What does Kevin McCarty want for Sacramento? These are the mayor-elect’s top priorities
The Kevin McCarty era in Sacramento began with a vow not to leave anyone behind.
McCarty, the Sacramento state assemblymember and former city councilmember, will be sworn in next week as the city’s 57th mayor, and just the second Black mayor in its 174-year history.
“I’m ready to make sure we’re a mayor for everybody, every neighborhood, every individual,” McCarty told reporters at Sacramento City Hall in his first remarks after declaring victory last week. “A mayor that brings people together and that doesn’t leave neighborhoods or people behind.”
Sacramento’s Black voters made their voices heard this election and are holding him to that, he said.
“Especially in neighborhoods that are economically challenged, suffering from decades of underinvestment and blight, the residents I spoke to said, ‘Don’t forget about us,’” McCarty said.
That means neighborhoods from Del Paso Heights to the north to south Sacramento’s Meadowview must have the chance to share in the city’s success, whether that translates to economic development, opening new businesses, or creating new jobs, McCarty said.
“Whether it’s Del Paso Boulevard or Northgate or Stockton Boulevard or Meadowview, those are key areas that we’re not going to forget,” McCarty said. “I’m already engaging with council members so that we’re focusing on the entire city of Sacramento.”
Close contest
For the first time in Sacramento, two Black candidates faced off head-to-head for the chance to lead the city: veteran lawmaker McCarty and public health professional and political newcomer Flojaune Cofer, whose spirited, skillful campaign outdistanced primary candidates with far more name recognition and gained broad city-wide support.
The race to become Sacramento mayor turned out to be the narrowest mayoral contest in more than 25 years. McCarty held a 2,600-vote lead over Cofer, with nearly 188,000 ballots cast, when he declared victory last week.
Sacramento County elections officials conducted their final count Tuesday: The tally showed McCarty with 50.51% of the 190,923 ballots counted; Cofer had secured 49.49%, a mere 1,941 votes behind McCarty.
McCarty, D-Sacramento, represented the capital city in the state Legislature where he was an important voice for education and for police reform in the wake of George Floyd’s killing at the hands of Minneapolis police that sparked a national reckoning on race.
“We had this reconciliation in 2020 — I call it the Summer of George Floyd — that Black Americans and Black Californians and Black Sacramentans are too often left behind,” McCarty said in an interview following his City Hall remarks.
McCarty was a member of the influential California Legislative Black Caucus where his bill to expand career technical education opportunities in Black and brown communities was among the package of historic reparations bills carried by the Caucus earlier this year. “It’s in my work,” he said of his legislative efforts on behalf of Black and brown Californians at a September candidates’ forum.
“Whether it’s public policy or housing or homelessness and public safety — it’s not always equal. The numbers speak for themselves,” McCarty said. “So to be mindful and acknowledge that, we’ll look for policies that help remedy those issues. That’s what I’ll attempt to do as mayor.”
Those prescriptions will get an early airing. Plans to stimulate the city’s economy and survey its homelessness response are stated priorities.
‘Streamline Sacramento’ and homeless response
McCarty’s plan to “Streamline Sacramento” envisions bringing more jobs, housing and businesses to the city. A 12-member team to be led by Councilmember-elect Phil Pluckebaum will solicit ideas and draw up an initial plan to streamline development, stimulate the economy and build housing.
McCarty will also launch an audit of the city’s homelessness response. Voters, he said, “want a more coordinated response and more efficiently and effectively spending our scarce dollars.” McCarty said he and Pluckebaum took a recent fact-finding trip to San Antonio, Texas, a city that had seen success in addressing homelessness through the city’s Haven for Hope transitional shelter campus.
McCarty said he will authorize an audit “on day one to come back and see where we are spending our money, focusing on results and services and getting people off of our streets.”
During a nearly two-year-long campaign, McCarty said he wants the city to open more homeless shelters where people can sleep in tiny homes, trailers or tents as they await permanent housing. He suggested the city explore opening such so-called Safe Ground sites at Cal Expo, a city-owned 100-acre property in Meadowview, and a small vacant city property in North Sacramento.
McCarty has said the city should enforce the U.S. Supreme Court’s Grants Pass ruling, meaning the city should move homeless people off public land even when a shelter bed isn’t available — something he differed from Cofer on. He has said he wants to place an item about homelessness on every single City Council meeting agenda. In recent months, agendas often have not contained a homelessness item.
On police, McCarty said he wants the city to hire more police officers, but not immediately, as the city is currently facing a projected roughly $77 million deficit for the fiscal year that starts July 1. He has also said he wants to work on increasing accountability and transparency in the department.
‘Equitable opportunity’
Leaders such as the Sacramento NAACP’s Ardell Harrison have said the next mayor must create more economic opportunity for Black and brown Sacramento residents; while addressing the city’s homelessness crisis and providing more affordable housing.
Both issues were key planks of McCarty and Cofer’s campaigns on the way to their neck-and-neck finish and both homelessness and accessing affordable housing significantly affect Black Sacramentans.
Nearly seven in 10 Black residents in the Sacramento region say they struggle to afford mortgages or rent, according to Sacramento regional think tank Valley Vision. Residents pointed to rising home prices and rental costs.
Meantime, more than one-third of Sacramento’s homeless population is Black, according to a 2024 University of California, San Francisco, report, roughly three times the percentage of Black residents in the city.
Tecoy Porter is pastor of the influential Genesis Church Sacramento in Meadowview. The California state director of the civil rights and political action organization National Action Network, Porter ran for the California state Senate in 2022 on a platform of equity and economic recovery that earned the endorsement of California Secretary of State Shirley Weber.
“He’s entirely right as far as seeking equitable opportunity,” Porter said. “We want a thriving business community and that is what a downtown normally is,” Porter said. “But you have to make sure that Oak Park and Meadowview (share in that). Equitable opportunity, that’s what Black Sacramentans want, so that it’s not business as usual.”
Meadowview is also home to the Meadowview Navigation Center, the 24-hour shelter for women experiencing homelessness.
“Meadowview has one of the largest homeless shelters in the city. We’re doing our part, but we can’t be the solution for the whole city,” Porter said. “We want it to be a city-wide, collaborative effort.”
Porter said McCarty must now turn his attention to Black voters who checked Cofer’s name at the ballot box, many from the same Sacramento neighborhoods McCarty promises not to leave behind.
“McCarty has a real opportunity to reach out to Black Sacramentans — there’s an opportunity to deepen the relationship. Our issues are the same issues” as those elsewhere in Sacramento, Porter said. “We need to get to know our newly elected mayor.”
‘Chance to thrive in our great city’
Coalition building was a key element of McCarty’s campaign. He’d won the endorsements of sitting Mayor Darrell Steinberg, former city council members and local business organizations including the Sacramento Asian Chamber of Commerce.
But he and Cofer, the two progressive candidates in a mayoral race that included former state Senator Richard Pan and former Sacramento city council member Steve Hansen, also drew strong support from neighborhoods and voters previously disengaged and disconnected from politics. Turnout maps tell the story, Cofer carrying the day in Oak Park, Meadowview and Valley Hi; McCarty strong in Del Paso Heights.
“I certainly learned a lot talking to hundreds, if not thousands of voters over the last two years. They want change,” McCarty said. “I believe in everybody, that everybody has the chance to thrive in our great city.”
The two candidates sparred on public safety and how to address homelessness, but McCarty also said both he and Cofer “had a lot of commonality on so many issues,” adding that Cofer “brought a lot to the table.”
“She made the conversations at those 30 or so candidate forums meaningful,” McCarty said. “She helped bring issues to the forefront. She made me a better candidate and it’s going to help me serving Sacramento.”
Porter said McCarty “has work to do to talk and listen to that 49%” of voters who chose Cofer.
“She resonated with so many folks. Her ideas resonated with us. She added a great voice to that race,” Porter said. “The campaign was an institutional platform vs. an outsider. That’s not a bad thing ... but he needs to make a concerted effort to talk with the Black community and make sure we have a seat at the table.”
This story was originally published December 4, 2024 at 10:31 AM.
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