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MATT L AL ANNE | MUSTANG NE WS ADJUSTMENT PERIOD | Ten years ago, Heidi Harmon got involved with politics when she advocated for local environmental issues. Now, she is adjusting to the reality of being the new mayor of San Luis Obispo.
Heidi Harmon: New approach leads to unexpected win James Hayes @jimbles_hayes
On Nov. 23, Nick Andre was looking at the ballot counts just like he had been doing since the election on Tuesday. He was sitting in the County Clerk’s office when he was handed a piece of paper with the final results of the mayoral election. Heidi Harmon was spending the evening as she would any other; at home in her sweats. However, her
routine was interrupted when Andre, her campaign manager, pulled into her driveway and rushed into the house. Almost three hours north of San Luis Obispo in Sunnyvale, journalism senior Mallory St George was walking through the door of her home. Instead of greeting her mother like usual, she was glued to her phone crying tears of joy. Harmon won the mayoral race. “On some level, I’m still ad-
justing to the new reality,” Harmon said. The advocate Harmon, 30 years old, has been an early childhood educator, business owner and mother. But this is her first time holding public office. Her political activism started roughly 10 years ago when she began to advocate for local environmental issues. “I began to really understand the urgent nature of climate change,”
Harmon said. In 2014, Harmon ran for state assembly, focusing on climate change, campaign finance reform and income equality. She lost the election, but not her passion for activism. She continued to engage in local activism and work with community members in San Luis Obispo. Her political zeal strengthened when she heard Bernie Sanders speak roughly five months before he announced his run
for presidency. “I knew he was my guy,” said Harmon. She led the local Sanders campaign in San Luis Obispo and helped register more than 1,000 new voters. She was eventually elected to be a delegate for Sanders at the Democratic National Convention alongside her eventual campaign manager, Nick Andre. However, after the Democratic National Convention and Sanders’ loss, Harmon said she returned
home feeling disappointed. “I thought about giving politics up all together,” Harmon said. “But I remembered what Bernie had to say and that was go home and run for office.” Harmon did just that. She won the mayoral race by a margin of 47 votes, overcoming the five percent lead six-year mayoral incumbent Jan Marx had on Nov. 8. HARMON continued on page 2
Cal Poly splits weekend homestand
CECILIA SEITER | MUSTANG NE WS BENEFIT
| Local band Seaweed Vipers played at the benefit concert on Friday for Standing Rock.
San Luis Obispo takes a stand for Standing Rock Cecilia Seiter @cseiter17 ILIANA ARROYOS | MUSTANG NE WS SPLIT THE DEFENSE
| Junior guard Dynn Leaupepe drives for a layup in a loss to Saint Mary’s.
Erik Engle @erik_engle
After starting the season 3-0 at home, the Cal Poly women’s basketball team split the final two games of their four-game
homestand with a loss to the Saint Mary’s Gaels Thursday night and a win against the Pepperdine Waves Saturday evening. Despite a loss on Thursday, the Mustangs were able to get back in the win
column on Friday against the winless Waves in their second-to-last home game of 2016. BASKETBALL continued on page 8
Cannon Ball, North Dakota is not the place most people would choose to spend their winter breaks. For starters, winter temperatures in Cannon Ball often drop below zero degrees Fahrenheit. Clashes between law enforcement, Native American tribes and protesters created an even
more harsh environment in the Standing Rock Indian reservation town. Graphic communication senior Nate Ross plans to go anyway. “I don’t want to sit back and watch something unfold and then be like ‘Dang, that’s a bummer,’” Ross said. That “something” is the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, a multi-billion dollar oil pipeline that, if completed,
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will travel under Lake Oahe — Standing Rock Sioux’s water supply — which could possibly be contaminated if the pipeline leaks. The pipeline would also run through sacred Sioux burial grounds. However, on Dec. 4 the Army Corps of Engineers announced the pipeline may be rerouted. PIPELINE continued on page 2