May 5, 2026

We believe that one of the great strengths of a democracy is that each individual has something unique to contribute to our collective quest to build a society in which we all can thrive.  Our team is committed to: (1) helping individuals discover how they can optimize their own contributions, (2) helping to build a society in which these contributions are welcome and effective, and (3) determining how we, as a team, can add the most value with our contributions.

For us, the key to this third commitment lies in balancing our strong bias toward action with our equally strong bias toward careful analysis and long-term planning.  For May of 2026, the most time-critical opportunities for action are those associated with the upcoming June 2nd primary elections.  We are closely aligned with Indivisible National in that our top two electoral priorities in 2026 are: (1) defeating MAGA candidates, (2) promoting Democrats who are strong fighters for democracy.

We are currently focused on advancing our pro-democracy agenda in conjunction with three distinct races:

  • Candidates for U.S. Congress in CA-19.  We would ideally like the two top vote-getters in the primary to be Democratic incumbent Jimmy Panetta and Democratic challenger Sean Dougherty.  We think a November contest between these two candidates would provide us with the best opportunity to promote deeper public reflection on the key challenges currently facing our democracy.

  • Candidates for Governor of California.  We would ideally like the two top vote-getters in the primary to be Democrats so that the November election will allow us to focus more on underlying concerns about pro-democracy processes.  However, our first priority is for at least one of the two top vote-getters to be a Democrat.

  • Candidates for U.S. Congress in CA-13 and CA-22.  These are two highly competitive districts in the Central Valley.  The incumbent Democrat in CA-13 is facing a strong challenge, and the incumbent Republican in CA-22 is facing two Democratic challengers.  We would very much like Democrats to emerge victorious in November in both these districts.  In principle, the most effective ways to influence electoral outcomes in districts that are distant from us are: donations, fundraising, phone-banking, and post-carding.  We are collaborating with other Santa Cruz County Indivisible groups to support the Democratic candidates in CA-13 and CA-22.

We have multiple other near-term initiatives currently under development – stay tuned!