Anna Caballero will once again represent San Benito County in the California Assembly after soundly defeating Karina Cervantez Alejo 65.5 percent to 35.5 percent district-wide. In San Benito County, Caballero, who used to have a law office in Hollister, earned more than 70 percent of the vote.
In a press release titled, “Assembly Candidate Anna Caballero Wins the 30th District in a Landslide,” confidently proclaimed: “Anna Caballero, former Secretary of California’s Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, has been re-elected to the Assembly seat, which she held from 2006-2010 by a huge margin. Caballero has won in every city and county in the District by a margin of approximately 30 percent over her opponent, Watsonville City Council member Karina Cervantez Alejo.
“I am incredibly grateful my supporters throughout the Central Coast, particularly to those who came and talked about the issues that matter to them, and who ultimately entrusted me with the responsibility of representing them in the Assembly,” Caballero said in the statement. “I take that responsibility very seriously, I listened to all of the people with whom I met, and I intend to integrate what I learned from them into my agenda in Sacramento.”
Alejo’s campaign office did not respond to BenitoLink’s request for comment on election night.
Alejo and Caballero appeared eager to take up the challenge of serving in Sacramento as they spoke at the Oct. 13 “Use Your Voice” forum, sponsored by BenitoLink and the San Benito County Farm Bureau.
Prior to the forum, each answered by email questions posed by BenitoLink. The candidates gave insights into why they feel they are better qualified to serve, what drives them, and their hoped-for accomplishments during their first terms.
Caballero, who has been in politics for years, said she knows she can do the job because she’s done it all before.
“My experience at every level of government, from the Salinas City Council to Governor Brown’s cabinet member, has given me both a real understanding of the particular needs of our rural communities and what it takes to work within government to get us the resources that we need,” she said.
Alejo, a college professor, began teaching career at Cabrillo College as an adjunct faculty professor. Currently, she is a college educator at California State University, Monterey Bay. She is working on her Ph.D. in psychology at U.C. Santa Cruz.
Prior to her running for city council in Watsonville, she served on the city’s Planning Commission and the Parks and Recreation Commission.
“I also worked with the Community Action Board’s Youth Community Restoration Project (YCORP), where I assisted directly with youth transitioning from juvenile hall back into the community and helped to develop youth leadership and mentorship programs, including Girlzpace, an after-school program working with young women,” she said.
When it came to discussing values that guide them personally and professionally, Caballero said hers revolve around people, particularly working people.
“Most of my family members were copper miners in the small town of Morenci, Arizona, and I learned early on that the only way the progressed was by working together,” she said. “That’s why I came straight out of law school to represent farmworkers in Salinas. That’s why I eventually left the practice of law to set up a youth violence prevention program in Salinas, Partners for Peace. I continue to focus my life and my work around what is good for our communities on the Central Coast.”
Alejo said as the daughter of migrant farmworkers, her life has revolved around working on behalf of children, women, and families in our communities.
“Growing up in a rural agricultural community, I experienced the same struggles as most of my neighbors and families living in the 30th Assembly District,” she said. “My childhood taught me the meaning of hard work and what it’s like to struggle to get by and make ends meet. I saw firsthand the difficulties of those living in poverty and the importance of education to achieve the American Dream. I will work hard to provide future generations with the opportunities my own parents worked to provide for me.”
Caballero commented that she hopes to dramatically expand access to early childhood education without taking existing resources away from the school systems.
“This is critical to breaking the cycle of youth violence by helping our kids enter school with the tools that they need to succeed,” she said. “I also hope to create opportunities for our communities to build affordable housing for veterans, the disabled, seniors and working families without seeing that housing snatched up by commuters from the Silicon Valley. By the same token, I want to create opportunities for the Silicon Valley to build housing to meet their workforce needs, as well.”