Dr. Flojaune Cofer Announces Run for Sacramento Mayor

Dr. Flojaune Cofer isn’t shy about acknowledging the obvious.

Cofer, an epidemiologist with a doctorate from the University of Michigan, announced April 19 she will run for mayor of Sacramento in the 2024 election. She is the first candidate to announce a run in this race, having never held elected office but having served in recent years on four local commissions, including the city’s Measure U committee.

“I want to be honest about the fact that no, I’ve never seen my name on a ballot before, and also the fact that I know how the city works,” Cofer told California Local in an interview via Zoom on Wednesday. “I’m deeply invested in the back end in terms of staffing, the front end in terms of community engagement, and I know the issues really well.”

If elected, Cofer would be the first Black woman to serve as mayor in Sacramento history. She’d also likely bring a more progressive style of politics to the office than incumbent Darrell Steinberg, who’s yet to announce if he will seek a third term.

The biggest question is whether Sacramento is ready to elect a progressive as mayor.

Background and Ideas

Originally from Pittsburgh, PA, Cofer has both a scientific and public health background. She earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Spelman College in 2004, a Master’s of Public Health in epidemiology from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor in 2006, and her doctorate in 2010, according to her LinkedIn profile.

After completing her doctorate, Cofer worked six years for UC San Francisco. She has worked the past six years for Public Health Advocates, which bills itself as “a team of diverse, creative, strategic and persistent people committed to tackling the unjust systems that leave far too many behind.”

Cofer stressed in her interview with California Local that she never planned a run for public office.

“I enjoy public health policy work,” Cofer said, “but I found myself increasingly frustrated that the courage and creativity that so many in our community were showing, and the data that we have to show we could get better outcomes… felt like it was falling on unwilling participants in our overall elected officials.”

She found the experience frustrating, causing her to realize advocacy is only as effective as who was being advocated to.

“I am the 'fund public safety' candidate because I want our community to be safe."
Dr. Flojaune Cofer

“It’s very similar to gardening, right, where you can have heirloom seeds, but if you’re sowing them in infertile soil, you won’t get a good crop,” Cofer said. “And so at some point, I said, ‘I have ideas about this, I have experience and I’d really like for Sacramento to have a progressive option to be able to decide on when they pick up their ballots in March of 2024.”

Cofer has several things she’s planning if she were to be elected. First, she’d like the council to set priorities for Sacramento within 90 days. Beyond this, she desires a multi-faceted approach to ensuring public safety.

“I am the 'fund public safety' candidate because I want our community to be safe, and I want our dollars to reflect that,” Cofer said. “Where I will likely differ from other people who get into the field is that I am not committed to just one tool to get there.”

One tool she questions: The alternative emergency number the city set up independent of the Sacramento Police Department in 2020, so that police officers aren't necessarily the first to respond to people experiencing mental health issues. Cofer said that while polling data indicates community support for this approach, the unit has struggled to draw adequate support from the city.

"I would venture to guess that most people in Sacramento don't even know that this department exists and also that it's significantly underfunded and that right now, without really any public input, it's being moved under the police department, which is exactly the opposite of why it was created," Cofer said.

She also expressed a desire to address housing and homelessness, which remains a hot-button issue in Sacramento with city voters and county officials passing measures last year.

“In at least the last six to eight months, we passed two ordinances that tell people where they can’t be, who they can’t be with,” Cofer said. “But when I’ve asked our elected officials and staff, no one can give me a direct answer for where people are allowed to be. Humans have no option but to exist and take up space. I think it is imperative for us to be able to say, ‘Here’s where you’re allowed to be.’”

Cofer also is interested in two ideas she believes are intertwined, climate change and inclusive economic development. She’d like for Sacramento to have a public bank, saying, “North Dakota is the only place in the union that has a public bank and they fare really well in terms of their ability to reinvest in their community.”

It remains to be seen what kind of support Cofer can build and which endorsements she can draw. But heading into her first run for elected office, she sounds hopeful.

“I’m going to run a values-driven campaign,” Cofer said. “And that means ensuring the public’s trust because they have to be my No. 1 priority.”

The rest of the potential field

The remainder of the field Cofer could be up against is uncertain at this juncture.

Steinberg, who served as president pro tempore of the Caifornia State Senate and flirted with running for lieutenant governor before opting for his mayoral run, has cruised to election twice.

He beat challenger and then-Sacramento Councilwoman Angelique Ashby by more than 30 points in 2016. Steinberg then won 77 percent of the vote without serious competition in 2020. But the 63-year-old Steinberg has looked in recent months like he might be on the way out from city hall.

Different outlets reported in late December that Steinberg had applied to become a judge with the Third District Court of Appeals in Sacramento. A spokesman said Steinberg applied to be eligible for an appointment by the governor’s office. An email to that office this week wasn’t immediately returned.

The spokesman also said there was “no announcement at this time” about whether Steinberg would seek a third term as mayor.

Three other potential mayoral candidates—Maggy Krell of the California Attorney General’s Office, and former Sacramento City Council members Jeff Harris and Steve Hansen—have, like Cofer, filed statements with the California Fair Political Practices Commission indicating that they intend to run for the office.

But Krell, Harris and Hansen have yet to publicly announce campaigns, with Krell replying to an email on Wednesday to say that she might be willing to talk in coming weeks.

Other names to watch include: 

• California Assemblyman Kevin McCarty (D-Sacramento), who previously served on Sacramento City Council; 
• Dr. Richard Pan, who finished two terms in the California State Senate representing Sacramento in December 2022; 
• Daniel Hahn, who told KCRA that political office was “definitely not in the near future” when he retired as Sacramento’s police chief in 2021. 

Perhaps the most intriguing name among those yet to announce campaigns would be someone who ran espousing progressive ideas in a recent race, former Sacramento City Councilman and California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones.

Jones lost to Ashby in a November 2022 Senate race to succeed Pan, but there was a silver lining for Jones. In the portion of the district that fell in Sacramento city limits, Jones received the most votes. Ashby, a moderate Democrat, won by prevailing in the district’s more conservative areas.

Former Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson did precinct work for Jones during his state senate race. Dickinson stepped away from a virtual meeting on Wednesday to answer a knock on his door. 

While he didn’t have much time to talk before getting back to his meeting, Dickinson said that when he’s talked to Jones in the past, Jones has stressed he wasn’t interested in being mayor.

But were his friend to get into this race, Dickinson didn’t mince words, saying, “It would be competitive.”