Yolo County Democrats, Davis Democratic Club, Davis College Democrats and others gather for spring fundraiser
By MADELEINE YOUNG — city@theaggie.org
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On April 29, the Yolo County Democratic Party hosted its spring fundraiser at the Veterans Memorial Center, featuring former presidential candidate and former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Julián Castro.
Castro talked about gaining momentum for the Democratic Party ahead of the 2024 election and, specifically, about winning back the House of Representatives from the Republican majority.
“I wanted to come and thank you for what you’ve already done and challenge you to redouble your efforts to make sure the Democrats are successful in 2024 not only in the oval office but also in the Senate, which is going to be quite a haul,” Castro said. “This year, we have more than two dozen seats to defend and also the House of Representatives, to send Kevin McCarthy packing. I think that we can do it.”
At the start of the event, Assemblymember Cecilia Aguiar-Curry introduced Castro and talked about the issues facing the U.S., and Yolo County, within the last few years.
“We gather tonight at a very unique moment in the history of our nation and I think of our world,” Aguiar-Curry said. “It’s fair to say that the last three years have been unlike anything that anybody on earth has ever experienced before with the pandemic in 2020, 2021 and 2022. […] The more than a million Americans that have lost their lives because of COVID and complications related to it, the recession that it brought along and in May of 2020, the murder of George Floyd, which reignited a push for racial justice in our nation and the deep polarization and anti-democratic forces that we have seen.”
The fundraising chair of the event and assistant deputy supervisor for District 4, Oliver Snow, explained the purpose of the event.
“We’re doing our first big fundraiser since the start of the pandemic, and sort of our first big fundraiser even before that since we didn’t have many big ones,” Snow said. “We have Secretary Julian Castro coming into Yolo County, [and we’re] really excited to have him. We want to raise money, but more than that, we want to see it as sort of a relaunch of the county party, because it’s been a difficult few years. We want to sort of make an effort to say, ‘Hey everyone, we’re back in Yolo County, we’re ready to get to work, we’re ready to rebuild and we are going to greater heights than we had.’”
The event featured a silent auction and hosted chapters of multiple democratic clubs across the county, including the Davis Democratic Club, Davis College Democrats, Woodland Democratic Club and more.
Sam Hopwood, a first-year political science major and former ASUCD Senate candidate, was one of the members with Davis College Democrats in attendance and stated his support for the local small chapters of the Democratic body.
“I am very, very impressed by the turnout,” Hopwood said. “I’m a first year and it’s my first few times doing this and to come into a room and see 100 people — the best and brightest of what we have going on in West Sacramento and Sacramento, Davis and Woodland and Dixon — all crammed into one room. I think the turnout is really wonderful, not just quantitatively but qualitatively. It’s a very good way to get money, but it isn’t just about money. By having somebody as vibrant and important and engaged as Julián Castro here […] we help out, we help them build on them and it shows that the Democratic Party as a big organization really cares about what happens in a smaller district.”
Vice president of the Davis Democratic Club Rick Gonzalez weighed in on the speaker and talked about his support for political activism by young democrats in Davis.
“Julián seems down to earth to me, really down to earth and I really appreciate that because there’s too many people who sort of make it big and then they forget where they came from and they just get caught up with everything, and some people like Julián are grounded,” Gonzalez said. “Our young Democrats at UCD are the number one club in the entire state, not only do they register their own students every year at the college, and now they’re registering their work and campaigns and going into that and they’re going to Southern California, they’re doing phone banking, [they’re knocking] on doors.”
Castro spoke about the importance of electing democrats in upcoming elections and that voting has tangible effects.
“If we do that, it’s not just about a party winning the election,” Castro said. “It’s about the fact that [the] trans kid that is growing up, he’s going to feel so much more welcome and have leadership that understands and will make policy to make life better instead of worse. It’s about the fact that more kids are going to be able to graduate from high school and go on and reach their dreams in college because investing in them is a bigger priority. It’s about making sure that we codify Roe versus Wade, to protect reproductive rights in our country. and also while we’re at it, [put] some real ethics in front of the Supreme Court and to make sure that in the years to come, that our nation can truly reflect the best values of our humanity — the people that we have been striving as a nation to be, want to be, and can achieve if you continue to work hard to do it.”
Written by: Madeleine Young — city@theaggie.org
