Exclusive: West Sacramento mayor joins crowded 6th Congressional District race
West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero is running for California’s 6th Congressional District, joining a growing list of contenders hoping to succeed incumbent Rep. Ami Bera, D-Elk Grove, who is running for the 3rd District.
Guerrero told The Sacramento Bee in an exclusive interview ahead of her Thursday campaign launch that she would draw upon her decades of experience in local government and as a licensed social worker to appeal to voters as the “executive experience” candidate.
“I have over two decades of experience knowing how the federal government can well serve the community,” she said. The recent federal budget cuts to local government, combined with state Medi-Cal freezes and the expiration of Affordable Care Act subsidies, have been “our worst-case scenario,” informing her decision to run.
“What the Republican Party has done recently has rolled back the safety net system, not only that, but the security that we need, the protections we need to have affordable health care and to be able to meet all of our needs in our community,” she said. “I have worked directly with people as a licensed clinical social worker here in this region, and also as mayor of West Sacramento, and that executive experience gives me that direct connection, and that level of responsibility, to best serve the people (at) the congressional level.”
The Los Angeles native, 60, grew up the daughter of a stay-at-home mother and factory worker father in Highland Park.
She put herself through college by working 16 hours a week at Lucky’s Pharmacy while earning a bachelor's degree at California State University, Los Angeles and later, a master’s degree from USC.
During college, she became pregnant with twin daughters, an unexpected development she navigated with help from her pharmacy job, which offered health insurance even though she was a part-time employee.
Today, she pointed out, that would no longer be possible after work requirements raised the threshold and Congress passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” in July, which requires public benefit recipients to reaffirm their eligibility every six months.
“I don’t think there is a job where you work part-time for 16 hours, that you’ll have health insurance that I’m aware of,” she said. “But it allowed me to be able to go to school.”
Guerrero said she wants to focus on stabilizing housing prices, both for renters and homeowners, and lowering the cost of groceries and health care in line with the Democrats’ renewed focus on affordability.
“I have been in the food bank lines in our city and seen working people come in asking for distribution from the food bank. They cannot afford groceries for their own families to put food on the tables,” she said.
The 6th District includes West Sacramento, Natomas, East Sacramento and Citrus Heights, Roseville and Rocklin. Republicans Craig Deluz, Christine Bish, Michael Enoch Stansfield and Raymond Riehle have also declared their intent to run, according to the Federal Elections Commission.
In addition to Guerrero, Planned Parenthood leader Lauren Babb Tomlinson; former Sen. Richard Pan; Sacramento District Attorney Thien Ho; Marine Corps veteran Tyler Vandenberg and Kindra Pring are also running as Democrats.
After initially announcing he would run for reelection in his current district, Bera said in November he would pivot to run for the 3rd Congressional District, which is currently represented by Rep. Kevin Kiley, R-Rocklin. Kiley is more vulnerable after voters passed Proposition 50, led by Gov. Gavin Newsom, to redraw the state’s congressional districts to shore up Democrats’ chances of retaking the House in the 2026 midterms.
Guerrero was first elected West Sacramento mayor in 2020, ousting now-Sen. Christopher Cabaldon, then won reelection in 2024, besting West Sacramento Councilmember Dawnté Early. Guerrero joined the city council in 2018 after serving on the city planning commission.
She first moved to West Sacramento in 2003, where she got involved with efforts to shore up the city’s flood defenses after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans in 2005.
After years of local advocacy efforts, in 2022 the Biden administration awarded West Sacramento $1.1 billion in federal funding to complete a series of levee projects. Last spring, the White House axed that agreement as part of sweeping cuts and changes to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers projects.
“I remember when I first received that money, and President Biden invited me to the White House, thanking him personally for that funding,” Guerrero said. “But here we are in a situation where that money is no longer following through here in West Sacramento.”
“These are some of the things that I’ve seen, rollbacks, these gaps have grown larger, and it’s going to be much worse next year,” Guerrero said.
“And I’d like to be able to roll back those negative congressional, Republican congressional actions, before we have a situation where nobody will have access to health care.”
This story was originally published January 8, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
CORRECTION: This story has been updated to reflect the candidates running in the 6th Congressional District.
