Jess Durfee

Jess Durfee has been engaged in Democratic Party politics and LGBT activism for over 30 years, the past 24 of those in San Diego.

Jess currently serves as the Chair of the Western Region Caucus of the Democratic National Committee (DNC).  He was elected to the Democratic National Committee in 2008 and re-elected in 2012 and 2016. He is one of only two elected DNC members in Southern California who does not live in Los Angeles County.

He served four terms (2004-2013) as Chair of the San Diego County Democratic Party. At the beginning of his tenure as Chair, county registration had the Democrats behind the GOP by 7%.  Today county data shows the Democrats with an 8% advantage over the GOP. Under his leadership the SDCDP was restructured resulting in the creation of the GO Team - a precinct leader program; dramatic increases in fundraising; improvements in candidate recruitment, training and support; and a more credible candidate endorsement process.

He served as Co-Chair of the LGBT Caucus of the California Democratic Party from 2007-2011 and serves as the Lead Chair of the Voter Services Committee of the California Democratic Party.

In February of 2016, he was appointed to the California State Fair and Exposition Center Board by Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins. Since November of 2013, he has served on the City of San Diego SDCCU Stadium Advisory Board.

Jess held several positions with the San Diego Democrats for Equality where he served as president from 2001 through 2004.  In 2003 he was a San Diego Pride honoree for his efforts to include protection of transgender people in the city’s Human Dignity Ordinance.  He served on the executive board of the San Diego County Democratic Party from 2002-2016. He served two years as Director of Clubs. Mr. Durfee has been a member of the California Democratic Party Executive Board since 1999. In 1999-2000 he served as the field director for Toni Atkins’ successful run for the San Diego city council. Ms. Atkins now represents a large portion of San Diego in the California Senate and serves as the Senate President Pro Tem.

Before moving to San Diego he had a fifteen-year career as a high school agriculture teacher. During his tenure as an educator he served as president of his local teachers union and served in the state and national arenas as a political action leader within his union. While teaching he took leaves of absence to work as a political field director for the National Education Association and Washington Education Association and as a congressional aide for education and labor issues on Capitol Hill.

Jess lives in the San Diego neighborhood of University Heights.