Santa Monica Cares About Safety and Crime, But SMRR Falsely Scared Local Voters By Threatening the End of Rent Control

Friends of SMU: Well I write with a heavy pen to inform you that the "Santa Monicans United" endorsed slate lost. While the election was spirited and close, it seems that the renter's rights issues (false claims that The Establishment Slate wished to abolish rent protection) and other scare tactics predominated with the mostly (65-70%) renter population. While our polling showed safety and crime the key issues, The Establishment Slate (aka SMRR Slate) used fear, misinformation, and false character claims to get its slate elected.

I attached a letter which describes the Machine in Santa Monica. SMRR and its satellite organizations have been around for 40 years. SMU has around for approximately 1 year.

In one year, SMU put together a Safety Slate, coalesced almost a dozen organizations (including neighborhood organizations and police and fire), and raised awareness of the serious issues facing Santa Monica. SMU made good progress but did not succeed in our mission-to take control of City Council.

We are assessing our loss and retooling to get ready for 2026. While the outcome looks like a mandate, the vote in Santa Monica was 54% FOR Nathan Hochman, 57% FOR Prop 36, and a rejection of Prop 33. While The Establishment has touted that they have a mandate for progressivism, I believe that the Establishment is misreading the voters of Santa Monica. The Santa Monica voters seem to be with our slate on the issues, but suspect the noise from SMRR was too great for our candidates to overcome.

Best, Russ