KQED Voter Guide: Alameda County, State Senate District 10

Outgoing state Sen. Bob Wieckowski is termed out, leaving open a seat in a district that stretches from Hayward to Sunnyvale. Roughly 44% of the citizen voting-age population in the district is Asian, the largest share of any Senate district in the state. In the June primary, Mei came out on top with 33% of the vote, to Wahab’s 30%, with outside groups contributing heavily to both sides. Explore KQED's full 2022 California voter guide.

Candidates

Lily Mei (D)
Fremont Mayor

Aisha Wahab (D)
Hayward Councilmember

Positions on Key Issues

HOMELESSNESS
Why are you the best candidate to address the state’s homelessness crisis?

Mei touts her experience as mayor of Fremont, where she led a push to open the city’s first navigation center in 2020, a shelter where unhoused people can connect with service providers. She notes how the project was controversial from the get-go, and faced intense local backlash, but says she is “really proud of the results.” A year after it opened, 31 of the center's 66 unhoused participants have found permanent housing. Mei says she would try to build on the navigation center model statewide, if elected to the Legislature.

Wahab also points to her strong support, as a City Council member, for a new navigation center in Hayward in 2019. “We worked with the community,” she says, adding, “We actually didn't, unlike a lot of other cities, have pushback.” In its first year, 45 of the center’s 91 residents found permanent housing. Wahab says she aspires to champion measures in the state Legislature that give local residents priority for spots in new housing developments.

HOUSING
What housing policies would you support if elected?

Mei says she supported a streamlined, online permitting process for creating accessory dwelling units (ADUs) in Fremont. As a state legislator, she pledges to advocate for more funding for workforce housing and to improve communication with residents and local officials about pending state housing proposals. “It’s easier to adopt something if people understand the impacts,” she says.

Wahab says she would push for a statewide inclusionary housing policy, requiring builders to earmark a certain number of units for affordable housing in every new development. “If the state is willing to say, ‘OK, every single development needs to have 10% affordable housing,’ I think that's the responsible approach,” she says.

PUBLIC SAFETY
What approaches do you support to bolster public safety?

Mei says she would “like to revisit” a provision in Proposition 47 that increased the monetary threshold — from $400 to $950 — at which theft could be prosecuted as a felony. “It has gotten very challenging for our police and our community,” she says. “We should not be rewarding people and giving them the idea that you can commit a crime.” As mayor of Fremont, Mei supported funding a controversial program to place police officers in Fremont schools, saying the decision reflected concerns raised by the local PTA.

Wahab says the punishment of thefts should be reformed to provide more restitution, with a focus on restorative justice. “That means hours of (community) service,” she says. “That means giving back to those individuals that were violated.” She points to her vote as a council member to create a mental health crisis team to handle some emergency calls. “This project actually allows for the police to focus on actual crime,” says Wahab.