She has hiked the 500 miles of the Pacific Crest trail that are in California 03.
Jessica Morse honed her comprehensive interests in national and international issues through study. She has a Master’s Degree in International Relations and Security Studies from Princeton. Before that she earned a BA in economics from Principia College in Elsah, Illinois. Principia was founded in 1912 to serve “the cause of Christian Science.”
Jessica Morse is confident about a victory. She argues that Joe Biden earned 48% of the vote in CA 03 and projects to go over 50% in this very long, mostly narrow district along the California-Nevada border. The district’s northern bulge is east of Sacramento, west of Reno, and becoming more suburban. She believes she will run ahead of the national ticket. She also believes that the power of the abortion issue remains. The District supported a constitutional right to abortion in California with just under 58% of the vote.
Jessica Morse contrasts her views with the incumbent Kevin Kiley’s anti-abortion position. She calls him a bomb thrower. Recently, he demanded the resignation of Claudine Gay as President of Harvard University. Kiley is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale Law School. He brought his skills to teaching in Los Angeles.
The Associated press described Kiley as a “conservative who often flirts with the fringes of the GOP.” He has refused to acknowledge that Joe Biden won the 2020 election legitimately. During the pandemic he proposed federal legislation to prohibit states from implementing any vaccine requirements. He was active in the effort to recall Governor Newsom and even announced himself as one of the candidates to replace the governor. Bomb thrower as he may be, he was not among the 8 Republican Congressmen who voted to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker and kept some distance from the most extreme Republicans in the chaotic and ineffectual majority in the House.
On October 1, Jessica Morse had half a million dollars available for her campaign. Kiley had $1.5 million. If Jessica Morse catches Kiley financially, she could win the election. DONATE TO JESSICA MORSE
Support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris
As we look toward November, 2024, Help sustain the Joe Biden and Kamala Harris campaign. Every donation, large or small, does make 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. Make a small donation if you cannot afford a large one. DONATE TO JOE BIDEN AND KAMALA HARRIS. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/web-bfp-december-2023 ‘
Put things in perspective. In polls after December 15 and before the New Year, Joe Biden leads Donald Trump in two polls – by 1 and 4 points. Biden and Trump are even in two polls. And Biden trails Trump in four polls – by 2 and 4 points
House races in the Northwest and the Pacific. There are a lot of potentially close races.
Two Big Money California races where you should donate now
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 this race he must run 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. See Len’s Political Note #608
Nine West Coast and Northwest races where your donations could 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
Help Monica Tranel The Republican incumbent Ryan Zinke is #13 on Len’s List of Vulnerable Republicans in the House. He is #29 on Daily Kos’s List. The incumbent had $1.6 Million on October 1; Monica Tranel had a respectable $600,000. Help her catch up. Help the people of Montana remain conscious of the fact that Ryan Zinke was fired by Trump for corruption and won with only 49.7% of the vote in 2022. She can win this election DONATE TO MONICA TRANEL. See Len’s Political Note #603
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 both Len’s List and 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
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.
Two 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. See Len’s Political Note #606
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
