Examination of state senator candidates is revealing
Marin County sends two representatives to California's state Legislature.
The 12th District Assembly seat now occupied by the soonto-depart Marc Levine is centered in Marin with 55% of its voters and the remainder in Sonoma. Contrast that with the Second Senate District with a population of almost a million stretching from the Golden Gate to the Oregon line.
Our current state senator is past Healdsburg mayor and Sonoma County supervisor Mike McGuire. The Sonoma State University grad is running for his third and final four-year term under the Golden State's term limits law. His opponent is Lake County attorney Gene Yoon, a moderate Republican.
As the election operates under the top-two electoral system, June's primary is a dry run for November when McGuire and Yoon face off for real.
McGuire will run with confidence, given the Second District is politically “deep blue” except in its most northern reaches. That political reality doesn't minimize Yoon's role as a firstclass candidate with much to say.
McGuire started in politics at age 19 when he won a seat on the Healdsburg Unified School District board. After service as a city council member and county supervisor, he was elected to the state Senate where he's now Majority Leader, the Upper House's second most prestigious post.
I asked both McGuire and Yoon a few fundamental questions.
To McGuire; during your current four year term, what are you most proud of?
The senator responded, “My work focused on expanding jobs in rural California, securing record resources to combat the homelessness crisis, rebuilding our communities from devastating wildfires and making our region more fire-safe. I've led the legislature on modernizing and making the state's telecommunication and 911 System more resilient, expanding access to college and career training, raising the minimum wage, delivering the resources to build affordable housing, expanding broadband to rural communities, and advancing the strongest climate laws in America.
His biggest frustration?
“It's been a struggle to hold (Pacific Gas and Electric Co.) accountable. For years, the utility underfunded modernization and wildfire safety efforts, which has had devastating impacts here in California. … That's why we're advancing SB 884, which will expedite undergrounding of 10,000 miles of PG&E utility lines in the highest fire risk zones, save ratepayers money, and hold PG&E accountable to their timelines. Currently, PG&E undergrounds less than 100 miles of their electrical lines annually.”
Yoon resides in Lake County's Cobb Mountain and practices business law in Kelseyville. Previously,
he worked in Bay Area startups and for tech giants.
Yoon's top legislative priority? “State politicians should not be allowed to receive donations from any organization that does business with the government. Politicians should work for people, not corporations or unions. This one change could change everything in California politics.”
Yoon's website states; “End the culture wars. Let's return to sanity and end the polarizations and demonization of the `other' side.” I asked the graduate of Princeton and New York University law how he'd achieve that goal.
“We need to develop a one- to two-year curriculum in U.S. government and civics. The process of doing so … will cause a great public conversation about how to mend our divided politics.
The current state requirement to graduate from high school is just one semester. That seems ridiculous given how broken our civic life is today.
“This isn't about what not to teach — I don't believe in banning knowledge. This is about what to focus on for a united civic community.”
How does the Lake County lawyer compare himself to other Republicans?
“I'm my own person,” Yoon said. “Both of our political parties are failing; both are on the verge of collapse. We desperately need a new era in American politics, and I hope to be part of that fresh start.”
McGuire will run with confidence, given the Second District is politically `deep blue' except in its most northern reaches.