Silicon Valley legislative staffers compete for Evan Low’s open Assembly seat

A large swath of Silicon Valley is getting new representation in the California State Assembly this November, and both candidates vying for the seat already know their way around Sacramento.

The Assembly District 26 seat, which represents Cupertino, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and parts of north and west San Jose, is up for grabs after current Assemblymember Evan Low decided to run for Congress.

Low’s longtime district director Patrick Ahrens and state Sen. Dave Cortese’s deputy chief of staff Tara Sreekrishnan are battling it out after beating out four other contenders in the March primary. Both candidates also have ties to local education boards — Ahrens has served on the Foothill-De Anza Community College Board of Trustees since 2018 and Sreekrishnan has been on the Santa Clara County Board of Education since 2021.

The two candidates have collectively raised $1.5 million, with Ahrens winning the fundraising haul for the latest reporting period — July 1 to Sept. 21 — bringing in $228,728, compared to $178,021 for Sreekrishnan. Ahrens has $287,390 in cash on hand, while Sreekrishnan has $179,189 in her campaign account.

Political Action Committees have also been spending big on the race, with a majority of the money being shelled out by two groups supporting Ahrens’ candidacy. The Golden State Leadership Fund — which has major funding from the California Apartment Association and PG&E — has spent $143,322 backing him, while the Uber Innovation PAC has spent $349,577.

PACs and labor groups including Fund Her, Climate Action California and Nurses and Educators California — which is sponsored by the SEIU California State Council — have spent $220,402 on Sreekrishnan’s bid.

Several major PACs with hundreds of thousands of dollars sitting in their campaign accounts could also come into play soon.

Santa Clara Forward, which says it’s a “coalition of healthcare and technology providers,” was set up on Sept. 23 to support Ahrens. It currently has $621,000 in contributions from the California Dental Association PAC, DaVita Patient Protection Committee, the Uber Innovation PAC and the California Medical Association Independent Expenditure Committee. Another PAC for Ahrens that is sponsored by “housing providers,” has two contributions totaling $525,000 — $275,000 from the California Apartment Association and $250,000 from the California Association of Realtors.

On Sept. 13, a Nurses and Educators PAC that is sponsored by “labor, business and community organizations” was set up to support Sreekrishnan. The PAC has $475,000 in its account with donations from the California Nurses Association PAC, Smart Justice California Action Fund, Faculty for Our University’s Future, United Domestic Workers of America Independent Expenditure PAC, the Women in Power PAC and the SEIU California State Council and Dignity CA Service Employees International Union SEIU Local 2015.

Patrick Ahrens

Ahrens, 35, said he’s running for the open assembly seat because he wants to ensure people have access to services that improve the quality of their lives like he did as a child and young adult.

“I feel like my lived experience of going through poverty and having that resilience and determination, I want to provide that for other people,” he said. “I don’t feel like there’s a sense of urgency to address these issues.”

As Low’s district director, Ahrens said, he is the “only person uniquely qualified to start on day one.”

“I know where the needs are in the community and I know how to address the problems, from helping over 11,000 people during the pandemic, to bringing millions of dollars of infrastructure funding, police and fire funding and homelessness funding through the state budget process back to the district,” he said. “I know how to deliver taxpayer dollars. I know how to move bureaucracy to get it to work more efficiently for us.”

Some of Ahrens’ top priorities include building more affordable housing, ensuring Californians have access to quality and affordable healthcare and increasing funding for schools.

His endorsements include Low, the California Democratic Party, Planned Parenthood Advocates for Mar Monte, U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo, the California Teachers Association and the California Labor Federation.

Tara Sreekrishnan

Sreekrishnan, 31, said she’s running to represent a district that she’s lived in her entire life and to be a “voice for our community and families who are struggling.”

“I think it’s so important for someone who holds this seat to be a fighter against the special interests in Sacramento that are often trying to impede on progress and are trying to make life worse and less affordable for all of us,” she said. “I’m the daughter of immigrants that overcame poverty and found a better life in this district.”

Sreekrishnan said she’s “ready to hit the ground running,” having served at several different levels of government. Last year, she managed a package of 15 bills that were sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk.

“I’ve spent my entire career solving problems at every level of local government: city, county and state,” she said. “I’ve helped write and pass critical legislation on housing, education and public safety.”

Sreekrishnan’s top priorities include increasing access to affordable healthcare and protecting a woman’s right to choose, ensuring money going to homelessness and mental health services is spent wisely and supporting the growth of green energy.

Her endorsements include Cortese, Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg, civil rights activist Dolores Huerta, the California Nurses Association, SEIU California and the Sierra Club.