California and the Nation Vote: A Post-Mortem on the 2024 Election

Join us at the Institute of Governmental Studies Library on Wednesday, November 13th at 4:00pm for "California and the Nation Vote: A Post-Mortem on the 2024 Election". This moderated panel discussion will share their thoughts on the outcome of the election, the impact of ballot measure campaigns as a mobilization strategy, and what the results mean for the future of the GOP and the progressive movement, respectively, both in CA and nationally.

Panelists:

• Duf Sundheim, Former Chairman, California Republican Party
• Ludovic Blain, Executive Director, California Donor Table

• Kelly Hall, Executive Director, The Fairness Project

Moderator:

• Eric Schickler, Professor of Political Science & Institute of Governmental Studies Co-Director, UC Berkeley

The event will be followed by a light reception.

* This event will also be hybrid; virtual attendees will be able to join via Zoom Webinar. In order to attend, you must have an active email account and register via Zoom.*

This event is sponsored by the Institute of Governmental Studies.

About the Panelists:

Duf Sundheim has extensive experience across all three branches of government and has been a leader in bipartisan political reform for decades.

Duf has served as a senior advisor to governors, mayors, and Congressional leaders, and is a member of the U.S. Federal Court’s Advance Mediation Group. He was twice a finalist for a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.

Duf played a pivotal role in several key California initiatives, including the Open Primary Initiative, the Congressional Redistricting Initiative, and was a primary author of the 2012 Pension Reform Act, which was signed by Democratic Governor Jerry Brown.

Duf also had a leadership role in the only successful recall of a sitting Governor in California history. In an example of his bipartisan approach, he later partnered with former Governor Gray Davis, whom he had worked so hard to recall, to help reopen schools during the COVID-19 crisis.

Duf was Chairman of the California Republican Party during the last election cycle in which Republicans won statewide office, achieving record-breaking support among Asian (62%), Black (27%), and Latino (39%) voters for a Republican gubernatorial candidate.

In 2016, Duf ran for the United States Senate against Kamala Harris. In one of life’s great ironies, although he led by a large margin as the top Republican candidate in the primary, he did not appear on the November ballot due to the passage of the very Open Primary Initiative he helped pass.

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Ludovic Blain was hired as CDT’s first full time staff-person in 2009. He was the first person of color and first immigrant to head a state donor table in the country. Previously, he was a leader in building people of color-centered movements around closing the racial wealth gap, environmental justice, media justice, campaign finance and voting rights. Ludovic has also led capacity-building work in Haiti, Canada, Denmark and The Gambia.

Under Ludovic’s leadership CDT’s family of entities has mobilized more than $60 million across tax statuses to build and sustain progressive people of color-centered policy and political power building and wielding infrastructure across California. He’s worked with regional and state leaders to found power building groups that have beat back right-wing movements and infrastructure to deliver House majorities, elect progressive Mayors, state legislators, District Attorneys and local races, while also developing power wielding progressive governance infrastructure with them to ensure the maximum progressive outcomes of policy, initiative and candidate wins.

Ludovic is a Bronx native, Berkeley resident, and a graduate of the City College of NY. He serves on several boards, including as Chairperson of the State Leadership Project (Committee on States c3 affiliate), as well as the Proteus Action League.

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Kelly Hall is the Executive Director of the Fairness Project, the nation's leading ballot measure organization. The Fairness Project partners with local coalitions in red and purple states to pass ballot measures that advance the priorities of working families. In the 2023-2024 cycle, the Fairness Project is supporting ballot measures to raise wages, expand paid leave, protect direct democracy and restore abortion access across eleven campaigns in eight states. The Fairness Project provides campaigns with polling, data modeling, strategic planning, technical assistance, and direct funding - and this cycle is poised to be the largest funder of abortion ballot measures in the country.

Before assuming the role of Executive Director in 2021, Kelly was the Fairness Project’s Director of Policy and Partnerships for over four years. In that role, Kelly was the architect of the Fairness Project’s strategy to expand Medicaid in seven states, resulting in health coverage for over 1 million people. Kelly worked on Capitol Hill during the drafting and passage of the Affordable Care Act, and then served in President Obama’s administration helping to implement the law. She’s worked directly with labor unions, health care systems, and progressive think tanks to improve access to high quality, affordable healthcare for all Americans. Kelly lives in Oakland, CA with her dog, Lewis, who is named after Congressman John Lewis but exhibits very little of his dignity or grace.

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About the Moderator:

Eric Schickler is the Jeffrey & Ashley McDermott Professor of Political Science at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of three books which have won the Richard F. Fenno, Jr. Prize for the best book on legislative politics: Disjointed Pluralism: Institutional Innovation and the Development of the U.S. Congress (2001), Filibuster: Obstruction and Lawmaking in the United States Senate (2006, with Gregory Wawro), and Investigating the President: Congressional Checks on Presidential Power (2016, with Douglas Kriner; also winner of the Richard E. Neustadt Prize for the best book on executive politics). His book, Racial Realignment: The Transformation of American Liberalism, 1932-1965, was the winner of the Woodrow Wilson Prize for the best book on government, politics or international affairs published in 2016, and is co-winner of the J. David Greenstone Prize for the best book in history and politics from the previous two calendar years. He is also the co-author of Partisan Hearts and Minds, which was published in 2002. He has authored or co-authored articles in the American Political Science Review, American Journal of Political Science, Legislative Studies Quarterly, Comparative Political Studies, Polity, Public Opinion Quarterly, and Social Science History. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of American politics, the U.S. Congress, rational choice theory, American political development, and public opinion.

Accessibility:

This is an accessible event. If you are a disabled person and need reasonable accommodations to participate they will be provided. For more information, and to make a request, please contact Ezra Bristow at [email protected]

Parking:

The are 2 parking structures close to the Banatao Auditorium; Upper Hearst Parking Structure and Lower Hearst Parking Structure. Both parking structure are open to the public but include a parking fee.

Host or Publisher Institute of Governmental Studies