AD-11 Candidate Recommendation

In the upcoming special election on April 5th, 2022 for Assembly District 11—the district encompassing Vacaville, Fairfield, and Suisun, and stretching southeast to Antioch and Brentwood—it’s not much of a competition. The special election has only one registered candidate, Suisun Mayor Lori D. Wilson. Given that the race is unopposed, we are providing background from our research on the registered candidate and how her experience and campaign agenda stacks against our mission and goals. We evaluated the candidate’s experience and positions against our criteria: 

  • The candidate’s alignment with TechEquity Action’s housing and labor policy platforms, including demonstrated support and/or clear plans to protect workers, produce more housing, preserve existing affordable housing, and protect tenants
  • The candidate’s alignment with TechEquity Action’s values, including their ability to work in partnership with community organizations, their willingness to take divergent stances that hold true to their policy ideals, and are explicitly anti-racist and center the needs of marginalized groups
  • The candidate’s effectiveness, demonstrating a strong track record of success in elected office and/or a clear, compelling, and concrete plan to win on our issues

 Over the last several years as places like Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco have grown and housing costs have increased, those who hope for a more affordable home are looking further afield. Cities within Assembly District 11 like Antioch and Suisun have been absorbing much of the exodus from the core of the region, given their comparatively affordable rents and home prices still within an hour of San Francisco. Because of this increase in new transplants, affordability still remains the biggest hurdle residents of this district can expect to face. 

As Mayor of Suisun, Lori D. Wilson has been an advocate for the production of affordable housing. Her goals are to ensure the rising unaffordability that has pushed middle-and low-income residents from San Francisco don’t, in turn, push out Suisun’s existing residents.  During her tenure as Mayor,  she vocalized a growing concern about the city’s struggle to stave off housing inequity, but she has also recognized that the rise in housing costs will significantly impact low-income families and push them out of the city. Under her Mayorship, she introduced and eventually broke ground on Marina Village, a housing development project that will offer 160 units to individuals and families earning 30-70% of the area’s median income. The Marina Village project significantly contributed to Suisun’s goal of producing more affordable housing units. This falls in alignment with our organization’s goals for producing more housing at all income levels while prioritizing affordable housing initiatives. 

Mayor Wilson’s day job as Director of Finance for KB Homes may provide her with a more in-depth understanding of the housing production process and costs. That said, expertise in housing production is only one part of the housing crisis. Her campaign platform lacks details or stated goals for protecting tenants and low-income residents in her community and throughout California.

Wilson was, however, supportive of the Community Action Partnership of Solano to provide aid to low-income families and those experiencing homelessness, mobilizing resources to provide shelter during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her work to serve constituents experiencing homelessness is laudable, but we believe one of the best ways to address the homelessness crisis is to prevent people from becoming homeless in the first place, by securing them in their current homes through strong tenant protections. Should Wilson ascend to the state legislature, we look forward to her having an opportunity to prove she is a reliable vote for tenants’ issues.   

Wilson’s platform also shows some promise in equipping the future workforce with the skills needed to access quality jobs in the tech sector, a core component of improving equity in labor. Under her leadership, Susiun acquired a $20,000 grant from First 5 California to help early childhood education programs access digital software for children, ensuring they are prepared for preschool and have early access to technology. We believe that we must create a social framework that prepares communities to eventually find entry points into good jobs. This program shows promise in meeting those goals. 

We believe that Wilson’s approach to affordable housing initiatives and vision to expand digital accessibility shows promise and is in alignment with our organization’s goals and mission. We look forward to partnering with Wilson to advocate for tenant protections and will hold our legislators accountable in supporting policies that protect renters.