As she seeks a 3rd and closing time period as a Los Angeles County supervisor, Kathryn Barger and her supporters are touting her endorsements from unions, the Sierra Membership and the native lobbying arm of Deliberate Parenthood, her issues about local weather change and her willingness to face as much as the NRA and former President Trump.
It will be commonplace marketing campaign fare for a Democrat, however Barger is a lifelong Republican — albeit one who laments her occasion’s takeover by “a radical facet.”
Successful elections in closely Democratic Los Angeles County is tough at finest for many Republicans, however Barger has gained twice, boosted by typically reasonable positions and a willingness to work with the 4 Democrats she serves with on the Board of Supervisors, three of whom have endorsed her.
The problem has grown a bit steeper since redistricting in 2021 tilted the sprawling fifth District barely much less conservative. Some neighborhoods within the northwest San Fernando Valley have been eliminated, whereas extra liberal L.A. neighborhoods got here in.
In order Barger faces off in opposition to 4 opponents, led by Assemblymember Chris Holden (D-Pasadena), she and her backers have emphasised her Deliberate Parenthood endorsement and reasonable stances on points which may enchantment to Democratic or unbiased voters.
Difficult incumbent Kathryn Barger within the 2024 L.A. County District 5 supervisor’s race are, clockwise from prime left, Marlon Marroquin, Chris Holden, Konstantine Anthony and Perry Goldberg.
Holden, in the meantime, has claimed in marketing campaign supplies that Barger “helps Donald Trump’s MAGA agenda” — which she denies — and has pointed to decisions Barger has made that he mentioned underscore her Republican values.
“His finest guess is to truly tag her as a Trump Republican or a partisan Republican, even when it’s not correct by way of her voting document — she does typically vote with the opposite Democrats who’re on the board — nevertheless it’s a very good strategy to really attempt to assault her as a result of she’s so well-known in the entire district,” mentioned Christian Grose, educational director on the USC Schwarzenegger Institute.
Supervisor races are nonpartisan, which means the political events of candidates aren’t listed on ballots. As a substitute, voters see solely their job titles. The highest two finishers can have a November runoff if nobody receives greater than 50% of the first vote.
Barger, a county worker for the reason that late Nineteen Eighties, and Holden, who has held public workplace for about 35 years, are the very best identified candidates within the race. If Barger wins, this may be her closing time period due to time period limits.
The opposite three are Burbank Metropolis Council member Konstantine Anthony, civic technologist and businessman Marlon Marroquin, and lawyer and nonprofit chief Perry Goldberg, who has slammed Barger for making an attempt to play each side.
Of the 1.2 million registered voters within the fifth District, 46% are Democrats, up from 43% earlier than redistricting in 2021, in accordance with county election knowledge. About 25% are Republicans, down from 26%, and about 23% don’t have any occasion desire, down from about 26%.
“There’s not dramatic modifications, although I do suppose going from [43%] to 46% [Democrats], in an in depth election, that’s the margin, although it’s not an enormous change,” mentioned Grose, a political science and public coverage professor at USC.
Most races in L.A. County contain reasonable Democrats being challenged by extra liberal members of their very own occasion, mentioned Raphael Sonenshein, a longtime researcher of California politics. The fifth District affords the uncommon alternative for a reasonable Republican like Barger to achieve success.
“However the candidate who could be recognized as extra Republican actually has to sidestep the draw back of being a Republican in California when occasion is on individuals’s minds,” mentioned Sonenshein, govt director of the John Randolph Haynes and Dora Haynes Basis, which funds social science analysis.
The give attention to the help from Deliberate Parenthood may assist Barger court docket Democrats and different left-leaning voters, particularly feminine and LGBTQ+ voters, specialists mentioned.
“Her opponents sense that her voters have a tendency [to lean] extra left, they usually wish to paint Barger as a Trump devotee, primarily based on these mailers, and a transparent approach for Barger to dispel doubts about her Trump allegiance is to give attention to a core situation for Democrats, particularly Democratic girls: her help for reproductive rights,” mentioned Jennifer M. Piscopo, an affiliate politics professor at Occidental Faculty.
In his mailers, Holden mentioned he has a “100% legislative rating” from Deliberate Parenthood Associates of California, and included photographs of him talking to supporters in pink Deliberate Parenthood T-shirts.
Barger’s endorsement from Deliberate Parenthood Advocacy Mission Los Angeles County got here due to her lengthy historical past of working with the broader group, mentioned the mission’s board president, Sue Dunlap.
Since being elected, Barger has ensured that if protesters outdoors a clinic block affected person entry, Dunlap, who additionally leads Deliberate Parenthood Los Angeles, or her workers can simply attain prime Sheriff’s Division officers to assist preserve their workers and sufferers protected, Dunlap mentioned.
“It’s not a lot not endorsing Chris Holden … this isn’t about him,” Dunlap mentioned. “It’s about [Barger] and who we’ve labored with for over 15 years now. … We belief her and know she’ll decide up the cellphone.”
For his half, Holden is endorsed by the L.A. County Democratic Social gathering, a number of native and state leaders, together with U.S. Rep Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank), and a number of other labor unions, together with SEIU Native 2015, which represents long-term care employees, and three different SEIU unions.
Throughout the marketing campaign, Holden has sought to put Barger within the bigger Trump orbit.
Barger has raised greater than $448,000 from donors to former President Trump, Holden mentioned in marketing campaign supplies and an interview, citing county fundraising knowledge. Barger mentioned Holden has Trump donors, too, which he denies.
Holden mentioned Barger supported a Pennsylvania U.S. Senate candidate who claimed the 2020 election was stolen from Trump. Barger mentioned this candidate, who wasn’t endorsed by Trump, was a private buddy who was the primary individual to donate to her marketing campaign in 2016.
“It’s values, OK? You’re my buddy, however whoa, my buddy’s bought some wacky concepts right here, and the way’s that going to look if I’m supporting her?” Holden mentioned. “Who’s going to know I’m supporting my buddy? All they’re going to know is I supported this one who’s an election denier.”
Holden criticized Barger for abstaining from voting on a advice in 2018 that the county’s lobbyists in Washington, D.C., push for a semiautomatic weapons ban.
Barger mentioned she helps gun management — together with a ban on .50-caliber handguns and different measures the board handed final 12 months — and “as a result of I don’t agree on a sure movement that was introduced in is just not reflective of the truth that I’m not pro-gun management as a result of I’m,” including that the U.S. continues so as to add gun management legal guidelines with out imposing legal guidelines already on the books.
Holden mentioned Barger has taken conservative stances on immigration, pointing to reported feedback by Barger at a 2017 Republican girls’s luncheon that America wanted Trump’s strategy to immigration. “I’m hoping robust love does it as a result of clearly taking part in good within the sandbox has carried out nothing,” Barger was quoted as saying in a Santa Clarita Valley Sign story.
Barger mentioned her remark was taken out of context and the “robust love” she was speaking about was the vitality that the supervisors ought to direct at Congress as a result of each Democrats and Republicans are utilizing the damaged immigration system as a “political pawn” and that’s harming L.A. County residents.
Holden mentioned if he have been a reasonable Republican, he’d have modified his registration to unbiased.
“I’ve seen reasonable Republicans transfer in that course. That was their determination. That’s their name. She’s completely entitled to sort of land the place she is, and that’s her alternative,” Holden mentioned.
Barger mentioned she has contemplating registering as an unbiased however gained’t at this level simply because “politically it’s the factor to do.”
There are these within the occasion who name her a RINO — Republican in Title Solely — and it’s unlucky the Republican Social gathering has been overtaken by “a radical facet,” she mentioned.
Barger mentioned she has all the time supported LGBTQ+ rights and has targeted her consideration on the priorities of the county, addressing homelessness by funding shelters, housing and new psychological well being services within the fifth District.
“I joke — however I don’t suppose it’s a joke — if I have been in an workplace up in Sacramento or in Washington, D.C., I’d be in ‘timeout’ daily” for her reasonable views and refusal to vote solely as directed by the occasion, Barger mentioned. “I feel it is best to suppose for your self, and do what’s proper in your constituency.”
For all their sparring, Barger and Holden have at the very least one factor in frequent: they have been each influenced by their politician fathers.
Holden’s father, Nate Holden, is a former Democratic state senator and L.A. Metropolis Council member.
The youthful Holden mentioned he turned a registered Democrat at 18. His first job out of school was at an East L.A. juvenile corridor, the place he noticed younger individuals near his age struggling, and he needed to assist.
“It was primarily based on the values that I grew up round, how I noticed how and who my dad was combating for in a public service place, and it simply made sense to me,” Holden mentioned. He mentioned these values led him to open a well being clinic in Pasadena for uninsured and underinsured individuals, and struggle to deliver higher public transit choices to Pasadena by the creation and extension of the Gold Line.
Barger’s father, Richards D. Barger, was appointed as state insurance coverage commissioner in 1968 by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan.
Barger mentioned she registered as a Republican at 18 due to the respect she had for her father, including that she has by no means been energetic within the occasion and has by no means sought its endorsement.
Barger mentioned that as a toddler she knew Democratic political large Jesse M. Unruh as a household buddy however had no concept he was a Democrat.
“My dad was so nonpartisan, and that’s the place I bought it,” Barger mentioned. “It’s concerning the points in entrance of you and never concerning the occasion.”
