Anthony Woods and CA-10

Yesterday, I voted for the first time in my new congressional district.

As my permanent residence is not longer in Martinez, George Miller is no longer my congressman. 

And as Ellen Taucher, the Representative of my new district, the 10th, resigned to take a spot at the State Department I believe, a special election was commissioned to fill the seat. The Primary was yesterday, filled with a large amount of Democrats in a Democrat-heavy district.

The district itself is heavily gerrymandered, ranging from Danville all the way north and east to the outskirts of Sacramento. (But somehow bypassing Martinez, which maintains a little pocket for the 7th District to reside in)

Before last night, the only poll I'd seen on the race was one commissioned by Garamendi, which unsurprisingly had him winning. I didn't trust the poll very much. My instincts told me DeSaulnier would win, as I figured Democrats in the area would appreciate that DeSaulnier already represents most of the district in the State Senate, and would disapprove of the fact that not only does Garamendi not live in the district, but he also lied about it. 

My household had gotten quite a bit of mail and phone messages from the Garamendi campaign, and more specifically from Al Gore and Bill Clinton. Obviously this is because Garemendi spent time as Secretary of the Interior for Clinton. 

Anyway, Garamendi won the primary, and now will face Harmer (forget the first name) in the General in November. I always thought Harmer's signs were funny as they read, "Harmer for Congress. No More Bailouts!" While I agree that the bailout sucked, basically Harmer was/is trying to push himself as a fiscal conservative, which I find funny because, btw, the stimulus worked. 

I wasn't a big fan of Garamendi, specifically because, although I didn't grow up in the 10th district, it is a district partially in the Bay Area, and currently my permanent residence, and thus I would like someone who actually lives in my district to represent me. Of course it isn't illegal to live outside the district, but it seemed douchy to me. I think Garamendi should have run in his own district, the 3rd, against a right-wing Republican. (Again, I guess those two terms are kind of redundant in our current political climate)

While I wouldn't have been unhappy with Desulnier, I instead voted for Anthony Woods. Woods is a 28 year old black man who was born on Travis Air-force Base and grew up in a single-parent household. He went to West Point, and served two tours in Iraq. Then, it was decided he should teach at West Point, so he went to the JFK school of Government at Harvard. However, last year, he came out, and thus was DADT'd (Don't Ask, Don't Tell..'d)

Should he have started out smaller? Probably, but seriously guys, watch him. I'm very excited for the future, and hopefully his next venture into politics results in a victory.