MADERA, CA – Alejandro Santiago picks wine grapes and packs them into boxes. He is a Mixteco indigenous migrant from Coatecas Altas, Oaxaca, and lives in Madera. He wears a mask because of the coronavirus pandemic.–Copyright David Bacon
Madera County has been a stronghold for decades for the Republican Party in California’s San Joaquin Valley. Billboards this fall lined rural highways, urging the recall of Governor Newsom, pasted over peeling Trump/Pence posters. If Newsom’s fate had rested on Madera County he would no longer be governor – sixty percent of county voters went against him. Fifty six percent went for Trump in 2020, slightly more than 2016. In fact, the last Democratic Presidential candidate to win the county (barely) was Jimmy Carter in 1976.
But in the city of Madera, the county seat, changing demographics are producing political challenges to a conservative order. That seemingly solid majority does not reflect the demographic reality of the county’s 156,000 residents. Almost 60% of county residents list their origin as Hispanic. African Americans, Native Americans and Asian Americans make up another 10%.
LOS BANOS, CA – Equipment yard with U.S. flags and rightwing signs put up by the Madera County Republican Party, calling for recalling Governor Gavin Newsom. Older signs urge votes for Trump and Pence.–Copyright David Bacon
The Nation, 10/7/21
https://www.thenation.com/
article/politics/california-elsa-mejia-election/
https://
davidbaconrealitycheck.
blogspot.com/2021/10/a-
candidate-for-mixtecos-in-republican.html