Santa Cruz County Democrats Elect New Chairwoman

In the face of the upcoming state primary elections, the Santa Cruz County Democrats have elected a new chairwoman. 

Richelle Noroyan was chosen to head the organization at its Wednesday night meeting. She follows Zach Friend, spokesman for the Santa Cruz Police Department, who chaired the group for six years.

“She has a lot of political experience, so it will be very useful to have Richelle in the coming months,” said spokeswoman Deborah Luhrman.

Noroyan served as the county chairwoman once before, in 2004, and chaired the California Democratic Party for four years.

She worked as the district office director for former Redwood City Assemblyman Ira Ruskin from 2005-11, and was a campus outreach coordinator for the Bill Clinton campaign in 1992.

The main tasks that the Dems face this year, said Luhrman, are organizing for the presidential elections in 2012 and getting ready for the state primary elections to be held next spring. 

These elections will be the first time for the new “top two nonpartisan system,” in which all candidates run in the same primary regardless of party affiliation.

The Santa Cruz County Democrats selected additional new officers on Wednesday:

Fran Church, vice chair

Ricardo de la Cruz, treasurer

Pat Manning, recording secretary