Epidemiologist Flo Cofer, Assemblyman Kevin McCarty's race for Sacramento mayor remains too close to call
Sacramento's mayoral race remains too close to call fewer than three weeks before the winner is set to be sworn in.
Epidemiologist Flojaune Cofer and California Assemblymember Kevin McCarty, both Democrats, emerged from the March primary election as the top two candidates battling to succeed Darrell Steinberg as the next mayor of California's capital city.
The next mayor of Sacramento will be sworn in on December 10.
Cofer, who has a PhD in epidemiology, has never held public office and would be the first Black woman elected mayor of Sacramento if she wins. McCarty has served in the California Assembly since 2014. During this time, he has served as the chair of the Assembly's budget subcommittee on education finance.
Prior to his time at the state level, McCarty served on the Sacramento City Council for a decade beginning in 2004. Before that, he started his career in local politics as the city's housing and redevelopment commissioner.
Some of McCarty's bills signed into law as an Assembly member include legislation to expand universal access to transitional kindergarten, create a mandatory drug treatment pilot program for repeat offenders and require financial literacy courses as a high school graduation requirement.
In the pair's debate in September, McCarty, 52, touted his experience in politics in an attempt to differentiate himself from Cofer, 41, in the eyes of voters.
But it was Cofer who fared best among the six candidates in the March primary, receiving 28% of votes cast to McCarty's 22%.
After earning her PhD, Cofer began her career at the California Department of Public Health and currently serves as the senior policy director for the nonprofit Public Health Advocates.
Cofer has also worked as a policy advisor for various organizations in the Sacramento area, including the city Active Transportation Commission, the county Sheriff's Outreach Community Advisory Board and the Mayor's Commission on Climate Change.
Since she announced her candidacy, she has maintained that her priority in office would be on increasing community safety while also addressing housing and homelessness — issues that have also been a focus of McCarty's campaign.
In June, Steinberg announced a nearly 30% decrease in Sacramento's homeless population based on a point-in-time count performed in January.
Steinberg, 65, announced in May 2023 that he would not seek reelection for a third term, opening the door for Sacramento residents to elect their first new mayor in eight years. In his announcement, he said this would be the end of his local service and he was open to potentially serving again at the state level.
Before serving as Sacramento's mayor, Steinberg was president pro tempore of the California State Senate under two governors — Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown — from 2008 to 2014. Prior to that, Steinberg was a member of the state Assembly from 1998 to 2004.