When Californians receive their voter guides and sample ballots in the mail over the next few days, something will be missing, thanks to an error by the California Democratic Party. It forgot to tell local elections officials that it endorsed Sen. Alex Padilla in the June 7 primary, The Chronicle has learned.
“The party’s communication to the county registrars inadvertently did not include Senator Padilla’s endorsement for the primary election and once discovered could not be rectified,” the party said in an email to The Chronicle after being confronted with the error.
Padilla was diplomatic about the error Thursday.
“I just have to work harder to make sure the voters are aware,” Padilla told The Chronicle. “I believe the party will do what it can to communicate that broadly as well. But (it’s) just a reminder, I never take anything for granted.”
The endorsement snafu matters because this is the first time that Padilla will appear on the ballot as a Senate candidate since Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed him last year to replace Vice President Kamala Harris. While Padilla has been on statewide ballots before during his term as secretary of state, he is still unknown to many voters.
Nearly one in three (31%) of likely voters don’t know enough about Padilla to form an opinion of him, according to a March survey by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California. Among all adults surveyed, 44% approved of the way Padilla was doing his job, 26% disapproved.
Padilla pursued the party’s endorsement with full force even though most of his Democratic opponents have raised only a few thousand dollars and have mounted meager campaigns. Nevertheless, Padilla invested many hours courting delegates personally, sending direct mailers, mounting a digital campaign and visiting local party central committees throughout the state. He won the state party’s endorsement at its March convention, which was held virtually.
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Perhaps Padilla’s most well-known and well-funded candidate is Santa Barbara billionaire tech entrepreneur Dan O’Dowd, a Democrat. O’Dowd, however, is running a largely one-note campaign to criticize the safety of self-driving cars.
Nevertheless, the California Democratic Party is trying to make amends for its error.
“We are already communicating directly with California Democrats and we will do everything necessary to ensure Senator Padilla is victorious on June 7 and in November,” according to the statement.
Joe Garofoli (he/him) is The San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer. Email: jgarofoli@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @joegarofoli Tal Kopan (she/her) is The San Francisco Chronicle’s Washington correspondent. Email: tal.kopan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @talkopan
