Ahead of final year in office, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg undecided on next steps

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg's term in office ends next year. He was elected in 2016 and re-elected in 2020, but isn't running for a third term. 

On CapRadio's "Insight with Vicki Gonzalez" Wednesday, Steinberg wouldn't say whether he intends to run for higher office in the future. In the past Steinberg, who previously represented Sacramento in the state Legislature, has expressed interest in becoming a judge or running for California attorney general. 

"I will make a decision at the right time but I kind of want to see what comes this way, too, because who knows,” he said. “I'm interested in continuing to serve the public and I think being an attorney general — I almost got appointed, by the way, by Governor Newsom, came close — would be another way to advance the things that I care so deeply about."

Steinberg said those things include affordable housing, equity and climate. 

Gonzalez spoke with Steinberg about his priorities, the city’s ongoing fight with Sacramento County District Attorney Thien Ho over the city’s response to homelessness and if he plans to endorse a candidate for mayor. The 2024 Sacramento mayoral election will be held on March 5. If none of the candidates receive above 50% of the vote, the top two candidates will face off in the general election in November. 

This interview has been edited for clarity and length. 

Interview Highlights

How has the new dynamic and new relationship with District Attorney Thien Ho impacted what has really been your top priority since you first took office in 2016?

Well, I choose to focus on the work and on the work side, the objective facts say that we are making demonstrable progress. We actually have a legally binding partnership agreement with the county of Sacramento and here is, in part, what it has resulted in in one year.

In the city and county over 2,400 people have been placed in permanent housing from shelters this year, a 38% increase from 2022. Almost a thousand people have been placed directly from Street Outreach into permanent or temporary housing, a 55% increase from 2022.

And the city has now employed what's called an incident command structure, basically an emergency response led by our fire department, that includes the county, includes all the city departments. What we are hearing from people, and we're far from done, is that the city feels in many parts cleaner and safer and that's because we are actually doing the work.

When I started as mayor we had less than a hundred shelter beds. We now have 1,200 a night. We are leading the state when it comes to the construction of affordable housing. Read a great editorial from The Chronicle this week that compared Sacramento to San Francisco. We are innovative. We dramatically increased our construction for example on accessory dwelling units. We just passed a major housing policy that says we're going to promote more duplexes and triplexes and be more creative because we know we have a housing crisis. 

And so there is politics, and understand that this issue is polarizing. As I go into my eighth year I intend to leave this office having laid a foundation and a very strong foundation for the kind of change that the public wants to see. None of this is easy. Three people become homeless for every person we get off the street, which speaks to this issue of systemic poverty and the fact that we have to keep people housed — and that's an issue, of course far beyond the control of just the city government. 

There is a long way to go. I choose, as we say in the parlance, to be a workhorse and to continue to work with all of my colleagues who are interested in actually increasing these numbers that I just described a moment to go and to leave office. As I said with the right foundation being set.

Do you plan to endorse any of the candidates for mayor?

I haven't decided yet whether I will endorse before the March primary. I may not.

Candidates for Sacramento mayor answer questions ahead of March 2024 election

I think they're all good people and I think they all have something to offer Sacramento. But I will say that whoever wins and as they campaign — and I understand there’s a difference between campaign and governance — is it is really important that they level set expectations. We have a system of governance in Sacramento that has the mayor having one vote equal to the other council members, the mayor being the only one elected citywide. 

Now I tried, as did my predecessor Mayor [Kevin] Johnson, to change that and the voters said no. But I think it is really important that the public have a clear understanding of what the mayor can and cannot do. 

I have willed myself to create, with my colleagues and with the city management and the staff and the community, some tremendous advances. And we have more than survived during the worst pandemic in modern history. I mean I look at where the city is now and it's not perfect but I see the downtown coming back, I see hotel revenues coming back, I see us becoming a city of music festivals and art and culture. I see the excitement about the Kings. I see the new Community Center theater. I look forward and I say we're going to develop the waterfront, we're going to build a regional Youth Sports facility in South Sacramento, we are going to finish the work on the Rail Yards, whether it's major league soccer or or some kind of iconic soccer facility along with more entertainment. There's a lot to accomplish in this last year. 

And so I think the next mayor, whoever it is, can take that progress and do even better. But be clear with the voters about the system of governance we have and the expectation about what a mayor can and cannot do in this system.

Does the idea of running for another office still excite you?

On some days. 

I am allowing myself, after doing this for three decades, to at least reflect a little bit on how I want to live my life. I tell young people this all the time: Elective office is a tremendous way to serve but it's not the only way. There are so many other ways to contribute. I think about that and I think about having lived life one way, which has been both great and there are some sacrifices involved. And I will make a decision at the right time but I kind of want to see what comes this way, too, because who knows.