[SFGP] Greenzine: No Kings voter outreach and October Members Meeting

Sat Oct 18 08:49:20 PDT 2025

Sat, Oct 18
GREENZINE
SF Green Party Weekly News and Events

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Dear Greens,

    We'll be doing voter outreach at the "No Kings" rally today - meet
at Market and Embarcadero at 1:30 if you want to help!  Call Barry at
415-255-9494 if you can't find us.  More details below.

    And speaking of "No Kings" - we don't support King Newsom or King
Wiener any more than we do King Trump.  Please vote NO on Prop 50, the
Democrats' attack on voting rights in CA:
  https://www.sfgreenparty.org/endorsements/113-endorsement-no-on-prop-50

    Finally, please join us next Wednesday, Oct 22, for our final
regular monthly meeting of the year (we will host a holiday gathering
instead of our meetings in November and December).  Agenda and details
are below.

*===========================*

What:  Voter Outreach at "No Kings" SF
Where:  Embarcadero SF, march to Civic center
When:  Sat, Oct 18, 1:30 pm - 5 pm

No Kings Day in San Francisco: Gather at 1:30 PM at Sue Bierman Park
(north of Embarcadero Plaza). March starts at 2 PM sharp and will
proceed to Civic Center Plaza for a rally which starts at 3:30 PM.
https://indivisiblesf.org/no-kings-2
Call Barry at 415-255-9494 if you can help with voter outreach.

*===========================*

What:  Green Party monthly members' meeting
Where:  2973 16th St, #300, SF
When:  Wed, Oct 22, 7-9 pm

Agenda:
  * Introductions
  * No Kings - Report Back
  * GPCA Plenary update
  * Congress/CA Legislature election strategy for 2026
  * Door Knocking Campaign with Butch Ware
  * Butch Ware Presentation - Timothy/Vali
  * Green Party Voter Data - Discussion/Distribution - Barry
  * Finance Update / Budget for Social Media Advertising?
  * Holiday Party Planning
  * Announcements
    - SF Labor Council Rally on Franklin 10/24
    - Health Care Teach-In on 10/30
    - Others?

Every 4th Wednesday the SF Green Party meets to discuss issues of
concern, listen to interesting speakers, endorse events, plan outreach
and more!  Everyone welcome.  All meetings are wheelchair accessible.
To make a presentation or gain the SFGP endorsement of events and
issues, please contact our SFGP County Council at: cc at sfgreens.org

Mask policy: Masks are currently optional indoors, for both vaccinated
and non-vaccinated people.  We provide the option for SF Green Party
members and invited candidates to participate in our meetings via
Zoom, so email cc at sfgreens.org for info on how you can join us
virtually.

*===========================*

What: Teach-In: Exchange health insurance subsidies: Between a rock
      and a hard place
Where:  Zoom
When:  Thursday, October 30, 7 to 8pm

At the last Teach-In, participants learned how the U.S. health care
patchwork arrangement "Is Not Normal."  Organizers asked participants
to figure out just how much they would save by using the Household
Savings Calculator.  <https://calculator.passmedicareforall.org/>
Please use the calculator before the next Teach-In so we can compare
savings among participants.  Also, make sure to bring a friend!  We
will be doing a deep dive into the Exchange health insurance
subsidies.  Where do they come from?  What are they?  Should they be
extended or ended?

Register below to receive the Zoom information.
Exchange health insurance subsidies: Between a rock and a hard place |
Senior and Disability Action Powerbase
https://sdaction.ourpowerbase.net/civicrm/event/register

*===========================*

NO on Prop 50 - Newsom Gerrymandering

Prop 50 would temporarily repeal the Citizens Redistricting Commission
that California voters created in 2008 and further empowered in 2010.
It would create new gerrymandered Congressional districts drawn by
Democrats in the state legislature for elections in 2026, 2028, and
2030.  As a result, CA Democrats are expected to win 5 more
Congressional seats than they currently hold.  Governor Newsom's move
is in response to gerrymandering in Texas, where Republicans are
redrawing district lines to win 5 more seats currently held by Texas
Democrats.  Because gerrymandering is not compatible with democracy,
one of the Green Party's Key Values (link:
https://www.sfgreenparty.org/10-key-values), we strongly oppose Prop
50.

In any democracy, voters must be able to choose who we want to
represent us, rather than politicians picking which voters they want
in their districts.  Under Prop 50 or the proposed system in Texas,
any Democrat who's been gerrymandered into a district with a large
majority of Republicans would basically lose their right to vote.  So
would a Republican who's been moved into a district with an
overwhelming majority of Democrats.

Newsom claims that eliminating Californians' right to choose our own
representatives is necessary to stop Trump from imposing a
dictatorship on the entire country, which Republicans would go along
with if they maintain control of Congress after the 2026 election.
But regardless of how CA votes on Prop 50, Republicans are almost
certain to lose their current 5-seat majority in the House.  In 20 of
the last 22 midterm elections going back to 1938, the party in power
has lost House seats, with the only two exceptions being years when the
incumbent president had job approval from over 60% of Americans (link:
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-history-tells-us-about-the-2026-midterm-elections/).
In most of these elections, the party in power lost a very
large number of seats: Republicans lost 26 seats in 1982 under Reagan,
while Democrats lost 54 seats in 1994 under Clinton and 63 in 2010
under Obama.  During Trump's first term, Republicans lost 41 seats to
Democrats in the 2018 midterm election.  Trump's behavior in his
second term has been far more authoritarian and unhinged.  His
Gestapo-like ICE raids have even resulted in the arrests of some of
his own supporters.  MAGA policies are increasingly unpopular among
all Americans outside of a small fascist fringe, so we expect a huge
electoral swing away from Trump in the 2026 midterms.  A couple of
gerrymandered seats in CA or Texas isn't going to change that.

The best solution to ensure all Californians' votes count would be to
change all our legislative elections to a proportional representation
system.  The current balance among CA's 52 congressmembers is 43
Democrats (83%), 9 Republicans (17%), and 0 Greens and others.  In
contrast, voters in CA are 45% registered Democrats, 25% Republicans,
22% Decline to State, and 7% Others (link:
https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/voter-registration/voter-registration-statistics).
Greens routinely get from 2% to 4% of the vote in statewide races.
Under proportional representation, this would translate into 1 or 2
House seats for Greens, while Democrats would win almost twice as many
seats as Republicans.  Everybody's vote would count, including rural
Democrats and urban Republicans.

However, under the extreme gerrymandering in Prop 50, California's
congressional delegation would become even more unrepresentative of
our voters.  If Prop 50 passes, Democrats would take over 5 Republican
seats in CA, resulting in a 2028 delegation with 48 Democrats (92%), 4
Republicans (8%), and 0 Greens and others (link:
https://news.ballotpedia.org/2025/09/23/california-proposition-50-would-shift-five-republican-held-congressional-districts-toward-democrats-based-on-presidential-election-results/).
People from rural areas in communities north of Redding would be
"represented" by a suburban Democrat from Marin county.

Greens previously endorsed both ballot measures to create and expand the
powers of the Citizens Redistricting Commission.  In endorsing the second
measure, we wrote:

  Prop 20 will allow the voter-approved Citizens Redistricting
  Commission to draw California's congressional districts in addition
  to state legislative districts.  Under Prop 20, Sacramento
  politicians will no longer be able to draw election districts to
  help ensure reelection for their friends in Congress - even when
  they ignore voters.

  Prop 20 also ensures that our communities can no longer be carved up
  by politicians just to ensure the political outcome they want.  This
  kind of gerrymandering, discussed by SF Green party activist Steve
  Hill in his book "Fixing Elections," is one factor in our current
  system that reduces democracy.

All Americans need to stand up to the authoritarian Trump regime to
defend what little democracy we have left.  Newsom's scheme to take
away voting rights from Californians is a move in the opposite
direction.  We can't fight MAGA with Blue MAGA.  Vote NO on Prop 50,
and instead help us to build a stronger Green Party that will stand up
to fascist politicians from both sides of the aisle!

*===========================*

To submit events for our newsletter, please email a short blurb to
news at sfgreens.org.  Messages to a mailing list will be rejected.

----- End forwarded message -----

-- 
John-Marc Chandonia (jmc at sfgreens.org)
http://sfgreens.org/