By Joy Watson
The drive from Richmond to Marin County is, like most of the Bay Area, full of contrasts that are oftentimes uncomfortable. The busy and brightly colored store fronts of my neighborhood in San Pablo fade quickly into shades of gray- concrete, rubble, chain-link, rusted mobile homes and abandoned mattresses that hug empty sidewalks. Approaching the Richmond Bridge, the MCE solar farm gleams black in the sunlight, right down the street to a chemical plant and the Chevron refinery — the very one that spilled 600 gallons of petroleum products into the San Francisco Bay on Feb. 11.
…
Dear Representative Khanna,
We are the Silicon Valley Chapter of the nationwide Sunrise Movement. As climate justice organizers, we understand the need for urgent action to address the climate crises that are already devastating our communities. We believe in environmental, economic, and social justice — not just because they are morally imperative, but because we believe the pursuit of these ideals both strengthens our democracy and the Democratic Party’s ability to deliver positive results to the American public. We have no more time to lose. In the spirit of President Biden’s Build Back Better Plan, we are strongly encouraging support…
We are facing cascading crises and need bold government action to address them. No more excuses, no more compromises.
Dear Madam Speaker,
We are the Bay Area Chapter of the nationwide Sunrise Movement. As climate justice organizers, we understand the need for urgent action to address the climate crises that are already devastating our communities. We believe in environmental, economic, and social justice — not just because they are morally imperative, but because we believe the pursuit of these ideals both strengthens our democracy and the Democratic Party’s ability to deliver positive results to the American public. We have no…
Yesterday, Gavin Newsom appointed Alex Padilla to fill Vice President-elect Kamala Harris’ seat in the U.S. Senate. This appointment was only possible because young people of color — motivated by climate and environmental justice — mobilized to power the Biden-Harris victory. Our movement’s vision has long been popular with the vast majority of Californians, making this appointment a key opportunity to bring a bold progressive voice to the Senate.
We recognize the significance of the appointment of California’s first Latinx Senator — long overdue given the State’s demographics. Nevertheless, Alex Padilla will have to represent young people of color not…
December 9, 2020
Dear Governor Newsom,
This year, young people — especially youth of color — voted in record numbers to deliver Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’s victory. Sunrise Movement alone contacted 3.5 million unique voters in Arizona, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, mobilizing our generation to secure the Democrats’ margin. In Arizona, where Trump lost by less than 12,000 votes, California Sunrise hubs knocked on over 3,000 doors and made over 45,000 calls to young voters of color — a group that broke decisively for Biden-Harris. Across the country, young (18–29 year old) Latinx voters supported Biden-Harris by a 49%…
SILICON VALLEY FEDERAL LEVEL RACES
US Representative — District 17
Sunnyvale, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Milpitas, Newark, Fremont, North SJ
Candidates: Ro Khanna (D — Incumbent) & Ritesh Tandon (R)
Sunrise SV does not officially endorse anyone in this race but supports the vote for Ro Khanna — Khanna was an original cosponsor of the GND in the house and supports a number of other progressive issues in alignment with the Sunrise Movement.
US Representative — District 18
PA, Stanford, Los Altos, Mountain View, Campbell, Saratoga, Los Gatos, Scotts Valley, Menlo Park, Redwood City, SJ (parts)
Candidates: Anna Eshoo (D —…
Mayor
Jesse Arreguín (incumbent): Arreguín, who has served as Berkeley’s mayor since 2016, supports a Green New Deal for Berkeley and takes a generational approach to climate change. He has approved militarized training for the Berkeley Police Department (BPD), and he states he is looking to reduce the city’s police budget, but offered a smaller counter proposal to councilmember Cheryl Davila’s bill that would have defunded the police department by 50%. His other priorities include creating affordable housing in Berkeley and keeping tenants housed; he helped lead the effort to create an eviction moratorium during the Covid crisis among other…
City Council
City council members are elected by district. Find out which district you live in by clicking here.
City Council, At-Large
Rebecca Kaplan (incumbent): First elected in 2008, Kaplan has held the at-large seat of Oakland’s City Council for 11 years. Prior to serving as a council member, she worked as a housing rights attorney. She sits on the Alameda County Transportation Commission and was involved with the No Coal in Oakland campaign. Though she initially sided with the more conservative side of the council regarding policing, supporting minimal reform rather than defunding, she reversed her position after community…
U.S. Representatives
Most neighborhoods in San Francisco fall into District 12, but some in the south west are part of District 14. Both districts’ representatives are up for reelection this fall. Click here to find out which district you live in!
District 12
Shahid Buttar: Buttar is a progressive candidate who centers the Green New Deal in his climate policy proposals, advocates for housing as a human right and wants to abolish ICE. In July, some of Buttar’s former staff came forward with unsubstantiated claims of sexual harassment. Since then, Buttar has denied these allegations; some women revoked their accusations…
We’re the Bay Area hub of Sunrise Movement — building an army of young people to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.