State Senate Candidates Debate Next Week
The newly redrawn 9th California State Senate District candidates will square off at a September 21 forum at First Presbyterian Church of Hayward, behind Trader Joe’s.
Assemblymember Tim Grayson and San Ramon City Councilmember Marisol Rubio will make their cases for electing them at the free public event at 9 a.m. that Saturday morning at the church on Grove Way. No advance registration is necessary.
The event will also be live streamed at www.facebook.com/EdenAreaChamber.
Grayson led the March 5 primary for the seat with 59 percent of the vote to Rubio’s 40 percent. Both are Democrats. Two Republican write-in candidates trailed with a few hundred votes, or 0.2 percent, each. The top two vote-getters advanced to the general election, which is set for November 5.
Castro Valley had been part of the 7th Senate District and represented by Steve Glazer, but following the 2020 Census, it got redistricted into Nancy Skinner’s 9th Senate District starting with this election. Both incumbents were prevented from running by term limits.
The new 9th District heads east from San Leandro and San Lorenzo through Castro Valley before heading north to include most Contra Costa County communities in the east.
Tim Grayson is a former mayor and city councilperson in Concord. He was first elected to the Assembly in 2016, representing the 15th District. He chairs the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee and worked as a general contractor before joining the Assembly.
He says he is proud of his fights in Sacramento for green energy and jobs, tenant protections, and against predatory lending. Closer to home in Contra Costa County, he’s pressured oil refineries over their pollution of neighborhoods.
Marisol Rubio is a neurobiologist who was first elected to the San Ramon City Council in 2022. Before that, she was a director and vice president of the Dublin San Ramon Services District. She is also an executive board member of the statewide Sierra Club and its San Francisco Bay Chapter.
Her activism outside of office includes being a founding advisory board member for one nonprofit focused on women’s reproductive health and education and another statewide advocacy fund for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
There is more information on each candidate on their campaign websites. Rubio’s is at www.marisolforca.com. Grayson’s is at www.graysonforca.com.