The San Diego Young Democrats have become increasingly influential in local politics the past few years. As a result, more and more local young dems are aiming for positions on the statewide level and national level for YDA/CDA.

Last year, Allan Acevedo was elected the Regional Director for the South Region for California Young Democrats. Jonathan Goetz was elected to the CYD secretary position. Both have their roots in San Diego with both Jonathan and Allan serving stints as president for the SD Stonewall Young Dems.

It appears that Allan was hoping to move up the CYD ladder. Without any opportunities to move up he started running for re-election for the Regional Director post for South Region.

The picture gets a bit muddled here. I noticed that Evan Parent, the current communications director of the SDCYDs and brother to the popular Colin Parent, had a FB page for his campaign for the exact same seat. I got confused and believed that for the first time we would have a hot race between someone who is a go-getter in getting things done (Evan) and someone who brings energy (Allan).

I have asked around about this confusing race. It became clear that nearly everyone already has an opinion of who is the best candidate. This doesn’t bode well for Allan since most of the time incumbents for organizations like CYD usually run unopposed. If they run with serious competition (Evan) then that raises a lot of red flags for the incumbent (Allan).

I know Allan has a reputation for being over-energetic and sometimes putting too much on his plate. Apparently no one I talked to about this race disagreed with me on this. That is the bad news. Evan has emerged as the candidate with the track record of being able to put something on his plate and actually finish it. Again, no one I talked to about this race disagreed with me on this assessment of Evan. So it is pretty clear that the race is going to be between choosing a candidate that will get more done or re-electing an incumbent that has brought a refreshing breath of fresh air albeit many leftovers on an unfinished plate.

I checked out both of the candidates’ Facebook pages and Allan has many more supporters than Evan but most of Allan’s supporters are not the voters in the upcoming CYD elections while I hear that Evan has such a good reputation that it won’t be a free ride for Allan.

I am predicting that Evan is going to pull this one off. From my experience with elections for organizations like YDA/CDA, voting members tend to lean towards candidates that have the ability to get things done when the elections take place in even years such as 2008/2010/2012. In odd years, many young upcomers with no track record are able to win election to posts and prove themselves and move up in subsequent elections. I can see the CYD membership wanting a reliable region director in the South Region in 2010 when we will have to win back the Governor’s seat and defend Boxer’s Senate seat.