Democrat thanks supporters for unlikely win over Pombo
Morgan Hill – Congressman-elect Jerry McNerney paid a visit to Morgan Hill on Friday, stopping at a mobile home park to thank campaign volunteers and spell out his plans for the future.
“It was so amazing to see how this came together,” said an elated McNerney to a cheering crowd of District 11 volunteers gathered at Windmill Estates, a 90-home trailer park located on San Pedro Avenue east of Butterfield Boulevard.
Unlike 2004 when McNerney fought seven-term Republican incumbent Richard Pombo and lost as a write-in candidate, this year’s grassroots effort had a phone bank, a lively Internet campaign and an army of precinct walkers.
“Two-and-a-half years ago, I said, ‘This looks like such a mountain.’ But we went after it … We made a good showing and we made ourselves proud,” said McNerney, 55, an energy consultant and CEO of a start-up that intends to sell wind turbines.
The underdog politician got help from powerful Democrats when the party set its sights on Pombo in a national effort to regain control of the House and Senate. Former President Bill Clinton visited the district to stump for McNerney, helping to attract millions of dollars for the campaign. The momentum kept rolling through October and November with a massive get out the vote effort. In the end, McNerney won comfortably 53 percent to 47 percent in one of the most closely watched races in the country.
“I feel like I just got off the roller coaster at Six Flags,” said Jim Ross, a San Jose resident who is the former chair of the Dean Democratic Club of Silicon Valley. “McNerney ran a people’s campaign … that was the whole magic behind it.”
Local Democrats said dozens of volunteers from cities such as Sausalito, Carmel, Santa Cruz and San Jose helped to canvass precincts for McNerney.
“People flocked from all over,” said Charmaine Jabr, a member of South County Democrats who lives in Morgan Hill. “This was the part of the district that was going to push Jerry over the top – and that drove a lot of people to come out.”
McNerney won Santa Clara, Contra Costa and Alameda counties while managing to hold Pombo to 51 percent of the vote in GOP-leaning San Joaquin County. Morgan Hill, San Martin and parts of Gilroy belong to the 11th Congressional district.
In his 10-minute victory speech, McNerney vowed to his Morgan Hill supporters to join fellow Democrats in Washington in an effort to bring more Congressional oversight to the war in Iraq.
“Americans are dying, terrorists are being generated and so many Iraqis are being killed because of the forces we’ve unleashed in that country,” McNerney said. “We have some enormous challenges ahead of us and it’s so gratifying to see that people realize that, ‘Enough is enough … We’re not going to be scared by your rhetoric on terrorism anymore.’ ”
McNerney also promised to carry forward the effort to ensure millions of federal dollars for flood control along the Llagas Creek.
“Hopefully I’ll be able to work with nearby representatives Zoe Lofgren (D-San Jose) and Sam Far (D-Carmel) because I’m sure they share an interest.”
Mark Moore, a Windmill Estates resident who is vice president of South County Democrats, said McNerney knows Morgan Hill’s turf.
“He made a dozen trips to Morgan Hill during the campaign,” Moore said. “This is a wonderful thing for the district.”
McNerney is getting his first taste of Washington this week, attending “freshman orientation” with 28 other newly elected Democrats who will be part of the 110th Congress in January 2007.
“You feel like you just got off a roller coaster,” he joked Ross, “I feel like I just got on.”
McNerney said he would fly back and forth to Washington for his first year in office, keeping his home in Pleasanton and establishing relationships with local elected officials.
Tony Burchyns covers Morgan Hill for The Times. Reach him at (408) 779-4106 ext. 201 or
tb*******@*************es.com.
