State Senate District 3 (white area of map) includes the city of Sonoma and El Verano.
An experienced legislator and lifelong Democrat, Mariko Yamada served in the Assembly from 2008-2014. She worked 40 years as a social worker, and she has distinguished herself as a champion of the aging, education and the environment.
Tellingly, her campaign is not supported by huge corporate interests, while her District 3 opponent Bill Dodd has garnered more than $3 million from the likes of Chevron, Philip Morris and Monsanto, the maker of RoundUp and other pesticides.
What will the big donors expect from Dodd, the ex-Republican who couldn’t be bothered to finish out his first Assembly term before moving on to greener, more influential pastures?
Before being termed out of office, Yamada, whose district included the Sonoma Valley, served as Chair of the Assembly Aging and Long Term Care Committee for five years; and was the senior member on the Assembly Committees on Agriculture; Water, Parks & Wildlife; and Veterans Affairs.
An unabashed liberal, she supports overtime pay for farm workers (Dodd opposed it), banning GMO foods, universal preschool and free community college, extending the Prop. 30 tax on the super-rich, open space, and care and safety for seniors. It’s a strong checklist.
And she’s a fighter. Born to parents who spent time in a Japanese-American internment camp, she attended inner-city public schools and was the first in her family to graduate from college – a background that informed her advocacy on issues affecting the poor and vulnerable.
The Sun recommends Mariko Yamada for State Senate.
–Sun Editorial Board
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