This segment was originally published in Politico.
A committee supporting Prop 36 started by San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho and Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen now has the backing of nearly 200 local elected officials, the committee will announce this morning.
Mahan, Ho and Singh-Allen launched their own Yes on 36 effort last month, hoping to bring more moderate Democrats on board for the tough-on-crime initiative. Of the endorsements they’re announcing today, 90 percent are Democrats or in non-partisan elected roles; many of them had not previously taken a public position on the measure.
Among those who have signed on are 70 mayors, including Compton’s Emma Sharif, Alameda’s Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft, Merced’s Matthew Serratto and San Bernardino’s Helen Tran.
“You’re seeing a growing network of local elected officials who confront these issues, whose constituents confront these issues, every single day,” Mahan, who has focused his message on how Prop 36 will allow cities to better combat drug addiction and homelessness, told Playbook ahead of the announcement. “We’ve just had more and more elected officials saying, ‘Sign me up, we need this.’”
The new endorsements are further proof of the statewide vs. local divide that’s emerged among Democrats on Prop 36 — and come as polls show the measure getting strong support from among the electorate. — Emily Schultheis