Kevin McCarty becomes the 57th mayor of Sacramento. Here’s what he said on his first day
About a week after his narrow victory, Kevin McCarty became the 57th mayor of Sacramento in front of a packed City Council chamber.
McCarty was sworn in Tuesday night alongside new council members Phil Pluckebaum and Roger Dickinson and incumbents Eric Guerra and Mai Vang. The new mayor and Sacramento’s eight council members will face a looming $77 million city budget deficit and continue to battle the region’s homelessness crisis.
“I know that there is a long list of issues that we need to address,” McCarty said in his first words as mayor. “But I know that there is a list much longer of greatness in our city — great people, great neighborhoods, great assets. We have a lot of pluses in our community, so I come with wide-open eyes, wide-open optimism about the present and the future.”
McCarty, a former councilmember and state assemblyman, beat opponent Flojaune Cofer in November’s election by what he believed at the time was a mere 1,941 votes — the same year that McCarty’s mother was born, which he affectionately acknowledged. (Updated totals show the difference was 1,938.)
McCarty plans to embark on a 90-day listening and engagement tour to further understand resident concerns.
“94,000 people voted for somebody else,” McCarty said. “I am your mayor as well. I intend and I know that I will serve as a proud mayor for all of Sacramento because, after all, we are one Sacramento.”
The new mayor has spent years rising in Sacramento politics, from a seat on a city commission to representing the region in the Legislature. Over the last year and a half, he campaigned for the mayoral seat with a focus on homelessness, housing affordability and neighborhood safety.
Tuesday’s crowd featured a litany of community leaders and politicians including Sacramento County Supervisors Rich Desmond and Patrick Kennedy, Assemblymember Maggie Krell and former council members Steve Hansen and Jeff Harris.
Unlike previous Sacramento mayors, McCarty held his swearing-in at the council chambers. He spent the hour before the council meeting shaking hands and taking photos with attendees.
In 2016, Darrell Steinberg hosted an inauguration party at The California Railroad Museum. The mayor before him — Kevin Johnson — chose the Memorial Auditorium. Heather Fargo, Sacramento’s mayor from 2000 to 2008, was sworn-in at the city’s previous council chambers and later had a fundraising event at the former Radisson Hotel in Woodlake.
Steinberg ended his eight-year term Tuesday by congratulating the new electees and lauding American democracy.
“We will never take for granted again in this country what it means to have a peaceful transfer of power that is demonstrated here tonight,” said Steinberg before passing the gavel to McCarty.
Pluckebaum will represent District 4, spanning the downtown, midtown and East Sacramento neighborhoods. Pluckebaum, a former Planning and Design commissioner, beat incumbent Katie Valenzuela decisively in March.
Dickinson, a former state assemblyman and county supervisor, will oversee District 2 and its neighborhoods of North Sacramento. He takes over the seat from Shoun Thao, who had been serving on an interim basis.
In January, former Councilmember Sean Loloee resigned after federal prosecutors charged him with several federal labor violations relating to his grocery store chain.
“A new day has come to District 2,” Dickinson said. “The sun started coming up with Councilmember Shoun Thao. It’s going to continue to rise until we are in full, full sunlight.”
McCarty and the two new council members will serve four-year terms. The new mayor ended his first speech on Tuesday night with a lighthearted reference to pop singer Taylor Swift.
“I’m a Swiftie mayor and a new era begins today,” McCarty said.
This story was originally published December 10, 2024 at 7:44 PM.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to correct where former Mayor Heather Fargo was sworn in. Her ceremony was at the city’s previous council chambers, not the former Radisson Hotel, where she later had a fundraising event. In addition, this story was updated to reflect the updated vote tally.
