Fighting for democracy: Former SLO County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong testifies to Congress about a lack of resources and combatting local Republicans' voter fraud claims 

Tommy Gong is sure that he's where he's supposed to be now.

The former San Luis Obispo County clerk-recorder—who famously left his post in 2021 amid an "avalanche" of 2020 election denialism pushed by the local Republican Party—said he's thriving in his new role as a deputy clerk-recorder for Contra Costa County.

"It's really given me a new breath, a new life in the profession," Gong told New Times. "I did kind of question the sustainability of my career in SLO, only because I was working to the bone. And I was really kind of saying, how much longer could I do this?"

Since he left SLO County after 16 years to work in a Bay Area county five times its size, Gong said he's gained invaluable perspective about his time on the Central Coast, the challenge of confronting election disinformation, and the importance of better funding county clerk offices.

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• File Photo Courtesy Of Tommy Gong
• ON A MISSION In his new position as the deputy clerk-recorder in Contra Costa County, former SLO County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong said he's focused on combating election misinformation and educating voters.

"Because of the chipping away at the trust in elections and results, the counties in general really need to bolster up that piece," Gong said. "Even though it's not statutorily required, it's something that's essential to the public's benefit."

Despite his tumultuous exit more than a year ago, Gong said he's managed to turn a disheartening final few months in SLO County into a positive pivot in his career. Since leaving, he's stepped into leadership roles at various state and national election organizations that are focused on voter outreach, education, and rebuilding trust.

"As a result of my working with Contra Costa, I've been really broadening my view of elections," Gong said. "And it has more to do with our state association as well as the many, many national organizations and nonprofits that I did not really know existed before. These are the sorts of things I just didn't have the bandwidth for [in SLO County]."

Working in a larger county with a larger budget, Gong said he has the resources to think more broadly and more innovatively—as opposed to doing "the jobs of four different people" in a smaller county.

"Certainly because of the layers of staff, it does give me that opportunity to play a different role than I did," Gong said. "I've been able to do more things that I would've never been able to do down there."

One of those new opportunities for Gong came this past June. Gong was asked, and agreed, to submit written testimony to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee about his experience confronting election misinformation in SLO County for a hearing it held on the growing threats to election workers.

"I don't usually do those sorts of things just because, frankly, we never had the time to be able to do it in SLO," Gong said. "It had been about a year since I'd been in Contra Costa, so I thought it'd give me an opportunity to put down on paper all of what went on during that time frame, because I really hadn't done that."

In the testimony, Gong recounted how a "mob mentality" had developed in SLO about four months after the 2020 election. The SLO County Republican Party and its members initiated a coordinated campaign demanding that Gong audit the election, which was certified, as well as the county's Dominion voting machine—actions that would've been illegal under state law.

Despite Gong explaining why he couldn't do that, the pressure campaign ratcheted up, and it peaked during a Board of Supervisors meeting in May 2021. During the hours of misinformed public comment, one speaker questioned if Gong might be a member of the Chinese Communist Party.

"I stopped and asked my staff if that was what was said. We were all stunned," Gong wrote in his testimony. "When I was in kindergarten, my mother warned me that others might call me names or make racist comments. Hearing this racism made me think back to that time. After hearing about some of the threats of violence toward election officials across the nation as well as the increase in violent crimes toward Asians, that comment did prompt concerns for me and my family."

Gong testified that what happened in SLO County was unprecedented in his career, and he felt "ill-equipped and unprepared" to handle it.

"I felt alone and isolated when the avalanche of accusations was hurled at me," he wrote. "Nevertheless, I remain unapologetic in my defense of the county's voting system and upholding the integrity of the election."

In addition to sharing his story, Gong also outlined to lawmakers what he believed smaller counties like SLO needed to combat election conspiracies and educate voters about an increasingly complex election process. More local, state, and federal funding is crucial to that, he said.

"The smaller the county, the more vulnerable it is to mis- and disinformation," Gong testified. "The largest of counties have communication teams; smaller counties might only have the local election official as its only press contact. Most election jurisdictions do not have a budget for extensive voter education and outreach, much less debunking baseless claims regarding an election."

When Gong transitioned to his new role in Contra Costa, he said he had the idea to form a coalition with other Bay Area counties to work collaboratively on voter outreach—pooling resources on TV ads, in-person workshops, and other election education initiatives.

"By doing that, it's made me realize that even today, as much as we've been doing to educate the public, even people who feel like they have a good understanding of elections realize that they actually don't. They don't know the ins and outs," Gong told New Times. "It made us understand that the public in general knows very little about what we do and because of that, that's why they can be victimized with the mis- and disinformation."

Gong emphasized that he didn't leave SLO County solely because of the racist comment or the attacks on his administering of the 2020 election. He had been ready for a new challenge and opportunity, and the events of the past two years only put into clearer focus the mission that he feels called to step up to.

"In terms of convincing the masses, we need to really start reeducating them, and it's not something that's going to happen overnight," Gong said. "For me, that's why this whole thing about public trust is essential to the future of our democracy, the future of our republic. It's so important we get beyond this." Δ

Assistant Editor Peter Johnson can be reached at [email protected].