The most recent electoral effects of Shasta County have arrived. Now, barring unforeseen cases, such as a recount, everything is in the clamor for Shasta County’s midterm elections.
Click here for a complete list of all the effects of the midterm elections in California and Shasta County.
In a reversal of the effects of June’s number one election, a pair of far-right populist candidates won the two open seats on the Shasta County Board of Supervisors in the close Nov. 8 election in which updates were broadcast from neck to neck. for weeks.
In January, barring something unforeseen related to the election results happens, Kevin Crye will assume the District 1 seat, replacing outgoing District 1 manager Joe Chimenti. Chimenti decided not to run for re-election at the end of his 2022 term.
Crye and Kelstrom will incorporate District 2 Manager Tim Garman (who replaced Leonard Moty in a lie-based retirement) and District Four Manager Patrick Jones in an ultraconservative four-to-one majority.
Soon, with Chimenti’s departure, District 3 Manager Mary Rickert will be the remaining moderate/RINO Republican on stage. All MAGA Republicans are present and will dominate the board for at least the next two years, until March 2024, when 3 seats are filled. at stake: Jones from District 4, Garman from District 2 and Rickert from District 3.
As noted Tuesday in the most recent estimate update from the Shasta County Elections Department, Crye and Kelstrom have maintained the few advantages they’ve had for weeks.
In District 1, Ninja Coalition gym owner Crye beat Dutch Bros. co-owner/opponent Erin Resner; 50. 42% and 5463 votes against 49. 58% and 5373 votes for Resner. Prior to today’s results, the Nov. 23 election branch report had Crye leading Resner with 5445 votes to 5357, a margin of 88 votes, with 385 ballots remaining unprocessed. Tuesday’s result showed Crye leading with 90 votes.
In the District Five manager contest, the effects of today’s election show that Jefferson State secessionist/grocery store manager Chris Kelstrom beat former Marine Anderson Mayor Baron Browning for the win, five 1. 8 five to 48. 1 five; 6,238 votes to five,793, respectively. Kelstrom won by 44 votes.
Last week’s Thanksgiving Eve election update showed Kelstrom leading Browning, 51. 83% to 48. 17%, with Kelstrom 439 votes ahead of Browning. and graciously conceded victory to Kelstrom.
Watch and learn, electoral deniers (notice that they deny elections in which they lose their appearance).
If the effects hold, Connecticut billionaire Reverge Anselmo’s million-dollar investment in right-wing Shasta County politics over the past 3 election cycles will have paid off beyond the modest expectations of Jones, the primary recipient of Anselmo’s generosity with $110,000 in donations.
Last year, in the Red, White and Blueprint political docuseries co-produced by far-right provocateur Carlos Zapata, Jones aspired to count to three, referring to the 3-2 majority required to triumph over all 5 members. advice. With Crye and Kelstrom joining the MAGA team, Jones will have a 4-1 majority in peak trouble before the board. Welcome to Jonestown, courtesy of Reverge Anselmo.
While supposedly (but really) nonpartisan manager races were very close in Shasta County, in national races and across the state, the local electorate remains redder than ever, with more than two-thirds voting for Republican candidates and issues.
Of the 111,605 registered voters in Shasta County, 68,986 voted, or 61. 81% of the electorate.
In the 1. er congressional district race, nearly two-thirds of Shasta County’s electorate (66. 06 percent) chose Republican MAGA and rebel Rep. Doug LaMalfa over decorated veteran and foreign service officer Max Steiner, a Democrat who won just over a third. of the Shasta County vote. 33. 94%.
In the race for governor, nearly three-quarters of the county’s 68,986 registered voters, 72. 84 percent, chose Republican Sen. Brian Dahle over incumbent Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. However, Newsom crushed Dahle from 59. 4% to 40. 6% in the statewide vote, illustrating the disconnect between the state’s urban majority and rural minority voters.
Unsurprisingly, the Shasta County electorate rejected Proposition 1, albeit by a smaller-than-expected margin of 70 to 30, with 54. 92% voting against and 45. 08% voting in favor. The move is a reaction to the U. S. Supreme Court’s questionable Dobbs ruling. U. S. federal right to abortion in June. Statewide, Proposition 1 passed with more than two-thirds votes, 67 percent to 33 percent.
Shasta County feels disconnected from the state as a whole.
Nationally, the Democratic Party would possibly have moved away from the red wave predicted in congressional races, but locally, Shasta County remains one of the reddest counties in the bluest of states. In addition to the Shasta County Board of Trustees, Redding’s City Council and several school forums have taken a more conservative turn. Expect those political upheavals to surface as soon as possible.
In this first segment of a two-part feature film, A News Cafe journalists R. V. Scheide and Doni will speak with Chamberlain about the effects of the election and provide their views, observations, projections and trends to follow.
R. V. Scheide: Democrats are rare in those regions. The county’s nonpartisan races were an entirely Republican affair, with conservative but green MAGA Republicans narrowly defeating more experienced moderate RINO Republicans in a reversal of fortunes for Shasta County’s right-wing populist movement. .
In June’s number one election, experienced candidates, plus Shasta County Clerk/Voter Registrar Cathy Darling Allen, District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett and Superintendent of Schools Judy Flores, easily defeated their ultraconservative warring Trumpist parties untested by double-digit margins.
But in the general election, anti-status quo populists, aided by Anselmo’s dollars, tied the score. Conservative political newcomers Kevin Crye and Chris Kelstrom narrowly defeated their most experienced status quo warring parties, Erin Resner and Baron Browning, in races for the Shasta County district. 1 and district five seats manager.
Doni Chamberlain: I think one of the most likely reasons why anti-establishment overseeing applicants in Shasta Crye and Kelstrom County fared better in the recent midterm general election than in the June primary is that anti-establishment applicants were brutally defeated in June. .
They felt humiliated, so they redoubled their efforts. This time, they were there to win.
As for the Resner/Crye race, Resner’s crusade suffered several fatal setbacks. For starters, although she was the most experienced candidate, she seemed deaf to the lives of most of her constituents.
For example, after the June primary, he didn’t have enough lead over Crye to win, which meant Resner and Crye would face a runoff in the Nov. 8 midterm elections. Still, on election night, Resner was so confident in her prestige as heiress that she organized what I called “White Girls Day. “
Resner wore white. He asked all his visitors to wear white.
The musicians wore white. The waiters were dressed in white. Even the balloons were white. The untimely birthday party took place outdoors in a carefully designed courtyard with striking views, which was no surprise, as Resner and her husband are the founders and co-owners of the Dutch Bros. coffee kiosk chain. The fact is, as benign and as flawless as Resner’s all-white occasion would have been, it sounded like something out of an episode of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.
The streaming photographs were grim, yet social media posts last month touted Resner’s crusade fundraiser on Anselmo Vineyard, the sprawling Shasta County winery and food stall formerly owned by Reverge Anselmo. This position is the epicenter of Anselm’s death wish in Shasta County.
Given Anselmo’s policy toward Shasta County, holding a fundraiser on his former property would be like inviting Camp Fire survivors to a memorial picnic on PG grounds.
Certainly, components and fundraising events are part of the crusade process. However, in each of the above cases, widely shared and shared social media posts about the events may give the impression that Resner had forgotten, or didn’t know, that the average Shasta County citizen can’t remotely relate to Resner’s wealth and luxury lifestyle. Posting photographs of such lavish events at a time when many citizens of the northern state are struggling to find gainful employment and pay for housing, gas, medical expenses and emerging grocery prices, suggests an insensitivity to the realities of most people in Shasta County.
He led a bad crusade from the start that seemed desperate in everything. He directed his comments to an assistant district attorney at the hearing, who said he had taken a non-public leave of absence to speak on behalf of District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett.
“Well, the-dee-damn dah!” He said Cry. No was joking. He seemed genuinely angry, an expression that looked like his debating face resting the crusade every time Resner spoke.
Crye can share anything you need about your genuine residence. You can insist on when you lived or didn’t live in which community (a bit like Michael Dacquisto and Redding’s City Council race). But the fact is, Crye is a school carpet bagger who announced his goal of running as a District 1 candidate at a time when Crye’s circle of relatives was located in District 4; Community of Patricio Jones.
Moreover, as Benjamin Nowain pointed out, Crye was so ignorant of his own district that he mistakenly told Manager Chimenti in a public board comment that he had voted for Manager Chimenti, which was impossible, because at the time Crye’s apartment was located in District 4.
All this raises 2 questions:
1. What about solving Crye in District 1, anyway?If Crye was so determined to provide himself as a supervisor, he may have done well. -elected in 2024. So, Crye may have presented himself as a bona fide competitor in the District Four race. If he had, Crye and his circle of relatives might have stayed at his wife’s dream home. he shied away from the ridicule of selling his District 4 space and renting an urban space in District 1 in which to lock himself, his wife, his children and the dog in the circle of relatives.
2. What’s the rush? Well, we know that Crye has had financial problems. Perhaps Crye’s ardent preference for securing a managerial seat was now boosted by his preference for getting an annual salary of about $50,000, plus medical benefits, as soon as possible.
Anyway, Crye was clearly determined to win by all possible means. And when the going got tough, Crye got dirty. rats and cockroaches in Resner’s Dutch business.
In fact, Resner’s lawyer sent Crye a letter of resignation and withdrawal ordering Crye not to send the flyers.
During the forums, Resner provided informative and detailed answers, while Crye. ‘s modus operandi was to attack Resner instead of answering questions and exposing positions and factual solutions.
The debate over the KCNR radio screen would possibly have been the final nail in the coffin of Resner’s campaign. During the screen, Crye continually attacked Resner, but Bott was unable to subdue the gym owner amplified, despite Bott’s common warnings to applicants. Not to clash with each other, but to talk about solutions. Crye blatantly ignored Bott, a Marine I once joked about my favorite conservative; Someone I imagined would be an ideal debate moderator for his elegance and decorum.
Since the collapse of a debate on the KCNR between Crye and Resner, I have withdrawn this suggestion.
At the breaking point of 30 minutes, when the screen was not broadcasting, Resner angrily lashed out at Crye. He threw F-cocktails and allegedly threatened to punch Crye in the face. (When the ANC asked Resner to verify or deny the story, it did not deny it. )
This story temporarily spread across the northern state. Resner gave the impression of being a crazy woman with anger problems. But to Crye’s supporters, he was the hero.
Crye campaigned as a tyrant, which in civilized places is considered despicable. But Shasta County is a dark and dysfunctional place, as many voters, both male and female, find masculinity poisonous to appeal. They appreciate men like Crye who are rude, disrespectful and degrading to women.
With Crye as supervisor, you will be in company.
As a priority, Crye can point to misogynistic curling iron models, Shasta County Supervising President Les Baugh and Vice President Patrick Jones, who have mastered the art of regime fuel and disrespect for manager Mary Rickert.
Doni Chamberlain: Common sense would expect Kelstrom, a virtual unknown before 2022, to be roundly defeated through Browning, the experienced and well-connected mayor of Anderson and Fortune 500 entrepreneur.
In fact, the opposite has happened.
I’ve looked at a lot of Kelstrom/Browning forums, and I’ve been struck by a few things. First, the men pretended to be intelligent friends, which was a great relief to the lively debates through Crye/Resner’s animosity.
Second, on a purely mental basis, I believe the physical differences of men played a role in Kelstrom’s success. and shoulders above the rest. “
That’s a true statement, because Kelstrom dominates Browning (and almost everyone else). Even their voices contrast. Kelstrom is a transparent bass, while Browning is more in the tenor range.
They were also an examination in other contrasts. While Browning is obviously a top-tier contender, Kelstrom has given the impression on forums of being more talkative, folkloric, relaxed and informal than Browning. unrelated, similar to the curse suffered by the young, blond, handsome and rich Resner.
In rural Shasta County, high-level applicants leave the electorate feeling inferior, which is a feeling.
I the time after George W. was elected. Bush, to hear that some voters chose Bush because they were looking for someone they could identify with and have a beer. Kelstrom is that guy.
Physical and personality characteristics aside, Browning’s campaign, like Resner’s, went through difficult times that would possibly have alienated progressive and far-right voters.
First, Browning stepped in royal style when he accepted an unsolicited donation of $4,900 from Reverge Anselmo at the start of the campaign.
Adding insult to the ills of the crusade, Browning refused to return the donation, which was decisive for the moderate electorate opposed to Anslamo’s interference in Shasta County politics.
Browning then angered many ultraconservative local voters when his call and photo gave the impression of a sign selling a “meet and network” in the city corridor with Browning, Redding City Council candidate Tenessa Audette and 1. er congressional candidate Max Steiner, a Democrat. .
It was a rare occasion on many levels. It was held at the Frontier Senior Center in Anderson; who deserve to have given Browning credit for the countryside, as this is where Browning lives and is the mayor of the city. political radar for a while. Even the event sponsor caused confusion, as other people misled the host, Sierra Forward, a non-profit super PAC, with Sierra Pacific, one of the largest logging companies in the country.
Campaign pundits reported that District 5 Chief Supervisor Les Baugh, who first approved Browning as his replacement, was not satisfied that Browning gave the impression of being on the same level as Democratic candidate Steiner.
Browning was then absent from this forum. Despite this, despite Browning’s absence from the Sierra Forward debate, Baugh temporarily withdrew his for Browning and endorsed Kelstrom.
R. V. Scheide: I think it’s vital to note that the races for District 1 and District Five were incredibly close. Only a portion of the District 1 electorate chose Crye over the more experienced Resner; just over a portion of the District Five electorate chose Kelstrom over Browning, who has more experience. It was not a collapse or a mandate.
I endorsed the moderate Republicans that Resner and Browning founded in their years of experience in local government and business. Both candidates took the traditional direction of public service, joining civic organizations, volunteering for charities, forming networks of supporters. to them in this election, branding them as applicants to the status quo in a political season when the status quo is no longer fashionable.
Resner’s vote in a 4-1 majority Redding City Council resolution in 2020 further strengthened him as the school’s candidate. The resolution approved the sale of a small parcel of public land to an LLC connected to Sierra Pacific Industries billionaire founder Archie “Red. “Emmerson.
Like the City of Redding at the time, Emmerson opposed the planned expansion of the Redding Rancheria casino in Strawberry Fields, which would fill the open area between I-5 and the east side of Emmerson’s massive property. The small plot purchased to block the tribe’s access to the site of the casino structure.
Redding Resner City Council members Julie Winter, Kristen Schreder and Mark Mezzano voted in favor of the sale, while only Michael Dacquisto voted against it. The tribe sued Redding two years ago. A Shasta County Superior Court ruled that the city’s sale of the land was illegal in May, just in time for the June primary.
The illegal sale reeked of cronyism status quo in an election in which the status quo was already on trial. Resner defeated Crye in the primaries, but his vote for the illegal land deal remained a drag on his general election campaign, even as he ramped up Crye’s campaign. .
It should be noted that Crye, who won an individual donation of up to $4900 from Anselmo for the number one election and appeared on Anselmo’s flyers, has since distanced himself from right-wing populists in Shasta County.
Like its non-public finances, Crye’s policies are enigmatic. Crye claims to be a successful sports agent in the style of Jerry McGuire, but has not disclosed any source of income from that career in his declaration of financial interests. We know he’s opposed to masks and vaccine mandates, and he says he’s in favor of balancing the county’s budget, and that’s it.
As for the county’s budget, Kelstrom and Crye say they will resist state investment with conditions. All right-wing candidates say this and end up capitulating to the state. Both expressed a preference for the allocation of a smaller prison in the center over the extensive Wagon Wheel of Justice concept. proposed through Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson and backed by Resner and Browning.
A narrow majority of the electorate in Districts 1 and 5, many of whom are still traumatized by state mandates from the COVID-19 pandemic, elected less government in this election, and that extends to systems that can only help repeat offenders break the cycle of addiction, crime, and violence. That’s why they gave Kelstrom and Crye the green light.
The most important thing between a moderate Republican and a MAGA Republican is that moderate Republicans have empathy. For MAGA Republicans, cruelty is the point.
R. V. Scheide: If the afterlife is a prologue, expect the majority of Jonestown to continue to attack county officials, workers and departments. Dr. Karen Ramstrom, Health Officer. It’s a brutal and ignorant firing that the county has yet to recover from, even as the so-called RSV, flu, and COVID tripdemia is just around the corner.
Beyond more shots, expect more clown cars and magic tricks. For Jones, public service is a practice, meaning elected officials perform genuine stunts, from recreating the Delaware crossing to filming themselves smashing board cameras at night and setting up a fake lie detector. tests to discover that imaginary occasions occurred 15 years ago.
The next trick by the son of a gun shop owner will almost involve protecting the right to blatantly carry guns in public. In June, the ruling by the far-right majority of the U. S. Supreme Court was the most important.
California’s Democratic supermajority legislature has so far failed to respond to Bruen and has proposed a law that strengthens the state’s covert and overt regulations, which may be unconstitutional as recently written. Gun rights advocates in California have already filed lawsuits mentioning the new Supreme Court precedent. Don’t be surprised when Jones resurrects the bankruptcy of the California Rifle and Gun Association in Shasta County as a Second Amendment sanctuary.
More weapons are coming. It will be appealing to gauge tourists’ reactions to local patriots wearing AR-15s on the sundial deck and other homeless people wielding weapons across the river.
RV Scheide: While Erin Resner remained in the career of District 1 manager, District 3 manager Mary Rickert had at least one confident, sane voice joining her in the council minority. But now that Crye and Kelstrom won, Rickert turns out to be the woman of a 4-to-1 superconservative majority. It will be up to her to resist Jones’ most reactionary impulses by persuading the maximally politically malleable Garman and Crye to vote with her against Jones and Kelstrom.
That’s not an enviable position, especially for Rickert, who, as the only woman on the board, has endured nearly 3 years of misogynistic and violent insults and threats from the medical/MAGA freedom crowd that has occupied boardrooms since March 2020. Rickert is running for re-election in 2024, but the board’s strong tilt to the right makes his candidacy questionable. Rickert’s friends (or perhaps the Jonestown agents) even suggested he “go now!”on social media.
Should he stay or go? Anyway, it probably wouldn’t be a simple resolution for Ricker.
Doni Chamberlain: I agree, R. V.
I have watched in horror as Rickert has endured emotional abuse and strain over the past few years as a supervisor. Through it all, the smear of two of his fellow supervisors, as well as the blatant death threats, I marveled at how Rickert not only continues to perform, but works in circles around the other supervisors. I know he is strong and that he takes his commitment to his constituents seriously. I also know that she has committed her center and soul to Shasta County, and if she ends up alone in a 4-1 MAGA majority, she will be obsolete and virtually invisible.
If he decided to leave before his term expires in 2024, Shasta County would lose a stellar leader, but the electorate would have no one to blame for the status until the previous thugs, long ago when the MAGA patriots beat the drums of retirement. Bitter look? Maybe.
As always, Rickert is a class act. When he gave the impression that the election count was turning in favour of Crye and Kelstrom, he provided the ANC with a report related to the outcome of the election.
She said:
“The two races for the District 1 and District Five campaigns were very close. I look forward to running with Mr. Crye and Mr. Crye. Kelstrom to meet the wishes of all the citizens of Shasta County. Politics aside, our duty is to fulfill the wishes of our communities and serve with integrity.
R. V. Scheide: It hurt me to see some of Supervisor Rickert’s followers on social media recommending that she will step down now, two years before her current term ends. I’ve noticed that other people also give up. it’s disturbing I don’t like it. Certainly, if you live in Shasta County and are to the left of a MAGA Republican, the electoral effects are disappointing. But now more than ever, now is not the time to give up.
Yes, manager Jones has a prospective 4-1 majority. But the managerial careers were close, and the public would arguably not be in the mood for a board of trustees chasing MACA’s anti-wake schedule when there’s more at stake: You know, like trying to keep the entire county from burning around us.
I’m prejudiced about Rickert largely because I live in District 3 and she’s my supervisor. She is all you would need from a county supervisor. He takes his paintings seriously, attends countless meetings, and is available to his constituents. Slowly however, since taking office in 2017, things are moving in District 3. A massive wildfire resilience task is being implemented in the Whitmore area, and Rickert has been instrumental in driving such efforts forward in the district.
With Resner in the race, Rickert had a potential partner, a protégé and even an explanation for why to run for one more term in 2024.
Without Resner, Rickert alone won’t be enough to avoid Jones’ performative shenanigans. It should be noted that Crye and Garman are not as ideological as Jones and Kelstrom and can therefore be persuaded. But it is a complicated task. Hopefully, a suitable replacement candidate will run if Rickert decides not to run in 2024. No one will blame her if she doesn’t show up.
Things got out of control in Shasta County.
Click for the latest updates on the midterm elections.
Revisit Part 2: Autopsy of Shasta County Elections.
Journalist Doni Chamberlain founded A News Cafe in 2007 with her son Joe Domke. She is an award-winning opinion columnist, film and food writer.
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R. V. Scheide is an award-winning journalist who has been bringing news, politics, music, art and culture to Northern California for over 30 years.
Doni Chamberlain and R. V. Scheide are award-winning North State journalists.
Posted: November 22, 2022 at 8:59 am
By Dave Bogener
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