Rep. Mike Thompson invites Sonoma County housing advocate, restaurateur to State of the Union address

A Sonoma County housing advocate and a restaurateur will be among Rep. Mike Thompson’s virtual guests at President Joe Biden’s first State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Jen Klose, the founding executive director of Generation Housing, and Sonu Chandi, owner of the Chandi Hospitality Group, will be introduced — along with four other guests — at a virtual press conference from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Thompson, D-St. Helena, will at that time also preview the president’s speech, which he said will “highlight the achievements and work still to be done” under Biden’s leadership.

The press conference will be available at Thompson’s Facebook page and questions may be submitted ahead of time to Jack.Stelzner@mail.house.gov.

Santa Rosa Fire Chief Scott Westrope will be California Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla’s virtual guest to highlight how federal infrastructure funding “will shore up California’s wildfire preparedness and change our response to disasters,” the senator tweeted.

Biden’s speech at 6 p.m. comes as he holds an approval rating around 41%, one of the worst coming at this point in his presidency in the polling era.

Klose heads an organization, founded in early 2020, that advocates for construction of 58,000 more homes in the county by 2030. She is a former Santa Rosa City Schools board president.

Chandi’s group operates eight Mountain Mike’s pizza restaurants in Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

The group closed three downtown Santa Rosa restaurants, including the popular Bollywood on Fourth Street, in 2020 as pandemic restrictions curbed the hospitality industry.

The other four guests are Nicole Hodge, owner of Provisions Café in Vallejo, Solano County; Karen Cakebread, founder of ZIATA Wines in Napa County; Madelene Lyon, former Lake County school board member; and Dr. William Walker, director of Contra Costa Health Services.

Thompson said his guests were “truly hometown heroes and heroines and represent the best of our communities” in the 5th Congressional District, which includes all of Napa and parts of Sonoma, Lake, Solano and Contra Costa counties.

You can reach Staff Writer Guy Kovner at 707-521-5457 or guy.kovner@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @guykovner.