Did a Riverside USD Sweetheart Labor Deal Put Another Democrat Senate Seat In Play?

It appears that Republicans in the Inland Empire might have a candidate in the Senate District 31 race after all. If a recent poll is accurate, voters in SD 31 may opt for a two-party competition in November 2024. Earlier this year, political observers concluded that the 2024 California State Senate race was one where Democrats could not lose. According to PoliticalData.com, the district has 104,949 more Democrats registered to vote than it has Republicans registered, which results in a huge 22.4% lead for Democrat candidates. The 31st district includes Jurupa Valley, Moreno Valley, Perris, San Jacinto, parts of Corona, Fontana, Menifee, and Riverside.

Because of this vast Democrat registration advantage, for most of the year, it was expected that two Democrats would win in the March 2024 primary election and face each other in a runoff election in November 2024. Assemblywoman Sabrina Cervantes is the front-runner facing off against Riverside Unified School District (RUSD) Trustee Angelo Farooq. However, according to polling released this week, not even receiving endorsements from California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, California Treasurer Fiona Ma, and California Attorney General Rob Bonta can keep Angelo Farooq in the top two. “Republican Cynthia Navarro consistently comes in second place, making a Democrat versus Republican general election in November likely.”

The unexpected result may stem from the negative public attention surrounding a controversial construction deal Farooq pushed as a Riverside School Board member. This policy discriminates against over 80% of construction workers. The cost to students, parents, and taxpayers is over $30 million –just on the first school construction project covered by the deal. Because this special interest deal discriminates against its members, non-union contractors launched a social media advertising effort to inform the public about the cost overruns caused by Angelo Farooq’s construction giveaway at Riverside Unified School District.

Could Farooq’s Riverside USD construction deal have now put another Democrat State Senate seat in play for Republicans in 2024? If so, it should remind ambitious politicians that these special interest deals, whether you call it a “Project Labor Agreement,” a “Community Benefits Agreement,” or a “Community Workforce Agreement” (the language is practically identical every time), these deals do not result in an advantage for taxpayers, or one’s political future. It may hurt your chances statewide to advance your party’s objectives because you now need to spend limited campaign dollars in a race where you were almost assured a Democrat outcome only 6 or 8 months ago.

This news item ran in the “subscriber’s only” section of The Capitol Morning Report on Thursday, January 4, 2024:

Asm. Sabrina Cervantes’ campaign for SD 31 reports a poll found
“Cervantes in first place, leading her only Democratic opponent by a seemingly insurmountable margin of 30 percent,” while “Republican Cynthia Navarro consistently comes in second place, making a Democrat versus Republican general election in November likely.” Release here. Cervantes, a Democrat, was first elected to the Assembly in 2016. Contact: press@overland-strategies.com

It is also essential to highlight that Riverside Unified School District is not the only local district to have an ambitious politician waste millions of taxpayer dollars to try and gain the favor of the Big Construction Labor bosses in Inland Empire political elections. From the City of Palm Springs to the San Bernardino Community College District, Inland Empire Democrat politicians are overcharging the public for construction projects with these no-bid, sole-source labor contracts. Having their campaign dollars wasted may spark a change in their behavior that millions of wasted taxpayer dollars have not.