Five candidates in the race to replace Sen. Aisha Wahab

Several Bay Area politicians are fighting for the open Senate District 10 seat this year as Sen. Aisha Wahab dukes it out for a spot in Capitol Hill.

The district covers the cities of Fremont, Newark, Union City, and parts of Hayward, Milpitas, Santa Clara and San Jose. Wahab is currently running to replace U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, who threw his hat into the governor’s race.

Candidates vying for the open Sacramento office include San Jose Councilmember David Cohen, Milpitas Mayor Carmen Montano, Chabot Las Positas Community College Board Trustee Harris Mojadedi, former Union City Vice Mayor Scott Sakakihara and former Assemblyman Paul Fong.

Most mentioned housing and affordability, and funding for education and health care as their top priorities. All have held, or currently hold, a publicly elected office and bring differing levels of experience to the table.

Sakakihara, 41, now a Union City councilmember, is a U.S. Navy Reserve officer who holds a degree from Harvard Law. He told this new organization his experience of being born and raised in the district, as well as his years on the council, give him an edge on the campaign trail.

“Politics is still local, and I think it’s critical for representatives to know their districts inside and out,” he said. “I’ve spent my whole life in this district.”

As a councilmember, he said he helped the city hire more police officers, expanded its fleet of electric buses and helped lower red tape for opening small businesses.

Sakakihara said he will fight to “streamline” development processes to build more affordable housing, stand against policies at the state and federal levels that target immigrant communities and other vulnerable populations, and will help developers build more homes that residents can afford to buy.

“I believe everyone should be able to afford to live in and raise a family in the area where they call home,” Sakakihara said.

Cohen, 57, served for 14 years as a Berryessa School Board member and six years on the San Jose Library Commission. He was first elected to represent District 4 on the San Jose City Council in 2020, and later won reelection in 2024. Cohen said District 10 needs “somebody who has a lot of experience getting things done for our neighbors and residents.”

“I’m the only candidate with experience in both education space and city governance who’s been recognized for solving problems by bringing people together,” Cohen said. “I think that the way things get done at all levels of government is through relationships. I’ve learned a lot about how to build those relationships.”

Cohen said as a state senator he will prioritize combatting homelessness and expanding funding to public education, as well as protecting people’s civil rights from unlawful persecution by the Trump administration’s immigration crackdowns.

“The state has to continue to support policies that protect our immigrants, our LGBT community members, our youth – from attacks that are making them vulnerable. The state has to continue to stand up and push back on these things,” Cohen said. “I think that I bring a unique experience of tech experience, education, governance experience and city governance experience that will serve the district well.”

Montano said she threw her hat in the ring to “make a huge difference in problem solving with the other senators.” She said she has done a “decent job” as a leader in her South Bay city and added, “I think I could take that to a higher level, a state level, and make our district one of the best districts in the state of California.”

One of her top priorities would be to further expand Proposition 36, she said, a statewide tough-on-crime bill that further criminalized repeat drug and theft offenders.

“I want to fund public safety, that’s number one. … A lot of people, especially small businesses, are being vandalized, robbed. And a lot of these are young adults,” Montano said. “Hopefully we can tackle (that issue), go back and bring some more funding to Prop. 36.”

She also said she wants to push to make homes more affordable.

“People say there’s a housing crisis. There is and there isn’t. The problem is, in Silicon Valley, it’s really hard for people to afford a house here, it’s so expensive,” Montano said.

She said she wants to help advocate for public policies that get cities more funding to solve their own issues instead of frontloading the county with government funds. And Montano wants to help advocate for policies that will raise child literacy rates within the district.

Mojadedi, a 35-year-old Union City resident and assistant dean at U.C. Berkeley, said his personal experience as a beneficiary of state and local social service programs make him a standout candidate.

“I’m a product of a social safety net program here in Alameda County,” Mojadedi said. “I’m a direct beneficiary of all of these programs that are really on the chopping block. … Those are the services and programs I’m going to fight for in the state legislature.”

He said he will fight to expand programs such as Medi-Cal and CalFresh, as well as housing assistance programs and incentives for first-time home buyers.

“What’s really important is that this is a working-class district,” Mojadedi said. “It needs a fighter in Sacramento, that knows what the struggle is, that knows how important it is to have a government that works for everyone.”

Fong did not return requests for comment for this story. He was previously elected to the California Assembly to represent District 22, and won reelection in 2010. He later won election in 2012 to serve District 28 in the Assembly, until losing reelection in 2014.