Past Activities

In July of 2026, we participated in “Good Trouble Lives On” by waving signs and banners on the High Street Bridge on the west side of Santa Cruz: https://youtu.be/v7lnsvEGrkw

In the spring of 2026, our team developed a list of questions for candidates in the primary election in CA-19. We presented these questions to the Indivisible Santa Cruz (ISCC) leadership group, and they proposed expanding the initiative by asking each of the Issue groups to submit two questions to the candidates. We readily agreed to participate in this collaborative effort. The questions were sent out to the candidates in early May. Five of the seven candidates, including Democratic incumbent Jimmy Panetta and Democratic challenger Sean Dougherty, returned completed questionnaires, which were thoughtful and often quite detailed. The completed questionnaires were emailed to the ISCC membership, along with a request to indicate whether any of the candidates should be endorsed by ISCC.

In 2025, the Restore Democracy team focused our attention on passage of Proposition 50, the response by California to the mid-decade gerrymandering in Texas ordered by Donald Trump in an effort to rig the 2026 congressional elections in favor of Republicans. Our actions included a variety of efforts to encourage Californians to vote in favor of Prop. 50. We sent out postcards to voters, wrote letters to the editor, and carried out tabling initiatives in a variety of settings. In addition, in response to a request from the Santa Cruz for Bernie group, we sent a representative to their endorsement meeting to argue in favor of Prop 50. After the presentation and responses by the presenter to a series of questions, the group voted to endorse Proposition 50. In the November election, Prop. 50 passed by a large margin.