Jim Cooper hasn’t decided if he’s running for Assembly or sheriff. It’s irking some Democrats

Assemblyman Jim Cooper, D-Elk Grove might run for reelection in the Legislature. He might also run for Sacramento County sheriff.

He has five weeks until he has to officially decide, but with the state party’s endorsement process already under way, the moderate Democrat is facing pressure to make a choice sooner than later.

Late Wednesday night, the party sent a notice to district delegates that Cooper wouldn’t get the automatic endorsement that’s typical for incumbents. Thirteen of the 57 delegates, just over the requisite 20% needed, signed petitions saying they wanted to put the endorsement to a vote instead.

The delegates challenging Cooper are mostly left-leaning, including Progressive Caucus Chair Amar Shergill, who lives in Cooper’s district. This isn’t the first time delegates have pulled Cooper’s automatic endorsement.

As one of the more moderate Democrats in the Legislature, he’s often the target of progressive ire. Just this week Cooper spoke out against a Republican-authored gun bill that aims to deter accidental police shootings, saying the legislation goes too far.

But Shergill on Thursday said it’s not just policy positions they’re upset about. Cooper for months has expressed a desire to run for Sacramento County sheriff, the same department where he served as a captain for 30 years.

Cooper ran for sheriff in 2010, narrowingly losing to Sheriff Scott Jones. Jones recently announced he would step down from the job to run for Congress

According to state records, Cooper has campaign committees open for both a 2022 Assembly race and a 2022 sheriff’s race – each has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars.

“Assemblymember Cooper has made very clear that he wants the endorsement of the California Democratic Party for reelection to Assembly while he is also seeking support for election as sheriff,” Shergill said. “One of the components of ensuring that he does not have an automatic endorsement is so that the California Democratic Party doesn’t endorse somebody that’s not on the ballot,” he said.

There’s a chance Cooper will still win the party endorsement. He needs 60% of votes on the ballot in order to make it on the consent calendar for the party’s final endorsements in March.

Cooper said this is the same tactic Shergill has used in the past to challenge him. And in those instances, he still managed to win the party endorsement.

Monica Madrid, another delegate from the 10th Assembly District, said she challenged Cooper because she thinks he is often at-odds with the will of his constituents.

“He does not work with us,” Madrid said. “He doesn’t support us on the issues that we want passed, whether it’s Medicare for all, or, for me, it’s rent control and tenant protections. He’s not really with us on those issues.”

According to the California Democratic Party website, three other Democrats are vying for the party endorsement, including Sacramento Mayor pro Tem Eric Guerra, pastor and community organizer Tecoy Porter, and Elk Grove City Council member Stephanie Nguyen.

Over the next few weeks, Democratic Party delegates will vote in the pre-endorsement process in their districts. Results will be tabulated into the consent calendar, which the entire body will vote on in March.

The opportunity to declare candidacy with the California Secretary of State opens Feb. 14 and closes March 11. Cooper said he wouldn’t speculate on which office he will ultimately run for or when he will decide.

“I can’t dictate what I do to other people’s concerns,” he said. “The biggest thing in this whole debacle is that these are the same people that have pulled (the automatic endorsement) the last few times.”