These two Senate District 9 primary candidates are a lock for November

Two candidates, both Democrats, are squaring off to represent state Senate District 9 — a recently redistricted community that will say goodbye to incumbent Steve Glazer who did not run for reelection due to term limits.

Assemblyman Tim Grayson, who has spent eight years in his current role within the state Legislature, is up against San Ramon Councilmember Marisol Rubio, a one-year council member who is now running her second campaign for this same Senate district, after failing to make the runoff in the March 2020 primary.

Notably, both Grayson and Rubio are poised to move forward to the November election as the only two candidates vying for the seat.

The district, which spans Martinez, Concord, Antioch, Brentwood and large swaths of unincorporated Contra Costa County, is home to more than a half-million residents who face a wide range of issues regarding access to housing, the cost of living and public safety.

During his past two terms in the state Assembly, Tim Grayson — the son of a Teamster union member and public transit worker — has boasted about his past efforts to ease affordable housing construction near transit hubs, boost green energy job opportunities in Contra Costa County and challenging “big banks and pharmaceutical companies.” Additionally, the 57-year-old has been critical of proposals to construct a water tunnel under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta as well as Metropolitan Transporation Commission’s efforts to ask voters to approve another tax increase in 2026.

“Californians are struggling to keep pace with rising inflation and skyrocketing housing costs,” Grayson said in a campaign announcement. “I’ll stand up for them in the state Senate and expand on the work I did to stand up for middle-class Californians.”

Prior to being elected to represent District 15 in the California Assembly, Grayson was a general building contractor and small business owner before being elected to the Concord City Council in 2010 and 2014, including a stint as the appointed mayor. He also works as a police chaplain and serves as a bi-vocational pastor of Lifepoint Church in Concord, which was formerly named Calvary Apostolic Church.

Grayson’s list of endorsements includes the Planned Parenthood Northern California Action Fund, the California Labor Federation, the state treasurer, the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California and the California Federation of Teachers.

Marisol Rubio pointed to her three decades of social justice advocacy work as proof that she has the skills necessary to represent some of the most at-risk residents of District 9 — ranging from caretakers navigating complex health care challenges to neighborhoods bearing the brunt of consequences associated with climate change to refinery workers awaiting looming transitions to green technologies.

Prior to being elected to the San Ramon City Council in November 2022, the 50-year-old held leadership roles with the Dublin San Ramon Services District and Central Contra Costa Sanitary District, in addition to being a board member at Sierra Club California and its San Francisco Bay chapter, as well as nonprofits dedicated to women’s reproductive rights and developmental disabilities.

Some critics have questioned Rubio’s short tenure on smaller, local boards before running for a statewide position, but she argues that several successfully elected officials have not had any experience before they entered office; rather, she said she’s determined to utilize her experiences and skills to help as many people as possible.

Specifically, she said she thinks her past training in neurobiology, current civic duties, and first-hand experience pushing through adversity — especially as one of the few Latina elected officials in the region — has given her a unique perspective to help the scores of families dealing with the chronic housing, job and economic stresses weighing on many East Bay residents.

“I’m trying to help families today that have been struggling for years, if not decades, like I have been — the reality is they needed help yesterday,” Rubio said. “If I know I can make a difference in those people’s lives today, why would I make them wait another four years or more?”

Alongside endorsements from organizations like the California Teachers Association, Service Employees International Union of California and Contra Costa Young Democrats, she has been backed by Rep. Ro Khanna and several local city councils, school boards and labor groups — connections that she said illustrate her local roots, rather than “establishment” or well-funded sources.

“The reality is, yes, he has a lot more political power and money than I do, but I do believe that the people of California Senate District 9 will see through that because I have the community behind me,” Rubio said. “That’s much more powerful than trying to buy an election.”