In an excellent analysis of Humboldt’s election results, Thaddeus Greenson of the Times Standard  points out that in the District Attorney’s race, Paul Gallegos carried the traditional progressive areas (which not so coincidentally are also the traditional growing areas) of Humboldt like Garberville and Arcata while his opponent Allison Jackson carried the more conservative areas of Eureka and Fortuna.

The Humboldt Growers Association (HGA)supported Gallegos and ran fundraisers in the SoHum area.  Early on there was concern in the Gallegos campaign because they didn’t have anyone to mobilize the Southern Humboldt area.  The HGA stepped into that gap raising money and awareness.

This might mean that growers will increasingly be courted for their votes.  The Times Standard article, explains that

…any candidate looking to unseat Gallegos is going to have to target his liberal base in Arcata and Southern Humboldt. Winning the conservative vote wasn’t enough for Jackson, and [Ryan Emenaker, assistant professor of political science at College of the Redwoods] said it likely won’t be enough in the future either.

”You’re going to need a candidate that can siphon off votes from that (liberal) base,” Emenaker said. “I think Allison Jackson was perceived as a little too conservative, so folks that were even not necessarily excited to vote for Gallegos just could not see themselves voting for Jackson.”

Whether growers support the HGA or form other groups this is an opportunity to get their values and their needs addressed.