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VALLEJO – Four candidates are running for mayor of Vallejo in November: former Councilmember Pippin Dew, local business owner Dwight Monroe Jr., community advocate Ravi Shankar and economics professor Andrea Sorce.

The mayor’s responsibilities are not as extensive as in other cities with strong mayor systems. The mayor runs the City Council meetings and is a voting member of the council who represents the entire city.

Vallejo’s mayor is elected to a four-year term by a plurality of city voters. Ballots were mailed to all voters this week and must be postmarked by Nov. 5. Or voters can vote in person on Nov. 5, Election Day.

How we reported this story: We solicited questions from our audience and attended community forums to find out what questions mattered most to Vallejo voters. We then interviewed each of the candidates to learn more about their positions and what they plan to do in office. You can find out more about how we cover elections on our FAQ.

Pippin Dew

Former two-term Councilmember Pippin Dew is a local realtor who has a vision for Vallejo as a green industry leader that starts with early childhood education and youth programs. Dew served as a Vallejo councilmember from 2014 to 2023, but could not run again after serving two terms. 

As a councilmember, Dew was a staunch supporter of the Vallejo Early Childhood Learning Center, which will provide childcare and other services for 200 children up to five years old. Dew also advocated for a city-wide equity study suggested by residents advocating to shift funding from the police department to community initiatives.

Dew was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to serve on the Water Emergency Transportation Authority board, which operates the San Francisco Bay Ferry. She said she sees an opportunity for Vallejo to develop a strong shipbuilding industry by supporting existing companies to expand their production to zero emission passenger ferries as the agency transitions its fleet away from fossil fuels. She also points out that specialized vessels will be needed to install and service off-shore wind energy projects that will be built off the coasts of Humboldt and San Luis Obispo Counties. 

Dew said that a regional partnership known as the working waterfront coalition already has a training program for maritime industry skills that utilizes the Mare Island dry dock. “The idea is, once you have a workforce that has the skills, then that might help contribute to attracting more companies,” she said.

Dew would also like to work toward the development of passenger rail that would connect the Vallejo ferry terminal to the SMART train that will eventually connect to Sacramento. She said that intermodal transit infrastructure unlocks funding for mixed use development within walking distance of transit corridors and hubs, similar to a development plan in Hercules.

Although Dew believes in laying the groundwork for a longer term vision of Vallejo’s success, she said that she is also concerned about the immediate issues that Vallejoans are facing.

“We definitely have to increase staffing at the Police Department,” Dew said. “Having officers responding to high stress calls for service 16 hours a day is not sustainable or healthy, it's just a recipe for bad results.”

Finalizing the union contract was a big step forward, Dew said, because she saw officers who had left for other agencies return after it was signed. She believes that the recruitment and retention bonuses that the current council is considering will also help.

“I think we're already seeing a shift in the culture of the department where they really want to be engaged with the community and are seeking those opportunities,” she said. 

To revitalize Vallejo’s downtown, Dew proposes placing a temporary hold on some of the city’s connection and entitlement fees because many of the buildings need significant upgrades such as earthquake retrofitting, Americans with Disabilities Act accessibility or fire safety improvements. She said that the elimination of the fees would help reduce upfront costs and the fees could be reinstated once the downtown reaches a point where businesses realize that it is a profitable location. 

Dew said to address homelessness, she wants to support the creativity of local property owners, such as the owner of a mobile home park who worked with the county and regional nonprofits to offer supportive services for prospective tenants. Through that partnership, they moved more than 100 people from encampments into stable housing in Vallejo.

Improving early education and youth services is a foundational step for many of Dew’s proposals. She wants to increase collaboration between the city, the school district and GVRD to provide more after school programs.

She said that investing in children and youth by providing activities and creating educational opportunities from “cradle to career” offers better outcomes and it is less expensive than turning to law enforcement when kids lose their way due to difficult circumstances or lack of support.

• Fundraising: As of late September, Dew’s campaign had raised $78,466. Her top contributors include the Vallejo Chamber of Commerce, IBEW Local 180, Supervisor Erin Hannigan, the California Association of Realtors, former Councilmember Katy Miessner, and Countywide Transportation Inc.
• Endorsements: Dew’s endorsements include U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson; Solano County Supervisors Erin Hannigan, Mitch Mashburn and John Vasquez; Vallejo City Councilmembers Peter Bregenzer, JR Matulac and Rozzana Verder-Aliga; Sheriff Tom Ferrara; and DA Krishna Abrams.

Dwight Monroe Jr.

Local businessman Dwight Monroe Jr. runs Dwight’s Mobile Brake Service, is a member of the city’s Economic Development Commission and the police chief’s advisory board as well as the boards of the Vallejo Museum and the nonprofit Angels with Heart.

The central tenant of Monroe’s platform is public safety. “What I'm telling people is safe cities invest in safety,” Monroe said. “We're not just going to get safe all of a sudden, we're going to have to invest in this police department.” 

Monroe said that he thinks it’s vitally important for the city to open a new police headquarters. He said that he supports rebuilding at its current location but he feels that the previously proposed location on Mare Island Way was also good and the city may have been able to move forward faster. Getting that project moving would help address recruitment issues, he said. 

“We've been talking about this since 2018,” he said. “We got to start executing the goal, we got to start executing the plan, instead of getting derailed by 15 citizens that come to council and stop all progress.” 

He said that the reason he puts public safety first in his campaign is because residents across the city want it prioritized, but officers are reluctant to aggressively tackle crime because they are afraid of a lawsuit.

As a member of the chief’s advisory board, Monroe said he has insight into the challenges that the department is facing in adopting reforms. 

“It comes down to community outreach and that is one of the main components of the new reforms that are happening with the Vallejo Police Department,” he said. “Essentially everything that happens has a community outreach aspect to it: a critical shooting, use of force, they just had a discussion about military grade weapons, things like these are explaining to the public all the different nuances and complexities that the department has to go through.” 

Monroe said that his “boots on the ground” ethic that he has developed as a small business owner and through his experience on commissions and boards will allow him to be a driving force behind executing a project while also bringing unity by listening to other points of view. 

He said that as president of the Angels with Heart board he has been able to help teams adapt to be more effective by carefully monitoring the needs of different communities. He said he is also working on building relationships with local businesses downtown. 

Monroe said that the city needs to help small businesses by providing clear information about development permits and licenses. He said that providing various incentives for developers and tax breaks for small business will help to attract business and new development to the city. But ultimately, public safety will be key.

“We got to make sure that these business owners and these developers are willing to come to the city and raise their children here and feel safe here,” Monroe said. “People love shopping in Vallejo as long as they are not deterred by crime and blight, so the reputation and the perception of Vallejo has to change.”

• Fundraising: As of late September, Monroe had raised $4,570, most of which he contributed to himself.
• Endorsements: Monroe has been endorsed by Economic Development Commissioner Thomas Barbeiro, GVRD Board Member Thomas Judt, and Juvenile Justice Commissioner Celina Perez. 

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar is a community advocate who serves on the participatory budgeting committee, the board of directors of the Vallejo Historical Museum, the Vallejo Sister City Association and the Solano Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Before he retired, he worked in accounting for finance and data processing companies. He can often be found volunteering at community gardens in Vallejo and Faith Food Fridays.

Shankar said that his degree in engineering from Bangalore University in India has provided the foundation for his analytical and data driven mode of thinking. But his experience in the accounting and finance world has taught him how to accomplish more with limited budgets.

In judging the effectiveness of elected officials, Shankar feels that the most important yardstick is how their voting record aligns with community priorities. He feels that on a number of key issues over the years, staff and council priorities have not been in alignment with those of the community and his goal as mayor would be to correct that mismatch.

Shankar pointed to some councilmembers’ reluctance to oppose an abandoned proposal by Orcem to build a concrete factory and marine terminal despite community opposition. He discussed his concerns that community voices were not heard in decisions about the Mare Island Preserve and development deals like the Blue Rock Springs Golf Course and the sale of 157 acres on North Mare Island. 

Shankar said that he does support selling unused city properties to provide funding for much needed projects, but said the money needs to be spent wisely and according to community priorities.

One of Vallejo’s missed opportunities, Shankar said, was a proposal from Mario Saucedo to have additional vendors and a flea market on the lower half of Georgia Street coinciding with the popular farmers’ market. Shankar felt that this would have allowed members of disadvantaged communities to start a business without high costs. 

The August Summer Nights events were a great success, Shankar said. But he said there were also concerns that minority-run businesses and organizations were excluded. He said that as mayor he would work to ensure that there are equitable opportunities to participate. 

Shankar said that he and many other Vallejo homeowners are considering adding an accessory dwelling unit to their property. He feels that there may be opportunities for the city to find grant funding that can supplement homeowner investments to build ADUs. 

Supplemental funding for ADUs would expand Vallejo’s housing stock and increase the availability of low cost housing for those who are facing homelessness, he said. But, in order to begin to address the issue, he said the city needs to build a supportive housing project similar to Blue Oak Landing or an under construction project on Broadway in every district in the city.

“If we have a homeless center in each of the districts, including in communities like Hiddenbrook, it will represent that all of us are going to care for the homeless,” he said. “That is the message that we would be sending.”

As mayor, Shankar said that he would also encourage the council to interact with the homeless community that lives near City Hall. 

“I would invite each of the councilmembers to make a little time if not every week, every month, to go around the city hall and the library, to really spend time, hand out a lunchbox or a beverage and talk,” he said. “When you are there as a leader, when you are there as a council member there is more possibility of building the trust and friendship required.” 

• Fundraising: As of late September, Shankar reported receiving $100 in donations.

Andrea Sorce

Andrea Sorce is a professor of economics at Diablo Valley College, chair of the Vallejo Surveillance Advisory board and co-founder of the Solano County chapter of the ACLU. She said she would bring fiscal responsibility, transparency and accountability to the city of Vallejo.

Sorce’s prescription for this change begins with an audit of the city’s finances going back five years. “I don’t really know where Vallejo’s tax dollars are going and that scares me,” she said in a recent mayoral candidates forum.

The city of Vallejo’s high staff vacancy rates have led to a practice of budgeting for a fully staffed department and then reallocating funds for positions that remain vacant. 

Sorce said she wants to reshape this process so the budget accounts for vacant staffing levels that are closer to the number of vacant positions that the city could realistically hire, so those funds could be used to support the city’s priorities early in the budget process rather than the opaque shuffling of funds that occurs mid-year. 

Sorce would also like to see the initial draft of the budget come out earlier altogether.

“By bringing the budget in late May, staff has effectively prevented City Council and the community from giving any input into where the funding is going in the budget, she said. “We need to reverse that. I think the budget should be out by March at the latest and there should be study sessions with the community about where those trade offs are, so that that's transparent.”

Meanwhile, she said that current city leadership is to blame for understaffing in the Police Department. 

“The state of emergency that we're in right now, the understaffing, the lack of response, is rooted in a lack of leadership and a lack of our prior council’s and leaders being proactive in addressing the misconduct and reforming the department,” Sorce said.

She added that the slow movement on reforms has made it difficult to address public safety issues. “The people that are impacted by police misconduct and impacted by the mistrust, are the same folks that are impacted by violence,” she said, “So we have a responsibility to do right by those folks, to make sure that we have a fully functioning, fully staffed police department that they can trust to respond when they call.”

Sorce said she will draw on her experience helping to secure federal and state grants for student textbooks at Diablo College and her grant writing work with the International Rescue Committee to improve services in Vallejo. 

“There are so many organizations and so much philanthropy that serves the rest of the Bay Area, but a lot of that skips over Solano County,” she said, adding that Solano county has the same issues that the other Bay Area counties are facing but the services aren't here.

The Mayor’s role offers some key opportunities to make change in Vallejo, Sorce said. 

“I think having a really strong facilitator in the mayor's role is important, and somebody that's willing to lead and push and encourage a culture of everybody taking shared responsibility for our problems and not just making excuses.”

Sorce’s husband, former city special advisor Slater Matzke, sued the city after he was fired in April 2020 along with two other city officials. Matzke and a co-plaintiff settled the lawsuit last month for $1.8 million. Another co-plaintiff reached a $1 million settlement earlier this year. 

“If you have a city where people are getting away with misconduct," Sorce said, “and officials are making active decisions to cover up the misconduct, to not investigate the misconduct, and not hold anyone accountable for misconduct, and the only people that face consequences are the citizens and the employees that are trying to do the right thing, that's not a healthy culture.” 

• Fundraising: As of late September, Sorce reported receiving $38,658 in contributions. Her top contributors include Joe Estrada, Robert Sorce, Ji Shin, Jimmy Genn and Steve Davis, Askari Sowande and Tom Bilbo.
• Endorsements: Sorce’s endorsements include Solano County Supervisor-elect Cassandra James, Vallejo City Councilmembers Mina Loera-Diaz and Cristina Arriola, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, the Sierra Club and the Solano County Democratic Party.