San Mateo County supervisor aims for Congress

“I’ve seen the middle class disappear, and it’s really become a county of the haves and have-nots, and the reason I’m running for Congress is to make sure that people who grew up here are able to stay here,” he said during an interview last week. “What became apparent during the pandemic is that in the third wealthiest county in the United States, there’s severe disparities.”

Canepa is running against South San Francisco Assemblymember Kevin Mullin, Burlingame Councilmember Emily Beach and Republican Gus Mattammal. The Daily Journal will be profiling the major candidates and running a story on the various issues of the race.

Canepa was born in Daly City and grew up in Pacifica. He attended Sacred Heart Cathedral Preparatory, and earned an associates degree in criminal justice at Skyline College before earning a degree in political science from the University of San Francisco. He said both his parents worked for Bank of America, his father as a chauffeur and mother as a branch manager.

“I was the first one in my immediate family to graduate from college,” Canepa said, who credited a professor at Skyline College for inspiring him to “aspire to other things” — a reason for his drive to establish free community college.

Canepa lives in Daly City with his wife and their 4-year-old son, Piero.

Despite his 13 years as a local elected leader, he emphasized that he is not a political insider. But with his constituent-first and boots-on-the-ground approach to both public service and campaigning, he said he’s never needed “establishment endorsements.”

“What I’ve needed is my two feet and a group of people who — and those are my volunteers, my staff — that really talk about the issues that are important,” he said. “Every day when I wake up I’m really trying to figure out what can we do to serve, how can we make our community better.”

Prior to the Daly City Council, Canepa worked as a legislative aide in San Francisco for then Supervisor Leland Yee, later following him to Sacramento when Yee was elected to the Assembly. He worked also as a project manager for the Treasure Island Development Authority, and said he later ran his own business handling social media for zoos and aquariums.

Canepa is also a member of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Bay Area Air Quality Management District. He said a staple of his public service has been creating accessibility to his office and connecting constituents with services or answering questions.

“I always say about my public service, I’m focused on really two things: The passion to serve and the compassion to serve others,” he said. “There are a lot of people that we need to uplift, and we need to uplift them in a way where we fight for policies that make sense, working family policies.”

On the Board of Supervisors, Canepa helped issue grants to small businesses amid the pandemic, boost equitable Wi-Fi access, and fund programs addressing food insecurity, in addition to being a staunch advocate for mask wearing and vaccines.

Last year, Canepa worked with Sheriff Carlos Bolanos to end the county’s policy of complying with requests to transfer undocumented inmates to federal immigration custody.

Canepa said the first thing he would do in Congress if elected is to join the Medicare for All Caucus to work on establishing universal health care. Canceling student debt and the Green New Deal would also be priorities, he said.

“At the end of the day, I want to be a voice in Washington, D.C., that is a really strong voice,” he said. “[I’m] not interested in kicking up my feet on a desk and for people calling me congressperson. I want to be bold, I want to be audacious, I want to take some chances … the last thing we need in Washington, D.C., is someone who’s going to check in and check out.”

Canepa is endorsed by Malia Cohen, California Board of Equalization member; Shamann Walton, San Francisco Board of Supervisors president, Sheriff Bolanos, San Francisco County Supervisor Myrna Melgar and a host of other community leaders. He is endorsed by several local labor unions and the North Peninsula Democratic Club.

He reports having raised $556,000 for his campaign. He said he is not accepting PAC money.

California’s primary will be held June 7, narrowing the field to two candidates. The general election will be held Nov. 8.

corey@smdailyjournal.com

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