Steinberg Enters Sacramento Mayors Race

Longtime Sacramento politician Darrell Steinberg announced his intention to run for the Sacramento mayor's office Wednesday.

Steinberg made the announcement at a development project off Broadway called "The Mill."

He says he has the  experience and passion to help the city make progress in the areas of business, mental health, homelessness, and education.

"Is every 20-year-old in our city either in a high-wage workforce training program, an apprenticeship or in college? Until the answer is yes, we must work hard and help our schools and our workforce understand that one does not succeed without the other."

His announcement comes a week after Mayor Kevin Johnson announced he would not run again.

When asked if he would ask Johnson for an endorsement, or intentionally not ask Johnson for an endorsement -in light of the release of a 1996 police video showing a 17 year-old alleging Johnson sexually assaulted her- Steinberg was non-committal.

"He and I will talk about that (an endorsement) together," Steinberg said.

Steinberg's announcement also comes a week after Sacramento City Council member Angelique Ashby announced her candidacy.

Ashby has pledged to run a positive campaign regardless of who runs against her.

A poll she commissioned was conducted two weeks ago and found 44 percent of the 400 respondents were likely to vote for her compared to 38 percent who said they would vote for Johnson.  

The poll suggests Ashby lags in name recognition. Just 40 percent knew who she was, but 73 percent recognized Darrell Steinberg's name.

A poll released Tuesday by the group Region Business shows Steinberg with a lead of 28-percent among the 600 voters it polled.