Santa Rosa Councilman Chris Rogers joins race for Jim Wood’s Assembly seat

Santa Rosa Council member Chris Rogers announced Monday he’s running for State Assemblyman Jim Wood’s 2nd District seat, joining a race that has already attracted several other fellow Democrats.

Rogers filed nomination papers last week and formally launched his campaign with a message to voters Monday.

Rogers, 36, was first elected to the City Council in 2016 and reelected in 2020 to represent District 5, which includes parts of central and west Santa Rosa. He was chosen by his council colleagues in 2020 as the city’s youngest mayor at 33 and helped lead the city through disaster response and recovery from the 2017 and 2020 fires and the COVID-19 pandemic.

With Wood’s sudden announcement early this month that he wouldn’t run for a final term, Rogers said he’s spent the last week and a half calling and meeting with supporters to weigh his options.

The politically connected former legislative aide said his experience working across the North Coast and in Santa Rosa have prepared him for the job and he’s already gained a broad range of support from sitting and former local and state elected officials.

“I’m going to run because I believe the North Coast deserves a representative that has worked hard and delivers for the people who we work for,” he said in a Friday interview. “Over the last seven years I’ve helped lead our community through unimaginable tragedy, fires, drought, the pandemic, and having a local voice that has actively led on those issues matters in Sacramento.”

That track record and ability to build trust with voters through a ground-level campaign will be critical with such a short runway before the March 5 primary election, Rogers said.

The 2nd District stretches from the northern half of Santa Rosa to the Oregon border, including Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity and Del Norte counties.

Healdsburg Mayor Ariel Kelly and Mendocino County Supervisor Ted Williams, both Democrats, announced last week they were seeking the seat.

Rogers was born and raised in Sonoma County and lives in the Burbank Gardens neighborhood with his wife.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in political science at UC Santa Barbara and received his master’s in public administration from Sonoma State University.

His interest in politics piqued at an early age after seeing his mother, who founded the Rohnert Park-based Early Learning Institute, a nonprofit that supports young children and families, advocate for those most vulnerable in the community, he said.

At 18 he went to work as an intern for then-Rep. Lynn Woolsey and later worked as a senior district representative for Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, when McGuire won a seat in Sacramento in 2014.

During his time on council, Rogers spearheaded a package of programs to address poverty through affordable child care, children’s savings account and a guaranteed income program and supported a down-payment assistance program for first time homebuyers.

He said he’s worked to improve the city’s resiliency to climate impacts, boost water resources and address housing and homelessness. He also touted his budgetary experience and said the city set aside money for a fiscal stabilization fund under his leadership.

“One hundred days from now when the March primary is here I feel very good about the things I’ve been able to accomplish with my colleagues on the City Council, as a community and I think telling that story will resonate with the community and will matter,” he said.

He’s driven the length of the district through his work in McGuire’s office and said he plans to continue traveling to meet with constituents and elected officials to learn firsthand what the needs are in each community. He plans to spend three days this week and two next week meeting with residents and officials in Mendocino and Humboldt counties.

Rogers said a one-size-fits-all approach to legislating won’t work in the 2nd District and he pointed to his work as chair of the countywide transportation and climate protection agency as an example of how he can equitably advocate for the needs of smaller communities and urban areas.

In addition to Kelley and Williams, Rusty Hicks, chair of the California Democratic Party, is expected to announce his candidacy soon.

On the Republican side, Michael Greer, a board member of the Del Norte Unified School District, submitted nomination papers last week and has been endorsed by the Sonoma County Republican Party.

Sonoma State University political scientist David McCuan previously told The Press Democrat that spending in the campaign could approach the $2 million mark, not counting independent expenditures, with several strong Democrats vying for the seat.

Rogers declined to say how much he anticipates raising, however, he said money won’t necessarily win the race.

“We know Sacramento wants to play in this race, there will be money in this race, but we also know that money only matters if you have a winning message and voters won’t be fooled,” he said. “We will have enough resources to compete and we will build a ground coalition that is going to be everywhere.”

Door knocking and having real conversations with voters about their concerns is what helped propel him to the council in 2016 in a race that included four incumbents and saw considerable money in the race. He’s continued to remain approachable during his time on council, hosting open office hours, posting up at the Wednesday Night Market to meet with visitors and meeting with residents virtually during the pandemic.

That same effort will help him in the state race, Rogers said.

His announcement Monday included more than 50 endorsements from sitting and retired local school boards members, the majority of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, council members across the region, state lawmakers, including Assemblymember Damon Connolly, D-San Rafael, and Woolsey.

He’s also received early support from two prominent unions, Teamsters Local 665, which represents more than 7,000 delivery drivers and workers in other transit-oriented jobs, and IBEW Local 551, which represents electrical workers from Marin to Del Norte counties.

Sonoma County Supervisor Chris Coursey, Rogers’ former City Council colleague and supporter, described him as one of the hardest working people he knows, always prepared and on top of the issues. Rogers is accessible to his peers and constituents, which Coursey said also is a mark of a good leader.

It will take hard work to win in the March primary in such a short time but Rogers’ record on issues important across the district and his ground-level campaigning will help bolster him to the general election, the supervisor said.

“It’s a big district and it takes a lot of energy and effort to cover that district and that’s where you have to look back at how Chris has campaigned in the past,” Coursey said. “He’s never been the person with the most money but he’s been the person with the most sweat-equity in the campaign.”

You can reach Staff Writer Paulina Pineda at 707-521-5268 or paulina.pineda@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @paulinapineda22.