A festival photo tour

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What it’s like to visit a Japanese Obon festival

Stefanie Ritoper

Published August 2, 2024 1:46 PM

An Asian American woman with short white hair closes her eyes with her hands up in the air, holding red kachi kachi, or wooden castanets, with long red strings.

Asako Tomita, 88, dances during the San Fernando Valley Obon Festival on June 29, 2024.

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Julie Leopo

LAist

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We spent the weekend at an Obon festival, hosted by the San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. What follows is a visual and audio tour of the weekend, from the chopping veggies to dancing at sunset.

The backstory: Obon is a joyous summer holiday dedicated to remembering and honoring ancestors. It’s a bit like the Japanese version of Día de Muertos, with a distinctly Japanese American twist. Festivals take place at temples and community centers from June to August and include carnival games, home-cooked food, and traditional Japanese dancing.

Why the Obon is important: All of the work that temple and community members put into each Obon festival is something that you can feel right when you walk in. There’s a warmth to the food and the laughter of friends reuniting that surrounds you.

Read on... for more on the immersive guide.

Summer weekends at SoCal Japanese Buddhist temples fill with carnival games, Japanese food and dancing as people of all generations come together to celebrate Obon, a joyous holiday dedicated to remembering and honoring ancestors.

Growing up Japanese American, attending an Obon festival evokes instant nostalgia — I remember being a kid eating peanut butter mochi and shaved ice during breaks between dancing. Learn more about Obon.

What is Obon?

Obon — one of SoCal’s biggest Japanese American celebrations — is a joyous summer holiday dedicated to remembering and honoring ancestors. It’s a bit like the Japanese version of Día de Muertos, with a distinctly Japanese American twist.

Festivals take place at temples and community centers from June to August and include carnival games, home-cooked food, and traditional Japanese dancing.

All are welcome. Learn more about the history and find one near you.

I attended an Obon festival in the San Fernando Valley, hosted over two days by the San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple at the San Fernando Valley Japanese American Community Center next door. What follows is a visual and audio tour of the weekend, from the chopping veggies to dancing at sunset.

Listen 4:11

What it’s like to visit an Obon festival in SoCal, from spam musubi to dancing

For audio listeners: I recorded part of the audio story using binaural sound, so grab a pair of headphones for the full experience.

The setup starts at dawn

Three Asian American women in hairnets, aprons, and plastic gloves smile at the camera. They stand before a long table filled with sliced oranges.

Preparations for the San Fernando Valley Obon Festival start early. For temple members organizing the festival, Obon is an all-day affair, where everyone pitches in.

Some people arrive as early as 6 a.m. to start preparing food. Some won’t leave until clean up is done around 11 p.m.

By 10 a.m., the room is buzzing with people helping out with food prep. Long tables fill a room where people chop onions and lettuce for soups and salads and slice oranges for teriyaki beef plates. San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple president Linnae McKeever weaves between the assembly lines offering instruction, answering questions, and directing volunteers to their stations.

“We're all atoms in motion,” says McKeever. “We have to do food prep for thousands of people that are coming in.”

An Asian American woman wearing a baseball cap holds a large tupperware full of ginger. She leans over to place some on top of one of the plates of rice lined up on the table.

In another room, Kari Nishimura adds bright pink ginger to boxes of chirashi.

“Honestly, I grew up here,” says Nishimura. “My grandparents and my great grandparents were actually the people who built our temple.”

She notes that Obon is often a reunion, where she runs into friends she has known since middle or high school. She also now sees the younger generation of her nieces and nephews enjoying the same traditions she did growing up.

You can't help but feel nostalgic and just be in a good mood.

— Kari Nishimura, temple member

At another table, a spam musubi assembly line is in full swing. Four temple members press rice and spam into large rectangular molds. They cut each rectangle diagonally so that when it’s arranged in the container, it looks like a heart. “So that when people get it, they can see it was made with love!” says Nishimura.

Hands with plastic gloves press rice into a large, rectangular spam musubi mold over seaweed.

Rolling large slabs of spam musubi.

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Stefanie Ritoper

LAist

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Close up of multiple boxes of chirashi, lined up. The dish has rice, fish cake, egg, mushrooms, peas, and ginger.

Chirashi ready to serve.

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Stefanie Ritoper

LAist

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Hands hold open one plastic container with rice, fish cake, peas, mushrooms, egg, and ginger. Another box next to it holds two pieces of Spam musubi.

These popular foods sell out early at the festival.

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Julie Leopo

LAist

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“We are so busy with our own Obon that we can't dance at ours, usually,” jokes Priscilla Mui, who is slicing and bagging oranges. “So we go to all the other ones so that we can dance.”

Obon festivals in Southern California are staggered on different weekends throughout the summer to allow people to attend multiple festivals a year. Mui says she usually tries to go to a handful of festivals each year. One year she went to six or seven.

All of the work that temple and community members put into each Obon festival is something you can feel right when you walk in. There’s a warmth to the food and the laughter of friends reuniting that surrounds you.

“You don't have to be a Buddhist, you don't have to be Japanese, to come out to an Obon festival and enjoy it,” says Jason Fenton, San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist temple first vice president. “Our community is made up of so many diverse religions and cultures. And building friendships and understanding is the key to what makes a community thrive.

So much food! Teriyaki beef, udon, Okinawan andagi, and more

In the late afternoon, the festivities begin. People slowly start to trickle in and set up camping chairs to save their spot close to the dancing circle, drawn with chalk around the perimeter of the festival. It’s the middle of summer in the San Fernando Valley and the heat is just starting to fade into that thick warmth of early evening.

Metal tongs pick up meat from the grill.

Teriyaki BBQ is grilled during the San Fernando Valley Obon Festival on June 29, 2024.

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Julie Leopo

LAist

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Close up of a to-go platter of teriyaki beef, rice, and corn on the cob. A medium skin-toned kid smiles in the background.

Students from the San Fernando Athletics serve up teriyaki platters for guests.

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Julie Leopo

LAist

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When you enter, the first thing that hits you is the smell of teriyaki beef. It’s the hottest spot in the festival, with San Fernando Athletics parents at the grill and students serving up platters.

A woman with white plastic gloves uses chopsticks to add seaweed to a bowl of udon.

There are home-cooked foods everywhere. Many of the foods you see at Obon festivals are Japanese American fare, like spam musubi, Okinawan sata andagi, and chili rice.

An Asian American kid with long brown hair opens their mouth wide to take a bite of a fried donut.

Lennon Toled, 8, eats sata andagi, an Okinawan donut, during the San Fernando Valley Obon Festival on June 29, 2024.

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Julie Leopo

LAist

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Freshly fried sata andagi is a specialty of Okinawa.

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Julie Leopo

LAist

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For the kids: Games, activities, and tradition

For families, one highlight of the festival is the games. Various temple and community center groups run the booths, which line the perimeter of the festival. Kids walk up to try their hand at winning prizes by tossing ping pong balls into glass balls, fishing for colorful wooden fish, and throwing metal rings around coins on a table. Many groups have been running these games at the festival for years, passing on the know-how to the next generation of families each year.

A Japanese American woman with hair pulled back stands next to her daughter, with long brown hair and glasses. She tosses a ping pong ball toward a stand of glass bowls. -

For many Japanese Americans of my generation, Obon festivals are a chance for fun memories and also, a little bit of tradition.

“We've been coming here since my oldest daughter was four. That's how we actually started having them come to the Japanese school here,” says parent Yurika Yamaguchi, adding that as an educator, she knows it’s important for her kids to know their culture.

Three girls with fishing poles lean over a large tub with floating wooden red and yellow fish.

“Our kids are fifth generation. Over time, obviously, you lose tradition and culture,” says parent Justin Yoshizawa, who is working the teriyaki and shumai booth this year at the festival. “This is one of those events every year that we do consistently that helps remind them of their culture.”

This is one of those events every year that helps remind [our kids] of their culture

— Justin Yoshizawa, Parent

One place to escape the heat is in the bingo room at the San Fernando Valley Japanese American Community Center. The hall is packed with tables, where people try their luck at bingo while they eat their food.

A young, medium-skin toned man wearing a green shirt and glasses triumphantly holds up a Bingo card, with his tongue sticking out. Others next to him, also in green shirts, smile as they look at him.

The perimeter of the hall is lined with crafts and secondhand Japanese tableware and artwork for sale.

In the foreground, rows of bonsai trees. An Asian American woman and teenager walk by.

Attendees check out rows of bonsai trees, also for sale.

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Julie Leopo

LAist

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A table lined with lacquer bowls and boxes, with Japanese sculptural artwork hanging from a display.

Japanese housewares for sale. If you’re looking for rice bowls, this is your spot.

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Julie Leopo

LAist

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The festival also showcases performances from groups at the San Fernando Valley Japanese American Community Center, like ukulele and taiko drumming. Many friends and family cheer on performers from camping chairs they’ve brought from home.

A young medium skin-toned elementary-school aged boy wearing a yukata with a grey and gold pattern holds his bachi sticks in front of a taiko drum.

Takashi Kubota, 7, plays the drums with the San Fernando Valley Taiko group on June 29, 2024 during the Obon Festival.

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Julie Leopo

LAist

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An medium-light skin-toned elementary school-aged boy in a bright green happi coat plays a large taiko drum.

Adrian Louie, 8, drums to the song "Renshu" with his peers from the San Fernando Valley Taiko group.

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Julie Leopo

LAist

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Dancing to honor loved ones passed

An Asian American woman with short hair and a dark blue yukata moves forward with her hands outstretched above her. behind her, a line of people make the same movements.

As the sun begins to set, the main event begins: Bon Odori, or traditional Japanese folk dancing, with the whole crowd participating.

“I want to begin to invite people to come to the circle,” says MC and temple member Traci Ishigo. “Are you ready to dance?”

She reminds the crowd that no experience is necessary and that most folks are also just remembering the moves like they are.

A view from inside the yagura, a platform raised above the crowd. An Asian American man with a baseball cap plays a taiko drum as a crowd of people dance below.

Festival-goers, young and old, in yukata and happi coats, form a huge circle around the yagura, a central, elevated platform decorated with paper lanterns.

From left, Jae Opiana, 24, and Mieko Kim, 23, wear yukata to the the Obon Festival in San Fernando Valley on June 29, 2024.

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Julie Leopo

LAist

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Joanne Tokeshi, 64, fixes the bow on a Yukata during the June 29, 2024 San Fernando Valley Obon Festival.

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Julie Leopo

LAist

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From left, Leah Heap, 73, and Freeman Baldwin, 67, wear happi coats during the San Fernando Valley Obon Festival on June 29, 2024.

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Julie Leopo

LAist

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Kira Matsuno, 25, left, Sarah Hankins, 26, right, dance during the San Fernando Valley Obon Festival.

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Julie Leopo

LAist

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As the folk music blasts from the speakers, taiko drummers keep a steady rhythm. Don. Kara-kara. Don. Kara-kara. Don. And the crowd of strangers, most watching the instructors and their neighbors for cues, slowly begins to move in step, at first unsure, then slowly with more confidence.

An Asian American woman wearing a teal yukata with her hair up and sunglasses, spreads out her arms. Behind her, a line of people copy her movements.

It’s hard to explain the feeling of dancing in unison with a large group of joyful strangers. Each dance tells a story in a handful of simple, repetitive movements: Fishermen casting nets into the sea, coal miners pushing carts, hands to forehead to wipe away sweat. It’s like honoring something ancient and bringing it into the present.

An Asian American woman wearing a minister's robe speaks into a mic with a large smile on her face.

“Obon is a time to remember your ancestors and thank them for the life you have now,” says Reverend Yukari Torii. She says that in Japan, celebrating Obon is much more akin to Thanksgiving, where people travel home to spend time with family members.

In the U.S., as immigrants could not return to their hometowns, they instead took the opportunity to gather at Buddhist temples (or churches, as they’re often called here), which became hubs for Japanese American culture and community.

Go deeper: The history of Obon in the U.S.

Credit often goes to Reverend Yoshio Iwanaga for introducing Bon Odori on the mainland in 1930. As a music instructor, he infused into the celebrations music and dances from all over Japan, which are now central to Japanese American Obon celebrations.

During World War II, when the U.S. government incarcerated Japanese Americans, Obon celebrations didn’t stop. People celebrated in camp. Emily Anderson, historian and curator at the Japanese American National Museum, says: “There's something really powerful to me that despite all the circumstances, they still celebrated.”

See photos and learn more about Obon’s history.

Joanne Tokeshi is the lead Obon dance instructor for the temple and she coordinated this year’s dances. Though every year the Buddhist Churches of America Southern District selects a short list of songs that become the standard dances at all of the festivals, each temple adds their own favorites. She always adds one pop song into the mix. This year dancers apply the moves from the traditional dance Itsu Tatsu Ichi to Dua Lipa’s Dance the Night.

Hands grip two sets of wooden rectangular castanets. The red lacquer on the castanets is chipped.

Some of the dances involve props to tell the story. Tokeshi’s red lacquer kachi kachi, or wooden castanets, are worn down from years of dancing.

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Stefanie Ritoper

LAist

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Hands outstretched hold a thin rectangular cotton towel with a red and purple circle design on it.

Dancers use tenugui, a traditional lightweight towel, for Honen Bon Uta, a dance that describes the story of sake making.

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Stefanie Ritoper

LAist

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Tokeshi has a background in Japanese Odori, which made her a natural fit to take the lead on her temple’s Bon Odori lineup. She has memories of three generations of her family dancing Bon Odori — her mom, her, and her daughter.

“I did lose my mom a couple of years ago,” says Tokeshi. “So, Obon became even more special for me to remember her — and celebrate with joy.”

An Asian American woman looks smiling at the camera. She's wearing a white yukata with red and yellow orchids and a thick red belt with gold leaves.

Joanne Tokeshi wears a yukata that her mother hand-sewed for her.

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Stefanie Ritoper

LAist

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Back of woman in white yukata with red bow. Tucked into the bow is a heart-shaped red fan with two black-and-white photos on it.

Joanne Tokeshi wears a yukata that her mother hand-sewed for her, with a fan honoring her parents tucked into her obi.

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Stefanie Ritoper

LAist

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I did lose my mom a couple of years ago. So, Obon became even more special for me to remember her — and celebrate with joy.

— Joanne Tokeshi, Lead Obon Dance Instructor

Jason Fenton says that some of his most joyful memories have been watching his children grow up and dance Bon Odori. One song, Gassho Ondo, features a moment where dancers bow to each other in thanks.

“And at that point in the song, my daughter turned to my wife and they bowed to each other. To me, that was beautiful,” he said.

An Asian American man in bright green shirt and black baseball cap plays guitar in front of a mic. Behind him are lines of people dancing.

Magic hour at the festival

After the sun goes down, the dancing continues. The festival takes on a more relaxed and comfortable energy. People go back for seconds of their favorite food or look for dessert. Lights illuminate the booths of food and games, with the steady drumming of taiko to music in the background.

People surround a booth with a game filled with colorful cups. String lights make it glow in the evening.

Inside the hall, blackout Bingo is in full swing, and things are picking up. At a desk on the stage, temple president Linnae McKeever counts the cash coming in from Bingo tickets. Bingo host Jean-Paul deGuzman makes a pitch to the audience to buy tickets for last call for Bingo tickets and a flurry of hands go up in the crowd. It’s like the attendees don’t want the night to end.

Stage curtains frame the back of a man wearing a green shirt talking into a mic to a packed room of people seated at long rectangular tables.

My two kids don’t want the night to end either. They wander around looking for one last game to play, one last sweet treat to eat. It’s these little moments that I hope they’ll remember as they grow.

Two kids in yukata bounce small, colorful balloons on rubberbands. it's nighttime and the image glows with lights from string lights and is slightly blurry.

This year marks the San Fernando Valley Hongwanji Buddhist Temple's 103rd anniversary. Many of the Japanese American Buddhist temples boast similarly long histories. McKeever hopes that this community, and celebrations like Obon, continue to carry on into the future. “I'm hoping that [the next generation] will pick up where we left off and they'll carry on that strong tradition,” she says.

A structure with a pitched tower and Buddhist crest stands in the middle of a dancing crowd. It glows in the evening light.

Diane Hope provided coaching and feedback on the audio story.

CA governor race set

8 Dems, 2 Republicans file to be on ballot in June

By Yue Stella Yu | CalMatters

Published March 7, 2026 1:00 PM

two men and a woman stand on a stage at podiums; behind them is a large sign that reads "The Race for California Governor"

From left, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former California State Controller Betty Yee at the California gubernatorial candidate debate in San Francisco on Feb. 3.

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Laure Andrillon

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Topline:

It’s official: Eight Democrats and two Republicans say they have filed paperwork for the June 2 primary ballot in the California governor's race, setting up a wide-open contest in which two Republicans who have consistently led in polls could shut out all other Democrats.

What's next? The secretary of state’s office says it will verify the paperwork their campaigns submitted and publish an official list of primary candidates by March 21.

Read on ... to find out more about the California governor candidates.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

It’s official: Eight Democrats and two Republicans say they have filed paperwork for the June 2 primary ballot in the California governor's race, setting up a wide-open contest in which two Republicans who have consistently led in polls could shut out all other Democrats.

Here are the 10 candidates:

Xavier Becerra, Democrat, former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary and former California Attorney General
Chad Bianco, Republican, Riverside County Sheriff
Steve Hilton, Republican, Fox News contributor and former adviser to conservative British prime minister David Cameron
Matt Mahan, Democrat, mayor of San Jose
Katie Porter, Democrat, former U.S. representative representing Orange County
Tom Steyer, Democrat, billionaire entrepreneur and former presidential candidate
Eric Swalwell, Democrat, U.S. representative from the Bay Area
Tony Thurmond, Democrat, state superintendent of public instruction
Antonio Villaraigosa, Democrat, former mayor of Los Angeles and former Assembly Speaker
Betty Yee, Democrat, former state Controller

Steyer became the last to officially file on Friday, the deadline for submitting candidacy paperwork.

Former Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon exited the race earlier this week, endorsing Swalwell instead.

What's next?

The secretary of state’s office says it will verify the paperwork their campaigns submitted and publish an official list of primary candidates by March 21.

The top two vote recipients in the primary, regardless of party, will advance to the general election. But the two Republican frontrunners enjoy more consolidated support from their base than their Democratic counterparts, who risk fragmenting the Democratic vote. At the February state Democratic Party convention, delegates were so split that no candidate earned enough votes for the party endorsement.

With the current field, there’s a 27% chance of a Republican faceoff in November, according to statistical modeling by Democratic strategist Paul Mitchell.

The prospect is worrisome for many Democratic leaders, including state party leader Rusty Hicks, who earlier this week penned an open letter calling for those without a “viable path” to victory to drop out before the Friday deadline to file paperwork. And for those who remained, he pleaded, drop out by April 15 at the very latest if they couldn’t make “meaningful progress.”

The call appeared to fall on deaf ears, as eight of the nine announced Democratic candidates stayed in. Even if someone drops out now, their name will still appear on the primary ballot as long as they qualify, risking siphoning votes away from other Democrats.

Discounting the risk

When asked about the risk of a November shutout at a Thursday gubernatorial forum, several Democratic candidates brushed it aside while insisting they each would be voters’ best choice.

Villaraigosa told CalMatters the GOP base will coalesce behind just one candidate when President Donald Trump makes an endorsement.

“When that happens, that person is going to surge up and the other (Republican is) going to go down, it’s as simple as that,” he said.

Of the Democratic attendees at the forum, only Porter acknowledged the risk of a crowded field of Democrats.

“I think it is terrifying to think about what Trump would do to Californians if we had a governor who at every turn cooperated with him rather than stood up for our California values,” she said. “So I don’t think it’s a certainty, but I do think it’s a risk, and I think the stakes are very, very, very high.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Get the ball rolling soon

It takes time to get a space properly listed for short-term rental.

Many local governments, including the city and county of L.A., as well as Inglewood, require hosts to apply for permits. Approvals can take two to four weeks in the city of L.A., said Lisa Giuntoli, whose company Nonpareil Stays manages 45 short-term rentals in the area.

Giuntoli said short-term rental listings perform better in web searches the longer they remain online, and for the World Cup, in particular, visitors are booking places well in advance.

“It takes a minute to get up to speed,” she said. “If you’re interested, do it now.”

Do your homework on local rules

Each local government sets its own guidelines for short-term rentals. Several have revamped their ordinances in recent years.

Hosts can bear some responsibility for how their rentals affect the neighborhood. Inglewood, along with the city and county of L.A., requires permitted hosts to keep their renters up to speed on noise regulations and other local rules.

Not everyone can get a permit. Inglewood requires permit applicants to have lived within the city for 10 consecutive years. In the city of L.A., secondary residences and rent-stabilized properties aren’t eligible to become short-term rentals.

Perrita King, a Leimert Park resident, said she has still been able to keep her extra space listed by renting to people looking to stay longer than a month, such as traveling nurses.

If you live in the city of LA, you can check here to see if your property falls under rent stabilization.

If the logistics seem daunting, consider a specialist

If you’re not interested in waking up at 1 a.m. to help out a renter who lost their key, there are a few different ways to hire a specialized short-term rental manager.

Companies like Nonpareil Stays manage portfolios of dozens of short-term rentals. King, the Leimert Park host, said she goes through a web-based company called Fairly.

You can also narrow your search through Airbnb’s co-host network, which allows you to filter prospective managers by location and other factors.

Civics & Democracy

Darrell Issa retires

CA GOP stalwart ends reelection campaign

By Nadia Lathan | CalMatters

Published March 7, 2026 6:59 AM

A man with short hair in a blue suit sitting behind a mic.

U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) participates in a House Judiciary Subcommittee hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on April 01, 2025, in Washington, D.C.

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Kayla Bartkowski

Getty Images

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Topline:

Longtime Republican Rep. Darrell Issa will not seek reelection, he announced Friday.

Why now: His decision comes four months after his San Diego-area congressional district was redrawn to favor Democrats.

Longtime Republican Rep. Darrell Issa will not seek reelection, he announced Friday.

His decision comes four months after his San Diego-area congressional district was redrawn to favor Democrats and shortly after San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond, a Republican, filed papers to run in the same district.

Issa, a longtime GOP stalwart, said he was endorsing Desmond in a statement announcing his decision to retire.

“This decision has been on my mind for a while, and I didn’t make it lightly,” he said. “But after a quarter-century in Congress — and before that, a quarter-century in business — it’s the right time for a new chapter and new challenges.”

A history of reshuffling

Issa represented the San Diego area in Congress for more than 20 years. He briefly retired in 2019 when his seat, now represented by Democrat Mike Levin, became more competitive. He returned to Congress in 2021 after winning a seat in the 50th District, which was redrawn after statewide redistricting later that year. He moved to his current seat in the 48th District in 2023.

The newly configured seat attracted a slew of Democratic challengers after it became more competitive when voters approved Proposition 50 last fall. The redistricting measure was designed to give Democrats up to five additional seats in the U.S. House and counter similar redistricting efforts in other states that favored Republicans.

Desmond had previously announced that he would run in the 49th District against Levin.

“They drew me into this district, but the truth is I’ve been serving this community for years,” Desmond said in a statement to CalMatters. Prior to Prop. 50, Desmond lived in the 49th District. He now lives in the 48th. “I’ll fight every single day to make life more affordable, more safe and more free.”

Crowded field of Democrats

In the 48th District, two Democratic candidates — Ammar Campa-Najjar, a former opponent of Issa's, and San Diego City Councilmember Marni von Wilpert — lead a crowded field eager to flip the district blue. No candidate garnered enough support for the party’s endorsement last month.

California Republicans have been reshuffling for months as their districts were redrawn.

Republican Rep. Ken Calvert, one of the longest-serving members in Congress, is now running in the 40th District against Republican incumbent Young Kim of Orange County. His present district, the neighboring 41st, was moved entirely out of conservative pockets of Riverside County to Los Angeles County.

Issa briefly contemplated a congressional run in Texas in December after the new districts were created but decided against it.

Hey, LA listener!

The Brief

What is Obon?

The setup starts at dawn

So much food! Teriyaki beef, udon, Okinawan andagi, and more

For the kids: Games, activities, and tradition

Dancing to honor loved ones passed

Go deeper: The history of Obon in the U.S.

Magic hour at the festival

What's next?

Discounting the risk

Keep up with LAist.

Get the ball rolling soon

Do your homework on local rules

If the logistics seem daunting, consider a specialist

A history of reshuffling

Crowded field of Democrats