Gilroy City Councilman and Democrat, Peter Leroe-Muñoz has launched a campaign for State Assembly District 30. Rep. Anna Caballero, who currently holds the seat, cannot run next year due to term limits.
The district, one of 80 in the state, includes all of San Benito County, Gilroy and Morgan Hill in Santa Clara County, parts of Monterey County, including the cities of Salinas and King City, and Watsonville in Santa Cruz County.
This is the second time Leroe-Muñoz, 37, has vied for the spot. He dropped out of the 2016 race during the primaries to throw his support behind Caballero, who went on to win in November against fellow Democrat and then Watsonville City Councilwoman, Karina Cervantez Alejo.
Caballero, who previously served two two-year terms in the state assembly representing the 28th district in 2006 and 2008, can only serve her current two year term, which expires in 2018.
“The biggest thing is how special the district is for me,” said Leroe-Muñoz. “My dad grew up in Hollister and when he was a young kid worked in the fields and canneries. My family is still in Hollister.”
The Harvard Law School graduate served for more than five years as deputy district attorney in San Benito County, prosecuting narcotics crimes, gang violence and crimes against senior citizens.
“Working in the San Benito District Attorney’s office I saw first hand the impact crime has on the community, families, children, and the local economy,” he said.
The district still has some significant areas of high crime, said Leroe-Muñoz, and very low performing schools—some of the lowest in the state, which poses challenges for students and the development of the local workforce.
First elected to the Gilroy City Council in 2010, Leroe-Muñoz has continued his support of public safety initiatives, including hiring more local law enforcement officers.
He’s also promoted regional collaborations between Gilroy and other municipalities in the county, including Silicon Valley Clean Energy and served on the Cities Association of Santa Clara County, and the Santa Clara Valley Water Commission.
For the last two years, Leroe-Muñoz has worked as the Vice President of Technology & Innovation Policy for the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and believes his experience in the technology sector can help foster opportunity in the diverse assembly district.
“I see our region as a bridge between Silicon Valley, the Salinas Valley and the Central Coast,” said Leroe-Muñoz. “I want to make sure our district is part of the innovation economy.”
Part of that innovation can come from the burgeoning agriculture technology industry, said Leroe-Muñoz, who recently participated in an agtech breakout session at an economic summit in Salinas, the fresh produce capital of the region.
“We are so incredibly well positioned to take advantage of ag technology in our district—global companies are looking to make major investments and the challenge for them is they don’t know our district and the landscape as we do. We need someone to bridge those companies and new technology with our regional players in agriculture.”
Check out Peter Leroe-Muñoz campaign website at leroemunozforassembly.com.
