Masur leading Democrats with latest poll

At 22% among likely March 3 voters, Masur leads the field of five Democratic candidates, with public interest entrepreneur Josh Becker at 16%, former assemblywoman Sally Lieber at 9%, Burlingame Councilman Mike Brownrigg at 7% and Millbrae Councilwoman Annie Oliva at 4%. All but Masur trail Undecided, who is running at 18%, but typically drops out of the race by Election Day. 

But out in front of everyone is Republican Alex Glew, who showed up at 25%. We can assume that’s the top-end vote for a Republican in this district, which has a voter registration of 50.5% Democrat and only 15.1% Republican. Interestingly, Glew ran in 2018 in the 24th Assembly District against incumbent Marc Berman and got 23% of the vote in the general election, but only 21% in the primary, when Libertarian Bob Goodwyn got 3%. That means that if a Libertarian runs in the Senate race, it could slice into Glew’s vote total. Of course, in a 50% Democratic district, any of the five candidates would love to face a Republican in the general election.

Masur campaign strategist Barry Barnes said he thought Masur’s showing reflected that “she has been in office for 15 years,” more than any other candidate, and that has afforded her the opportunity to build support throughout the area. Barnes also cites her background on women’s health and housing and as a former school board member and CEO of a statewide education foundation. She is endorsed by the two largest teacher unions, California Teachers Association and California Federation of Teachers. “We all know education is important in the district. No one can touch her background as an educator,” he said. Masur opened her Redwood City campaign headquarters Tuesday night with an event heavily salted with councilmembers and featuring a rousing call to action by former state superintendent of public instruction Delaine Eastin, who said of Masur that “Sacramento needs someone with a brass backbone.” … Masur said she would be “a fighter” for the district on education, women’s health and reproductive rights, housing and climate change. … As Masur noted, ballots are mailed out in two months.

NOTES OF NOTE: The so-called “mega-measure,” a proposal for a nine-county 1 cent sales tax increase for transportation, already is in trouble. Insiders say the Peninsula state and federal legislative delegation gave an earful to the measure backers, led by the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and the Bay Area Council, saying the region’s big businesses better ante up — not just in the campaign but in fixing the problem they’ve helped create. The measure may not have the two-thirds vote it needs in both houses of the Legislature to get on the March ballot. The real problem: Too many CEOs think their company is their contribution to the community. … My response last week to the absurd Daily Journal op-ed calling the San Mateo County Community College District “elitist” (71% of the students are nonwhite) hinted that there may be more there than meets the eye. Well, the day after the op-ed appeared, its author was appointed 4-1 by the board to serve on a bond oversight committee. Something’s afoot at the college district. We’ll be digging into that in the coming weeks. … A year ago, the Foster City Council split 3-2 to elect Sam Hindi mayor, passing over Catherine Mahanpour, who was up next in the rotation. This week, the council voted 5-0 to elect her to the job. If you think peace is at hand, the council then voted 3-2 to elect Sanjay Gehani as vice mayor, reflecting residual bitterness over a Brown Act ethics violation by Gehani. … San Bruno Mayor Rico Medina has been on the San Mateo County Transportation Authority board is seeking a second term, but he’s being challenged this month by Brisbane Councilman Cliff Lentz, who apparently thinks his city should get more transit for the massive Baylands development, which is not yet in the planning stages.

Mark Simon is a veteran journalist, whose career included 15 years as an executive at SamTrans and Caltrain. He can be reached at mark@smdailyjournal.com.