Elections matter – that is something that Clean Water Action has known for a long time. Our members expect many things from us, but one of our most important responsibilities is to recommend candidates for office that our members and others who care about can support on Election Day.
Clean Water Action is pleased to announce our endorsements for the following candidates for Congress because of their environmental record and positions.
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U.S. Congressional Endorsements
California State Senate Endorsements
California State Assembly Endorsements
U.S. Congressional Endorsements
Congressional District 1 (Northern California): Mike McGuire
Mike McGuire will fight back against the Trump Administration’s assault on California’s environment. As he puts it, “from Forest Service cuts, to water management, air pollution and simple basic decency, it’s hard to imagine a more pressing priority than changing the constant barrage of attacks on everything we have worked so hard for here in California. We have to stop the crazy, and get back to the priorities of taking care of people and our environment.”
Mike has seen the devastation of wildfires and sea level rise firsthand while representing both coastal and inland rural communities in the state Senate. He recognizes that Northern California’s water systems are increasingly vulnerable, and protecting them is foundational to public health and our economy. Consequently, in Congress he will prioritize strengthening protections under the Clean Water Act to protect farming communities and promote forest management to ensure thriving habitats, clean water and safety. He is committed to securing sustained federal funding for drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater systems, especially for rural and small communities, along with investment in wildfire resilience, drought preparedness, and climate adaptation to protect water quality and reliability.
Congressional District 11 (San Francisco): Connie Chan
Connie Chan currently serves on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Her professional accomplishments include helping to shut down the Mirant Power. Realizing “that environmental harm falls hardest on communities of color and low-income residents”, Connie also believes that shutting down pollution sources isn’t enough; “we must also invest in housing, transit, and jobs for the communities impacted by pollution and environmental harms. In Congress, I will put environmental justice first in every climate decision I make”. In addition, she will fight to restore EPA funding and staffing, reinstate Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act enforcement, reverse rollbacks on methane and toxic chemical regulations, restore climate resilience programs and ensure federal investments in renewable energy, public transit, climate-resilient infrastructure, and green workforce development with the focus on a just transition for workers and communities.
Congressional District 22 (Kern County): Randy Villegas
For too long, District 22 has been dominated by Big Ag and Big Oil. Now is the time to change that and elect a candidate committed to a sustainable economy that also serves those living with the air and water contamination and related health problems these industries create. That’s why Clean Water Action has endorsed Randy Villegas, a long time social justice educator and advocate.
Randy understands that the rural communities he seeks to represent have been struggling the most because of cuts to healthcare, education, and the environment. Many of these communities still lack access to safe, affordable and clean drinking water, and must budget for bottled water every month adding to a crushing cost of living. That’s why he will support investing in needed programs, including water infrastructure. He also understands that current reliance on fossil fuels not only contaminates communities, but does not create a sustainable economy with opportunities for all. That’s why he supports the necessary transition to clean energy and jobs in areas like wind and solar energy. He supports renewable energy through publicly-owned, renewable utilities that will lower costs for consumers. Finally, Randy wants to see a moratorium on oil drilling and fossil fuel extraction from federal lands and within federal waters, as well as protection of national parks that both the incumbent and Trump Administration wish to sell off.
California State Senate Endorsement
State Senate District 2 (North Coast): Damon Connolly
Clean Water Action is pleased to endorse Damon Connolly for State Senate in District 2. When serving on the Marin County Board of Supervisors, Damon helped pass a Clean Water supported ordinance to require industry collection of unused household drug products in order to protect water. In 2024, his work in the Assembly, including his efforts on sustainable groundwater management, earned him recognition as Environmental Champion by our organization and allies. Damon also played a key role in crafting the "Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024" (Prop 4), which is voter approved $10 billion climate resilience bond that is now funding crucial programs to address water needs and the threats from climate and fire.
Much of Damon Connolly’s platform for Senate focuses on environmental issues, including addressing climate and sea level rise, two issues impacting his district because of climate change. Furthermore, he highlights a commitment to promoting sustainable transportation solutions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and protect air quality; advancing sustainable agriculture practices that address drought, reduce fire threats, stimulate sustainable practices and clean soils; and expanding open space. Finally, Damon has articulated a deep commitment to promoting social justice and racial and gender equality.
California State Assembly Endorsements
Assembly District 12 (Marin and Sonoma Counties): Jackie Elward
During her time as both a teacher and serving as Mayor and City Councilmember in Rohnert Park, Jackie Elward learned the importance of pairing strong policies with the sustained local investment needed to implement them. As a result, she will fight to ensure reliable funding for wildfire resilience, addressing sea-level rise and flooding, modern water infrastructure to ensure clean drinking water, and enforcement of environmental laws. While supporting reasonable streamlining of infill, transit-friendly housing construction, Elward opposes broad rollbacks of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for advanced manufacturing that will pollute local communities. In the Assembly, she will support stable funding of low-income rate assistance programs for families struggling to pay water bills. Elward will also couple her efforts to transition California away from fossil fuels with seeking funding for training so that workers in traditional energy can have a just transition into new, well-paying jobs. Finally, Elward has stated a commitment to hearing diverse voices, including those in rural regions of her district, urban dwellers, tribes, and environmental justice interests.
As she puts it, “When legislative schedules become crowded, the communities living with the consequences of pollution must not be crowded out by the industries responsible for it."
Assembly District 42 (East Ventura and West LA Counties): Deborah Klein Lopez
What made Deborah Klein Lopez stand out to Clean Water Action was her understanding that we need more than partial or temporary fixes to severe environmental problems. Having cut her public service teeth on addressing the horrific impacts of the Woolsey Fire on her community, she told us, “Responding to disasters means more than playing defense and expanding resiliency programs; it means finding ways to put a stop to the root causes of these disasters.”
The need to implement solutions that get to the heart of our environmental problems is key to Clean Water Action’s approach, whether we are protecting our drinking water by limiting the use of toxic chemicals in the first place; phasing out fossil fuels while creating green energy technologies; increasing investment in stormwater capture, wastewater recycling and other innovative ways to fight water scarcity; or bolstering water-wise agriculture. Klein Lopez will support the big answers to these and other issues. In addition, she supports low-income drinking water rate assistance for economically disadvantaged households, will promote tribal rights and expertise in land and water management, and will prioritize justice for historically-marginalized communities.
Endorsements for Local Offices
East Bay Municipal Utility District, Ward 3: Marguerite Young
Marguerite Young brings over forty years’ experience in water and environmental policy to her position on the East Bay Municipal Utility District Board. That expertise has translated into real results for the East Bay. Among her many accomplishments are:
- Modernizing the district’s infrastructure, including new pipelines and state-of-the-art leak detection,
- Ensuring that EBMUD leads the state in innovative drought response, including penalties for wasters and rewards for savers, conservation incentives and recycling, and environmentally appropriate water transfers,
- Leading community engagement to address contamination and upgrade water treatment,
- Helping end shutoffs and assist people that struggle to afford their water, and
- Championing protections of the Mokelumne River (EBMUD’s primary water source) and revamping watershed management plans to improve habitats, limit fire threats, and keep the region free of plastic.
Marguerite represents Ward 3, which includes Piedmont, portions of Oakland, Orinda, Moraga, El Sobrante, Pinole, and Richmond. Given her proven leadership and service to her community and her many other environmental credentials, Clean Water Action is proud to endorse Marguerite’s continued position on the EBMUD Board.
East Bay Municipal Utility District, Ward 7: Dr. Gary Wolff
Clean Water Action is proud to endorse Dr. Gary Wolff for the East Bay Municipal Utilities District Board (EBMUD). He will bring not only extensive expertise on water to the board, but a strong commitment to the community. As he puts it, "The highest goal is to represent the community effectively. Water is central to our lives in many ways…Competence and a strong work ethic are essential for any Director to represent the community effectively."
Wolff brings 40 years of engineering and regulatory expertise to the Board. Among the important roles he’s played are his service on both the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (which regulates EBMUD), and the State Water Resources Control Board. He has also worked as a resource economist and sustainability expert, including at Stanford’s Center for Conservation Biology, the Monterey Institute of International Studies, and the Pacific Institute. This experience will enable him to truly make progress on his three priorities on the EBMUD Board:
- Increasing water efficiency to secure sustainable quality supplies, such as using recycled water and storing high-quality Mokulumne water underground during very wet years. These actions will reduce the need for lower quality Sacramento River water, possibly reduce costs, and create environmental benefits.
- Keeping water affordable through innovative funding sources other than just ratepayer dollars and relevant cost-cutting initiatives.
- Responding to local needs of the residents served by EBMUD, such as fire safety, reducing utility-related truck traffic and other disruptions in our streets, and better access to EBMUD lands for recreation.
Santa Clara Valley Water Board, Ward 7: Pete Dailey
Pete Dailey has spent 4 years on the Valley Water Commission, serving as chair in 2025, and Pete Dailey has a proven track record of delivering results in his service on the Valley Water Commission, on the Los Altos City Council, and as Mayor of Los Altos. His priorities for the Valley Water Board are flood protection, water supply security, and stewardship of the watershed.
- Flood protection: Uphold flood protection commitments as the district tries to change from key performance measures to dollar-funding measures
- Water supply security: Lead the interagency push to regulate Data Centers
- Watershed stewardship: Fiscally sound and humane, proactive, approaches to the unhoused in the watershed – relying on interagency collaboration
He is ready to regulate the explosive growth of data centers, with goals of ensuring the use of recycled water and receviing accurate numbers for water usage through the permitting process. Pete has plans for executing these goals so that development fees paid by data center companies cover infrastructure costs to deliver the recycled water.
Ballot Proposals
No on Prop 45
What do environmental groups, health advocates, labor unions, land trusts, civil rights organizations, concerned taxpayers, and faith-based groups have in common? They are all opposing Prop 45! Meanwhile, the initiative is backed by industry interests including the California Chamber of Commerce, the Associated General Contractors of California, the California Building Industry Association, and the California Business Roundtable.
Prop 45 pretends to streamline regulations to expedite housing construction and other positive sounding development like clean energy facilities and medical sites. Don’t be fooled. This initiative is all about allowing industries to build what they wish, where they wish, without environmental oversight. It limits legal actions against polluters, restricts the ability of the state legislature to fix flaws in the law, and reduces local analysis of building projects and community input.
While industry is spending a fortune to get you to vote for Prop 45 with their own spin, it’s important to know the facts. What this initiative will really do is:
- Allow industries to bypass California Environmental Quality Act requirements that protect communities like yours from water and air pollution.
- Let power corporations and oil, gas and electric utilities fast-track projects like data centers, dams, freeway expansions, landfill gas facilities, and more.
- Limit public information about industry construction projects and the right of residents to have a voice in projects that affect their homes, health, and water.
Finally, Prop 45 will cost YOU money. While the initiative’s backers say this is about affordability, they are not telling voters that they are the ones to benefit, not you. Communities will face the costs of environmental cleanup, climate impacts, water treatment, fire risk and health bills. In fact, the state’s non-partisan analysis determined that Prop 45 could cost Californians up to $100 million a year.
Clean Water Action is proud to be part of the NO on Prop 45 Coalition. Visit the coalition’s website to learn more!
No on Prop 39
While the Trump Administration has tried to cast doubt on California’s voting system, the state has a robust program to ensure that voters are U.S. citizens and are eligible to vote when they register. Enforcement is strict too. Illegal voting is a felony that can lead to jail, or if the voter is not a citizen, to deportation.
Prop 39 ignores the state’s strict voting procedures by requiring voters to provide a government-issued ID, such as a driver’s license when voting at the polls or the last four digits of such an ID when voting by mail. While this may sound reasonable, it is meant to hinder voting. Many people don’t have such IDs because they are disabled and can’t drive or for other reasons. This is particularly true among elderly people, youth, and people of color.
Prop 39 adherents have pumped millions into a campaign to sell you on this unnecessary initiative. What they are not telling you is that Prop 39 will:
• Slow down voting at the polls.
• Slow down vote counts, leaving election results in limbo for a longer period.
• Complicate eligible citizen’s voting rights.
• Cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars to implement.
Prop 39 harkens back to the dark days of Jim Crow laws that disenfranchised black and poor white voters in the South. Don’t be fooled by the rhetoric of fear spouted by its adherents. Stand with Clean Water Action, the League of Women Voters of CA, disability rights groups, and civil rights organizations and vote no on Prop 39. For more information, see the League of Women Voters website.
No on Prop 43
We all believe in “no taxation without representation”, which is why local tax hikes are put on the ballot for voter approval. The system works. Local government-imposed taxes are already subject to the approval of 2/3 of the voters. However, if citizens put a ballot measure onto the ballot, it requires only a majority. This makes sense given that to get a proposition onto the ballot means the sponsors must demonstrate a large amount of public support by collecting signatures.
In the case of Prop 43, we again have special interests spending millions of dollars to change the rules. In this case it’s the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and businesses who are spending millions to make it harder to raise necessary local revenues by requiring a 2/3 majority to approve citizen-initiated propositions.
As one Sonoma County commentator demonstrates, if this rule had been in place over the last few years, that county’s fire and emergency response would not be effective, Santa Clara County would not be protecting its limited open space, and Alameda County would have failed to raise health care funding.
Clean Water Action opposes Prop 43 because it will severely hinder environmentally necessary projects such as water protections and climate response even when a majority of the community supports them. We’re urging a No on Prop 43 vote when you receive your ballot.
Clean Water Action is responsible for the content of this independent expenditure. It is not coordinated with or approved by any candidate nor is any candidate responsible for it. Contact us at cleanwater.org/ca or call 415-942-4933 with questions.
