Richmond mayoral candidates on why they’re running — in their own words

With ballots for Richmond’s June 2 primary election going out soon, signs advertising the city’s mayoral candidates are starting to pop up in local neighborhoods.

Incumbent Mayor Eduardo Martinez is defending his seat against four challengers: Ahmad Anderson; District 6 council member Claudia Jimenez; former at-large council member Demnlus Johnson; and Mark Wassberg.

Richmondside met with all of the candidates in recent weeks to discuss their campaigns and their top priorities if elected. Here are the highlights of what they had to say.

Ahmad Anderson

Q: You’ve said that Richmond has a reputation crisis in terms of how the city markets itself. What is your vision for the city’s marketing?

A: “The workforce trends are moving into the area of not only clean energy and blue energy but are also moving in the area of manufacturing, warehouses and logistics. I have experience in not only the manufacturing world, but also the warehousing and logistics. 


My experience with 30 years of human resources, working with organizations like UPS in 1985, even when I was involved in politics then, I was a member of the Council of Industries that talked about bringing UPS to the city of Richmond. It was an enterprise zone where we provided a pathway for them to get settled in and get started, tax breaks in order to provide revenue for the city and community benefits. 
Those community benefits were not only revenues to be able to help our capital projects in this area in infrastructure, but it also provides a pathway for jobs. 

What that equates to today is not a whole lot of money with the prices of gas going up but you know, with a high school degree, that is worth $100,000 to $130,000 a year with, not only benefits, but being able to do your best to pay rent or even purchase a home in some cases, and that’s still a challenge because we haven’t built homes that are reasonable or even affordable. 
We don’t even have shovels in the ground. 

But what it (those jobs) afforded people was the opportunity to be able to improve the quality of life which they had then to what they have now and also retirement. I was a part of that, building organizations in this community, working with communities to assess what the needs were for those communities, like taking care of our high school, community college students and those who are transitioning and able to provide an avenue towards a better life, which afforded them to have money in their pocket to eat, live, work, and enjoy this community. But we still suffer because we’ve not been able to increase revenue outside of Chevron.”

Q: What are your thoughts on the 10-year, $550 million Chevron settlement?

A: “In the election last time (in 2024), it (the settlement) was a tactic and I say it was a tactic because it was the shiny bait. It told the fish, ‘Fish, come up out of the water! We have $550 million! Hallelujah!’ but I’ll cheer with you. You (electeds) said that, so what? 
Now what? What is the plan? Every question and maybe questions that you will ask as we are asking ‘If you became mayor or elected official in those districts, what would be your priority with the $550 million dollars? It’s a question, and it’s a great question, but that should have been the question that was made to those on the council who pushed forward for the settlement. 

The question that should have been asked: 
When you get the money, what is the first thing you’re gonna do at the turn of the year to ensure that the business community, the people in the community, the environmentalists in the community, and even our schools and how it will impact the community? And we’re still asking those questions a year later. 
We’re still asking the same question that preceded that, what has happened to the Measure U money and where have you invested that to retain and grow the businesses here? 

We do a lot of talking on that city council, but we have very little action, and this requires somebody who has demonstrated leadership working with building organizations, working with the community to move towards real problem solving solutions in real time and a community-centered focus on the people who live in the city around meeting the moment, meeting the times to increase and improve the quality of life. We’re not doing that.”

Q: During the District 5 city council candidate forum that Richmondside hosted in 2024, you said that the Chevron settlement is not a sustainable model for economic development as an engine to provide tax revenue to the city. If you’re elected, what would your economic development plan look like and what industries, projects or areas of the city might you hope to focus on?

A: “I’ve worked with Stephen Baiter of the East Bay Economic Development Alliance and I brought him in as a visitor to our Economic Development Commission meeting twice. Our membership with that organization lapsed, and the value that membership provided was an opportunity to have a dialogue with him about like cities, not only in the region, which is important, but also in the state … What kind of jobs can we start to develop our community with so we can attract, through the training, the opportunities, for businesses to come to the city? 

But here’s the concern. You can’t have businesses come here and you can’t build housing unless people feel safe in the community. It is a holistic strategic plan that you look at people and say, ‘We will take care of safety’ so people can come to your business in downtown Richmond. We have the Macdonald Avenue Task Force now but we also have the City of Promise in place, which is very similar to … the Macdonald Avenue task force. It talked about so many blocks around downtown that you just don’t do a reboot, but that you reset to make sure the housing meets people at their economic level, affordable. It talks about putting in grocery stores that meet them at their level in that community and having mixed housing so you have the fluidity of money that provides the opportunity for people to shop and eat and also a corridor for arts and culture, of entertainment that will draw people from, not only downtown, but throughout the city of Richmond and elsewhere. 

That type of revenue develops a base but safety is important. Businesses want to make sure not only would you protect my commercial property, as you know, murders have gone down, but business and commercial property property and damage has gone up. It’s also gone up around assaults and sexual assaults, but nobody will come if they don’t see changes … (there’s) 23rd Street, where you have human trafficking. Where you have drug trade. Where you have a blind eye to protect the community regardless of your citizenship. 

All people in each neighborhood … are concerned about safety and their wellbeing and community policing that requires not only staffing, but a relationship for training for the police to understand the trauma and what the city has gone through to be able to connect and be a bridge of those they protect and serve.”

Q: You have called out the staffing issues at the police department and, since your last campaign, a civil grand jury report was released that highlighted the issue. If you were elected mayor, how would you go about having those budget discussions surrounding public safety?

A: “Defunding is not the term and that’s a non-conversation for me. What it is is a dialogue to ensure that the police have an understanding that, one, as your mayor I will not be adversarial to the police. When you’re leader of your city or your council, the majority of it, say ‘police are bad, we don’t support them’ then the vision that you have in your community, for those who know, and those who don’t know, say, ‘Well, what do you do to protect us in the city that we love? How do you protect all of us?’ And the message is you need to understand the history and the trauma that has come before you …  in relation to the police. From redlining and communities around racial discrimination to the cowboys that were here in the ‘80s and the ‘70s. And what damage it did when police were not policing, but police were seeking out people of color. When they were pulling them over and taking them in and, at times, there was harassment. 

But times have changed. We’ve had this series of community policing when (Chief Chris) Magnus was here, but we had the staffing to meet the need. We had a different philosophy and implementation of what it meant to look out for your community, work with your community, and embrace the cultural history. We also need to be able to look out for the police officers, not only the community around mental health issues and being able to assign organizations like ROCK to work with the county to do what they are supposed to do and address the public issues of our community. We need to also understand that officers have mental health issues as well.

When you are overworked, when workers comp numbers are going up, when you have folks who are retiring and you are already understaffed, that creates undue pressure on those who are working. So much so as you know, that many of them work more hours than they have time to take breaks. If a truck driver over the road is told that after X number of hours, you need almost half of that to be able to rest in order to get back on the road to maintain public safety while driving. 
It should be no different than an individual who is there to protect and serve and make instant decisions while carrying a gun or a taser to be able to rank if they are in the right and healthy enough to do that. That is a detriment and lackership of our council to not see that.”

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Claudia Jimenez

Q: What is one priority that you want voters to know that you will focus on if you are elected?

A: “I think one of these priorities is to make sure that we have a good investment of the $550 million (Chevron settlement). As you know, I was one of the leaders in bringing that to the forefront as a ballot initiative with the allies (APEN and CBE). Now that we have the money, how are we going to be able to, with the goal of these 10 years, decrease the dependency of 24% in the general fund from Chevron significantly? I don’t want to say a number but that is something that the experts will say, how are we going to do that? What is the investment that is needed to do that? Some of them are financial and, you know, I’ve brought an agenda item and it has been developed around the municipal finances and whether paying the whole (unfunded pension liability) is the way to go to save some money to take the pressure from the general fund that now we use $20 to $30 million from the general fund to pay that pension obligation. (Then) it is taken away so we can invest that money or use that money for other services.”

Q: You have been on the council for a number of years and have seen a lot of these different policies you have worked on come to light. We have ROCK now up and running. Public safety, unfilled vacancies in the police department as well as alternative approaches to public safety have been recent themes in this election. What would your approach be, if you are elected, for not only supporting these new alternatives but also managing the relationship with the department and tensions that exist there?

A: I think the relationship has to be with an understanding that we all want what is best for the city but there are different ways to go about it. I don’t understand why they say that the relationship is bad when the last time we signed an (memorandum of understanding) with the (police union) it gave them 20% higher than any other union. That we have been taking measures like letting them take their (police) cars home. What I’ve heard is that people want to come to work in Richmond. The report from the city manager at the last council meeting said that the mandatory overtime is no longer there because the new chief has done a really good job in bringing more people. People are coming here because they see the financial stability that we have. We are not talking about laying off people. That stability is attractive. We also give a really good benefit package that is one of the best in the Bay Area. The healthcare is all paid by the city. There are many things but because it’s politics they (RPOA) feel that they don’t have power and they want to grab it. This is what they have been talking about but the reality is that what we really want (in Richmond) is to create a holistic way of serving the community when the community has an emergency that is non-violent.”

Q: What are your views on housing and economic development?

A: Housing and combining this with the revitalization of the downtown, Hilltop and the port with a vision that brings blue collar jobs that allow us to actually really create the just transition so we can be a model for the country. If people see us really developing in these areas then perception is going to change. It’s going to take some time, don’t get me wrong, it’s not going to be from one year to another but at least we have right now some of the seeds planted and if we are more aggressive in terms of, we know that we can not allow the market to rule what they can build here because then we won’t be able to build anything. We have to look into what subsidies we can give, what partnerships we can do, what permits we can move forward rapidly and work with the trades and developers who want to do (project labor agreements), who want to do local hires.”

Q: What do you have to say about criticisms of how the current city council works with the business community? 

A: I think that one part is that we need to support businesses here and especially small businesses. I have been talking to Vern Whitmore, who now is the person in charge of the Chamber of Commerce, and he is really interested in how we can get together to support small businesses. One of the things that we have been talking about is the permitting because it is really convoluted and especially for small business owners that are immigrants or just got here (to Richmond) they don’t like the convoluted process (of permits). So we need to streamline these processes and maybe make them not that expensive. Then we can start thinking about subsidies for those small businesses that want to be here. Also, I think we haven’t developed or used our purchasing power we have as a city to be able to support and sustain some of these small businesses. There are a couple businesses here that had really good stories about how, by having a contract to clean uniforms and (building) units, had been able to survive during COVID. We also have examples of the pilot projects where we gave grants with the ( American Rescue Plan Act)  funds to small businesses that helped them a lot. So having a couple of programs that can be revolving door loans where you are having some issues you can apply for this loan and it’s a loan with low interest rates that you can pay back in an easy way but that money comes back.”

Q: The issue of homelessness in Richmond has residents talking about abatements of encampments, dealing with blight in certain parts of town and concern that Richmond is duplicating work by funding homeless services that Contra Costa County is already doing. What are your thoughts on that criticism?

A: Was it enough before? No it wasn’t. I think (our) responsibility as a city is saying we have this money and we are advocating for more funding but in the meantime we need to take a step into that leadership and really invest resources. So we can help because, if not, then what? I will say, people don’t want to hear the response that this is a county issue. Residents are not going to take that as an answer. So what I feel like our leadership recognizes is an issue, a big issue, a hot potato and we need to do our part. And our part was to put money into a program like SOS, which is fantastic. They are now having a day center. We need to support that because one of the things that we see is that people call the police because somebody is wandering around. They say, ‘Well, I’m here because the shelter is closed and I cannot be in the shelter. I don’t have any other space.’ There is a need and we are stepping into that. When I got here, the city wasn’t putting much money into homelessness and now we have permanent money every year that goes to unhoused intervention. I believe that we are here to support the needs of everybody. Every resident, no matter status or income. I think by putting money into unhoused intervention, we lift up all of the community. I always believe that if you support the ones who are at the bottom of the barrel and lift them up, everybody gets lifted up.”

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Demnlus Johnson

Q: What are your thoughts on what comes next with the $550 million, 10-year settlement with Chevron?

A: “Everyone is acting like you can only do one thing. You can do more than one thing with $550 million but it is about what you do first. The first step dictates everything. We have to take care of the communities that have been most impacted. I know people say that all the time but what does that actually look like? For me, and some people may say this is crazy, but I want to set up sensors to monitor air quality. I was on the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) board and we talked about where to put all of these sensors so we can monitor air quality.

The first step is improving health outcomes, environmental outcomes for these communities that have been historically impacted. That’s the first step and, for me, what that looks like is increasing the number of sensors so that way we are monitoring Chevron, we are monitoring trains, we are monitoring freeways and I want to set up a perimeter (of sensors). Not just a few. Let’s tie into this system that has already been established and let’s get some more.

I know we have (environmental manager) Samathan Carr but we are going to have to up her job a little bit and have her interfacing with these organizations in these industries directly, letting them know if we’re experiencing an uptick. You’re either going to have to pay a fine or criminal charges will come your way. What happens with the money being paid from the fines? It goes into a fund for those communities.”

Q: What is one priority that you would have if you are elected as mayor?

A: “One of my major priorities is changing the name of Richmond. Not the actual name but how we view ourselves and how the world views us. Whether it is in that reputation or whether you go into the business community and they say ‘There’s nothing but crime and ya’ll don’t support businesses.’ I want to change that. Or when we go out to eat in Oakland and they say, ‘Oh man, ya’ll look really nice. Where are you from? Richmond?’ I want to change that. Yes, I am the mascot. I am the concierge. I am the conduit. I am the needle that threads it all together.

I am the individual that stands up and says, ‘Actually, Oakland, this is our billboard where Ryan Coogler and Alyssa Liu are shown because they’re from here (Richmond). Ya’ll got them after us.’ I’m not the mayor to sit on his hands and just let those types of things slide by. I’m the mayor to step up in front of the world and say, ‘Remember Richmond is the city that saved democracy. Y’all owe us a debt. Don’t forget about us.’ Had it not been for our great grandparents building those warships, we pumped out the most. It was those warships that won us that war. So when you look down at it, it was right here where they were made. We saved democracy and the world owes us a debt and I intend to cash in on that debt.”

(Editor’s note, While Liu has reportedly lived in Richmond, in media interviews she says she is from Oakland.)

Q: You have said that Richmond has a reputation crisis that limits the city’s ability to develop economically by bringing new businesses in and creating affordable housing. How would you address this issue?

A: “When we talk about housing and talk about business development or bringing in manufacturing jobs, for me it is all in service of that greater goal (of improving the city’s reputation). Because we get nowhere without that reputation being better. We can’t really attract major businesses to RIchmond without our reputation being better. We can say we had the least amount of murders last year but no new businesses came to Richmond because of that. How was that advertised? The city has a leadership problem. Your leaders are your messengers.

We know about everything going on in Oakland because Barbara Lee tells us. Simple as that. Even when Lamar Thorpe was mayor of Antioch we knew everything that was going on because he told us. We don’t know what’s going on here. I have nothing against the current mayor. He comes out to our school (Richmond High School) and shows us a lot of love.

The world knows about Richmond because our mayor posted some antisemitic stuff and now our city staff are being harassed. Now that’s what we’re known for because our mayor went to speak at some socialist rally and then came home and posted some anti-semitic stuff. You are doing messaging, it’s just the wrong messaging. We are sending the wrong message to the world. Not just the country but to the world.”

Q: During the League of Women Voters forum, you mentioned that young adults are having difficulty buying homes here in Richmond. How would you address that issue?

A: “Everybody (at the forum) pivoted on that answer and mentioned families, women and children. Women and children need housing. We’re not going to discard that. We are going to set that aside because that’s not what we’re talking about. They asked specifically about young people looking to buy a home in the city. That’s me. I can’t get a loan for a home in Richmond. We need special programs. We need special relationships with Mechanics Bank and other financial institutions, even if they’re not commercial banks. If we want young people of color to come back to Richmond after graduating (from college) and we gave them all these opportunities and gave them scholarships with the Richmond Promise to come back to Richmond? We got to have another Richmond Promise.

One option I heard of, and I have to go back and do more research because I heard it in passing, is having a program where elders who are transitioning out of their single family homes to senior living are going to the younger members of that community at a low cost. So it’s like, we need to be thinking like that. There needs to be no rock unturned when it comes to getting people housed because we talk about the youth being the future but young adults are the right now and, right now, we can’t afford it.”

Q: You’ve gone on the record supporting the police department. What is your position on public safety?

A: You can’t have people getting hit in the head and raped. If I call, you better pick up the phone. That’s all our residents know. While murder went down, rape and robbery went up. Those are personal crimes that make people feel unsafe and make people not want to go outside anymore. They (residents) have to know that it’s good and you can come back outside because we (the city) has got them. Matter of fact, we got their license plate and if they ever come back in this city, we know how to catch them.

We are using everything at our disposal to catch the man that raped you. We’re using everything at our disposal to catch the man that hit you in the head and stole your rent money. My people work hard for their stuff. So to have somebody come in and violate them like that? Someone better pick up the phone and come over here to take a report. We need people to respond to that.

What was said during the council meeting where two council members (Doria Robinson and Claudia Jimenez) had a disagreement over the Flock cameras is that she (Jimenez) has never seen anyone shot. That impacts you. The fact that we’re able to say that so regularly like it’s a rite of passage here. You should have never seen that in the first place.

So, yes, we are going to make it hard for criminals to breathe in the city of Richmond because, first of all, I’m tired of it. I’m tired of people ripping off hardworking people and, let’s be clear, Flock cameras in a police department in Richmond helps undocumented residents too. It’s not just documented residents they help because most of the people being robbed are our undocumented residents because they cash carry. That’s who we are trying to look out for.”

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Eduardo Martinez (incumbent)

Q: Some of your opponents have tried to refute that the council was instrumental in the $550 million Chevron settlement and that the city’s labor unions were the ones pushing for it. How do you respond to those claims?

A: “Well, No.1, that’s bullshit. The Richmond Police Officers Association sided with Chevron. There’s emails, documents that can prove that. And the Labor Council and RPOA generally fall hand-in-hand. There were no conversations about money and, in fact, they didn’t know we were negotiating unless some of the people let it be known and that would be the lawyers, the city manager and Chevron. (It was) myself and my staff at the beginning, and then Claudia (Jimenez) and Doria (Robinson) who I appointed to join me in the negotiations. I can also say that we would have stopped way, way early at $200 million, $300 million or $350 million if I hadn’t pushed and convinced everyone that Chevron wanted this more than we did.”

Q: What are some issues you are hoping to address with your campaign and want voters to understand your position on?

A: “Abstractly, I would like to make Richmond a destination. We do that by diversifying our economy and by diversifying our economy it means reestablishing downtown so that there is a point of interest. We have the arts corridors, which are along Macdonald Avenue and 23rd Street. We have a lot of opportunities for housing on Macdonald Avenue and the more housing you have, the more people, the more opportunities for venues of entertainment and gathering. A long time ago, before I was elected, they had done a charette on Macdonald Avenue and they found that 85% of the expendable income of people who live half a mile on either side went outside of the city to San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley. Elsewhere.

We need to make Richmond a place to come to. We have the Craneway, which we’re getting back from the Eddie Orton forever deal, and in my dream of dreams, I’d always thought that we needed to connect the ferry to downtown and the BART station. I have dreamed of the place where the new housing development is going (near the Craneway), that a hotel would be built there and that hotel would have attracted San Francisco tourists because the hotel rates here in Richmond would be much cheaper than hotel rates in San Francisco.

We’d get a lot of people staying here and staying here would give them a reason to visit Richmond and then would increase the ferry traffic. It would be a major economic boom. On top of that, by having housing there (near the Craneway), if you have late night music venues those people are going to be complaining.”

Q: Chevron is the main taxpayer in Richmond. What are your thoughts on how the city can transition its tax base as trends shift away from fossil fuels and if operations at the Chevron Refinery scale down? And how does that relate to the hostility that the current federal government has toward renewable energy?

A: “I’ve said before they (Chevron) will not scale down significantly for a while so we have time to consider different options. Like I’ve said, I still have faith in the wind industry and I see ourselves positioning our port to be part of that. We have a lot of work to do before we can even get there. We have done an evaluation of the port in terms of what needs to be done correcting all of the delayed maintenance so we can be doing that in the process. The more capital that developers put into projects, the more control they have. I want to make sure that the city of Richmond has as much control as possible.”

Q: You have been on the council for a number of years and have seen a lot of these different policies you have worked on come to light. This issue of public safety, unfilled vacancies in the police department, as well as alternative approaches to public safety, have been recent themes in this election. What would your approach be for not only supporting these new alternatives but also managing the relationship with the department and tensions that exist there?

A: “I think the relationship between the mayor’s office and the police department has improved greatly. We’ve been doing a lot of hiring. In fact, just yesterday (at city council), we announced the hiring of five new officers and a jailer. The thing is, I think our new chief is also invested in hiring people, officers who have the same values as we do here in the city of Richmond.”

Q: The issue of homelessness in Richmond has residents talking about abatements of encampments, dealing with blight in certain parts of town and concern that Richmond is duplicating work by funding homeless services that Contra Costa County is already doing. What are your thoughts on that criticism?

A: “I think we need to monitor the (Contra Costa) county program (A3) to make sure that they’re not skimping us, thinking that we got it in hand so that they start divesting from the city of Richmond. Monitoring that to make sure we get our fair share of county assistance. But also doing a better job of taking care of people who need help.You know, your budget reflects your values and if you care about the homeless, if we care about people, then that’s where the money should go.”

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Mark Wassberg

Q: This isn’t your first race. You’ve been running for city council seats for a while. Why did you jump into the race this cycle?

A: “With all the money I have spent I could have got my truck fixed. I could have bought a new windshield, a bumper, a fender, another hood. I had no plans to run this year. I wasn’t going to run. I was done. I’m just tired. I’m working on a book and documentary but this anti-semitism stuff with Eduardo (Martinez) went like wildfire. And that’s why Claudia (Jimenez) is running for mayor. They want to get him out. So they are going to split the (progressive) vote. Then you have two Black candidates running and the NAACP doesn’t know who to support. They’re going to split the vote. Hopefully, I can get enough votes that I can just come out on top and go right up the middle. I just want to get enough votes where I can get past the primary and get into the next stage.”

Q: On the aspect of public safety, you’ve criticized the current council for reducing the budget for the police in 2021 but have also had your own issues with the department, which you say is “corrupt.”

A: “I’m the type of guy that stands up for what’s right. You have to. When you become a mayor or congressman or city council member, you’re going to have to support what’s right. You have to support all our constitutional laws and what’s going on now with Richmond PD, I am totally against. I’m going to lower the bomb on them. I’m going to overhaul the Richmond PD and overhaul the city council. They are passing this ICE-Free zones ordinance supporting criminals and aiding and abetting criminals from the law. You can’t do that. They don’t have the power to stop the federal government. They’re too powerful, you can’t do it. This is what the Richmond PD is not recognizing and what the city council is not recognizing. This is the main reason why I’m running.”

Q: You were one of the first people who decried the mayor’s statements about Bondi Beach as hateful. You’ve gotten up there during public comment and said some intense statements that people have said were offensive. If you were to be elected, would you still hold those same views and give some of those same public comments that you’ve given before?

A: “I’d say it in a professional way. I’d clean it up but they would know where I stand. I won’t be using profanity. I mean, if I really get ticked off at a council meeting I might just slam my gavel and start jumping in their faces if they’re going to support all this anti-ICE stuff and LGBTQ+ movement. First of all, I would give them a good mind-set and keep it professional because you can do that.”

Q: You have been critical of the current city council’s relationship with Chevron. The city now has a $550 million, 10-year settlement. How would you lead discussions about how the city should utilize those funds?

A: “It should go back to law enforcement because you have to have public safety. Public safety is the No. 1 key and what our government was founded on. You have to make sure the police are doing their job right. That they have enough resources to do it. Also, infrastructure — the signs, streets and buildings — has to be up to code. But according to Eduardo (Martinez) and the (Richmond Progressive Alliance), they want to build more bike lanes. They want to build a library. This is the second overhaul that the library’s doing. I’d like to see a massive job training program.”

This story was updated to correct a headline citing the percentage required to win in the primary.