BY BRADEN CARTWRIGHT
Daily Post Staff Writer
A battle is brewing for the future of the Democratic Party, with two slates of candidates pitted against each other in Assemblyman Marc Berman’s district.
The progressive slate of candidates includes Palo Alto Councilwoman Julie Lythcott-Haims, and the moderate slate includes Councilman Greer Stone, Los Altos Mayor Pete Dailey and Santa Clara County Supervisor Margaret Abe-Koga.
The candidates are running to be district delegates and vote on endorsements made by the California Democratic Party for the next two years. A total of 44 candidates are running for 14 spots in Berman’s District 23.
The slate with Lythcott-Haims is called the North Star Democrats.
It consists of community organizers, nonprofit leaders and housing activists.
Also on the slate are former Portola Valley Mayor Maryann Moise, former Mountain View City Council candidate Erick Poicon and Nicole Chiu-Wang, who ran unsuccessfully for Palo Alto school board in 2022 and 2024.
Lythcott-Haims is the only elected official on the slate, and some Palo Alto residents are circulating an email against her candidacy.
Lythcott-Haims, who works as an author and public speaker, has made headlines since joining council in January 2023.
Weeks after taking office, the Fair Political Practices Commission told her to stop caring more than half of her income from public speaking to avoid violating an-ti-corruption laws.
Lythcott-Haims ran for Congress last year and finished in eighth place out of 11 candidates in the March primary.
A former Stanford student revealed in July that she had an affair with Lythcott-Haims while Lythcott-Haims was a dean of freshman. Lythcott-Haims left Stanford because of the affair in 2012 but didn’t disclose the reason when she ran for council.
The other slate is called Democrats United for AD23. It includes former Valley Water board mem ber and match.com founder Gary Kremen, Campbell Mayor Sergio Lopez and Saratoga Councilwom an Yan Zhao, who is running for Santa Clara County Assessor in 2026.
Palo Alto voters ousted Kremen in November 2022 after a Valley Water report found he laid into employees in public and told them what to do, going against board policy.
Also on the slate are former Congressional candidate and Stanford researcher Joby Bernstein and former Mountain View council candidate IdaRose Sylvester.
Candidates running independent of a slate include Valley Water board member Rebecca Eisenberg, Michelle Kraus from the Palo Alto Human Relations Commission and Jessica Speiser from the Santa Clara County Board of Education.
The delegate elections are open to all California Democrats who register at ademelections.com.
Voting takes place online until Feb. 23. Results will be announced on March 3.
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