Monterey County Democratic Party Ousting Chairperson Two Months Before Election Day
It’s a wild year for politics nationally – last-minute presidential candidate swap, multiple assassination attempts, etc. – but 2024 has also been a wild year for politics locally. Internal strife in the Monterey County Democratic Central Committee simmered for months as Election Day approached. Some members tried and failed once to remove former chair Karen Araujo from her position, claiming she was too focused on rule-following to run an effective meeting and concerned that she wasn’t the kind of fundraising organizer they needed. They followed up with a contentious vote in September to change the Party’s bylaws, ousting her and replacing her with Ian Oglesby, chair-elect, who took over the meeting midway through. It’s a lot of strife for people who actually agree – these are the most engaged Democratic Party volunteers in the entire county – but this is the Wild West of internal dysfunction.
