The 2024 general election is officially one month away.
Across the ballot, Vallejoans will get to make decisions about the next four years, entrusting their vote to candidates and texts of initiatives with how their near future will look. Over the course of the last year and a half, voters have been told to think about what their future should look like, but it’s also important to understand what the recent past has looked like to lead us here.
You were probably wearing a mask the last time you dropped a ballot for both a mayor and a president on the same paper at a polling station. You most likely voted by mail to avoid contact with the same neighbors you probably would have invited into your home at the ring of a doorbell. Even Vallejo high schoolers completing class hours in their bedrooms and missing out on some of their last “normal” athletic seasons four years ago are now able to cast a ballot.
And although there was an election between then, it’s well known that the highest turnout happens when the nation’s highest office is up for grabs. It’s expected that now that the mayoral seat is also up, more of you will be reaching for a pen when your ballots hit the mailbox Tuesday.
On the ballot are issues that affect the lives of every Vallejoan, whether they chose to look at them or turn away. It’s up to Vallejoans to decide their own fate.
With the city at a critical point in its history, each candidate has a drastically different vision for the seat they’re bringing to the table. For voters, it’s not just a decision of who they want in the seat, but what kind of mayor they want for the next four years.
The Times-Herald sat down with each candidate at length to dig into why they think they’re the right person, at this time, to be entrusted as the face of the city going forward. The names on the ballot this time around are Pippin Dew, Andrea Sorce, Ravi Shankar and Dwight Monroe Jr.
Four years, four visions
Pippin Dew is a former Vallejo City Council member, and the “former” is only a recent designation. A Realtor based in Benicia who has lived in Vallejo for 20 years, she served on the council for nine years, from 2014 to 2023.
Since announcing her candidacy, it was clear that she would be a quick frontrunner. She has the name recognition and her ties with city staff are still notably fresh. Her endorsement list is also studded with the names you’d likely see on someone running as an incumbent: U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, state Sen. Bill Dodd, Assemblymember Lori Wilson, three Solano County Supervisors … the list goes on.
Dew’s selling point for her candidacy is her familiarity with the city, and the connections she’s built both as a council member and through her Realtor background.
In every sense of the word, other than currently holding the office she’s running for, Dew is the incumbent in this race. She’s blown out the competition in the fund-raising game in the style the incumbents usually do, raising nearly $80,000 since she announced her candidacy in 2023, and spending nearly $60,000.
High-volume contributors of her campaign include the Mare Island Dry Dock and the California Real Estate Commission, chipping in $5,500 and $5000 respectively. In addition, she’s received notable monetary endorsements from the property management, development and construction related entities including Lewis Investments, Maher Construction, Oak Street Management and IBEW Local 180.
Andrea Sorce is not far off in the money game. The Diablo Valley Community College economics professor and founder of a local ACLU chapter hopped into the race as a stark opposition to the incumbency.
Sorce has raised just over $45,000 and spent nearly $30,000, mostly thanks to small dollar donations, which she often notes she refuses to take money from special interest groups or PACs. Some of her biggest donations have come from her family members, including her parents. Just around two months ago, Dew and Sorce were much closer in the fundraising game, but recently Dew has pulled ahead.
A criticism from the two other candidates the Times-Herald spoke to noted that Sorce doesn’t have a city council background — one even wished she had ran for council instead of mayor. But Sorce’s sense of urgency comes from the advocacy she has done in the years she’s been in Vallejo. She’s a regular at council meetings, often is seen at the podium or remote public comment, arguing in front of her now opponent regarding the city’s approach to high-profile land and development deals.
Sorce’s candidacy in the race is the most ardent anti-status quo. She’s made it clear in forums and in conversation with the Times-Herald that a lack of accountability within the city, the police and with third-parties are the direct reasons for why the city is facing many of its issues. And some of her more short term priorities, such as asking for complete financial audits from the state Controller, are her push to open the veil the city’s money problem.
Dew and Sorce are also not so distant from each other. Sorce’s husband, Slater Matzke, was a former Vallejo staffer, and recently settled a whistleblower retaliation lawsuit against the city after claiming he and two colleagues were fired for raising concerns of alleged bullying, workplace misconduct and illegal and unethical deal-making by former City Manager Greg Nyhoff. Dew was the only member of the city council deposed in the case, according to public records.
Dew and Sorce are monetarily frontrunners, but Vallejoans still have two more options.
Dwight Monroe Jr. hopped into the race comparatively late, only filing in July, but he’s got every ounce of confidence that he can still win the race. A 10-year resident of Vallejo, the local business owner of a mobile break service has always known to get involved wherever he’s at.
Monroe Jr. is currently the vice chair of the economic development commission and a member of the police chief advisory board. He’s also the president of the local nonprofit organization, Angels With Hearts.
It was clear in conversations with Monroe Jr. that while he has ambition, he has the Vallejo community at his core. He also said that one day he hopes to be the first Black governor of California, but he also understands that there’s a certain pathway he needs to follow to get there. On that path includes city leadership, and tackling the problems facing the city right now.
Monroe’s plans, if any, were vague. He consistently says, “you don’t know the job until you get the job.” But what was clear is that if is to be elected, his “boots-on-the-ground” approach –– his campaign slogan –– is what will drive his potential leadership. He believes firmly that issues need to be addressed with a community-wide perspective, and the role of the mayor is to facilitate those broader discussions to bring diverse ideas to the table.
This is not unlike candidate Ravi Shankar.
Shankar is an unapologetic family man. He showed the Times-Herald framed photos of his parents and of his late wife, and was clear that it’s their character and lessons that drive his love for community.
Shankar isn’t making a lot of noise. He’s not mobilizing a vast campaign or banging down your door looking for votes. He’s also not raising any money — according to campaign finance records he’s got $100 in cash in the bank, as well as a $37 non-monetary contribution.
He has city experience, sitting on multiple commissions and being a regular at council meetings. And he’s well integrated into the community –– he’s done finances for several downtown businesses and worked to get more people involved in city government. But he campaigns largely in silence, which he believes is an asset. With all the noise of issue and conflict in the city, Shankar believes his calm approach to the city’s issues will attract a new faction of voters, and bring a fresh perspective to the council.
Same title, different definitions
The mayor’s vote isn’t a consequential one –– it holds no more authority or gravity than the vote of other council members.
However the mayor is the only person on the council who gets a vote from every piece of the community. It’s a temperature check for city staff and the rest of council of what type of leadership residents as a whole are expecting.
Through speaking with the press, countless debates, thousands of dollars and relentless campaigning, each candidate is not only advertising their character, but is also tasked with making the argument of who actually has the most pull and influence to get the gears moving in City Hall.
For Dew and Sorce, their selling point is their connections through their public service and advocacy.
Dew has deep ties to regional public and private influences. In her conversation with the Times-Herald, she spoke highly of the relationships she built on the city council as being still active ones she can pull from, particularly when it comes to business, transportation and property development. Yet her pitch for leadership style still comes down to a unified council approach. In a September debate at the JFK Library, Dew said she’d start off her potential mayoral term building a list of objectives with the rest of council to develop priorities and stick with them.
Sorce’s approach is arguably more authoritative, and she said that she expects the new council in January to also align with her vision of an accountability focused city council. She questions the idea that the mayor should be just another seat, but rather a loud voice to speak up for the city on issues where she doesn’t think that leadership has historically stuck up for residents.
One example includes the understaffing of the Vallejo Police Department. Earlier this year, current Mayor Robert McConnell said at a July council meeting that he had requested the presence of California Highway Patrol officers from the governor’s office, which was denied. Sorce was adamant that such assistance would only come if Vallejo stops taking no for an answer.
For Monroe Jr., the statutes of the charter are concrete. The mayor is another council member and should act as such. He likened Sorce’s approach to that of a “dictator,” and made it clear that he would be a team player. While Shankar is more sympathetic to the policy approaches of Sorce, and the need for a strong voice on council, his quiet approach to campaigning would likely be a reflection of his approach to the job.
The final choice is yours
There is a month to go in the race for the seat, and still plenty of time for Vallejoans to make up their minds. Residents can register to vote in the election as late as 15 days prior to election day, and there will be plenty more press, debate time and opportunities for residents to meet the candidates and discuss the issues they care about at length as well.
No candidate in this race is exactly the same –– each brings their own personal and professional backgrounds to the race, as well as different visions for how this job description should actually function. However, what is true across the board is that his election is critical to the future of the city.
It’s the first mayor race post-pandemic, and comes at a time where Vallejo could see its turning point in the wake of more than a decade of scandal, pain and uncertainty. No one candidate can solve every issue, but it is an opportunity for residents to have a say in the future they want, and who they trust to bring that to fruition.
Election day is Nov. 5, and voting begins next week.