DeSaulnier faces off against Oakley Republican leader
CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA (Oct. 24, 2024) — The two candidates for the seat in Congressional District 10 have one thing in common: Both Mark DeSaulnier and Katherine Piccinini state that they will put people first.
That’s an admirable goal, but the candidates couldn’t be more different.
DeSaulnier is almost a household word in the Diablo Valley, serving the public for 30 years as a Concord City Councilmember, in the state Legislature and now as Congressman.
The Democrat prides himself of being a man of the people, stopping to chat with constituents on his memorable morning jogs through Concord and Clayton, and more recently as a cancer survivor.
Since coming to Congress, he has authored more than 143 initiatives that have been passed in the House of Representatives and 73 initiatives that have been signed into law.
As for issues? “The Bay Area ranks 15th worldwide for traffic congestion, with drivers spending an average of 97 hours in traffic in 2022,” he says. “This congestion results in megacommutes for many of the people I represent, which in turn leads to less time at home with their families or in their communities, lessening their quality of life. As a senior member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, I have worked and continue to work to address these challenges.”
In Congress, he was part of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee that passed the largest investment in the nation’s history to improve the state’s roads and bridges, improve public transportation and create green jobs.
“This bill brought over $20 billion to California, including $15.2 billion for transportation.,” DeSaulnier says. “I have also authored bills that would help create walkable, safe, affordable and less car-dependent communities by tying land-use and transit together, including the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Support Act and the Incentivizing Value Capture for Greener Transportation Act, and I will continue to push for their passage in the next Congress. This builds on work I did earlier in my career to establish the fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel to relieve traffic.”
While DeSaulnier continues to lead the Congressional crossing guards, Republican Piccinini’s platform is vaguer. The Pioneer repeatedly tried to reach her via phone and email with no response.
Her campaign page says that she will 1) pledge to campaign on “Traditional and Patriotic values of God, Family, Life and Country against the Biden-supporting incumbent Mark DeSaulnier,” and 2) “will be unwavering in my pursuit of Truth and Freedoms for We the People. Your issues will be my issues as we continue Putting People First.”
The Oakley grandmother previously ran in 2022 as a write-in candidate for this position. She earned 1,638 votes in a 20-day campaign – a record for Congressional Republican write-in votes since 2012. It was enough to get her name on the General Election ballot, where she lost to DeSaulnier.
Peggy Spear
Peggy Spear is a journalist and frequent contributor to the Pioneer.