Meet the two moms behind Scotts Valley’s new pro-democracy group

Holley Gilliland, 38, and Jess Florence, 40, struck up a working relationship in the way many moms do – at school pickup. As their 6-year-old sons ran around together on the school grounds, the two bonded over their anger at the mass immigration crackdowns by the Trump administration, and their interest in participating in one of the mass “ICE Out” protests that had ignited across the nation. 

It was not long after Renee Good and Alex Pretti had been shot and killed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in Minnesota, the women recalled, around early February of this year. Gilliland remembers Good’s death being especially jarring, as her attempts to observe and document immigration agents using her phone and an ICE-alert whistle ended with her being fatally shot in her car. 

“She was just a normal mom,” Gilliland said. “It kind of rocked us to our core.”

Gilliland and Florence wondered why an “ICE Out” event had not yet happened in their own city, Scotts Valley, so they decided then and there to spearhead one. Although there had been one in Santa Cruz, they knew not everyone wanted to go there to protest. Four days later, a Facebook post with a homemade Canva flyer had attracted around 100 supporters to their last-minute action at the corner of Mount Hermon Road and Scotts Valley Drive.

The bond between the two women was evident as they spoke to Lookout. They bounced off of each other and often finished each others’ sentences.

“We were shocked,” said Gilliland, about the interest their event generated. “So we’re like, OK, clearly there’s a need here …”

“ … a desire,” Florence finished. “In Scotts Valley, I think there are a lot of people who are progressive who are not happy with what is happening in our government and want to come out and speak on that, but there hasn’t been anyone to do that.”

With the help of Indivisible Santa Cruz County, a grassroots movement committed to resisting authoritarianism, Florence and Gilliland’s new pro-democracy group, called Scotts Valley Democracy Rising, has successfully put on four events the past few months, including one on Flag Day in Felton that brought together the Santa Cruz Mountains communities. 

The working mission of their group is to bring people together rather than polarizing them. While the women are truly progressive, they said, the goal of Scotts Valley Rising isn’t necessarily to promise progressive values as much as to bring people together to express anger at what’s happening with the United States government. 

Florence said the U.S. used to be a place where Republicans and Democrats could disagree on things, but still have a conversation about their different agendas. Now, that’s rare, she said.

“Our message is not about anti-America, it’s pro-America. We’re fighting for democracy and for everyone’s rights that are built into the Constitution, and so we really want our group to bring people in who also want that,” Florence said.

Their message is about positivity, the women agreed. As moms, Gilliland said, they’re trying to promote unity in the community and show their kids that change is possible.

Scotts Valley’s political history

Donna Lind has lived since the 1980s in Scotts Valley, where she has been an active member of the community. From three decades on the police force to nearly two decades on the city council, she has seen it all. The one thing she has not, she said, is a group exactly like Scotts Valley Democracy Rising.

Scotts Valley’s political history has always been on the more conservative side, Lind said, starting with Bethany College. The conservative Christian school was already established in the city when Scotts Valley was formed, she said, cultivating a conservative community pretty early on. 

She likes to think that the city has grown since then, becoming more diverse. She mentioned that the Democratic Club of North Santa Cruz County, which includes Scotts Valley, has also been very active in the city the past few years. Scotts Valley does, however, have the highest percentage of Republican voters of all jurisdictions in Santa Cruz County as of 2025, with 21%.

Lind also said that to her knowledge, there have not been any specifically pro-democracy groups started by moms, which makes Scotts Valley Democracy Rising unique. She mentioned another group in the city that was founded by some moms a few years ago, the Scotts Valley Diversity Equity Inclusion and Allyship Community Group, which has been successful. The group is not technically a political or pro-democracy group, but rather a space for residents to share concerns about how their kids are being treated in the community or in school.

“They felt there were some issues in schools that they felt weren’t protected, and as a result, our local school actually listened and did more,” Lind said. “So, really good things came from that.”

For Florence and Gilliland, their political group is about bringing people together and uniting them – specifically other moms. Similarly to Lind, they had never seen a mom on the front lines of a pro-democracy advocacy group in Scotts Valley, which has motivated them to keep pushing forward with their goals. Gilliland said that there are mostly “awesome older ladies in their 70s who have already marched before” and college kids who spearhead political groups in the county. 

“I know there are immigrants who live here, I know that trans kids live here. When we’re out there, I think about them seeing us and thinking, ‘Oh wow, there’s people here who care about us,’” Florence said.

They hope that being moms will inspire other mothers to become more politically active, and said that it’s been difficult getting moms to come to their events. Florence and Gilliland have a big network that they reach out to, but they managed to convince only other five moms to come to their most recent event, which was more than any other action, but still a lower turnout than they hoped for. 

They speculated that the resistance might have something to do with fear for their own or their child’s safety, or a belief that protests don’t invoke enough change to make it worth it. Gilliland sees things differently, viewing protesting as a way to show kids that people who abuse their power should not be allowed to have it.

“We’re seeing a leader who has no ability to share – his choice – and has no ability to show kindness to others, and I feel like we’re teaching our kids these things, and then our leader is not showing us these things,” Gilliland said, referencing President Donald Trump. “It just felt kind of urgent at this point.”

Looking to the future

Gilliland and Florence have been taking a step back since their Flag Day rally in June to figure out more logistical things, such as their name, logo and future goals. They also mentioned that a freelance photographer named Audra Day Allen got flooded with graphic hate comments on social media after she posted photos of the action.

Some of the comments threatened to report Day Allen to the FBI for terrorism, Florence and Gilliland said, and another said they wanted to cut the photographer’s arms off.

“That kind of scared us after that,” Gilliland said. “It definitely made us think more, and we’re still spreading positivity, and we still want to continue doing more of this. I’m feeling emboldened because of my kids.”

Scotts Valley Democracy Rising also wants to reach a younger audience, and the women have been trying to figure out a way to get through to the county’s college or high school students. Florence said they are interested in setting up a table and figuring out how to register and pre-register high schoolers in Scotts Valley to vote, especially with the November midterm elections approaching.

They have big goals later down the line as well, such as eventually getting nonprofit status and forming tighter bonds with the other mountain community activism groups such as San Lorenzo Valley Rising and Bonny Doon Resist. They also want to one day have a core group to amplify their organization and help put together more regularly scheduled events.

In the meantime, however, they’re still trying to get themselves established. They still have to create their website and social media handles, and as of right now rely heavily on the Santa Cruz group Indivisible to get their events publicized. They’re trying to be intentional about everything, they said, which takes time – especially when you have kids.

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