The Abridged version:
- Two familiar faces in local politics, Eric Guerra and Flojaune Cofer, are vying for a Sacramento County Board of Supervisors seat that includes the Downtown, Midtown, Oak Park and Natomas neighborhoods in the city of Sacramento.
- Cofer’s campaign emphasizes her two decades as a public health professional and has the backing of progressive Democrat groups, unions representing healthcare workers and public employees as well as the Sierra Club’s local branch.
- Guerra is campaigning on his 11-year track record on the Sacramento City Council and bears support from local building and trade unions, Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper and a lineup of current and former elected officials.
For the first time since 2010, voters living in central neighborhoods of Sacramento have a new set of choices for who represents them on the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.
With four-term Supervisor Phil Serna stepping down this year, a heated race is underway to represent District 1, which includes all of Downtown, Midtown, Oak Park, East Sacramento, Natomas and North Sacramento.
A pair of familiar faces in the city of Sacramento’s political scene, Flojaune Cofer and Eric Guerra, are on the November ballot. The two candidates, who are both Democrats, agree on a lineup of issues, but differ in their approach and in what institutions are backing them.
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Guerra: ‘I’ve done what I could as a council member’
The news of Guerra’s run for the District 1 seat was delivered shoulder-to-shoulder with Serna last October, when Serna announced he would not seek a fifth term.
Guerra’s campaign messaging centers his experience on the Sacramento City Council and promises to take on homelessness and behavioral health. Guerra has also emphasized his own background growing up as a farmworker with a mixed-immigration status family that faced deportation.
He was first elected to the council in 2015 and has seen the city go through reckonings with police during the Black Lives Matter movement, the COVID-19 pandemic and a recent string of difficult budget years. Taking a more aggressive stance on homelessness policies is part of what drove him to seek election to the board, he told Abridged by PBS KVIE.
“I’ve done what I could as a council member,” Guerra told Abridged. “I know that if we’re going to move the needle for our city, we’ve got to get serious about mental health and substance abuse challenges.”
Cofer: ‘I’m running a harder race, but I’m running a principled race’
Cofer is seeking election to the Board of Supervisors with the 2024 mayoral race for the city of Sacramento not too far behind her. Cofer ran as a progressive Democrat and was defeated by Kevin McCarty by 1,938 votes.
The centerpiece of her campaign is a promise to bring more accessible leadership to the dais.
Cofer, whom some call “Dr. Flo,” has a doctorate in epidemiology and has leaned on her two decades of experience as a public health professional. She also served as chair of the city of Sacramento’s Measure U committee, which directed new sales tax dollars to youth programs and public safety initiatives.
If elected, Cofer says she wants to take on a wide range of issues, from improving roads and preventing pedestrian deaths, to launching a public bank that would serve the county’s residents. Cofer said she is not taking campaign contributions from “big money” donors like developers and corporate interests.
“I’m running a harder race, but I’m running a principled race,” Cofer said. “I want to campaign the way I want to govern.”
Homelessness issues top of mind
Both candidates said homelessness was the top issue they wish to address, and the topic they hear about the most from prospective voters. A January point-in-time count found over 7,400 homeless individuals in Sacramento County, including 3,944 people who were unsheltered. The county oversees much of the homelessness and public health policies for the region.
Guerra said he wants to see a “dedicated action team” that would identify the most common users of public services, including people who frequently circulate through local hospitals and for whom fire departments often receive calls.
He also intends for the city and county to jointly back state legislation to enhance CARE Court. The program allows a judge to compel individuals experiencing mental health and substance abuse issues into treatment, but has had limited results in the Sacramento region.
City and county leadership have clashed over homelessness response. At one time, the former chair of the board, Supervisor Rich Desmond, and then-mayor Darrell Steinberg “couldn’t be in the same room together,” Guerra said. Despite that conflict, Guerra said he reached out to Desmond directly to begin figuring out how the city and county would work together.
Cofer’s approach to homelessness would focus on increasing the capacity for mental health and substance abuse services and ensuring they are readily available when people seek them.
“When people are ready to address their substance abuse issues … you have seconds, not minutes,” Cofer said.
She also wants to see the county draw down more dollars from the state’s CalAIM program, which she says leaders are currently leaving on the table. Those dollars could go toward emergency rental assistance, case management and wrap around services.
Cofer also wants to see the county identify frequent users of services, especially people who frequently go through the county jail for short stints, and direct them toward services instead.
Following the money
Guerra leads Cofer with campaign donations so far, with the bulk of his largest funders coming from trade unions as well as business interests like Airbnb, TNT Fireworks and Jackson Properties, the Sacramento-based commercial real estate company.
Guerra raised $360,045 in campaign contributions, as of the most recent filing deadline Sept. 19.
His campaign’s top funders include the Sacramento Builders Exchange ($6,200), The Sacramento County Probation Association ($6,100), The Sacramento Metro Chamber ($6,100), and the Northstate Building Industry Association ($6,000).
Business interests that donated to Guerra include local commercial developer Jackson Properties ($3,100), Airbnb ($3,000), Anheuser Busch Cos. ($1,200) and TNT Fireworks ($1,000).
He also received donations from Mayor McCarty’s 2028 campaign fund account ($3,200), Supervisor Pat Hume ($1,000), Supervisor Patrick Kennedy ($250), Alberto Ayala, executive director of the Sacramento Metro Air District ($100), and Eric de la Cruz, executive director of the California Racial Equity Commission ($100).
Cofer brought in $338,444 in campaign contribution, as of the September filing deadline.
Her largest political donors are the California Nurses Association ($6,200), the Jane Fonda Climate PAC ($5,114), United Auto Workers Region 6 Western States PAC ($4,100) and the Palestine American League ($3,150).
Cofer’s campaign filings do not include any large name individual businesses, according to an Abridged analysis.
Notable individual donors to her campaign include Mark Merin, local civil rights attorney ($3,200); Heather Fargo, former Sacramento mayor ($2,200); Liz Gomez, the director of the Sacramento County Office of Education ($1,150); and Dr. Olivia Kasirye, the county’s recently retired public health officer ($400).
Where do the endorsements stand?
Cofer has received the endorsement of local political groups like Democratic Party of Sacramento County, Women Democrats of Sacramento County and the Sacramento chapter of the Sierra Club. Labor groups backing her include the California Nurses Association, SEIU Local 1000, SEIU Local 1021, SEIU-UHW and the National Union of Healthcare Workers.
She’s also received endorsements from a lineup of progressive Democrat groups like Wellstone Progressive Democrats, Our Revolution and the Working Families Party.
Guerra has a large lineup of current and former elected officials lining his endorsements list. All five members of the current Board of Supervisors have endorsed Guerra. Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper and District Attorney Thien Ho also backed him as well as his current City Council colleagues Phil Pluckebaum, Rick Jennings and Roger Dickinson.
Organizations endorsing him include the Sacramento Police Officers Association, the Sacramento Taxpayers Association and the Sacramento Metro Chamber plus trades unions representing electrical workers, carpenters and plumbers.
More details on where the candidates stand on homelessness, local budget issues and collaborations between city and county leadership are available in the Abridged by PBS KVIE voter guide.
