2026 Capitol Series | Senator Christopher Cabaldon

Join the East Bay Leadership Council for the second installment of the 2026 Capitol Series featuring a Q&A conversation with Senator Christopher Cabaldon.

Senator Cabaldon was elected in 2024 to represent the Third District. Before joining the Legislature, he served for two decades as Mayor of West Sacramento, where he expanded access to preschool, community college, and higher education through initiatives including the nation's first universal preschool program, free community college access for residents, and automatic college admission letters for local high school graduates. He is the first Filipino American to serve in the California Senate and the first LGBTQ senator elected north of San Francisco and Stockton.

Cabaldon has spent much of his career as a leading voice on education and workforce development. He served as Vice Chancellor of the California Community Colleges system and Director of the State Assembly's higher education committee, and was later appointed by the Biden Administration to the national board of America's College Promise, chaired by Dr. Jill Biden, where he worked to make community college free in hundreds of cities and states, just as he had done in West Sacramento. 

As Senator, he has championed legislation that expands education and workforce pipelines, including SB 226, which broadens access to College and Career Access Pathways programs, and SB 640, which establishes an automatic admission route to the California State University system. His work also extends to housing and regional development, including efforts to expand investment in affordable housing and infrastructure in smaller cities and towns. As chair of the Sacramento region's metropolitan planning organization, his work integrating transportation, housing, and environmental justice became the basis for some of California's most sweeping transportation and climate reforms of the past two decades. 

We are excited to welcome Senator Cabaldon for a conversation on the policy challenges and opportunities shaping California and the East Bay. The discussion will explore his vision for expanding education and workforce opportunities, strengthening pathways to family-supporting careers, and addressing the interconnected challenges of housing, transportation, and regional development.