Inland Empire Progressive

Grand Terrace is the smallest community in the 31st Congressional District. I canvassed the apartment complex there once during the former 63rd State Assembly race and know one of the recently council members. As with most other areas, their was a steep Conservative spike in voter registration followed by steep declines until the online wave pick it registration again.     

Loma Linda is small city defined by the VA Hospital, Loma Linda University, its healthy eating habits, and a large proportion of 7th Day Adventist Community. I don't know much about its partisan politics except that it usually votes Republican.  However, a Democratic candidate for Congress, Justin Kim, came from the city so maybe the winds of change are beginning to pick up.

The city of  Rancho Cucamonga is seeking to continue making itself a player at the local, state, and national levels. It is the 3rd largest Democratic city following San Bernardino and Fontana respectively. Many political leaders from the Republican side of the isle, from soon to be GOPer party chairman  Jim Brulte to former Senate Leader Bob Dutton have come from this city.  I would also imagine that Rancho Cucagmonga would be the place where San Bernardino County GOP Chairman Asm. Curt Hagman would begin the so-called comeback for the Republicans in San Bernardino County.  The Democrats have an establish political club, the Inland Valley Democrats whose President Erick Jimenez is working to make Dems a political force there.  By looking at the registration, it seems possible that he can. 

Redlands, I think, is the most activist city in the whole county. I think this not just because of their high median income, but also because many highly educated people live there. However, this city can sometimes come off as elitist and snobbish, which is a downside to the overall friendly atmosphere. The North-Side is heavily working class and make up the majority of Democratic votes. I'm real surprised the Conservative wave of '10 didn't make as much of a dent as I thought it would. 

Rialto is a small heavily Democratic city and home to the former Congressman Joe Baca. As you can see from the charts registration is 2:1 Democratic, and Reps still have not crossed the 10K mark. There was a slight Conservative wave, but nothing substantial. Looking at it from trough to peek Dems gained 2,000 voters while Reps gained 200. That lets you know the magnitude of how Democratic this city is. 

The thing that surprised me the most about my hometown voter registration stats is that the Reps did not seem substantial gain in the online wave like other cities did. You can clearly see it helped the Dems out. Rep voter registration peaked during the 2010 Conservative wave, but then sloped off gradually to June '10 levels. That established a new baseline for them, but we will see what happens in the future. The Bankruptcy will play a part in registration going forward. 

I like Upland. It's a small town like Redlands, but with more trees. I think the tree should be the seal of Upland because of all the greenery. I've been to the Bulldog Pub out their for meetings with Drinking Liberally and it was pretty awesome. The city is not a Democratic one, is more moderate because it sits on the border of Ontario and Montclair, so its southern half is more Dem than normal. The online tide helped negate the slide that Democrats were facing in the city. 

Fontana has always been heavily Democratic as you can see by their Voter Registration. However, until relatively recently a good majority of local elected officials have been Republicans. I feel this will change as Fontana's Democratic political establishment matures.  There were relatively few re-registers in the 2010 Conservative wave, even though Republican registration peaked around November 2010. These were probably from new registrants. It must be that registration (especially the paid kind) can lead to false positives. Democrats have been known to re-register (or be re-registered) as Republicans in order to help someone make a dollar.  No Voter Preference continues to make a steady climb regardless of where the political wind shifts.  

After the '08 election, I began collecting voter registration data on individual cities. I wanted to do it by districts to make it easier, but because districts change and cities are more permanent I collected it by city. My earliest data-point starts in Aug '09 because all that earlier data got corrupted on my flash drive and I had no backup. (A lesson learned the hard way to always backup your important documents.) Some key points are below the graphs. Colton NVP Minimal decline of registration in conservative wave of '10 Resumes course early '11 and continues sloping climb Began 3300 Ended 4100 +800 gain '09 level DEM Nadir was around Aug '10 Slight gains in '11 Online Registration pushed levels above '09 Began 9900 Ended 10200 +300 gain above '09 level REP Sharp spike in '10 due to Conservative angst at President Obama Slight drop off after '10 election Online registration lifted R...

Adelanto is in the High Desert and is split into 2 sub-areas. New Adelanto and Old Adelanto, which is by the Air Force Base out there. There is also a detention center, but I can't recall if it's federal or state. All I know is that it is hot as hell out there during the summer and cold as hell during the winter. I know Old Adelanto to be a lot tougher area because it is heavily in poverty and the African Americans and Mexicans can't seem to get along. I think it's the heat. Registration for Adelanto Dems increased by 183 Dems in 2011. This is a 5% increase from last year. The spike started around May and is upward trending. Last year was relentively flat and was probably due to the Conservative wave that was moving around the country at that time. I remeber the Tea Party being very active in Redlands, Chino Hills, and the High Desert. That was also a great year for California Democrats. We gained an Assembly seat inching us close to the 2/3rds needed to have sup...