Grayson, Rubio Seek to Represent New District 9
Castro Valley residents get to choose on March 5 between State Assemblymember Tim Grayson and San Ramon City Councilmember Marisol Rubio to represent the redrawn California State Senate District 9.
The district goes from San Leandro and San Lorenzo through Castro Valley before heading north along Interstate 680 through much of Contra Costa County. The two candidates are perhaps more familiar to Contra Costa voters than in this part of their new district.
Rubio, a scientist by trade, is in her first term on the San Ramon City Council and was a commissioner and vice chair of the Dublin San Ramon Services District before that. She is also among the leaders of the Sierra Club both in the Bay Area and statewide.
Grayson, a general contractor who owns his own business, has served in the Assembly since 2017 and was previously the mayor of Concord as well as a council member there, first elected in 2010.
Both say that things they learned in their work outside politics inform how they look at many issues.
For Grayson, that means that the government should avoid unnecessary burdens on businesses, particularly small businesses, while effectively addressing public concerns. For Rubio, it means relying on data to illuminate the issues the government is attempting to deal with and advocating for one’s beliefs.
“My top priority is to ensure better jobs, higher wages, and more economic opportunity for Californians. It costs way too much to live and work in California,” Grayson said in a statement.
Rubio said in her official Voter Information Guide statement, “I am the only life-long Democrat in this race who, as a Founding Advisory Board member for a reproductive and disability rights organization, will unwaveringly defend a woman’s right to choose and focus on helping working families bearing in mind their individual needs.”
Grayson points to his 100% rating from Planned Parenthood and his successful efforts to increase state funding for aid to victims of domestic violence through Family Justice Centers. Rubio said, however, that he had missed important votes to support abortion availability and said he received lower ratings from Planned Parenthood in some years.
Both candidates pledged to get more housing built, including for what Grayson called the “missing middle” and Rubio called the "working class," who earn too much for subsidized housing but cannot afford housing in the current market. Rubio called for easing the current adversarial relationship between the state and local governments around housing, wanting instead a more cooperative approach between partners.
Grayson pointed to legislative accomplishments in the Assembly that included cracking down on predatory bank practices, tenant protections, fighting oil refinery pollution (a big issue in parts of Contra Costa County), bringing more health care to underserved areas, limiting the price charged for insulin, and reining in the payday loan industry.
Rubio said her community involvement started when, as a young mother, her infant daughter was diagnosed with terminal brain cancer. She resolved to educate herself in both medicine and the educational resources available to fight for her daughter’s life. This led her to college at UC Berkeley to study neurobiology and to meet many other community advocates in various fields.
Her daughter recovered, though with lasting disabilities, and is currently a student at UC Davis.
Grayson, through a spokesperson, emphasized his many connections with state lawmakers and agencies, and his local connections with communities in the district. These were gained both from representing his district in Sacramento and from his local government service in Concord, the spokesperson said.
You can get more information on the candidates in Alameda County’s Voter Information Guide, which registered voters got in the mail, or from the candidates’ campaign websites. Those are www.marisolforca.com for Rubio and www.graysonforca.com for Grayson.