The following interview was conducted by members of The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board and the two leading candidates for the District 8 state senate seat, current Sacramento vice mayor and District 1 councilwoman Angelique Ashby and former California insurance commissioner, assemblyman and Sacramento city council member Dave Jones. It has been edited for length and clarity.
The Sacramento Bee: Tell us about yourself and why you wanted to run.
Angelique Ashby: This is an important race – Dr. Pan has been amazing and leaves big shoes to fill. I’ve had a lot of experience over the last 11 or so years of my life serving on the Sacramento City Council. I’m currently the vice mayor of the city of Sacramento and the council member for District 1. I will round out 12 full years of service at the end of this year in that seat. I’ve spent more than half of my time on the council as the only woman. I’ve also served as vice mayor or mayor pro tem nine times out of those 12 years – both with former Mayor Johnson and current Mayor Steinberg – which is something I’m very proud of and offered me the opportunity to lead on issues city wide. I’ve been in Sacramento a long time. I’m a graduate of Sacramento High School. I was a single mom at age 20 and had a baby really young. I learned how to use food stamps and I lived in low-income housing here in Sacramento. I used a great program called Child Action to help me pay for childcare. I worked full time, I raised my son on my own and I earned my degree from UC Davis and my law degree from McGeorge. Then I got married, and bought a house in Natomas. My husband is a nurse, he runs the emergency room downtown at Sutter here in Sacramento. And I decided to run for senate District 8 because my good friend Dr. Pan asked me to, and he has endorsed me in this race. I love this region so much, I feel like I have had a good run out here in District 1 and I’d like to see what I can do district wide.
Read full interview at: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article260640322.html
