Democrat Anna Caballero on Thursday threw her hat into the ring for the 30th Assembly District seat — which includes San Benito County — setting up a three-way race against the wife of termed-out incumbent Assemblyman Luis Alejo and Gilroy City Councilman Peter Leroe-Munoz, a former San Benito County prosecutor.
Alejo’s wife, Watsonville City Councilwoman Karina Cervantez Alejo, announced in the spring that she would seek the seat currently held by her husband. Caballero is looking to return to the Assembly, where she served two, two-year terms when the seat was in the 28th District. She previously was a Salinas city councilwoman and mayor and last week stepped down as Gov. Jerry Brown’s secretary of the California Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. The law firm she and her partners established, Caballero, Matcham & McCarthy, used to have an office in Hollister.
San Benito County Supervisor Robert Rivas spoke at Caballero’s Thursday press conference announcing her run. Rivas, who was the field director for Caballero’s first Assembly campaign and was hired as her senior field representative after her election, said he and other officials this past spring gathered “to recruit who we thought would be a viable candidate for assembly.”
When Caballero’s name came up, Rivas said, “we got a whole bunch of people to sign on and call her and in the end it worked,” as she agreed to give up her appointed state post.
Rivas said that although Caballero was “a great assemblyperson between 2006 and 2010, she’s much more experienced now. She knows how state government works. I’m encouraged that she’ll be a great representative for San Benito County. What we need in Sacramento is an advocate.”
Caballero “without hesitation” cited affordable housing as her priority when asked at Thursday’s press conference announcing her candidacy, Rivas said. “She knows it’s a significant issue in the state,” he said. “Local communities throughout the state are lacking affordable housing. Hopefully, she’ll provide some leadership to help address that.”
Calling Caballero a “very sharp, well-qualified candidate,” Rivas said that as impressed with her as he was when she ran for Assembly in 2006, “now she just has a great understanding of not only the policy-making aspect of being a legislator, but she really understands how the state works — especially at the department head level where she’s been the last five years. She’s been part of the turnaround in California.”
Because she has already served two terms in the state Assembly, Caballero could only serve one more two-year term if elected. Despite that relatively short possible tenure, Rivas said there is still “a lot of value” to her candidacy.
“It gives the opportunity to anyone beyond these next two years to really investigate a run,” he said. “it would be a much more competitive election two years from now.”
Rivas said he has committed to helping Caballero’s campaign when he can, though he has no intention of leaving his post to join her staff again. “I’m definitely going to help her in any way I can on the weekends, but I enjoy my job as a student support manager with the San Benito High School District” and a career in education remains his goal.
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