by XUEER LU March 26, 2025 (MissionLocal.org)
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The San Francisco Latinx Democratic Club, a local Democratic club of some 50 members, announced on Wednesday that it was withdrawing from the San Francisco Democratic Party, claiming that the local party failed to support the Latinx community.
The group is the second club in San Francisco to depart from the party organ, which is made up of elected members and governs a network of dozens of Democratic clubs. The Rose Pak Asian American Club dropped out on Jan. 22, citing distrust among monolingual Chinese seniors towards Democrat-endorsed candidates during the 2024 election cycle.
“The San Francisco Democratic Party has repeatedly failed to prioritize or even acknowledge critical issues facing Latinos,” read a statement put out by the Latinx Democratic Club on Wednesday.
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Specifically, the group claimed that the local Democratic Party “refused to author or support resolutions condemning recent national attacks on birthright citizenship and constitutional rights” for Latinx and immigrant communities.
It is unclear what the group is referring to. In February, the party passed a resolution “opposing Donald Trump’s dangerous agenda for San Francisco” and naming the “immigrant community.”
“I wish them well,” Tung wrote simply.
The Latinx Club has recently faced scandal. The club’s co-president Kevin Ortiz took a leave of absence last July days after a San Francisco Chronicle story detailed allegations of sexual misconduct back in 2021; no charges were filed against Ortiz, who maintained his innocence.
The club’s other co-president, Deldelp Medina, resigned a day after the Chronicle’s coverage. The club announced Ortiz’s return on Jan. 6, saying an internal investigation did not support the allegations against him.
Back in 2022, nine of 11 members of the club’s board resigned, referencing a “pattern of abusive behavior” from Ortiz. The Latinx Club, in response, denied the allegations and said “these attacks only harm the Latino community.”
The group, in its letter leaving the local Democratic Party, also criticized the fact that only one Latino, John Avalos, currently serves on the Democratic County Central Committee, even though 16 percent of San Francisco’s population is Latinx. Those positions are elected in a citywide vote, however, not appointed by any official.
The group also condemned the fact that Tung appointed Eric Kingsbury, instead of a person of color, to fill in the seat left behind by former District 2 Supervisor Catherine Stefani, who was elected to the State Assembly. Stefani is also white.
“She did not make the decision with equity in mind,” said Michael Rouppet, the club’s co-vice president of political affairs, of Kingsbury’s appointment.
Rouppet said two other local Democratic clubs had reached out to talk about leaving the local Democratic Party, too.
“The membership feels strongly about this, and voted nearly unanimously to step away from the San Francisco Democratic Party,” Rouppet said.
“We are reclaiming our space outside a local party that has failed us, and will charter under separate Democratic party entities,” the club wrote in their announcement.
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XUEER LU
Xueer is a California Local News Fellow, working on data and covering housing. Xueer is a bilingual multimedia journalist fluent in Chinese and English and is passionate about data, graphics, and innovative ways of storytelling. Xueer graduated from UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism with a Master’s Degree in May 2023. She also loves cooking, photography, and scuba diving.More by Xueer Lu
