21 Mar Richmond Mayor, Council Hopefuls Face Off

Running for mayor of Richmond are, from left, Mark Wassberg, Eduardo Martinez, Ahmad Anderson, Demnlus Johnson and Claudia Jimenez. (Screenshot captured by Samantha Kennedy / The CC Pulse)

By Samantha Kennedy

Eleven candidates vying to be either Richmond’s next mayor or a council member faced off during a Monday candidate forum, giving voters one of the first looks at what to expect ahead of the June primary election.

The forum was co-hosted by the League of Women Voters of West Contra Costa, Black Women Organized for Political Action, the Richmond Chamber of Commerce, and the city of Richmond. Five mayoral candidates and six candidates for districts 3 and 4 each tackled several questions, addressing Chevron and business in general, homelessness, revenue, air quality, a social media controversy and more.

During the two-hour event, incumbent Mayor Eduardo Martinez took on fellow Richmond Progressive Alliance member and council member Claudia Jimenez; former vice mayor and council member Demnlus Johnson III; nonprofit leader Ahmad Anderson; and Mark Wassberg, a frequent public commenter with experience running — and losing — in City Council races.

Running to represent District 3 are current Vice Mayor Doria Robinson; Brandon Evans, a district representative for county Supervisor Shanelle Scales-Preston; and Manmeet Singh, a 21-year-old student and write-in candidate.

In District 4, council member Soheila Bana is looking to defend her seat against Jamin Pursell, secretary of the Democratic Party of Contra Costa; and Keycha Gallon, founder of the nonprofit Keyz 2 the Future, which helps youth affected by gun violence.

Mayoral Candidates

For about an hour, mayoral candidates took on questions about differences with Martinez, the influence of the RPA and other voting blocs, homelessness and Chevron.

Late last year, Martinez came under fire for a repost about the Bondi Beach attack in Australia that claimed it was a “false flag.” Martinez’s opponents — even City Council ally Jimenez, who supported him through the pushback — said they would’ve handled the controversial social media postings differently.

Jimenez previously speculated that the backlash may have played a role in the RPA backing her and not Martinez. At the forum, Jimenez took issue with Martinez’s statement at the Jan. 20 City Council meeting, where he said it was hard to apologize because some people did not want to hear an apology. Jimenez said that the first part of that comment was “not OK.”

Johnson said the situation should have never happened in the first place, adding that he would research anything before he posted it if he were in that position.

“The amount of people from around the world who know Richmond for all of the wrong reasons — that is not the role of the mayor. It is the exact opposite,” said Johnson.

Anderson went in a different direction. He focused on the $550 million Chevron settlement, saying that he would do things differently than Martinez by making sure there’s a plan to use the money for those most impacted by the refinery.

When asked by moderator Champagne Brown if voting blocs like those made up of RPA members were helpful or not, Anderson and Johnson said all voices should be heard, no matter their affiliation.

Johnson was more critical in his comments on the organization than Anderson, saying that he felt the tactics were limiting to Richmond.

“To dominate and to run roughshod over the city and its residents and say that we know what’s best for you and to damn if we like it or not. And a matter of fact, if you don’t agree, we’re going to demonize you,” said Johnson.

Martinez and Jimenez, who have for years been part of the RPA, pushed back on how the organization was being painted. Martinez pointed to the Democratic and Republican parties, which, like other organizations, have a voice of their own.

“I think that organizing people around ideas is what makes America strong, and to demonize any of the groups for what they do is wrong,” said Martinez.

When it comes to actually funding how the city operates, candidates were mostly on the same page: diversify revenue streams and bring in new industries. Chevron, the city’s largest taxpayer, has criticized the state’s “hostile” policy environment toward refineries and, this month, said proposed changes to Cap-and-Invest (formerly Cap-and-Trade) would “cripple the survivability of the state’s remaining refineries.”

Refineries in the state have stopped operating for similar reasons. The Valero refinery in Benicia is set to close next month, and Phillips 66 in Southern California stopped operating late last year. Richmond threatened a tax on the Richmond Chevron refinery, only to drop it and negotiate the settlement.

If revenue from Chevron were to decline, Jimenez said that settlement is part of her plan to figure out how the city should move forward. Jimenez is also in talks about what jobs for the Green Empowerment Zone, a hub for clean energy companies, would be a fit for Richmond.

Anderson said he did not see the $550 million as a plan for revenue, but, like Jimenez, Johnson and Martinez, said that diversifying industries was needed to boost revenue. For him, that meant bringing electric cars to the area and using energy for the Port of Richmond, and building an East Bay skills center in Hilltop.

Martinez also pointed to the port and the water as an opportunity for revenue, proposing bringing in the offshore wind industry and reviving the shipbuilding industry.

Green jobs, said Johnson, in five or six areas in the city are “ready to go” for green manufacturing, but permitting and leadership are keeping people from creating them.

City Council Candidates

In the last hour, District 3 and 4 candidates grappled first with questions about Chevron and homelessness. Others were specific to each district, like ones concerning air quality.

Evans, Robinson, Gallon and Pursell also said that the city needed to diversify its revenue streams to not be dependent on the company.

“Grow the mom and pop businesses. Create workforce development that is for the citizens of Richmond to actually grow not only their revenue but also their income so that they can afford to live in a city,” said Gallon.

Bana proposed hiring an economic development manager to bring in businesses and jobs and an events manager to bring events to the city, and adding more money to its reserves.

Singh said that the city should set some money aside in a community investment fund for times of uncertainty and invest in local businesses.

Pursell said that to bring in more business the city first needs to be business-friendly.

“We have not been a business-friendly city for a very long time,” said Pursell. He said that investing in small businesses and areas like downtown is part of weaning off the city’s Chevron dependency.

Candidates also spoke about how they would address homelessness in the city. Richmond has the largest homeless population in West Contra Costa and the second-largest in the county.

Most candidates spoke about developing a deeper regional approach with the county, which already provides some services for those who are homeless.

“Outside of that, we need more mental health services. We need more substance abuse services and places where people can try to get clean. We need transitional housing that can accommodate those who are struggling with substance abuse,” said Robinson.

Evans was the only candidate to propose changing the city’s current camping ordinance, which outlines penalties for homeless encampments, to align with a 2024 U.S. Supreme Court ruling. That ruling gave local jurisdictions the power to ban people from sleeping or camping in public, even if no shelter were available.

In Contra Costa, homeless shelters are often at capacity, county staff have said previously.

But Evans said changing the ordinance would give them the tools to move someone who is homeless out of public right away.

“I don’t know if you guys have been to downtown Richmond lately. It’s completely become an encampment, and our public safety professionals have their hands tied because of our local camping ordinance,” said Evans.

Evans said it was also important to invest in existing support services like the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program, better known as GRIP.

Specific to District 3, which includes the Iron Triangle and has been especially affected by pollution and air quality issues, Evans, Robinson and Singh were asked how they would approach environmental justice and air quality in the district.

Robinson and Evans said there were a number of contributors to pollution, including Chevron. Robinson added that “the complete collapse of public transportation” — the potential service cuts to BART and other agencies like AC Transit — is a big threat to air quality.

“The more people who are in individual cars driving on their own, the more air pollution there will be from the roads,” said Robinson.

While there is already monitoring of particulate matter from the Chevron refinery, Evans said that should be expanded to include monitoring of things like transportation.

This primary will culminate with Election Day on June 2; mail-in ballots will start going out to voters May 4.