Meet Jackie Elward, Candidate For CA State Assembly

Jackie Elward is vying for a seat representing the 12th District on the California State Assembly.

As county elections officials begin mailing ballots, voters will prepare to decide between candidates running for several offices and Patch has put together local voter guides and candidate profiles.

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Learn more about Jackie Elward:

Age:47

What is your educational background?

I graduated from California State University, Chico, with a bachelor's degree in Sociology and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice from Central State University.

What is your professional background?

I am a lifelong educator, labor organizer, and local elected official. I began my public service career as an educator at Santa Rosa French Immersion School, where I also served as the site representative for California School Employees Association Local 75 and organized fellow educators around workplace issues. I currently work as an instructional assistant at Lincoln Elementary School in Santa Rosa. Since 2020, I have served on the Rohnert Park City Council, including as Mayor, and have also represented the community on regional bodies including Sonoma Clean Power, the Sonoma County Continuum of Care, and the Sonoma County Transportation Authority/Regional Climate Protection Authority.

Have you ever held public office, whether appointive or elective?

Have you ever held public office, whether appointive or elective? Yes. I was elected to the Rohnert Park City Council in 2020 and have served as both Mayor and Vice Mayor.

What are the top three issues facing your district/constituents right now?

Affordability and the cost of living. North Bay families are being squeezed by housing, utilities, healthcare, food and transportation costs while wages struggle to keep pace. I support living wages, closing corporate tax loopholes, universal healthcare, stopping excessive utility increases and expanding local renewable energy. Housing and homelessness. We need more affordable and workforce housing for teachers, first responders, young families and seniors, while protecting tenants and mobile home residents. I support first-time homeownership assistance, local infill and ADU strategies, rehabilitation of existing housing, and sustained Homekey and mental health funding to reduce homelessness. Wildfire and climate resilience. Marin and Sonoma face wildfire, drought, flooding and sea-level rise. We need long-term state investment in home hardening, vegetation management, evacuation routes, emergency response, coastal resilience and clean local energy.

What is one specific policy you would implement in your first 100 days?

One specific policy I would pursue in my first 100 days is legislation establishing a moratorium on new large scale AI data centers until California adopts clear statewide standards governing their impacts on our electric grid, water supply, workers, communities, and ratepayers. Artificial intelligence can bring enormous benefits, but California should not allow its rapid expansion to move faster than our ability to protect the public. Large data centers can require tremendous amounts of electricity and water and life-altering noise pollution, and the cost of new transmission and other infrastructure should not simply be passed on to families and small businesses that are already struggling with high utility bills. During the moratorium, California should establish transparent reporting of projected energy and water use, grid impact reviews, strong labor and workforce protections, and rate structures requiring large data center operators to pay their fair share of infrastructure costs. New projects should also meet strong standards for clean energy, energy efficiency, water recycling and conservation. California can remain a leader in technology without giving the AI industry a blank check. Innovation should strengthen our economy while protecting workers, consumers, natural resources, and the communities where these facilities are built.

What is your plan to reduce homelessness, and how would you measure success after one year?

My plan is to treat homelessness as both a housing problem and a service delivery problem. I would pursue sustained state funding for Homekey and similar programs that allow local governments to move quickly on interim and permanent supportive housing, including conversions of motels and other underused properties. I would also increase support for mental health and substance use treatment, street outreach, homelessness prevention, and civilian crisis response. In Rohnert Park, I helped advance Labath Landing, a 60 unit interim housing program paired with onsite services, and the SAFE Team, which responds to people experiencing mental health, substance use, and homelessness crises. That experience showed me that housing works best when people can also access the services necessary to remain housed. After one year, I would measure progress through several public benchmarks: changes in unsheltered homelessness, the number of people placed into permanent housing, the percentage leaving interim housing for permanent housing, returns to homelessness, outreach contacts that result in services, and the availability and response time of behavioral health crisis teams. I would also track how quickly state homelessness dollars reach local projects. Success should mean fewer people living outside and more people remaining stably housed, not simply moving homelessness from one location to another.

What is one specific change you would make to improve public safety?

Police officers, firefighters, and emergency rooms are too often asked to handle behavioral health, substance use, and homelessness crises that would be better addressed by specialized teams, detracting them from important work like solving and preventing violent crimes.I would expand 24/7 civilian crisis response so communities have trained mental health professionals available when a call does not require an armed law enforcement response. As Mayor and a councilmember, I helped establish and expand the SAFE Team serving Rohnert Park and neighboring communities. The program provides an alternative response for people experiencing mental illness, substance use issues, or homelessness and connects them with appropriate services. I would pursue reliable state funding so more communities can build similar programs without taking resources away from core police, fire, and emergency services. The goal is not to replace law enforcement. It is to make sure the right responder is sent to the right call, while allowing police officers to focus on violent crime, traffic safety, investigations, and emergencies that require them. I would measure success through response times, the number of calls safely diverted from police and emergency rooms, connections to treatment or shelter, repeat crisis calls, and community feedback. Public safety should be measured by whether people receive effective help and whether first responders have the resources to focus on the work they are trained to do.

How would you improve transparency or accountability in local government?

I would strengthen California's open government requirements by making public information easier to find, understand, and use. The public should not need specialized knowledge or repeated records requests to understand how taxpayer dollars are being spent or how major decisions are being made. I would support statewide standards requiring local agencies to maintain accessible, searchable online information on budgets, major contracts, grant spending, audits, meeting agendas, staff reports, and significant financial commitments. Materials connected to public votes should be posted early enough for residents to review them and participate meaningfully, and agencies should make public records request procedures, timelines, and contact information clear and easy to navigate. Accountability also requires independent review. I support strong auditing, conflict of interest rules, and independent oversight where appropriate. In Rohnert Park, the City adopted an Independent Police Auditor program to review civilian complaint investigations and make recommendations for improvement. California already guarantees access to public meetings and public records through the Brown Act and Public Records Act. I would focus on making those rights work better in practice through modern technology, consistent disclosure standards, and stronger accountability for how public money is spent.

Why are you a better choice than your opponents?

What distinguishes my candidacy is both the life experience I bring and where I stand on the major choices facing California. I am an educator, union organizer, immigrant, city councilmember, former mayor, and a lifelong Democrat. I know what it is like to raise a family on working class wages, organize alongside school employees, and turn state policy into results at the local level. There are also clear policy differences in this race. I support universal single payer healthcare, making billionaires and large corporations pay their fair share, stronger protections against ICE collaboration, and a moratorium on new AI data centers until California establishes protections for workers, ratepayers, water, and our electric grid. I support Proposition 40's tax on billionaire wealth. My opponent has publicly opposed Proposition 40 and has taken a different approach to AI regulation. My record includes helping create the SAFE Team, advancing housing and homelessness solutions, expanding clean energy through Sonoma Clean Power, and working to make our community more affordable. I am also proud to have the support of our current Assemblymember Damon Connolly, the Sierra Club, California firefighters, teachers, nurses, and organized labor. I would bring their priorities, and the perspective of working families, directly to Sacramento.

What changes, if any, would you support regarding the role of federal immigration enforcement agencies, including ICE, and how they interact with state and/or local governments?

I support protecting California's principle that state and local resources should not be used as an extension of federal civil immigration enforcement. ICE is a federal agency that California has no direct control over, but the state can determine how its own agencies, local governments, schools, hospitals, and law enforcement resources interact with federal immigration authorities within the limits of federal law. I would defend and strengthen the California Values Act and related protections that limit the use of state and local personnel for civil immigration enforcement while preserving the ability of law enforcement to investigate and respond to criminal activity. Local police should be focused on local public safety, and residents should be able to report crimes, seek medical care, send their children to school, and use public services without fearing that routine contact with local government will become an immigration enforcement action. I also support due process, access to legal representation and language assistance, protection of sensitive personal information, clear identification and accountability requirements for federal agents operating in California, and judicial oversight where required for access to protected or nonpublic spaces. As an immigrant, I believe immigration policy can enforce the law while respecting constitutional rights, family unity, human dignity, and the trust that effective public safety depends upon.

What role do you believe government should play in regulating or supporting the development and use of artificial intelligence?

Government has a responsibility to ensure that AI innovation serves the public good rather than allowing technology to advance without meaningful protections for workers, consumers, artists, children, and our natural resources. I support California remaining a leader in responsible AI development, including investments in research and technologies that can improve healthcare, education, climate science, accessibility, and public services. But innovation cannot mean giving corporations a blank check. We need strong protections against discrimination, fraud, deepfakes, misuse of personal data, and the unauthorized use of workers' and artists' work, likenesses, and intellectual property. Workers also deserve a voice when AI is introduced into their workplaces, and government should invest in training and pathways into the jobs new technologies create. I am particularly concerned about the rapid expansion of AI data centers. I support a moratorium on new large scale facilities while California establishes standards for energy and water use, grid impacts, clean energy, labor protections, and infrastructure costs. Families and small businesses should not see their utility bills increase to subsidize massive corporate AI projects. California should embrace innovation, but we should shape it around our values. AI must work for workers and the common good, not the other way around.