About 226,000 voters in eastern Contra Costa and Alameda counties this year will find themselves in unfamiliar state Senate districts. And they will see names on their ballots that, with one exception, they might not recognize.
That’s because, to split the state roughly evenly into 40 Senate districts, the decennial redistricting in 2021 couldn’t always follow natural political and geographic divisions. The new lines for the four-year seats took effect in the 2022 elections for even-numbered districts and this year for the odd-numbered ones.
For the new District 3, about 84,000 voters in far east Contra Costa, including Oakley and Brentwood, have been combined with five counties northwest of the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. In that election, former West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon is the standout choice.
For the new District 5, about 142,000 Livermore Valley voters have been combined with Central Valley residents. Our recommendation: former Congressman Jerry McNerney, perhaps the only name they’ll recognize on the ballot.
District 3 – Cabaldon
Unlike his opponents, Cabaldon, a Democrat, during our interview, was consistently knowledgeable and articulate about the state’s budget, the volatility of tax revenues, mental health funding, minimum wage for health care workers and the state’s new incentives for housing construction.
We were disappointed that we didn’t see the same clear and detailed responses from Rohnert Park Councilmember Jackie Elward, or Vallejo Councilmember Rozzana Verder-Aliga, both Democrats, or Dixon Councilmember Thom Bogue, a Republican. Republican Jimih Jones did not participate in our interview.
The district stretches from eastern Contra Costa north to Davis and Woodland and northeast to Vallejo, Napa, Sonoma and Calistoga. Half the district voters are registered Democrats and outnumber Republicans by better than 2-1.
Cabaldon brings an impressive resume: He was West Sacramento mayor for 22 years; worked in the Assembly for eight years as chief of staff to the Appropriations Committee chairperson and staff director for the Committee on Higher Education; served as a California Community Colleges vice chancellor; and, as president and CEO of EdVoice, led an education advocacy group aimed at reshaping public education to better serve low-income groups.
Cabaldon is one of the best-prepared candidates for the state Legislature that we’ve seen this year. He already knows the policy and the process well.
District 5 – McNerney
This race, in a plurality Democratic district that stretches from Dublin to Tracy, Manteca, Stockton and Lodi, features two Democrats and a Republican candidate.
The Republican, Jim Shoemaker, a Donald Trump supporter who opposes abortion rights and any sort of minimum wage, is too far off the right end of the political spectrum for us.
That leaves Assemblyman Carlos Villapudua of Stockton, supported heavily by business interests, and former Rep. Jerry McNerney of Pleasanton, who enjoys backing from labor as well as key Bay Area legislators and members of Congress.
Villapudua’s political machinations trying to position himself and his wife for election to the state Legislature are disconcerting. He was originally set to run for reelection to his Central Valley Assembly seat while his wife, Edith, was lined up to run for the Senate seat. But they pulled a last-minute swap that at the time seemed designed to leave her with no opposition in the Assembly race and him with a weaker opponent.
The strategy backfired when McNerney was asked to enter the race. He had served in the U.S. House for 16 years until he stepped down after the 2022 congressional redistricting, opening his seat for a fellow Democratic congressman.
McNerney was a solid Democratic vote in Congress, although his tenure was unassuming and unremarkable. During our questioning, he had a stronger grasp of state issues than Villapudua, who has served in the Assembly for nearly two terms.
Villapudua seems more concerned with playing politics than focusing carefully on policy. For voters who want a serious policymaker, McNerney is the choice.