The first in a series of four forums to hear from candidates running in next month’s primary election to represent San Joaquin County kicked off Wednesday with Stockton’s mayor candidates.
Inside a forum at San Joaquin Delta College, five of six candidates hoping to be elected as Stockton’s new mayor sat in front of a panel and answered six questions that they had received prior to the event.
Each person had a minute and a half to respond to the questions.
Running for the seat during the March 5 primary are Shakeel Ahmad, a businessman; Jesus Andrade, a nonprofit director and former city councilman; Christina Fugazi, a long-time educator and one of the current assistant principals at Stagg High School; Jessica Velez, founder of a nonprofit helping with homeless outreach; Dan Wright, who has served the city for 31 years as an educator and councilmember; and Tom Patti, a businessman and county supervisor.
According to the Stockton election process, in order to be elected as mayor a candidate must receive 50 percent plus one of the votes in the primary election. If no one receives a majority of the votes, a runoff election will be held in November with the top two vote-getters.
Prior to the candidates giving their one-minute opening statements, moderators for the event said despite several attempts to invite Ahmad, they were unable to confirm his participation.
In 20 years across five mayors serving in Stockton, the city has not had a mayor stay for two terms, including current Mayor Kevin Lincoln, who is running for a seat in Congress next month. Andrade said “that’s five different agendas from five different people.”
Jesus Andrade
The first to make an introduction was Andrade, who said he had been on the Stockton City Council from 2017 to 2020 but felt that he still has unfinished business due to the pandemic hitting.
“I want to continue what was started in 2017-2020,” Andrade said. “One of the things that is major for me is economic development, addressing safety issues, obviously addressing homelessness, those would be major.”
Christina Fugazi
Fugazi, whose family has been in the area since the 1850s, said she believes Stockton’s quality of life is not what it used to be and people are getting less but paying more.
“So, my hope is that we can change that trajectory, and really be focused on quality-of-life issues,” Fugazi said.
Jessica Velez
Velez pointed out to the audience that she is not a politician like the others in the race but said she is a graduate from St. Mary’s High School and has worked as a paralegal for the past 25 years before founding the nonprofit.
“I left for 10 years and lived in Denver and came back in 2016 and was shocked at the decline in the city over the course of the 10 years that I have been gone,” Velez said. “My purpose in running for mayor is bringing the people back into the equation. I don’t feel like our community is being heard by the people that are in office.”
Dan Wright
Wright pointed out his policy experience and said that for any policy problems thrown at the city, he would have contacts that would help resolve them.
“My campaign slogan is ‘leading change’ and what does that mean? It means that if you’re trying to effect change in this community and someone says no, you don’t have to take no for an answer,” Wright said.
Tom Patti
The last person to give an introduction was Patti, who did not use the microphone provided throughout the entire forum but instead stood up each time and loudly gave his responses.
He said that he’s running for mayor because he’s someone who gives results.
“We’ve tackled the issues in the county, extended our budget by a billion dollars, cutting bureaucracy and facilitating success. That’s what I’ll do as your mayor,” Patti said.
On leadership and developments
Some questions asked by panelists included why candidates were running for mayor, their qualifications, roles and duties of being mayor, and how they plan to build consensus on the City Council.
Velez pledged to voters that she would foster an environment of collaboration where open dialogue and constructive debate leads to informed decisions as well as having an open-door policy for the community.
She said there would not be room for peoples personal egos.
Wright answered by saying, “You listen, you collaborate … and then you be authentic.”
Patti said speaking on issues and being vocal would be the answer to lead to a better pathway.
“You need to have results to satisfy those that we have the privilege to represent for as long as we have the privilege to represent you,” Patti said. “So, we need to take action, need to be decisive, you need to be loud and vocal and speak out on the issues and the challenges that we face because each challenge has a solution.”
Andrade said he’d build consensus through respect, understanding what councilmembers want from their district and let them lead.
Fugazi just like Andrade said fostering an open dialogue would be best to work together while being humble.
When it came to questioning what Stockton’s most important infrastructure needs were and possible solutions and financing, candidates similarly said the many potholes in the city.
“This city used to have a staff and public works that would repave this entire city on a cycle. Now what we do, we tend to use a lot of slurry seal,” Fugazi said.
“So, we need to take action, need to be decisive, you need to be loud and vocal and speak out on the issues and the challenges that we face because each challenge has a solution.”
tom patti
Wright agreed and said part of the problem is that the city has too many roads due to unbridled expansion and said that another problem is so many vacant buildings that are not being used and instead used as tax writeoffs.
Andrade agreed with his co-panelists but included sidewalks, trees, and parks, specifically Van Buskirk Park.
Patti discussed the water supply downtown and called it antiquated with needs of an upgrade, to which Andrade also agreed and further discussed infrastructure projects that could bring in revenue.
Public safety issues and solutions to address them in addition to the ongoing homelessness issue were also discussed at the forum.
The second part of the candidate series will be held Thursday at 6 p.m. at the San Joaquin Delta College campus and will include candidates from Stockton City Council Districts 4 and 6.
The elected candidate will assume office on Jan. 1, 2025.
