Assemblymember Damon Connolly has been putting serious miles on his car. Some months, he told our editor during a recent radio interview, he drives as many as 4,000 miles.
Connolly is running for California’s 2nd Senate District, a seven-county stretch that includes Sonoma, Marin, Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity and Del Norte.
That’s a considerable change in scale for the lawmaker who currently represents Assembly District 12, which tops out at Santa Rosa and Sausalito. It also changes the conversation from one stop to the next. “I would say the big difference is the range of communities,” Connolly said. He described a district with affluent communities and rural areas where access to health care is an urgent concern.
Connolly said the severity of the problem in some places surprised him. The challenge goes beyond paying for care: Communities must also attract and retain medical professionals. It is one issue he said he would continue working on.
He hears about wildfire prevention, insurance, utility rates, energy prices and groceries as he campaigns. Asked for the most consistent complaint, he answered simply: “Cost of living, for sure.”
His pitch also reaches beyond household expenses. Connolly argues that California legislators must respond when federal decisions affect the state’s residents, whether through litigation, regulation or state funding. He pointed to the renewed prospect of offshore oil drilling as an issue for a Senate district that follows a long stretch of the coast.
