Dave Barrett (Napoleon's World)

David "Dave" Barrett (born October 2, 1930) is a retired Pacifica politician who served as Governor of Pacifica from 1979-1987 and as Senator for Pacifica from 1989-1995. Barrett was the first Democrat elected to the Governor's mansion since Byron Johnson was reelected to a third term in 1950. He was also the first Jewish Governor of Pacifica. Barrett defeated U.S. Representative Ray Perrault in the 1978 election, surging in the last few months to defeat the favored longtime Congressman in a suddenly favorable environment for Democrats. He placed first in a three-way election in 1982 against former Lieutenant Governor Walter Ford and independent candidate Thom Kirkpatrick. Barrett was barred from reelection in 1986, and he endorsed Lieutenant Governor Mike Harcourt to succeed him. In 1988, he ran for the vacant Senate seat, narrowly defeating Nationalist candidate Rita Johnston. However, he was defeated Gordon Wilson in the 1994 Senate election. During the first two years of his Senate term (1989-1991), when he served with Bill Bennett, it was the first time in United States history that both sitting Senators were former Governors (in this case, of opposite parties).

Barrett is widely celebrated by Democrats for breaking the 26-year monopoly on the Governor's mansion held by Nationalists and is credited with helping lead Pacifica's eventual alignment with the Democratic Party. Barrett served as a Miller County Commissioner from 1972-1978 and before that was an Assistant District Attorney and briefly a public defender. In 2010, Barrett aroused controversy amongst Democrats for commenting, in the wake of Ben Kemp becoming the first Nationalist Governor since Barrett succeeded Frank Crow, that "If Pacifica Democrats want to know why we lost, they need look no further than sniping from the left against competent candidates like Alex Burton. The party needs to stop resting on its laurels - 1990, it ain't."