Watch KCRA 3's Sacramento mayoral debate with Flojaune Cofer and Kevin McCarty
KCRA 3 Anchor Edie Lambert and Capitol Correspondent Ashley Zavala moderated a debate between the candidates on Wednesday. Cofer and McCarty are running to succeed Mayor Darrell Steinberg.
KCRA 3 Anchor Edie Lambert and Capitol Correspondent Ashley Zavala moderated a debate between the candidates on Wednesday. Cofer and McCarty are running to succeed Mayor Darrell Steinberg.
KCRA 3 Anchor Edie Lambert and Capitol Correspondent Ashley Zavala moderated a debate between the candidates on Wednesday. Cofer and McCarty are running to succeed Mayor Darrell Steinberg.
Dr. Flojaune Cofer and Assemblymember Kevin McCarty are running to become Sacramento's next mayor.
KCRA 3 Anchor Edie Lambert and Capitol Correspondent Ashley Zavala moderated a debate between the candidates on Wednesday. Cofer and McCarty are running to succeed Mayor Darrell Steinberg, who is not running for a third term after eight years in office.
Cofer worked in the medical field, serves as a senior director of policy for nonprofit Public Health Advocates, and was the chair of the Measure U Community Advisory Committee in Sacramento.
McCarty has been representing Sacramento in the state Assembly since 2014.
Watch the full debate above and see a recap of questions and answers below.
The Most Pressing Threat to Public Safety
The debate started with a viewer question from Yang Thai, of South Sacramento, who asked, "How will you help make me feel safe living here?”
Each candidate was asked what they considered the most pressing threat to public safety in the city and how they would address it.
Cofer said the most pressing issue is a lack of focus on prevention. She said public safety dollars are focused too much on emergency response right now.
She referenced youth homicides and said money was “left on the table” that could be used to address the issue.
McCarty said the city is understaffed. He wants to increase officers in Sacramento. He doesn’t think cutting police funding would make Sacramento safer.
Police Funding
McCarty is on the record saying he would fill vacant police positions. In 2021, he voted for a bill that law enforcement leaders say made it harder to recruit officers because it set new age limits and education requirements in California. The sheriff has said his agency is down 100 officers, and the California Highway Patrol is down 1,000 officers. He said this law has made it harder to recruit.
McCarty was asked if he would vote differently on that today.
“No, I think at the time, law enforcement came to us and said they saw officers making better decisions when they came to the academy later in life,” he said. “Individuals who went and got a 2-year degree or 4-year degree have less instances of officer-involved shootings and complaints against them.”
But McCarty noted recruitment is also an issue.
“We need to make sure we have attractive packages here in Sacramento. We don’t want to lose officers to the CHP and other jurisdictions, so making sure we have robust employment benefits is key to making sure we adequately staff our police department and keep our residents safe,” he said.
Cofer has proposed shifting funding from the police department to violence prevention programs and also to have other professionals deal with some of the homeless issues. She was asked how she could convince voters that public safety won't be compromised by taking money away from the police department.
“Our police department is spending entirely too much time on homelessness and not enough on violent crime,” she said.
Cofer said officers are overburdened on issues that shouldn’t necessarily fall under their jurisdiction.
“I want to make sure that they’re focused on the job that they were hired and trained to do. And that our other professionals are there to be able to support for the things that they were trained to do,” she said.
She said a third of police time is now being spent on non-police tasks.
She mentioned how the LAPD union shared 28 tasks that currently fall under police jurisdiction that could be handled in another way, freeing up officers for higher-priority tasks.
“Some of the calls that show up are noise violations, and there’s a dog here, and there are all of these calls that when they are responding to that, they are not showing up for crimes in progress,” she said. “Just last week, there was a person that told me they were watching a crime in progress and they got a text message saying we don’t have any officers available to respond.”
Homelessness
The debate transitioned to the topic of Sacramento’s homelessness problem.
Cofer has said she would set up safe ground sites in "under-utilized parks" where homeless people could camp and get some basic services. With that issue coming up in ads against her, she was asked to explain exactly where she would set up places for the unsheltered.
She said she was talking specifically about city-owned vacant lots.
McCarty rebutted that Cofer’s plan is “a terrible idea” and wants to prioritize methods like tiny homes. He also claimed that city land adjacent to Cal Expo could be used because it is away from neighborhoods.
Both candidates were asked about whether they supported sweeps of encampments in the city.
Sweeps are a failed policy that makes the jobs of first responders harder, Cofer said.
She said she does not support sweeps and said that 14 years ago when she lived in downtown Sacramento, there were minimal encampments, adding that, in her opinion, the rise in encampments is a reflection of McCarty’s shortcomings as an assembly member.
McCarty said he does not want to criminalize being homeless, but the city needs to enforce an understanding that people can’t be camped on the street.
Pedestrian Safety
Downtown Sacramento and some surrounding areas are turning more into walking and biking neighborhoods with recent street changes, but so far this year, at least 14 pedestrians or cyclists have been killed on city streets. The candidates were asked what they could do to make people feel safe using the projects designed to get people out of their cars.
Cofer said 14% of roadways are responsible for 84% of where people are killed or severely injured. She called for investing money and getting matching funds at the state and federal levels to improve infrastructure.
She said she lives at an intersection where a West Campus High School student was killed, and there was a traffic light that showed up two months later.
“Our young people should not have to die to get traffic lights,” she said.
McCarty noted how he met two families impacted by tragedies. He also talked about his child, pointing out a white bike representing where someone had been killed.
He said pedestrian and bike improvements need to be all across Sacramento and called it an equity issue.
City Finances
The city is dealing with a budget deficit of $77 million. The candidates were asked what they would cut, or what fees need to be raised to balance the budget.
McCarty said it was troubling that there was a deficit when the budget was growing.
He said he doesn’t want to cut police, fire, public safety, parks and recreation or youth programs. Instead, he called for “non-core issues.”
He wanted to streamline the building permit process to make it easier for contractors to do business in Sacramento. McCarty also called for turning over vacant buildings to the private sector.
Asked what he blamed for the city’s deficit, he cited spending one-time funding for ongoing purposes.
Cofer said she was the Measure U chair and the city paid management partners for 39 recommendations to maximize revenue and minimize cost.
She said it’s frustrating to be in this position because those recommendations “could have avoided this mess.”
They included using GPS to make sure trash would be picked up in an efficient way for fuel. Also, coming into compliance with federal overtime regulations. She also said an asset management program would have prevented Rio City Cafe from shutting down.
Now that the city is in this financial hole, Cofer was asked what she would do.
She said there are nearly $80 million of savings in those recommendations. She said that not all of them may be taken, but the city should also try to draw down eligible fate and state money.
She said Sacramento left $12 million on the table from violence and prevention funds.
City Manager's Contract
One of the first things the next mayor will do is vote on whether to extend the contract for the city manager. Howard Chan is one of the highest-paid city managers in California. His base salary is $400,000, which was last increased in 2022.
The State Controller’s Office reports his total wages in 2023, which included a vacation payout, were nearly $600,000. His total wages after his first contract in 2017 were $272,339, according to the office.
The mayoral candidates were asked if they would vote to extend his contract for another year.
Cofer noted they would have to vote on this, if they were elected, at their first meeting on Dec. 10.
“As an experienced executive, that is not enough time to review performance metrics and his performance evaluations,” she said. “The answer is not going to be a yes on a contract before December.”
She said when Chan was hired he was making $290,000, but had a number of raises.
“I would question why someone has been getting raises when they haven’t had performance goals and performance metrics,” she said. “That’s something that I will not repeat with our next city manager. I want to make sure that we have clear goals and responsibility and the city has priorities.”
McCarty said he would vote with the council to extend the contract by one year “and then talk about what’s after that.”
But he also acknowledged how the city is looking to tighten the budget, meaning fewer pay increases for a city manager.
“I don’t support any pay increases for our executive,” McCarty said.
When asked about how he can justify the extension when the city faces a $77 million budget shortfall, McCarty said experience is needed when a new mayor is coming in.
“I think having a new city manager and a new mayor at a time when we have massive discussions on our city budget, at a time we’re trying to grow our economy, looking to hire more police officers, diversifying our businesses in Sacramento, we need to have some consistency, at least for year one,” he said.
Creating Affordable Housing
With people worried about costs and inflation, one thing mayors can influence is affordable housing. Do the candidates have a plan to create affordable housing?
McCarty listed three goals for affordable housing. First, he said he wants to create a commission to reform the building department, making it easier for developers to choose Sacramento when they want to create big complexes.
Next, he said he wanted to look at underused lands. He said 45% of buildings downtown pay zero property taxes and are state buildings.
“State workers are working from home now. What can we do to turn that land over to the private sector? Build more housing in our urban core,” he said.
Finally, taking the lead from Bay Area cities, he said he wanted to look into more programs to subsidize more affordable housing and down payment assistance programs, as well as “building more for the next generation.”
Cofer brought up Measure U, a sales tax that was approved in 2018 to send more money toward affordable housing.
“It’s frustrating that the taxpayers and the voters were lied to and that those promises were not upheld,” she said.
She said her main priority for the budget is making sure the dollars are going where they are supposed to go.
“We need affordable and attainable housing at every income level,” Cofer noted.
She said looking into vacant properties and vacant lots is key for that, as well as making sure there are policies in place to keep people in their housing.
'Yes' or 'No' Questions
Both candidates were asked a few rapid-fire questions.
Should the city be taking positions on global political issues?
Cofer: Yes
McCarty: No
Do you support Proposition 33, which makes it easier for cities and counties to enact rent control?
Cofer: Yes
McCarty: No
Are you for or against Prop 36, which would increase penalties for some repeat drug and theft offenders?
Cofer: Against
McCarty: Undecided
A Big Project or Vision for Sacramento
Both candidates were asked about one big project or vision they have for Sacramento.
Kevin McCarty said he wants to focus on building more housing downtown and wants young people to live in a place they can afford without having to spend half of their income on rent.
“We have a great opportunity with state buildings being vacant or underutilized, not paying any property taxes,” McCarty said. “We can have a win-win for the city with more revenue for Sacramento. [We can] build thousands more units and bring life back to our urban core.”
Cofer said she wants every neighborhood in Sacramento to have a place that’s a destination so they can host others from around the city.
“I want Sacramento to be a place that’s thriving so that we as Sacramentans, not just people from out of town, feel really good about visiting,” Cofer said. “I think that’s something that will be good for our small businesses and good for the morale of the region.”
She emphasized her desire to invest in the city’s creative and artistic communities.
Closing Statements
The candidates were asked for their closing statements.
McCarty said he was excited to run for mayor of his hometown.
“I know I’m ready to lean in on day one using my experience as a city commissioner, as a council member, as a state lawmaker to work with others to connect the dots, to get the job done,” he said.
He said he is well known across the community, has been endorsed by business and labor groups, and he vowed to be a mayor “for everybody.”
McCarty said he thinks of his twin daughters, who are 10th graders, and what the city is going to look like for them five to 15 years from now.
Cofer said she was running because she “loved Sacramento,” from its diverse neighborhoods to its food scene.
“It’s more than the Kings that make us Sacramento proud,” she said.
She called homelessness the city’s most significant challenge and said it had gone up “under McCarty’s watch.”
She said she represented new leadership that has a vision for the future and called herself a “proven leader” and an executive.
She cited her endorsement by 12 unions.
How Would You Describe Sacramento?
Lastly, McCarty and Cofer answered how they would describe Sacramento to someone who had never been to the city.
Cofer said Sacramento is a place where “you can eat your way around the world.”
McCarty said he would focus on the “beautiful parkway along the American River where you can walk, see Mother Nature, ride your bike” and kayak. He noted that the parkway is "steps" away from downtown.
--KCRA 3's Daniel Macht, Lindsay Weber, Nijzel Dotson and Harika Maddala contributed to this story.
For more information about the November election, including key issues and other races on the ballot, check out the KCRA 3 Voter Guide. Find more political news from our national team here.