AP: Jesse Arreguín wins race for East Bay state Senate seat

Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín is moving on to Sacramento. The Associated Press late Friday called the race for the state Senate seat representing Berkeley, Oakland, Richmond and other communities along the East Bay shoreline. Arreguín led AC Transit Director Jovanka Beckles 57.

3% to 42.8% from the race to replace termed-out Sen. Nancy Skinner.



The AP estimates 96% of votes from Senate District 7 have been counted. Neither Arreguín nor Beckles could be reached immediately for comment Friday night. Arreguín submitted a resignation letter to the city clerk’s office last week, stating his last day as Berkeley mayor will be Nov.

30. He and other state legislators will be sworn in Dec. 2.

Retiring Councilmember Susan Wengraf, who is Berkeley’s vice mayor, will become acting mayor until Arreguín’s replacement is sworn in; that will happen after the Alameda County Registrar of Voters certifies the election results on Dec. 5. Updated election results posted Friday afternoon show nonprofit consultant of Councilmember Sophie Hahn in that race.

Win ends two-decade career in city politics Arreguín’s ascent to the state Senate completes a two-decade rise through the ranks of Berkeley politics. First elected to the Rent Stabilization Board in 2004, Arreguín would go on to represent downtown Berkeley for eight years as a council member, then became the city’s when he was elected in 2016. His victory in that race, during which he championed an endorsement from Vermont Sen.

Bernie Sanders, for the progressive wing of Berkeley politics. But over his two terms as mayor, Arreguín executed a political pivot, most noticeable in what he describes as an “evolution” in his thinking about how to address the housing crisis. As a council member and in his first mayoral term, Arreguín pushed for development regulations that critics said would , fought a against “Yes In My Backyard” activists over a South Berkeley development and blasted a housing bill Skinner co-authored as “a against our neighborhoods.

” Over time, though, Arreguín came to embrace the view that cities need to build substantially more homes, even if they aren’t dedicated as affordable, to ease the Bay Area’s spiraling affordability crisis. In this year’s state Senate race, he touted endorsements from YIMBY groups and data showing a during his administration, while — which he once shared — that market-rate construction won’t improve affordability. California’s establishment Democrats, including Skinner and Gov.

Gavin Newsom, backed Arreguín in the race, as did big businesses and unions in the construction trades, while progressive groups sided with Beckles. That support helped Arreguín out-fundraise Beckles by a . Berkeley’s housing politics, meanwhile, appeared to shift with Arreguín, as YIMBY-backed candidates won seats on the City Council and developments that would have caused an uproar in years past, such as high-rise apartments soaring more than 20 stories above downtown, with .

What will a Trump era mean for Legislature? During the campaign, Arreguín laid out a long list of legislative priorities for his time in Sacramento that included bringing back the state’s pandemic-era emergency rental assistance program and changing insurance regulations in an effort to help homeowners in fire-prone areas like the East Bay Hills find affordable coverage. But it’s unclear how much Arreguín and other lawmakers will be able to focus on their personal priorities as California confronts budget deficits and Donald Trump’s return to the White House, which is already shaping the state’s legislative priorities. Newsom has on Dec.

2 for a special session to take up bills the governor says will “protect California values” ahead of Trump’s return to office. “Now more than ever, California is going to have to lead this country, and stand for our democracy and our progressive values, and not just resist but show the kind of transformational leadership this country needs,” Arreguín said during an interview at his Election Night watch party, as the results of the presidential race were becoming clear. “I’m ready to step up and help lead that effort.

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