Aaron Rowden, a former Richmond recreation and parks commissioner who has never held public office in California, is running for Congress, hoping to unseat incumbent U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, who’s been involved in state politics for more than 50 years.
Rowden, who moved to the Bay Area from Maine in late 2019, is on the ballot in the 8th Congressional District primary election. The district covers parts of Contra Costa, Solano and Sacramento counties. Ballots are out now and can be placed in ballot drop boxes or sent by mail. Election Day is June 2, when in-person voting occurs.
The Democrat joins two others who are challenging Garamendi. The top two finishers will compete in the general election in November. Rowden, his wife and their three children live in Tara Hills, a county-governed census designated neighborhood near San Pablo on the Richmond border.
Also running are: Nicolas Carjuzaa, a Democrat who lives in Martinez, and Rudy Recile, a Republican who lives in Vallejo. Garamendi, of Walnut Grove, has been active in California politics since 1974, having served four terms as a state senator; two terms as insurance commissioner; and has served in the House of Representatives since 2009.
Although Garamendi has had a long run in politics, Rowden told Richmondside that he thinks voters are ready for a change.
Key 2026 primary election dates
Mail-in voting began: May 4
Deadline to register to vote in the primary: Mon., May 18
Primary election: June 2
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“I think there’s a great deal of momentum against incumbency because people want solutions not nostalgia,” Rowden said. “We have a lot of problems in our society that we have failed to solve since 1974. Do we think we can solve those problems by continuing to elect the same people? I don’t think that we can.”
Rowden’s website outlines a platform emphasizing three issues: immigration, including the need to stop ICE activity; the economy, including the need to strengthen labor law and rescind tax subsidies that benefit the wealthy; and public health, where he favors universal healthcare, creating access to healthy food and vaccines, and restoring faith in scientific medical experts. He also talked with Richmondside about his foreign policy positions, including his opposition to the war in Iran and the U.S. providing arms aid to Israel.
On his website, Rowden said that “people should never be caught up in ICE activity,” and that as a representative he would “go to immigration detention facilities and I will demand full, eyes-on, accountability for what is being done in the name of the American people,” something he claims Garamendi hasn’t done.
Garamendi has recently stated that “ICE needs real oversight,” and he voted against increasing its funding. Carjuzaa characterized the “expansion and deployment of ICE in American cites” as “political violence” and committed to reforming and opening the immigration system to allow “anyone with goodwill…to enter and succeed legally and fairly.”
Recile does not appear to have taken a public stance on immigration, as neither the words “immigration” nor “ICE” appear on his website.
Rowden’s economic platform includes support for universal basic income and advocating for preventing the executive branch’s ability “to impose tariffs without specific congressional approval.” He said he also supports a federal inheritance tax and “ending corporate loopholes that allow companies to shelter unspent earnings.”
Garamendi has said that he supports “creating good-paying jobs for Americans and combating the growing gap between the wealthy and working families.” Carjuzaa has said he supports clean energy jobs, reforming the economic system to better serve the working class, including banning stock trading in Congress and freeing Americans from unreasonable education debt. Recile supports loosening water regulations to help California’s economy.
Rowden said he supports universal healthcare “that is not job dependent.” He told Richmondside in an interview that he believes the government should not be interfering with the decisions of doctors and patients, including access to reproductive and gender affirming care.
“I fundamentally believe physicians should be allowed to practice medicine in consultation with their clients, and patients should get the best advice, not the government line,” Rowden said. “They should be able to make good decisions together respecting the patient’s right to autonomy and self-legislation.”
Garamendi and Carjuzaa also both have said they support reproductive and trans rights, along with universal healthcare. Recile does not address healthcare or reproductive rights on his website. His education platform appears to criticize transgender people.
Rowden told Richmondside that he thinks the current war in Iran is illegal because it violates the War Powers Resolution Act, a law passed in the early 1970s that limits the president’s ability to declare war without congressional approval. He said he thinks “everyone who has extended this war is violating the act and should be impeached,” and that Congress has a responsibility to stop unjust wars.
“I do not believe that this era of universal executive war power is constitutional and I do not believe it is good for the American people,” Rowden said. “I believe no matter who is the president, Congress should be holding the executive to account for war acts, and that it’s one of the gravest responsibilities.”
Garamendi has opposed the war in Iran and has proposed a resolution to attempt to stop it. Carjuzaa also opposes the war. Recile does not appear to have taken a clear stance on the war.
Rowden said that on several subjects that require oversight from Congress over the president, such as due process in relation to immigration, warfare, and economic policies such as tariffs, Congress has failed to provide accountability.
“I believe the majority of Congress is asleep at the switch,” Rowden said. “We need a new Congress to take those responsibilities much more seriously.”
Rowden served on Richmond’s Recreation and Parks Commission; also surrendered Maine law license
Since Rowden lives in Tara Hills, he isn’t eligible to run for office in Richmond, but he did become involved as a volunteer in city politics when he was appointed to the city’s Recreation and Parks Commission, serving from 2021 to 2024. The body advises Richmond’s City Council on its parks and recreational facilities. Rowden said that during his tenure, the commission made parks and facilities more accessible by expanding signage to include more languages and approving designs to make them more ADA-compliant.
In Maine, Rowden served on on the town council of a small town, Fairfield. During his tenure, Rowden said he worked with Republicans to deal with the town’s debt crisis, eventually bringing it into compliance with a public audit. He said he also helped transform former industrial sites into new energy sources that brought in revenue and reformed its cannabis law to legitimize an underground economy into one that provided job opportunities.
Rowden also ran unsuccessfully for a seat on the state’s Legislature in 2010, 2016 and 2018. He said that he filed for candidacy late in 2010, missing the cut-off to be listed on the ballot as a Democrat, and only got 2% of the vote. He fared better in 2016 and 2018, when he got about 36% and 42% of the vote, respectively. In 2016, he said he ran against an incumbent and in 2018, he said he ran against a Republican in a conservative area. Rowden said that although he lost he is glad he ran because he learned from the experiences.
“It taught me a lot about how to listen to people and problem solve when you don’t necessarily agree on everything,” Rowden said. “I think I got some surprising support.”
In Maine, Rowden worked as a lawyer, mostly in criminal defense. His last case that went to court was in January of 2019, about a year before the family moved to the Bay Area. Rowden said he and his family moved to find “better opportunities, economically and socially.”
Records show that Rowden faced difficulties as a lawyer in Maine. In 2024, amid two alleged misconduct investigations by the Maine Board of Overseers of the Bar, Rowden surrendered his license to practice law there.
While the bar board restricts public access to records of its investigations, Rowden acknowledged in surrendering his license that “some” of the underlying facts of allegations against him “are true or could be proven.” Rowden told Richmondside that the investigations stemmed from “a dispute I had with a client that arose over a decade ago,” and that he chose to give up his license since he had moved to California.
“After reviewing what my options were, it didn’t make sense to pursue all the time, money and effort to pursue practicing law in Maine, since I don’t live there anymore,” Rowden said.
Rowden said he couldn’t share more details about the dispute due to his “continuing obligation to safeguard” his former client’s information.
When Rowden moved to California he took a job as a policy analyst for the American Non Smokers’ Rights Foundation, a nonprofit that works to advance smoke-free protections in workplaces and public spaces. Rowden said that as of December, he quit his former job and has devoted himself full-time to his campaign and raising his children.
Rowden said he admires the Richmond area’s engagement in politics and is proud to seek an opportunity to represent the district.
“In this race I’m the person who lives in this area and I’m a neighbor to the people I’m asking to vote for me,” Rowden said. “I share their very real concerns about our economy, infrastructure and public safety. I don’t have some other place to go to and will live with the world we create. I’m invested in doing the right thing alongside them, not over them or in spite of them.”
