The early bird gets the worm, and for Salinas City Councilman Andrew Sandoval that reward could be a new four-year term on the dais this November.
On Saturday, April 18, under clear blue skies and joined by supporters from within and beyond his district, Sandoval launched his reelection campaign at Laurelwood Park. The location reflected the priorities of the District 5 representative who has advocated for improved parks and recreation spaces in Salinas.
“I feel so honored that so many people shared their stories, especially the youth,” Sandoval said. “I really had no idea the level of impact my conversations have had with them. It reaffirms that people are paying attention, which is always what I want in government. I feel really good. This was a very diverse crowd—not just from my district, but from across the city. It’s what Salinas looks like.”
Asked about the challenges he anticipates in the run-up to November, Sandoval pointed to the familiar terrain of the past election cycle. He was first elected to Salinas City Council in 2022 and has weathered at least one recall effort that failed to move forward due to technicalities. He was also the subject of an official censure—only the second in city council history—largely stemming from his social media activity.
For many in attendance Saturday, however, the censure was not a concern. Several supporters of the councilman have characterized it as politically motivated, with some saying Sandoval’s social media posts, which usually have a video clip from a city council meeting along with a voiceover offering an opinion or question to viewers is what initially prompted them to follow city politics.
“Not everybody, but a lot of people are on social media, and it has a big reach, especially with the youth,” said Jasmine Lopez, a 22-year-old Salinas resident. “The biggest way that youth get information, including myself is on social media and so with him putting information out there, it opened the door to the youth, and to me. I’ve seen it with my own family members and they are like, ‘I didn’t know what was going on in Salinas’ and now they’re following Andrew.”
Lopez said the councilman’s posts, often tinged with humor, have sparked conversations about the goings-on in the city, which in usual circumstances go unnoticed.
“Now they are like, ‘hey, did you know that this happened yesterday?’ So now we are having those conversations when before we didn’t and it’s because of social media and the way he brought things out,” Lopez said. “Now we are actually starting to ask those big questions: where did that money come from? Where are they spending our money—because it is our money and we elected them to represent us.”
Lopez and others at the campaign kick-off said they appreciated Sandoval’s accessibility and meeting people where they are at.
“It is so easy to come up to him and have a conversation,” Lopez said. “I’ll say, ‘Hey, Andrew why don’t we put a bathroom at that park and he’ll say, ‘that’s a good question, let’s see how we can follow-up on that.’ I don’t see any other city council representative doing that and that is why we need to support him.”
Abraham Mina, a District 5 resident, said he first met Sandoval during his initial run for city council.
“He came to my house and talked about his campaign—it sounded pretty good and he delivered on his promise,” said Mina, highlighting the councilman’s assistance in getting sidewalks fixed, cleaning up the park and getting new trees.
“He shows up,” said Mina, who said he intended to put one of Sandoval’s campaign signs up in his yard. “I’ve seen him like three or four times a year and I’ve never seen one [city council representative] before. It’s like they get your vote and then disappear.”
Sandoval, along with District 2 representative Tony Barrera are the sole holdovers from the prior city council. The five others, Margaret D’Arrigo, Jose Luis Barajas, Gloria De La Rosa, Aurelio Salazar along with Mayor Dennis Donohue were all newly elected in November 2024. The terms of Donohue, Barrera and D’Arrigo are also up this year.
One of the first actions of the new city council majority was to move toward rescinding the city’s newly enacted rent stabilization law and associated tenant-related policies. The revocation never took hold, and the tenant laws stayed in place due to a successful referendum campaign by community group Protect Salinas Renters, which Sandoval and Barrera supported.
Salinas voters will decide on rent stabilization’s future in the city in November.
Jay Cohen, a resident in Sandoval’s district, said he helped gather signatures for the referendum and appreciated the councilman “stepping up.”
“I just think that was really epic,” Cohen said. “The way they combated against it, it was a David and Goliath kind of thing.”
Another resident in Sandoval’s district, George Villa said he was out supporting the councilman because “he listens to the community when there’s an issue that needs to happen” and “he’s transparent.”
“The whole censure thing was debunked,” Villa said. “If he’s sharing what the facts are and what is happening, I don’t see a problem with it because he’s talking the truth and being transparent about it. He’s not hiding anything.”
Villa said Sandoval’s support shows that people want change in the city and he is not for “special interests.”
“He’s always gathering people together—the young people, and he’s active in the community,” Villa said. “He’s ensuring our parks and recreation are taken care of and invested in. We had a big problem of divestment in our parks and he supports our schools. There’s a lot of people here today because his actions are with the community. We respect that he’s a common person doing extraordinary things.”
Sandoval said while he expects the election will bring a lot of misinformation and negative ads fueled by campaign dollars from people who would like to see him off the city council, he aims to get out in the community as much as he can.
“The last election a lot of my [former] colleagues had a lot of negative ads run against them and negative mailers,” Sandoval said. “It’s easy to paint me as a big, scary guy but that is why I really try to be out there as much as I can so people can get to know me.”
At this early juncture, the official nominating period has not even begun, Sandoval has so far one challenger for his city council seat. Irma C. Lopez is a Hartnell College Trustee and manager of the MLK Family Resource Center.
Referring to a man he first met earlier at the kick-off event, Sandoval said he ended up staying because “he has the same concerns about the city council’s priorities as I do.”
“We need to make sure we’re investing money in our neighborhoods, and in the streets and sidewalks—things like that,” Sandoval said. “Overall, I feel great.”
This article originally appeared on Salinas Californian: Andrew Sandoval launches reelection bid for Salinas City Council
Reporting by Roseann Cattani, Salinas Californian / Salinas Californian
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
