Election Section

Here are some reasons why you should consider voting for Kathryn Lybarger for State Senate.

Her Union Background

Kathryn worked as a gardener at UC Berkeley. She went on to head the union representing UC’s lowest paid workers, many of them earning poverty wages when she started out. As head of the union she took on UC and won, winning large wage increases for lower paid workers and improving their lives despite strong resistance from UC administrators. Right now our reps in the Assembly and Senate seem to see their job as supporting whatever the UC administration wants; they have supported legislation to overturn court decisions that have gone against UC. Kathryn has shown that she won’t be in UC’s pocket. From heading her union representing UC workers, she went on to head the California Labor Federation made up of 1200 affiliated unions throughout the state. Legislative action is a major area of work for the federation. Kathryn has plenty of experience with legislation, which is good preparation for someone running for State Senate.

Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin, who is also running for State Senate started out as a progressive, but has morphed into a neo-liberal (aka YIMBY), especially in his second term as he positioned himself to run for higher office. He has accepted campaign contributions from the California Apartment Association PAC, funded by big landlords and developers of rental housing statewide, and by the California Building Industry PAC. His campaign has also received a contribution from the PG&E Corporation Major Donor Account. PG&E along with other investor owned utilities in the state has lobbied successfully to get the California Public Utilities Commission to undermine the rooftop solar industry. 

Target of Hit Piece

Many of you have probably gotten the hit piece aimed at Kathryn put out by the California Association of Realtors, California Building Industry Association, and the California Apartment Association. They know that Kathryn supports rent control and tenant protections and will fight for housing that is affordable to the workers she represents and the majority of Californians. 

Recommended by 350 Bay Area Action

The idea that Kathryn is “in the pocket of big oil”, as the real estate interests’ crude hit piece against her suggests, is ludicrous. Her home in South Berkeley gets energy from solar panels. She is the co-founder of California Labor for Climate Jobs. She is one of three candidates running in Senate District 7 recommended by 350 Bay Area Action, which works to address climate change by electing local climate champions and passing climate legislation in California. (The other two are Jovanka Beckles and Dan Kalb.) 

Meanwhile Jesse Arreguin has taken no action to support an ordinance in Berkeley to protect rooftop solar panels from shadowing by nearby new taller building development. As the city changes zoning to allow for denser development and taller and taller buildings, there are more and more cases of proposed development casting shadows on solar panels. 

What about Jovanka Beckles?

Some people may prefer Jovanka Beckles. But Jovanka showed that she was not an effective candidate when she ran for Assembly in 2018. She lost to Buffy Wicks, a candidate who had no connection to or track record in the East Bay, but who was well funded, largely by donors from outside the Assembly district. She lost by a 54% to 46% margin. 

The unfortunate reality is that it takes a lot of money to win a state senate seat. California state senate districts are way too large, with close to a million people per district. (Contrast that with Vermont, where state senators represent closer to 20,000 people). A useful reform would be to triple or quadruple the number of State Senate and Assembly seats to allow for greater reliance on grassroots campaigning and talking to voters and less reliance on special interests providing money for mailers, social media and political consultants. 

Here is how much money the candidates had reported to the Secretary of State’s office as of the end of January: 

Arreguin: $668,987.38 

Lybarger: $514,903.64 

Kalb: $319,981.08 

Swanson: $215,735.00 (two committees reported for 2024) 

Beckles: $120,013.26 

Solnordal: $. 2,645.79 (a Republican candidate) 

Kathryn has the backing of all the more progressive unions, such as the California Nurses Association. Part of the money she has raised comes from union political action committees. Her campaign has the resources to get her message to voters; Jovanka Beckles’ campaign will not be able to do as much. In a November runoff between Jovanka and Jesse, I believe Jesse would win easily. Jesse has the backing of the more conservative building trades unions, which, with big developers, are part of the state’s growth coalition pushing luxury highrise market rate housing development. His candidacy will continue to be well-funded by special interest contributions and spending. 

Independent Expenditure Committees

In addition, Kathryn is benefiting from independent expenditure committees with union affiliation that are putting out mailers in support of her candidacy independent of her campaign. Jesse Arreguin is also benefiting from independent expenditure committees. Berkeleyside has reported that Uber has spent more than $800,000 to oppose Lybarger, while spending an additional $250,000 in support of Arreguin. The California Apartment Association and California Association of Realtors are not only funding hit pieces attacking Kathryn, but are spending money to support Arreguin. These special interest groups apparently think that they would benefit from Arreguin’s election and see Lybarger and her progressive politics as a threat. 

Kathryn Lybarger’s Website: https://www.kathrynlybargerforstatesenate2024.com/ 

To get info on campaign contributions: https://powersearch.sos.ca.gov/quick-search.php