Los Angeles Times - 05.03.2020

B6 THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 2020 LATIMES.COM

ELECTION 2020

But this time, the Sand-
ers camp in California
tapped people like Hernan-
dez — local activists who just
happened to be Latino, with
deep community connec-
tions — as field organizers
and volunteers. They, in
turn, asked their networks
to come out and vote for
someone who breathed the
same progressive fire they
had for years.
“That was transforma-
tional,” said Hernandez,
now co-regional director for
the Sanders campaign in
Orange County, as a phalanx
of phone bankers streamed
into a field office in Santa
Ana the evening before elec-
tion day. They called pro-
spective voters under signs
that read “Sí Se Puede!” and
“Finally a Reason to Vote”
superimposed over an
American flag and the be-
mused visage of Sanders.
“We know our comu-
nidades,” Hernandez con-
tinued. “To hear Bernie talk
about the issues we’ve strug-
gled against for years — rent
control, healthcare, income
inequality — and win on it,
reaffirmed what we’ve
fought for.”
Sanders’ appeal to young
Latinos was well docu-
mented by pollsters and me-
dia alike, and helped him win
the Golden State — a neces-
sary victory that now pits
him against a resurgent for-
mer Vice President Joe Bid-
en, who won nine states on
Super Tuesday, including
the other large delegate
prize, Texas.
On election day, many
Latino voters spoke about
what made Sanders so ap-
pealing.
“When you do the re-
search, you see that ‘Tío
Bernie’ is for the working
class, for healthcare, for tax-
ing billionaires, for standing
up for the American people,”
said Karen Cazares, 54, of
Santa Clarita. “People get
hung up on the ‘socialist’
thing, but he’s fighting for
what we believe in.”
But for Latino voters
who preferred other candi-
dates, the socialist label
made many, like others
who chose more establish-
ment Democrats, question
whether he could defeat
President Trump. As Super
Tuesday neared, the party
establishment rallied be-
hind Biden.
“A lot of young people
don’t understand or have
the history and it’s danger-
ous to have a pro-socialist
candidate leading the
party,” said Gabriel Orozco,
68, after casting his ballot for
Biden in El Monte.
Still, the fact that Sand-
ers is in what is now a two-
man race against Biden is a
testament to his campaign’s
ability to stir Latinos — a vir-
tual necessity for any candi-
date hoping to beat Trump
— in delegate-rich Califor-
nia.

Some of his most fervent

followers were people forged

over the past generation’s

political battles across the

state. For them, a nonstop

push for Sanders was just

like any other day in their ac-

tivist life. They were there in

Sanders’ Santa Ana office,

and they weren’t tired.

In the run-up to the elec-

tion, artists Alicia Rojas

and Jenny Lynn sat across

from each other and read

their scripts from tablets.

Both were first-time Sand-

ers volunteers, but everyone

seemed to know the two

from their past efforts to

beautify Santa Ana through

murals.

“Bernie was smart about

it,” said the 43-year-old Ro-

jas. “Here, I see Occupy peo-

ple, I see anti-gentrification

people, and so many others.

We’ve been motivated for

something like this forever.”

“Sanders understands

what it takes to organize on

a grass-roots level,” added

Lynn, 35. “Because there’s

never been any grass-roots

activism for centrist any-

thing.”

Sanders frequently

boasts about his small-fries

strategy for winning the

Democratic nomination,

saying the $34.5 million his

campaign raised during the

fourth quarter of 2019 —

more than any of his oppo-

nents — averaged out to just

$18.53 per donation. He hit

that note again and again

in speeches across Califor-

nia, speaking about issues

that resonated locally even

as their themes were na-

tional.

In East Los Angeles last

fall, Sanders declared him-

self “the proud son of an im-

migrant”; in the working-

class Bay Area city of Rich-

mond last month, he tou-

ched on the Green New Deal

as a way to revive depressed

manufacturing towns. When

Sanders visited Anaheim in

2018, he did so to hear about

the plight of Disneyland-

area hotel workers.

Meanwhile, Sanders’ top-

level people left the activists

they courted to campaign in

their local communities

largely on their own terms.

They say that allowed them

to win over voters.

“For voters to just know

that I’m from here and say,

‘Hey, I’m just two streets be-

hind you’ — it makes a differ-

ence in terms of authentic-

ity,” said 24-year-old Eliza-

beth Lira, a Sanders field or-

ganizer in Fresno who

previously worked for an

educational nonprofit. “I’m

not a stranger. I know the

plight that we go through

here.”

“I’ll go to people who I’ve

worked with, and they di-

rectly ask me, ‘Do you be-

lieve that Bernie can be the

pivot for healthy living?’ ”

said Gustavo Aguirre Jr., a

31-year-old Sanders volun-

teer in Bakersfield who

works for the Central Cali-

fornia Environmental Jus-

tice Network. “And I tell

them, ‘Yes.’ They trust me,

because I’ve won that trust

working on issues that mat-

ter to them.”

“These folks really under-

stand the community in a

deep, profound way,” said

Rafael Návar, California di-

rector for the Sanders cam-

paign. “They have the re-

lationships. It has a multi-

plying effect that you can’t

quantify.”

Návar experienced that

phenomenon himself while

knocking on doors in his na-

tive East Los Angeles and

running into “a lot” of former

classmates from Garfield

High. “And they’d be like,

‘Absolutely, Rafa, I’ll vote for

Bernie,’ ” he said with a

laugh.

Since last year, the Sand-

ers campaign aggressively

sought the endorsements of

Californians who had long

worked on issues (fre-

quently alongside one an-

other) that are key to his

candidacy: labor, gun con-

trol, LGBTQ and disability

rights, and many more. On

its website, it named over 150

“Community Leaders of Cal-

ifornia” who have backed the

prospective Democratic no-

minee — a list nearly twice as

long as the one for California

politicians.

In taking that tack,

Sanders also did something

counterintuitive to woo the

state’s large Latino elector-

ate, said Cal State Fullerton

Chicano studies professor

Alexandro Jose Gradilla: He

treated them as more than

just their ethnicity.

“He didn’t do the ‘yo

como un burrito’thing —

he’s seeing them as workers

and students,” he said. “In

2016, that de-emphasis on

race rubbed people the

wrong way. But Sanders fig-

ured out doing the anti-iden-

tity politics thing now is the

anti-Trump message that

can win.

“For community organ-

izers to really throw them-

selves into this,” Gradilla

added, “means they believe

in that message.”

One of those organizers is

Riverside resident Anthony

Victoria. In December, he

told his story to Sanders be-

fore a town hall in Moreno

Valley: how Victoria’s immi-

grant parents lost their

house in Rialto during the

Great Recession; how an ex-

plosion of warehouses in the

Inland Empire and the sub-

sequent air pollution led the

28-year-old to fight for envi-

ronmental justice.

A month later, the

Sanders campaign asked

Victoria for his public en-

dorsement.

“When Bernie talks

about these bigger issues,

he’s talking about us in the

Inland Empire, in the Cen-

tral Valley,” he said. “We

might not have the fancy

title, but we know what’s go-

ing on in our community.

Bernie, he’s not perfect, but

he understands people

power.”

Times staff writer Andrew J.

Campa contributed to this

report.

Latino activists aided in Sanders win

ALICIA ROJAS,right, and other campaign volunteers celebrate Sen. Bernie Sanders’ win at his Santa Ana headquarters on Tuesday.

Photographs by Allen J. SchabenLos Angeles Times

“TO HEARBernie talk about the issues we’ve struggled against for years ... and

win on it, reaffirmed what we’ve fought for,” says Joesé Hernandez, center.

[Sanders,from B1]

ers are both liberals and had
been espousing basically
the same leftist policy agen-
das: universal government-
run healthcare, tuition-free
public universities, taxing
the rich. Both had been
ranting in television debates
— Warren in a “high-pitched
scold” and Sanders in a low,
“grouchy bellow.” She
wasn’t attracting many
votes. But he was cleaning
up.
Was Warren paying a
price for being a woman?
Jennifer Newsom
thought so and wrote an
op-ed piece for the San
Francisco Chronicle criticiz-
ing male pundits who, she
said, were encouraging
Warren and Minnesota Sen.
Amy Klobuchar to quit the
race and “make way for a
male.”
“This is a man’s world,
after all,” the documentary
filmmaker wrote with a
strong dose of sarcasm.
“Until we change it.”
Klobuchar did step aside
and endorsed former Vice
President Joe Biden before
Newsom’s piece reached
print.
When Newsom returned
my call, she was critical of
“the media” — everything
from newspapers to TV and
social media — for their
treatment of female presi-
dential candidates.
“Women presidential

candidates are either ig-

nored completely or they’re

demeaned,” she contended.

I dispute that, but wasn’t

going to argue.

“There’s more question-

ing of their viability and less

issues-based coverage,” she

continued.

Yes, she’s right on that.

There’s more “horse race”

coverage of all candidates —

male and female — than

focus on policy positions,

and that’s unfortunate.

Warren had lots of de-

tailed plans for policy imple-

mentation, Newsom as-

serted, but the media “evis-

cerated her plans and didn’t

even ask the same of the

men.”

At the same time, she

said, the media “focuses on

men because they’re ‘elect-

able.’ ” That’s because peo-

ple are conditioned from

birth to believe female presi-

dential candidates cannot

be elected, she added.

“I’ll let you in on a story,”

Newsom said, and then

talked about her four chil-

dren.

When the Newsoms’

oldest child, daughter Mon-

tana, was born in 2009,

Gavin Newsom was San

Francisco mayor and the

infant “received many com-

ments on her looks and lots

of pink presents — flowers,

princess gear, you name it,”

Jennifer Newsom said.

Two years later, when

Gavin Newsom was lieuten-

ant governor, son Hunter

was born.

“Hunter received fewer

comments on his appear-

ance,” Jennifer Newsom

recalled, “but he received

lots of blue ... and silver

cups displaying the White

House insignia. He even

received a letter from the

president [Obama] ... and

the first lady [Michelle

Obama].... And if the mes-

saging wasn’t clear enough,

he also received a blue T-

shirt that said, ‘Future

President.’ ”

Two years later, daugh-

ter Brooklynn entered the

world.

“To this day,” Newsom

said, “Brooklynn has yet to

receive a ‘Madame Presi-

dent’ T-shirt or any political

paraphernalia from some-

one in formal leadership

suggesting that she too like

her older brother could be

president. And the story

continues when Dutch was

born [in 2016]. He received

multiple letters from politi-

cal leaders and even a for-

mer president....

“The message is clear:

From the earliest of ages, we

condition our boys and men

to see that they are our

natural-born leaders. And

we do not do the same for

women. This has profound

consequences for the way

the media and our culture

treat female candidates and

ultimately contributes to

the underrepresentation of

women in positions of power

and influence.”

I called some other peo-

ple — academics and politi-

cal pros.

“I don’t think the Demo-

cratic primary electorate is

sexist,” said Bob Shrum, a

longtime Democratic strat-

egist who is director of the

Center for the Political

Future at USC. “Women

constitute a pretty substan-

tial majority of Democratic

voters and they did not rally

to Warren and Klobuchar.”

But Shrum added: “No

question that in the general

election there is a real ele-

ment of bias and barriers for

women.”

Shrum noted that four

years ago Democrats nomi-

nated the nation’s first

female standard-bearer,

Hillary Clinton, who actu-

ally won more popular votes

than Donald Trump. But

Trump was elected in the

archaic electoral college.

Look, there must be

some gender bias because

no woman has ever been

elected president. And

Californians have never

elected a female governor.

That said, they also haven’t

elected a male U.S. senator

in 32 years.

Jane Junn, a political

science and gender studies

professor at USC, said the

office at stake affects bias.

“School board is no

problem,” she said. “But

with the presidency, women

might have a problem.”

Does she think Warren

was hurt by her gender?

“Yes, I do.”

Bill Whalen, a research

fellow at Stanford’s Hoover

Institution and former

speechwriter for Republican

Gov. Pete Wilson, said “may-

be there was some sexism”

in the Warren-Sanders

competition, “but other

things are worth pointing

out. Bernie has a cult follow-

ing around the country and

she does not.

“Bernie also has some-

thing else she does not have:

absolute purity. He hasn’t

moved on ‘Medicare for all.’

She has moved to a modi-

fied position. Moreover,

Bernie was doing this [run-

ning for president] long

before she came to the

dance.”

Sacramento State politi-

cal science professor Kim-

berly Nalder, who teaches a

course on women in politics,

pointed out that in parlia-

mentary systems, women

are chosen to lead a nation

by their colleagues, who

know them best. In this

country, a greater role is

assigned to voters.

The latest lesson for U.S.

candidates is that “grouchy

bellowing” is tolerable, but

“high-pitched scolding” is a

turnoff. That means there’s

still some gender bias out

there.

Someone needs to send

Brooklynn Newsom a “Mad-

ame President” T-shirt.

Has gender bias hurt Warren and helped Sanders?

BERNIE SANDERS’plans are similar to Warren’s,

but the progressives differ by more than gender.

Chip SomodevillaGetty Images

[Skelton,from B1]