Will Rodriguez-Kennedy has been elected as the new chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party during an emotionally charged Zoom meeting held by the party’s Central Committee on Tuesday.
Rodriguez-Kennedy, who resigned from the leader position in May 2022 following allegations of sexual assault, managed to secure victory over former South Area Vice Chair Sara Ochoa with a vote tally of 37 to 27.
Three votes were cast for Lori Saldaña, a last-minute candidate.
Despite the absence of any criminal charges and the subsequent dropping of a lawsuit filed by Rodriguez-Kennedy’s former boyfriend, the election stirred discussions about the party’s leadership and future.
During the meeting, San Diego City Council member Marni von Wilpert announced that she is ‘strongly considering’ a run to unseat Republican Rep. Darrell Issa in the 48th Congressional District.
Becca Taylor, who took over the chair position in January 2023 after Rodriguez-Kennedy’s resignation, tragically lost her life in a motorcycle accident in July 2024.
After her passing, Kyle Krahel-Frolander assumed the role of chair but later stepped down to run for county supervisor in North County.
Ross Pike, the current chair, facilitated the lengthy three-hour meeting on Tuesday.
After a motion to postpone the chair election by a month was overwhelmingly defeated with a vote of 51-16, the three candidates made their respective opening and closing statements and answered questions from the committee members.
Once the candidates were placed in a waiting room, the Central Committee engaged in discussions regarding their qualities and potentials.
Pike cautioned against negative remarks, stating that offenders would be muted if necessary.
However, comments regarding anonymous smear tactics and past controversies surfaced during deliberations.
Some committee members urged their colleagues not to abstain from voting; despite this, there were instances where members opted not to make a choice.
In her opening remarks, Saldaña emphasized that, ‘The Democratic party will not succeed if we adopt the same tactics as the people that we are trying to defeat.’
She later critiqued Pike by asserting, ‘I realized that the chair runs a very tight ship and he silences people very quickly when we speak out of turn.
So the only way to speak in turn is as a candidate.’
Rodriguez-Kennedy, 38, who previously served as the chair since 2019, reflected on the progress made under his leadership, stating, ‘We flipped the county Board of Supervisors from red to blue for the first time in modern history.’
The South Bronx native and Marine veteran, who currently works as an aide to Rep. Scott Peters, elaborated on his role: ‘My job is to fight government agencies to secure benefits for our veterans and military service members.’
He also noted his connections to the Latino and African diaspora, emphasizing representation within the party.
In a letter distributed on August 11, county Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe appeared to indirectly criticize Rodriguez-Kennedy’s strategy.
In her message, she stated, ‘Relying on references to the historical pain of oppressed people is not a politically astute strategy.’
She pointedly remarked that the Democratic Party has historically failed to prioritize the authentic experiences of Black Americans while seemingly leveraging their pain for political gain.
Committee members posed eight questions to the candidates, which included how they would address the needs of the Black community, strategies to reclaim votes lost to Trump in 2024, and ways to increase transparency within the party.
Omar Hashimi raised a particularly contentious question regarding whether the actions of Israel in Gaza constituted genocide.
While Saldaña refrained from labeling the situation, indicating that ‘genocide has a legal definition,’ Rodriguez-Kennedy asserted that it was evident that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had committed war crimes, although he did not categorize the actions as genocide.
In contrast, Ochoa was more definitive, stating, ‘It is a genocide,’ visibly moved as she expressed her concerns about the loss of innocent lives in Gaza.
Ochoa highlighted that she was the only candidate among the three who is a mother, which compounded her emotional response.
Former party chair Francine Busby challenged each candidate to summarize the ‘core mission’ of the local Democratic Party in one sentence.
Rodriguez-Kennedy expressed that the mission involved ‘recruiting, electing and supporting candidates,’ while Ochoa called it a ‘vehicle for the change we deserve.’
Saldaña, on the other hand, felt that such a nuanced mission could not be distilled into a single sentence and listed several objectives, including the goal to address the serious backlog of untested rape kits.
Following the meeting, Saldaña reached out to express her motivations for nominating herself, wanting to introduce additional topics for discussion and avoid a ‘colloquy between two people.’
She emphasized the need for increased party transparency concerning finances and highlighted the ongoing, yet undisclosed, audit that was initiated in late 2023.
Saldaña asserted that reviewing party finance reports should be an accessible right for Central Committee members and shouldn’t involve unnecessarily complicated procedures.
As the election results were revealed, the candidates congratulated each other and acknowledged the competitive nature of the election.
Rodriguez-Kennedy expressed gratitude towards Ochoa, stating, ‘I want to thank Sara for a spirited campaign.
I look forward to working with you, continually moving on.
…I will work until I can’t work anymore.’
Saldaña, reflecting on the campaign atmosphere, recognized ‘some rough spots’ and encouraged transparency from those responsible for sending anonymous messages to speak up, saying, ‘We are fighting existential threats to many of our neighbors.’
In her closing statement, Ochoa fostered a sense of unity, stating, ‘I believe in all you guys.
I think that we do need to be able to speak the truth in love.’
She concluded on a hopeful note, asserting, ‘I’m still here and I wish Will and this committee all the best — and I’m still in this thing.’
Thus, the meeting marked a pivotal moment for the San Diego County Democratic Party, as it moves forward under new leadership amid upheavals in its recent history.
image source from：timesofsandiego
