Editorial: What Sonoma County taught us in the June primary

So goes Sonoma County, so goes the nation...|

The Sonoma County Registrar of Voters last Wednesday released the “official” results of the June 7 primary. Which means all votes from the county’s 361 precincts have been tallied and any hopes you had that initial reports of your preferred Assembly candidate losing were all a big mistake are “officially” dashed.

But cheer up, chagrined Sonoma voter – at least it ain’t Brexit.

Now that the results are officially official, we can go beyond simply knowing who won, and get to what really matters: crunching the numbers and then interpreting them as a way to illustrate our previously held beliefs. Here are a few lessons learned from the 2016 primary:

Sonoma County didn’t wholly feel the Bern – but it definitely showed signs of chafing. Local Democrats checked off Bernie Sanders’ name 52 percent to Hillary Clinton’s 47 percent – which shows county Dems leaning slightly more progressive than centrist. If one were to interpret that as troubling for Clinton’s ongoing campaign – that is, being beaten by an outside-the-party rival in a Democratic stronghold even after she’d sealed up the delegates needed to win the nomination, it’ll probably all be a moot point today when Sanders, after pulling her left in endorsement negotiations this week, is expected to officially throw his support behind her at an appearance in New Hampshire.

What’s so funny ‘bout Peace & Freedom and understanding? Good news/bad news primary for county Peace & Freedom Party members. Good news: the party of such presidential nominees as Leonard Peltier, Ralph Nader and Roseanne Bar celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Bad news: Of all the political parties tracked by the Registrar of Voters, P&F had the lowest local turnout with only 34 percent of its 628 registered Sonoma County voters casting ballots June 7.

Barbara Boxer once said, “In the voting booth, everyone is equal.” Wonder if she still thinks that after Sonoma County cast its votes as to who will succeed her in the Senate. Sure, party favorite Kamala Harris got 52 percent of the Sonoma vote. But how about county support for these thought-provoking U.S. Senate candidates:

• Mike Beitiks – the stay-at-home dad ran as a single-issue candidate focused on the dangers of climate change. Campaign highlight: A graphic of the bare-chested, sweaty Beitiks fanning himself under the tagline, “We’re literally going to die.” Total Sonoma County votes: 749.

• Jason Hanania – the Bay Area engineer’s complete ballot statement was “01100101,” binary code for the letter “E.” Total Sonoma County votes: 500.

• President Cristina Grappo – the ambitiously named Grappo once observed that, “Star Wars is more like politics than the Twilight Zone.” She also names that has her all-time favorite quote. Total SoCo votes: 469.

• Tim Gildersleeve – the San Jose “Christocrat” looks forward to the day “Satan is defeated.” Total SoCo votes: 236.

Suffice it to say, Nov. 8 the runoff between Harris and fellow Democrat Loretta Sanchez will be far more boring.

Whoever takes Sonoma, takes the White House! With both candidates largely wrapping up their party’s nominations prior to June 7 (and the vast majority of absentee votes), Hillary Clinton only received 47 percent of her party’s vote in Sonoma County, while Republican rival Trump earned 67 percent of his. But the more important number to look at is this: 87 percent. That’s the amount of Sonoma County registered Democrats who voted in the primary. Registered Republicans, meanwhile, voted at a rate of 65 percent – meaning over 20 percent more local GOP members sat out the primary than did local Democrats. It’s always a dicey game to compare Northern California voting habits with the rest of the nation – after all, 500 of us voted for a Senate candidate who apparently speaks only in binary code. Still, one thing’s clear – county Democrats seem a lot more energized than county Republicans. And national polls are showing that about 80 percent of Sanders supporters say they’ll back Clinton in the general election. If similar trends extend beyond Sonoma County – perhaps to battleground states – it’s very likely the United States will be inaugurating its first-ever woman President next January.

Email Jason at jason.walsh@sonomanews.com.

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