THE NEXT CHAPTER
“ I ’ m sure I ’ ll continue to work on the issues of equity of justice , of basic human dignity . Whether that ’ s in the government sector or the private sector or bits of both , I haven ’ t quite decided .”
MICHAEL TUBBS Former mayor , Stockton nearly as protracted as the presidential election ’ s , Tubbs never led . After two weeks , he conceded . Lincoln , a political novice who was supported by the Stockton police and fire department unions , powerful organizations used to pulling the civic strings in Stockton , took office Jan . 1 .
The unions contributed significantly to Lincoln ’ s campaign , which painted Tubbs as an ambitious political striver more interested in his national image than governing Stockton . That message neatly dovetailed with the corrosive effects of widespread social media trolling against Tubbs , who was targeted by an aggressive campaign against him waged by the blog 209 Times ( 209 is Stockton ’ s area code ), created in 2017 by Stockton political gadfly Motecuzoma “ Motec ” Patrick Sanchez and engineered by data specialist Jemal Guillory . Sanchez and Guillory have both run for office in Stockton : Sanchez finished fourth in the March 2020 primary election for mayor ; Guillory was last in the March 2018 primary for the District 1 seat on the Stockton City Council . “ The fatal flaw ( in my campaign ) was not recognizing or taking seriously the four-year disinformation campaign ,” Tubbs says .
Sanchez and Guillory sensed they could drive online traffic using Tubbs ’ notoriety against him . Tubbs had developed a national reputation — Forbes ’ “ 30 Under 30 ” list ( 2020 ), TED Talks ( 2019 ), an Oprah Winfrey endorsement when he ran for ( and won ) a seat on the city council in 2012 , and an HBO documentary ( 2020 ) — he leveraged to his professional advantage . That reputation also made it easy for people to wonder how long he would stay in Stockton .
Sanchez stoked a one-sided feud with Tubbs after the mayor ’ s dismissal of one of his pet projects ( partial funding of a neighborhood library ) by stirring up Black Lives Matter protesters at Tubbs ’ officiated city council meetings , ginning up “ investigations ” of Tubbs ’ private activities and making false accusations ( the site claimed Tubbs mishandled more than $ 60 million to address the city ’ s homelessness situation when the city received only $ 6.5 million ).
With no pushback from Tubbs and little local media refuting the site ’ s posts , 209 Times began having an impact on San Joaquin Valley politics . The site now has more than 100,000 followers on Facebook and nearly 125,000 followers on Instagram ; in comparison , total votes cast in the 2020 Stockton mayor ’ s race were 101,482 .
“ In post-Trump America , in politics , it ’ s not enough to just do your job really well . You also have to have a very sophisticated social media strategy ,” Tubbs says . “ While you ’ re out doing your thing , there are nefarious bad
36 comstocksmag . com | February 2021