Sacramento vs. the suburb? Attack ads shape Elk Grove Assembly race into council member duel

Sacramento and Elk Grove are going head-to-head as Assembly candidates compete for a chance to represent the suburb and the south end of the city in a newly-redrawn district that’s up for grabs.

Multiple candidates are seeking to replace outgoing District 9 Assemblyman Jim Cooper, who decided to run for sheriff of Sacramento County after Scott Jones announced retirement plans.

The top contenders are Sacramento City Councilman Eric Guerra, Elk Grove City Councilwoman Stephanie Nguyen and Tecoy Porter, a Sacramento pastor.

State redistricting turned the former District 9 into District 10, shifting its boundaries to remove Galt and Lodi to the south and to include more of Sacramento to the north.

The new geography has led to what the Elk Grove News has called a “proxy war” between Sacramento and Elk Grove as Guerra and Nguyen become the front-runners.

Fundraising and political action committee (PAC) activity suggest those two candidates will likely emerge from the June 7 primary as the top two vote-getters, meaning they’ll face off again during the November general election.

But Porter doesn’t want voters to count him out, either. He sees himself as an alternative to the contentious political battle shaping up between Guerra and Nguyen.

“To me, it’s status quo that you do see there,” Porter said. “Let them duke it out, and we’ll slip on in. As a grassroots campaign, we understand that, and we’re just trying to give voice to those who are not part of that political ecosystem.”

Who are Guerra, Nguyen and Porter?

Guerra and Nguyen have both been involved in Sacramento-area politics for some time, while Porter is running his first campaign. All three candidates are Democrats.

Guerra — who has represented District 6 in the southeastern corner of Sacramento since 2015 — previously planned to run for State Senate but changed plans to join the Assembly race after redistricting situated his neighborhood within the AD 10 boundaries.

Nguyen won her District 4 seat on the Elk Grove City Council in November 2018. She’s also the executive director of Asian Resources, Inc., a nonprofit that serves Sacramento-area immigrants and refugees.

Porter, who leads Genesis Church in Sacramento, is also a community leader. He became more politically active after the March 2018 police shooting of Stephon Clark, which occurred right down the street from his church.

So far, Guerra and Nguyen have raised far more money than Porter. Both have taken in hundreds of thousands of dollars during the 2021-2022 cycle, according to campaign finance filings with the Secretary of State.

Porter has raised closer to $30,000 during the same cycle.

Guerra and Nguyen have also gotten support or faced opposition from various PACs, while Porter has remained out of that fray. Several PACs have contributed to independent expenditures for ads backing or attacking Guerra and Nguyen with no campaign involvement.

Housing Providers for Responsible Solutions — a PAC supported by the California Apartment Association and the California Association of Realtors — has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars supporting Guerra and attacking Nguyen. Guerra is also backed by Families and Teachers United, a charter school PAC.

These and other PACs have spent more than $350,000 supporting Guerra with television ads, mailers and more. They’ve also contributed more than $100,000 to campaigns opposing Nguyen.

Guerra isn’t currently facing any independent expenditures from PACs opposing him.

Nguyen has gotten nearly $197,000 in PAC support, primarily from two different groups. The Asian Pacific Islander PAC — which lists PG&E, Geico, Amazon the California Nurses Association and other interests among its contributors — has backed Nguyen.

The campaign for Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Campbell, has also supported Nguyen through donations to a PAC called Leaders for a California Recovery.

Attack ads heat up District 10 race

The Assembly District 10 race began heating up with an attack ad against Guerra.

“We don’t need Sacramento politicians representing Elk Grove,” said the mailer, as reported by the Elk Grove News. It featured an image of homeless encampments in Sacramento juxtaposed with a carefully manicured Elk Grove park.

The flip side had the question “Significant strides?” over another photo of a homeless encampment. A photo of Guerra above the image is situated alongside a quote in which he says Sacramento has made “significant strides in help get our most vulnerable residents off the streets and into permanent housing.”

Sacramento Bee headlines across from the quote discuss a growing number of homeless encampments in the city, as well as the deaths of unhoused people.

Andrew Acosta, Nguyen’s political consultant, said he thinks the picture the ad paints is accurate and that Guerra hasn’t done enough on the Sacramento City Council to address homelessness.

“You drive from Elk Grove into Sacramento, and there’s no homeless in Elk Grove,” Acosta said. “You cross into Sacramento, and there’s a bunch of homeless. So that’s what voters are seeing every day. Every poll I’ve seen says the same thing — it’s a big issue. And he’s on the City Council. He’s been on the City Council for a number of years. And I don’t think his record on dealing with the issue is something to be proud of.”

Michael Terris, a Guerra spokesman, said the back-and-forth about homelessness isn’t productive.

“It’s easy for people to finger-point about homelessness, but that doesn’t solve the problem,” Terris said. “And Eric has rolled up his sleeves to try and solve the problem.”

Nguyen has recently faced attack mailers, as well.

The Housing Providers for Responsible Solutions PAC paid for an ad showing a large photo of Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones with an image of former President Donald Trump in the background.

The mailer tries to connect Trump to Jones and Nguyen, saying “Scott Jones stood with Trump to attack Sacramento’s laws protecting immigrants ... and then Stephanie Nguyen endorsed him.”

The other side of the mailer aligns Guerra with abortion rights and says he’s “the only candidate endorsed by Planned Parenthood advocates.”

Acosta called the ads “a joke” and said Nguyen’s record as an immigrant advocate is clear.

“Stephanie gets up every day and helps immigrant families,” he said. “That’s what she does. That’s her job as a resource center.”

Terris said interest groups are getting more involved as the race tightens and seem to be “stoking that fire” between Guerra and Nguyen.

“I think just by money raised, it’s pretty clear that the two of them are the front runners in this race, are likely to be the front runners in this race,” he said. “And as it gets closer to election time, things do tend to heat up in races.”