Assemblymember Tim Grayson has pulled well ahead in the race for Steve Glazer’s state Senate District 9 seat in early election results posted Tuesday night. San Ramon Councilmember Marisol Rubio was trailing.
These early unofficial tallies were limited to vote-by-mail ballots and voters who cast their ballots in-person prior to Election Day, and final results are not expected for several days, as mail-in ballots continue to arrive and in-person election day votes are counted.
The two candidates, both Democrats, will square off again in the November election to represent state Senate District 9 — a recently redistricted community that will no longer be represented by Glazer, who did not run for reelection due to term limits.
The district, which spans Martinez, Concord, Antioch, Brentwood and large swaths of unincorporated Contra Costa County, is home to more than a half-million residents.
During his two terms in the state Assembly, Grayson — the son of a Teamster union member and public transit worker — has boasted about his past efforts to ease affordable housing construction near transit hubs, boost green energy job opportunities in Contra Costa County and challenge “big banks and pharmaceutical companies.” Additionally, the 57-year-old has been critical of proposals to construct a water tunnel under the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta as well as Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s efforts to ask voters to approve another tax increase in 2026.
Prior to being elected to represent District 15 in the California Assembly, Grayson was a general building contractor and small business owner before being elected to the Concord City Council in 2010 and 2014, including a stint as the appointed mayor. He also works as a police chaplain and serves as a bi-vocational pastor of Lifepoint Church in Concord, which was formerly named Calvary Apostolic Church.
In District 9, Rubio cited her three decades of social justice advocacy work as proof that she has the skills necessary to represent some of the most at-risk residents of the district— ranging from caretakers navigating complex health care challenges to neighborhoods bearing the brunt of consequences associated with climate change to refinery workers awaiting looming transitions to green technologies.
Prior to being elected to the San Ramon City Council in November 2022, the 50-year-old was elected to the Dublin San Ramon Services District, where she served as a director and vice president. She is also a board member at Sierra Club California and its San Francisco Bay chapter, as well as nonprofits dedicated to women’s reproductive rights and developmental disabilities.
This is the second-year councilor’s second campaign for this same Senate district, after failing to make the runoff in the March 2020 primary.