The Official 2020 Mehlinger Voting Guide: Sunnyvale Edition
By: Richard Mehlinger
Tags: Local Government, Local Politics, Politics, Sunnyvale, Housing

The Official 2020 Mehlinger Voting Guide: Sunnyvale Edition

This piece is pulled from my full Santa Clara County voters’ guide, and consists solely of the races affecting Sunnyvale.

Introduction

Because I’m involved in local politics and policy, every election year a number of my friends end up asking me for voting recommendations. So this year, I decided to put together my own voter’s guide, focusing on Santa Clara County races.

This guide is based on two principles. First, vote for Democrats, up and down the ballot. In races with zero or two Democrats, and on Ballot Props, vote for the choice that prioritizes housing and sustainability. Our state is on fire, and our housing crisis is killing us. We don’t have time to wait; we need to take action now if we are going to save California. It’s that simple.

How to Register to Vote

It is not too late to register to vote in California! You have until October 19 to register to vote, which you can do online. Even after that same-day registration is an option!

The Short Version

Ballot Props

President: Joe Biden

Congress: Ro Khanna

State Legislature

State Senate: Josh Becker

State Assembly: Marc Berman

County

Otto Lee for County Supervisor District 3

Melissa Baten Caswell for County Board of Education

Sunnyvale City Council

Mayor: Larry Klein

District 2: Alysa Cisneros

District 4: Russ Melton

District 6: Omar Din OR Leia Mehlman

El Camino Healthcare District

Dr. Meghan Fraley

Julia Miller

Dr. Carol Ann Somersille

Foothill De Anza Board

Laura Casas

Peter Landsberger

Gilbert Wong

Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District

Jed Cyr

The Long Version

Ballot Props

I don’t have the time to write-up all the ballot props, but I will take a moment to plug Measure RR especially. TLDR: If Measure RR doesn’t pass, Caltrain dies.

Caltrain is heavily dependent on fares for its funding. When COVID-19 hit and shelter-in-place was ordered, fare revenue cratered. Measure RR is a 1/8 cent sales tax that will fund Caltrain going forward. If Measure RR fails, Caltrain will have no way to balance the books, and will likely need to halt service, which would be catastrophic for our region.

Because Measure RR is a tax and because California is stupid, Measure RR requires a 2/3 majority vote to pass. Yes, sales taxes are regressive. But this is a vanishingly tiny figure ($1.25 per $1000 spent), will secure a critical transit backbone for our region going forward, and will also free up resources for other transit agencies that currently support Caltrain.

Vote YES on Measure RR.

President

Vote Joe Biden. Yes, we live in California. Yes, Biden will win this state by a landslide. You still shouldn’t vote third-party. This election is a defining moment for our country. The choice before us is simple: restore our democracy, end the corruption of the Trump administration, and deal with the pandemic… or continue our national descent into fascism. No, Biden isn’t perfect. Yes, he’s relatively moderate. No, his proposals don’t go far enough.

But given the choice between democracy and fascism, we need to vote for democracy. And we need to make sure that democracy wins in a landslide. Vote Biden.

Congress

This one’s dead simple. Congressman Ro Khanna is one of the single most effective and progressive members of Congress, and his opponent is a Trump fanatic. Vote Ro Khanna.

State Legislature

AD-24: Marc Berman has served AD-24 well, and has prioritized legislation to help homeless community college students. He is a reliable pro-housing vote in the Assembly. Vote Berman.

SD-13: Josh Becker has done tremendous work at the Full Circle Fund. He has deep policy depth, and more than that, is a fantastically kind and open human being. He will be a thoughtful voice in our State Senate. His opponent is an anti-growth Republican. Vote Becker.

County

District 3 Supervisor

For District 3 Supervisor, vote Otto Lee. Otto is a navy veteran who was deployed to Iraq midway through his term on Sunnyvale City Council. He served ably as mayor of Sunnyvale, where he prioritized green issues. He is a strong pro-housing voice, and a dedicated progressive. Furthermore, it is a serious problem that the County of Santa Clara is so heavily dominated by San Jose, and it will be good for all the small city residents to have additional diversity on that board.

Otto’s opponent, Assemblymember Kansen Chu, did co-sponsor SB 50, so he’s not bad on housing. But this summer he delivered an interview to a local Chinese-language newspaper that can only be described as shockingly racist, prompting calls for his resignation from local civil rights organizations. Chu claims that his comments were mistranslated and mistranscribed, but still: this episode does not inspire confidence. Vote Lee.

Board of Education

For County Board of Education, vote for Melissa Baten Caswell. Baten Caswell has served well on the Palo Alto Unified School District, and is the only Democrat in the race. She has an endorsement list from local electeds as long as my arm, and has swept endorsements from most school board members in the districts she would represent. Grace Mah has been on the board for 13 years, and is now running for a fourth term. She has largely continued in office by sheer inertia, and has not worked well with local school boards. Vote Baten Caswell.

Midpeninsula Open Space Region

Jed Cyr is a Democrat and long-time board member. He has served the region well. Ed Riffle is a Republican and Trump supporter. Vote for the Democrat.

City Council

Mayor

For Mayor, vote Larry Klein — and read my full endorsement here. Mayor Klein is one of the most effective members of any City Council in the region, and has done an expert job leading our city through very difficult circumstances. He’s passed a number of crucial initiatives, including a partial lane closure on Tasman and critical tenants’ rights legislation. Nancy Smith is a fine second choice, but lacks Mayor Klein’s track record. Councilmember Goldman is a non-starter. He is deeply anti-growth. He has a habit of making deeply inflammatory and insensitive remarks from the dais, most recently delivering a borderline racist rant against Proposition 16. And he has repeatedly misled and lied to the public. Vote Klein.

District 2

In District 2, vote Alysa Cisneros. I am working on a full-length endorsement piece for Ms. Cisneros, which I will link here when complete. But the short version is: she is a bold, dedicated progressive with deep policy experience. She grew up in Sunnyvale, and managed to scratch and climb her way to a master’s in public policy and ten years of policy experience, all while raising her daughter as a single mother. She is deeply committed to housing affordability, tenant protections, sustainability, improving our bicycle and pedestrian facilities, and completing a downtown.

Alysa has swept the endorsements this cycle, including the Santa Clara County Democratic Party, the Sunnyvale Democratic Club, the Sierra Club, the League of Conservation Voters, five former mayors, and six of the seven sitting councilmembers. She would also be the first openly queer councilmember, and our first Latina councilmember (though not the first Latinx!).

In contrast, one of her opponents, Hina Siddiqui, has no experience to speak of with city government. The other, Josh Grossman, is a dedicated NIMBY, and is running a right-wing campaign with the backing of Cupertino’s poisonous anti-growth faction. Vote Cisneros.

District 4

In District 4, vote Russ Melton. Russ and I don’t always agree, but he’s a sharp and dedicated public servant and a sharp financial mind. We will need that as we navigate the financial crisis brought on by the pandemic. His opponent has no experience in government, is not running a serious campaign and has shown a paper-thin skin. Vote Melton.

District 6

In District 6, vote Omar Din OR Leia Mehlman. These are two fantastic candidates, and while their personalities are wildly divergent, on policy they are very close to one another. Omar is a recent graduate of Cornell, where he was a student organizer. He is passionate about tenants’ rights and building more housing. Despite his youth, he brings tremendous policy depth, and has swept most of the major endorsements.

Leia has served with me on the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee for the past two years, where she was elected vice chair this July. She is a committed advocate for better cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, which is sorely lacking in North Sunnyvale. As a mobile home resident, she is also passionate about mobile home park issues, including the need to pass a rent stabilization ordinance. Her personality is rather pointier than Omar’s, which can be an asset or a detriment.

The third candidate, Charlotte Thornton, appears from her Twitter feed to be a QAnon believer. She has a curious obsession with what she calls clean copper, and appears to own a network of environmental companies that as far as I can tell do not actually do anything. Definitely not. Vote Din or Mehlman.

If you got this far, thank you all for reading, and remember: VOTE!