Former Chronicle Opinion Managing Editor Jonah Ullendorff ’16 lost his bid to become a Democratic Party Assembly District Delegate on Sunday. Ullendorff placed 25th in a field of 47 candidates.
The election took place at the Santa Monica Public Library.
Ullendorff, a freshman at the University of Chicago, said he ran for the position to encourage other Democrats to pay more attention to younger voters.
“I hope as delegate I can help California Democrats create policies and platforms that will be more successful at getting out the youth vote,” Ullendorff said.
Ullendorff said that campaigning for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton this past election season helped him in his bid for the position.
He is also hoping to reach out to Republicans alienated by Trump and other conservative members of the party.
“In regards to the Republicans, securing their votes is crucial,” Ullendorff said. “That is how we win elections. Bill Clinton running as a moderate was able to get some of these moderate Republican’s votes, helping him secure many red states. How do we do this? We become the party of common sense. Donald Trump has made much of the Republican Party look like lunatics.”
Ullendorff said that history teacher Dave Waterhouse inspired him to run for election.
“I do owe a great amount of debt to Dr. Waterhouse, the Harvard-Westlake history department, and all my teachers throughout the years,” Ullendorff said. “Before coming to the upper school, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. After about one month of taking AP U.S. Government, I knew that politics would be my calling.”
Turnout was estimated at 1,030 people.
Democratic Assembly Delegates are responsible for attending community informational meetings and working with other delegates and voting at the California Democrats Convention and Regional Meetings. Delegates can also be elected to serve as an Executive Board member and are responsible for voting at E-Board meetings. Delegates are elected every two years.
Fourteen delegates, split between seven men and women, were elected per state assembly district. Ullendorff sought election in the 50th district.
“It is great, because there are few people of any age as smart, dedicated and hard-working as Jonah,” Waterhouse said.
