California General Election
U.S. House California District 14
Aisha Wahab
California’s 14th Congressional District is in a state of chaos. And the East Bay district’s 750,000-something residents can blame Eric Swalwell, their former congressman.
The Castro Valley Democrat’s run for governor in November created a nine-way contest to replace him in the House of Representatives. That race is on the June 2 primary ballot.
Then, in April amid accusations of sexual assault, Swalwell’s resignation from Congress – following his withdrawal from the gubernatorial race – created an 11-way race to temporarily fill his vacant seat until January. That race is now on the June 16 special election ballot.
Yes, it’s confusing. And if no candidate grabs a majority in either of those races, this district’s voters might have to go to the polls four times. You read that right.
The antidote to this political pandemonium is a known-quantity – a public servant with an established record of already having represented much of this 580-square mile district, which stretches from Hayward and Fremont to Castro Valley and Livermore.
State Sen. Aisha Wahab is that candidate.
Wahab, a 39-year-old Democrat, appears on both the June 2 and June 16 ballots. We support her for both. This district doesn’t need musical chairs. It needs to pick one reliable person to occupy this seat and begin representing Alameda County’s interests in a closely divided Congress.
Proven leadership
D.C. is no place to send a novice. And Wahab isn’t one.
In fact, as the assistant majority leader, she is currently the third most powerful lawmaker in the California Senate, where she has had a front-row seat to the debates affecting the East Bay.
After serving on Hayward’s city council for four years, she was elected to the Senate in 2022. Since then, she has written, negotiated or helped to pass legislation in Sacramento to expand mental health coverage, cap insulin costs, secure down-payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, criminalize organized retail theft, and prop up Bay Area transit agencies, among other priorities.
In interviews with this newspaper’s editorial board, Wahab articulated her agenda at the federal level – strengthening antitrust enforcement, protecting workers from AI displacement and children from predatory social media companies, consolidating fragmented Bay Area transit and opposing funding formulas that short-change California taxpayers.
To be clear, some of Wahab’s Democratic colleagues in the Senate consider her style brusque. Last year, as chair of the Senate Housing Committee, she clashed with some pro-development Democrats, particularly over proposals she viewed as overly favorable to developers without guaranteeing sufficient affordable housing. Critics claimed she was beholden to trades unions, which have supported her run. No one will accuse her of being Ms. Congeniality or a pushover, but it hasn’t kept her from securing the endorsements of many of her Senate colleagues or the California Democratic Party.
Others unpersuasive
Wahab’s eight opponents include, at least, two serious candidates, though none makes as convincing a case.
Virtually all mention affordability as their primary objective; however, few show credible signs of being able to deliver for this district, which is among the most unique in the U.S. (Its homes cost three times the national average; four in 10 people here were born outside the country; poverty is low; incomes are very high; and commutes to work on the I-580, -680, and -880 are far too long.)
Melissa Hernandez has significant experience in East Bay local government and Bay Area transit. Hernandez, 51, is the former mayor of Dublin and is currently president of BART’s board of directors as well as director of health services for an Alameda County supervisor.
However, in an interview with this editorial board, Hernandez struggled to explain how she would use federal levers of power. Instead, she was far more fluent connecting local problems to Sacramento, not Washington. She has amassed a credible war chest, particularly from many East Bay public sector unions and will likely be a formidable challenger.
Conversely, Rakhi Israni had no problem identifying how D.C. can benefit Alameda County. The Fremont lawyer wears many hats: test-prep company founder, Santa Clara County judge pro tem and pro bono lawyer, etc. Israni, 52, is a policy wonk, who provided this editorial board with an agenda to tackle wealth inequality, housing affordability, workforce displacement and beyond.
However, Israni’s record of contributions to Republican candidates, and even fringe right-wing, overtly racist Laura Loomer, raise serious questions about her reliability as a representative of a district, where Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly three to one. She calls her donation to Loomer a major “mistake.” Though she lacks the institutional support of local parties or unions, Israni’s deep pockets make her a serious contender in both primaries. Her campaign is the most well-funded, in part because she has loaned it more than $1 million.
Dena Maldonado is fighting an uphill battle. She’s one of two Republicans running here. The 37-year-old florist has secured the support of the California Republican Party, giving her a significant advantage over fellow Republican candidate and retired tech executive Wendy Huang. Maldonado has only lived in this district for a year, and her main priorities – such as protecting the 2nd Amendment – don’t reflect the Bay Area’s most central anxieties over the costs of housing, health care and energy.
Other contestants to replace Swalwell, including 54-year-old Pleasanton-based nonprofit director Carin Elam and 41-year-old San Leandro-based graphic designer Matt Ortega have not mounted campaigns at the scale and seriousness required to win here.
What comes next will be convoluted. A June 2 primary; another on June 16. Potential runoffs through August and November.
But the choice doesn’t have to be confusing. There is only one reliable, proven candidate on both ballots.
That’s Wahab. Keep it simple. Vote for her. Twice.