Women democrats discuss highs, lows of 2016 election

UPDATE 1/19/2017 6PM:

Despite not winning the presidential election, local democrats are celebrating small victories. The incoming president of the Democratic Women of Monterey County said Thursday the country needs to accept the new Trump administration, but that doesn’t mean staying quiet and doing nothing. From the local level to the legislative, they want to keep pushing forward to overcome the challenges they are seeing.

Voters elected Mary Adams and re-elected Jane Parker to the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. Anna Caballero was elected to represent the Central Coast at the California State Assembly. The DWMC believes now is the time to stop talking and start working.

“One of the biggest issues we have in Monterey County is, we have great wealth here, we have a beautiful county, we have very successful businesses, such as agriculture and the tourist industry, yet we have so many people who cannot afford, let alone a house, they can barely afford to live in an apartment,” Regina Gage, incoming president of DWMC.

Anna Caballero, who represents District 30 at the state capitol, wants to work with her federal counterparts to make sure the state’s interests are being taken care of, like trade, infrastructure, education and our workforce.

“Immigrants are critically important to California and we’re very dedicated to making sure they’re protected, that their rights are protected, and that there are resources to be able to help them if they need help, if the federal government decides to go in a different direction,” Caballero said.

Caballero said the state has taken a stand to continue funding Planned Parenthood. On Tuesday, the California legislature passed a resolution urging the federal government to continue full funding for Planned Parenthood.

Freshman Congressman Jimmy Panetta also took a stand on the matter. On Thursday, he and a number of members of Congress sent a letter to President-elect Donald Trump asking him to reject anything that would harm a woman’s access to health care. It comes days after he said his proposed amendment to protect health care for millions was shot down.

“But these are the types of efforts that need to be done to make sure that we continue to fight for that type of health care, to make sure people know the benefits of the ACA and let people know that we don’t want to repeal it, we want to repair it,” Panetta said.

A woman we spoke to, who had been to Planned Parenthood, is concerned of what could happen to others if it is stripped of funding and the Affordable Care Act is repealed.

“I think it’s a health crisis when we take away contraceptives,” Veronica Arvisu said. “It affects families and it affects everyone in our communities and we know when women get pregnant unattended, there can be some really unsafe consequences, especially if she has no where to turn to.”

ORIGINAL POST:

The 2016 general election will be remembered for Donald Trump’s presidential victory, but local democrats say they had a few important wins themselves.

On Thursday, the Democratic Women of Monterey County met to take stock of gains made during the November election. They point to the elections of Anna Caballero, Mary Adams and Jane Parker to seats in the Assembly and Monterey County Board of Supervisors as significant victories.

Tonight at 5 p.m., KION’s Mariana Hicks tells us what the group sees when it looks back at the election, and forward to politics during the Trump years.