Bay Area state senator adds her name to the growing list of candidates hoping to replace Eric Swalwell

DUBLIN — The number of candidates hoping to fill Eric Swalwell’s East Bay congressional seat keeps growing.

This week, state Sen. Aisha Wahab, D-Fremont, officially added her name to the list, declaring her candidacy in an exclusive interview with this news organization. She said that if elected, her familiarity with the district’s issues will allow her to hit the ground running.

“This is my home. I know it really well. I understand the issues, I understand the communities,” Wahab said of District 14. “The honest truth is we need somebody that is able to go to congress that can start the work from day one.”

Wahab’s entry into the race brings the total number of candidates to five; BART Board President Melissa Hernandez, independent businessman Matt Ortega, immigration attorney Abrar Qadir and retired tech executive Wendy Huang — the lone Republican candidate — had previously announced their bids to replace Swalwell, who is running in California’s gubernatorial race this year.

The race to represent residents of southern and eastern Alameda County — from the Tri-Valley to the Tri-Cities — hasn’t been this wide open since 2012, when Swalwell defeated Rep. Pete Stark in an upset victory that ended Stark’s 40-year congressional career.

Swalwell will exit Washington D.C. as a six-term politician who approached congressional committee hearings in the style he honed as an Alameda County prosecutor. Most prominently, he established himself as a critic of President Donald Trump’s first administration, especially as the impeachment manager in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

Swalwell has not endorsed a candidate to replace him yet. The filing deadline is March 6, before a primary election held June 2. Whoever the top two vote-getters are will face off in November, regardless of party.

Hernandez, 50, spent a dozen years on the Dublin City Council, and was the city’s first Latina mayor, as well as the first Latina to serve on the BART Board of Directors. Wahab, 39, was elected to Hayward City Council in 2018, before becoming the state senator for District 10 in 2022, representing Fremont, Hayward, Newark, Union City, Alameda and parts of the South Bay.

Wahab said she will continue to “fight for the regular person.” A current renter in Hayward, she named housing affordability and stability as her top priority and said she wants to help people be able to buy their first home.

In Sacramento, Wahab said she’s focused her attention on bills to go after “bad actor” landlords and legislation aiming to relieve mounting healthcare costs for the working class. As someone who grew up in the Alameda County foster care system, she has been vocal about a state audit that criticized the county for failing to investigate alleged child abuse and neglect in foster homes.

Attending to the needs of the growing senior citizen population in the district, as well as crafting a response to the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigrants in the East Bay are also among her priorities.

“I don’t really do anything for show. I care about substance, I care about getting stuff done,” Wahab said. “The only divide is top and bottom. It is not about what language you speak, where you were born, how educated you are, how wealthy you are. We need to make sure we balance that power.”

Hernandez — Wahab’s most politically experienced competitor — told this news organization this week she is not afraid of a campaign challenge.

“No one has more experience at the city and county level (than me). I’m absolutely ready for Congress ” said Hernandez, who grew up in a large family, first in Texas and later in California, as one of seven children to migrant farmworker parents.

Hernandez currently works as an aide to Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert, and also served as chairwoman of the Livermore-Amador Valley Transit Authority, Tri Valley/San Joaquin Valley Regional Transportation Authority and the Finance Committee of the Alameda County Transportation Commission.

“As mayor of Dublin, as someone who works for the county in healthcare and social services, and president of the BART Board, I have been working directly with residents in our community to provide services and opportunities to help them get ahead and thrive,” Hernandez said. “This work, combined with my leadership and my relationships I have built throughout the years gives me the experience to be an effective member of Congress for everyone.”

If elected to Congress, Hernandez said her top priorities are housing affordability and better access to public transportation and healthcare.

“Washington is broken,” Hernandez said. “I see how Trump is cutting the social safety net and funding for projects, and instead giving our tax dollars to billionaires. Congress is out of touch and barely working, so I’m ready to put in the hard work and tackle our toughest issues to ensure that when you work hard, you can get ahead.”

Ortega, an independent businessman and digital marketing consultant who grew up in Hayward and attended Danville’s San Ramon Valley High School, said he brings experience as a union worker and political organizer for the Campaign Workers Guild. He started his own business — E23 Digital — which was named after the East Oakland street where his grandparents lived during his childhood.

The 41-year-old previously worked for Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign when he lived briefly in Brooklyn, and also worked for Beto O’Rourke’s 2020 presidential campaign when he briefly lived in Washington, D.C.

A father of two sons, Ortega said he plans to champion issues of immigration and housing affordability if elected to Congress.

“As a father, I don’t want to rely on anyone else to protect my sons,” Ortega said. “Obviously Donald Trump has exposed a lot of cracks and fissures, but those predate him. I want to lay out a foundation for what we need to do to shore up democracy.”

Huang, 54, a Taiwanese immigrant who has lived in the U.S. for about 40 years, is running as the only Republican candidate.

She said residents are tired of politicians who will not protect constitutional rights, and that she plans to show representatives how to “go back to the basics, constitutionally and morally.” She added that “we have enough laws” in this country, and would not be interested in proposing many more if elected.

“There are enough bills out there. There are enough laws on the books. We just need courage,” Huang said. “Regardless of who’s the president, if the president is willing to implement what is written in our constitution, I’m fine with it.”

Qadir did not return requests for comment. According to his campaign website, he is an immigration attorney who grew up in Pleasanton and is campaigning to be “a fresh voice for the new direction of the Democratic Party.”