Race for vacated State Senate seat begins; Republican to
announce run on Oct. 21
Assemblywoman Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) announced the official
launch of her campaign for State Senate in Hollister Oct. 2, and at
three campaign stops in the Central Valley.
Race for vacated State Senate seat begins; Republican to announce run on Oct. 21
Assemblywoman Anna Caballero (D-Salinas) announced the official launch of her campaign for State Senate in Hollister Oct. 2, and at three campaign stops in the Central Valley.
The District 12 state senate seat is occupied by Jeff Denham (R-Atwater), who is completing his last term in the Senate. Another candidate, Anthony Cannella (R-Ceres), has plans to announce his candidacy for the Senate seat later this month.
Senate District 12 is twice the size of the 28th Assembly District, and includes Merced and San Benito counties, as well as parts of Madera, Monterey and Stanislaus counties.
When explaining her decision to run for State Senate rather than another term in the Assembly, Caballero said, “The number one reason is that I have been working on issues that have taken me all over the state.”
Caballero said others approached her about the open seat and “the wheels started turning.”
At the Hollister campaign stop at the corner of Fifth and Monterey streets, attended by a handful of residents, Caballero stressed her connection to the community.
“I had my own business down the block from here,” she said of the law firm Caballero, Matcham & McCarthy. “I raised three children. I helped get others elected and then ended up on the planning commission.”
Caballero was elected to the Salinas City Council in 1991 and as mayor in 1998, a position she held until she was elected to the Assembly in 2006.
“I’ve spent 23 years getting to know people and the issues they have,” she said. “I’ve been honored to hear important stories and I learned to listen.”
During her time as an assemblywoman, lence and the economy. She has served on the Committee on Local Government and the Select Committee on Youth Violence Prevention.
Most recently her focus has turned to water.
“I’ve become very involved with water,” she said. “It’s a critical issue. This area has been severely impacted. Unemployment is up. People are at risk of losing their farms.”
Caballero authored water bills including the Safe Drinking Water and Water Supply Reliability Act of 2010, which is supposed to protect supplies of safe, clean drinking water for homes, businesses and agriculture; The Groundwater Reliability Task Force Act, which would enhance groundwater resources; and AB 300, which would promote greater water-use efficiency in new homes.
“The central issue has been a lack of water,” she said. “It’s a [district] that is very heavily agricultural and that is what I know.”
Caballero, who noted how the district stretches about a four-hour drive from end to end, said her stance with the water bill was not popular among other democrats, but she was willing to take a risk for something she thought was important.
The next step for Caballero will be setting up offices throughout the district, as well as training precinct workers.
“It’s a lot of work. It takes an incredible amount of energy,” she said. “Every time you run for a new seat, it’s a challenge.”
Though Anthony Cannella does not plan to announce his run for Senate until Oct. 21, his spokesman sent out a press release in the days after Caballero’s campaign published her announcement schedule.
“We look forward to a vigorous debate on the issues and the different visions that Anthony Cannella and Anna Caballero have for SD 12 after Mayor Cannella officially announces his candidacy,” wrote Kevin Spillane, in the press release.
Cannella is the mayor of Ceres, a city of more than 42,000 residents in the north eastern corner of Stanislaus County, and is serving on the city-schools committee, the general plan review committee and the local emergency planning committee, according to the Ceres Web site. He is a graduate of Ceres High School, with a bachelor of science in civil engineering. He is a member of the advisory committee for the Salvation Army and a member of the Ceres Community Collaborative.
“Anthony Cannella is a small businessman who has local government experience as Mayor of Ceres,” Spillane wrote in the press release. “Cannella has operated as an effective bi-partisan problem-solver. He’s made public safety the city’s top priority while making the difficult decisions necessary to balance his city’s budget and maintain a healthy reserve despite the current economic crisis and funding cuts from Sacramento.”
