Stand Up Riverside pushes conservative agenda in majority-Democrat city – The Press-Enterprise

Ellie Jackson, founder and president of Stand Up Riverside, seen in a screen grab, speaks Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2023, to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors. (Courtesy of Riverside County)

A few years ago, Riverside resident Ellie Jackson wasn’t active in local politics.

“I was just a retired grandma,” she said.

Then events, including issues surrounding the 2020 elections, and COVID-19 restrictions and mandates, got her attention. She started voicing her beliefs and lost some friends, but “found I didn’t care.”

In spring 2020, Jackson and friends founded the conservative group Stand Up Riverside, which she’s continued to lead.

“Our mission is to protect the American way of life,” reads the organization’s mission statement, which states support for “our military, law enforcement, our flag, our right to worship and the integrity of our schools.”

The organization has grown rapidly. It reflects what some call a renewed interest in Republican and conservative beliefs in Riverside and Riverside County — and efforts to back political candidates who champion those beliefs — in a region where Democrats are now the majority.

Stand Up Riverside, which Jackson said has 2,000 to 3,000 members, has four focuses: schools, the city, the county and the legislature.

Group members have hosted events and spoken at public meetings. For example, Jackson recently addressed the Riverside County Board of Supervisors, raising concerns about Dominion Voting Systems’ machines and asking the county not to use them in 2024.

The machines were a subject of voter fraud conspiracies in 2020, but officials and agencies have since said there’s no evidence the machines were rigged. An investigation into Riverside County’s 2020 election found no evidence of fraud.

Republicans and conservatives haven’t always been outnumbered in Riverside.

As it entered the 21st century, the city, like most of Riverside County, was reliably Republican. As of October 2000, they accounted for 45% of Riverside’s registered voters, compared to 39% registered as Democrats, California Secretary of State records show.

Explosive population growth in the 2000s brought more Latinos, a boon for Democrats, who traditionally do well with non-White voters. By February 2013, the GOP outnumbered registered Democrats in Riverside by just 646 voters.

By October 2014, Democrats had overtaken Republicans in Riverside, and their edge continued to grow. Today, 44% of the city’s voters are registered Democrats, compared to 28% for Republicans.

But, with the 2024 elections approaching, conservative voices in Riverside and Riverside County hope to be heard.

Stand Up Riverside is focused on getting its candidates elected, Jackson said.

Speakers and guests at recent meetings have included Riverside City Councilmember Chuck Conder, Pastor Tim Thompson of 412 Church Temecula Valley in Murrieta, congressional candidates David Serpa and Ceci Truman, Riverside Police Chief Larry Gonzalez, GOP Assemblymember Bill Essayli, Board of Supervisors candidate Jonathan Ingram, a former Murrieta councilmember who was once the county’s GOP chairman; and Letitia Castillo, who is running for the 58th Assembly District that includes Riverside.

“They’re really a textbook example for the grassroots citizen attempt to inform other people about what’s going on in their government, to take (it) back from selfish politicians,” Conder said.

As a citizen, Conder said, he considers himself a Stand Up Riverside member.

“I’m just so pleased, because for many years, you just didn’t see groups getting involved,” Conder said.

Other local conservative groups, including the Lincoln Club of Riverside County, the Republican Party of Riverside County and Riverside Republican Women Federated have also started looking ahead to the elections.

Marcelle Williams, incoming president of the latter group, said grassroots activity in local politics is important, describing the organization’s efforts to reach younger residents and get involved in the election by working the polls or keeping “eyes and ears on the ground.”

In recent years, Democratic gains filtered down to the Riverside City Council, which is now majority Democrat, though council seats technically are nonpartisan. Community members, including Moreno Valley resident and Stand Up Riverside member Roy Bleckert, periodically call Conder the council’s lone conservative. 

“The key factor right now to watch is the city of Riverside,” Bleckert said.

He called Ward 3 an “automatic flip” because the outgoing councilmember, Ronaldo Fierro, is liberal, and both 2024 candidates are right-leaning. “Then, you’re gonna have the two battlegrounds of 1 and 5.”

“If the city of Riverside flips,” he said, “then you’ve got the basis of a trend.”

Hemenway is running unopposed in Ward 7. Stand Up Riverside has endorsed Hass Ratnayake, Warren Avery and Sean Mill for Wards 1, 3 and 5 on its website, beneath the slogan: “It’s time to take our city back.”

In 2019, Avery lost to Fierro by 324 votes, and Mill lost to Plascencia by 222, according to county records. In both runoffs, about ¼ of eligible voters submitted ballots.

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In recent years, school boards — also officially nonpartisan — have become another focus for political takeovers. Conservative groups in California, feeling their thoughts on education are ignored at the state and federal levels, have sought control at the local level, with some calling it the “Parent Revolt.”

In the 2022 elections, five of seven conservative school board candidates in southwest Riverside County backed by Thompson and the Inland Empire Family PAC, which he founded, won seats. Three formed a board majority in the Temecula Valley Unified School District, which has since adopted a policy to tell parents if their child is transgender, initially blocked a social studies curriculum that mentions Harvey Milk and banned critical race theory and “pervasive pornography.” The bloc was broken when member Danny Gonzalez resigned Friday, Dec. 15.

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Thompson, who spoke at Stand Up Riverside’s September meeting, said he discussed his efforts to engage parents in what’s happening in public schools, referring to what he called a lack of parental rights and sexual indoctrination.

“We need to unify these grassroots organizations,” Thompson said.

The Inland Empire Family PAC is “reaching out even further” this election cycle, he said, to cities including Corona, Riverside, Beaumont and Hemet.

In November, three of five school board seats in Riverside Unified School District, which serves about 40,000 students, will be on the ballot, though it isn’t clear if Stand Up Riverside or other conservative groups will attempt a takeover like the one in southwest Riverside County.

So far, Stand Up Riverside has endorsed one candidate, who hasn’t yet announced his campaign, Jackson said.

Bleckert sees a possible political shift, citing inflation and public safety concerns as contributing factors.