Giselle Hale is a mom, advocate and businesswoman, who is currently the Mayor of Redwood City. She has built a reputation for hard work, collaboration and effectiveness, with the courage to take on tough problems and gets results.

Through a series of circumstances, Giselle's family went from being middle class to below the poverty line, facing food and housing insecurity and often relying on social programs to get by. Her experiences gave her a deep, personal understanding of the issues that too many local families face daily.

With the support of and inspiration from her family and teachers, along with hard work and perseverance, education was her pathway to success. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin and received her MBA from the Thunderbird School of Global Management in Arizona.

Like her, Giselle’s husband Brian grew up struggling and living in poverty and was in-and-out of the foster care system for several years. They both could have been left behind if not for the generosity of their extended family, communities, and the support of the social safety net.

Giselle has built an impressive career as a businesswoman, owning her own small business as well as working for major companies. She’s held  senior and leadership positions, building and leading diverse, high-performing teams.

Before being elected to City Council, Giselle served on the Redwood City Planning Commission and on the Board of the Redwood City Education Foundation. She was also a leader with a national organization, helping secure sick days and parental leave for workers across the country.

On the City Council, Giselle has focused on important issues that affect local families, including creating economic opportunity, access to childcare, improving public schools and addressing the housing crisis. 

Giselle and Brian live in Redwood City with their two daughters, who they are teaching the importance of giving back to their community.

I am a lifelong Democrat who believes in the core values of our party. I consider myself a modern Liberal, I believe in equality, equity and standing up for working families and the most vulnerable in our community. And I am also a pragmatist. As an elected official, my job is to solve problems and actually make progress on issues and that requires collaboration, hard work, out of the box thinking and sometimes compromise. I also believe that we can help people and have a strong economy, we can support businesses and protect workers. These are false choices that we can move past.

As a community leader and elected official, my actions have resulted in real progress on problems that felt insurmountable. I have built a record of hard work, collaboration and effectiveness, with the courage to take on tough problems – and getting things done. I want to take that same approach to Sacramento and make a difference for people across San Mateo County and California.

I am running for Assembly because our community and state face big challenges and we need leaders who are not afraid to roll up their sleeves and do what it takes to deliver for working families. We need leaders who understand the issues that face our local families and who care about delivering results, not just scoring political points.

I was inspired to serve by my life experiences. I want to help ensure local families and future generations have the same opportunities to succeed that I did. I know firsthand that “no” is not an option for working families, seniors, or anyone who starts each day wondering how to feed their family, pay their bills or keep loved ones safe.

As a candidate and elected official, it can be difficult to always stay true to yourself and do what you believe is right. There is always a temptation to tell each person or group what they want to hear and take inconsistent positions. It’s a path followed by too many politicians. But a good representative isn’t running just to win, they are running to stand up for what they believe. I am not afraid to speak truth to power.

I was born and raised in San Mateo County. My father was a FedEx worker. My mom is a Taiwanese immigrant who works as a lab assistant at Kaiser. Growing up working class profoundly shaped my values. When I was 5, my father suffered a traumatic injury that left him paralyzed from the waist down, and my mother had to work two jobs in order to make ends meet.

At a young age I experienced what it was like to fall through the cracks. I wanted to study biology to learn how people could heal from chronic injuries; and I wanted to work to make sure that our government and medical system worked for all of us, and not just the wealthy few. In the middle of my junior year of college at Harvard University, I was evacuated from campus and returned back to my hometown of South San Francisco. We saw how COVID disproportionately affected the working families in our communities, in housing, healthcare, childcare, and our education system. We saw how the public health crisis of police brutality was not just a distant injustice, but a real and present problem in our own community. And I successfully ran for city council to bring the change and justice that we wanted to see in our Community. 

I came back to South San Francisco to the community I grew up in to serve and improve the lives of our residents. On the city council, I’ve seen that the many issues that we are facing are very systemic in nature and the disparities exist far and wide. We need bold action to address many of our issues and create a society in which working people don’t just survive, but thrive in our community. I’m running for state assembly with a very clear purpose—Sacramento can’t just work anymore for the wealthy and well connected. It has to work for all of us.

Before being elected to the city council, I was a community organizer. I have organized with Sunrise Movement Boston, the Harvard Undergraduates for Environmental Justice, Fossil Fuel Divest Harvard, and YDSA. My work was focused on environmental, economic, and racial justice. I graduated from Harvard in May of 2021 with a degree in Human Developmental and Regenerative Biology with a minor in Government. I have also conducted undergraduate research in a neuroscience lab at Massachusetts General Hospital.

I’m running to represent you in Sacramento, our government can’t just work for the wealthy and well connected, it has to work for everyone. That means a wealth tax on billionaires and corporations, universal childcare and preschool, and a living wage. We need truly affordable housing, Medicare for All, and aggressive action to beat back climate change – We’re already feeling its effects – wildfires, drought, pollution, sea-level rise. And it’s our generation that will bear the brunt of these impacts  – we need bold action now.

Alison Madden is a progressive attorney, businesswoman, mother of 2 boys, and co-founder of a non-profit advocating for affordable and flexible housing alternatives. Alison is a second-generation American, with grandparents from Ireland, and strongly supports immigrant rights and a path to citizenshiop - America is not out of opportunity! 

As a single mom, working full time for over 2 decades, she is postured to provide real solutions to working single parents and families. We need home ownershiop at every level, not just housing. In her legal practice, Alison has advocated for tenants, for affordable housing at every income level and for displaced persons under California’s relocation act. She also advocates publicly for judicial reform, with an emphasis on restorative justice and work furlough and restitution for property offenses.

In addition to advising top flight executive teams in Silicon Valley, she has shown up powerfully for children and the community, as a volunteer leader in Little League, Boy Scouts and innumerable youth activities. Alison treasures our childrens' and teachers' safety at school, and will advocate for safe schools, higher teacher pay and to protect schools against gun violence, including an AR prohibition under 25 years of age. She will be a relentless advocate for reproductive freedom. 

Alison is a progressive democrat who works well “across the aisle” with the entire spectrum and is proud of the ‘big tent’ the Democratic Party has achieved. Alison desires to bring her life, legal, policy and volunteer experience to Sacramento for solutions to our most pressing needs: safe early childcare, guaranteed health care for all, funding education for success, and reducing gun violence are essential for our children. Housing and Climate action are priorities in addition to our children, safe schools, higher teacher pay and protecting reproductive freedom.

Alison’s dad was a conservative Republican, mom a liberal Democrat; they met and married at Catholic colleges in Massachusetts, and both parents served God, family, and country, her dad being in the USAF and a great #girldad to 5 girls. In high school, Alison and her father would "clip" op-ed columns and articles from print newspapers and and leave them back and forth on the fridge with magnets, him from conservative columnists and Alison usually from the Atlanta Journal Constitution. 

Alison learned all good-faith opinions can be discussed and respected, even if a firm position must be taken on a given Priority, vote, or resolution. She would be collegial in Sacramento, seeking solutions across the spectrum. 

Alison knows the value and experience of hard work, yet as a single working mom with a special-needs son, who has had to relocate many times, she has experienced living paycheck to paycheck, with the prospect of homeownership elusive. This has made her a vocal advocate for tenants, housing as a human right, and the ideal of safe, affordable homes for all ages.

Alison has also been an integral member of a working climate impact group, with a proposal for jobs and incentives for green public and private transportation. She gathered all papers and signatures for her candidacy on her e-bike and would work for credits for e-bikes and other e-vehicles to achieve green transportation.

A 30-year district resident, Tania understands the issues directly impacting District 21 residents. She’s a passionate community leader, driven by both empathy and expertise to speak up and influence community decision-making for decades.

Born in New York City to a Guatemalan father and Jewish-American mother, daughter of German Jewish refugees, Tania’s childhood was spent throughout Central America and Europe.

After studying economics in college, she started an International MBA dual program in New York and Paris.

To head their US division, an Israeli software start-up brought Tania to the Bay Area, eventually selling that company to Intel. Fast forward, she worked with several environmental startups, became an industry representative to the Bureau of Automotive Repair, chaired a task-force on Governor Schwarzenegger’s Conference on Entrepreneurship and was the industry delegate to the Western Regional White House Conference.

Tania has a son and a daughter and is the grandmother of two granddaughters.

Tania has championed district residents for decades. A true community leader, she hopes with your help to bring her global perspective and environmental experience to the State Assembly.

TANIA'S PRIORITIES

Leading the way with insight, purpose, and action!

Thriving in California

Affordable Housing | SB 9 + 10 Not Solutions
Mindful Land Use
Sustainable Growth

VIDEO EXPLANATION SB 9 + 10

Political decisions should achieve the goals intended.

Political decisions should achieve the goals intended.

People should be able to afford to live where they work.

Gentrification and displacement will result in creating a place where our children are from, but where they can’t afford to stay.

e able to afford to live where they work.

Gentrification and displacement will result in creating a place where our children are from, but

Environmental Action

Statewide Water Crisis + Drought
Wildfires + Air Quality

Access to potable water and clean air are foundational to any thriving community.

In California, our water infrastructure laws socialize costs and privatize benefits, at tremendous cost to taxpayers and big gain for Big Agriculture (BigAG). 

BigAG consumes almost 80% of developed water in this state but benefits from priorities and pricing set over a century ago.  It’s time to get with the times.

Access to Healthcare

Universal Healthcare
Universal Healthcare
Transparency + Oversight
Agility + Pandemic Response

We can do better.  The United Nations is advocating for universal healthcare by all member countries by 2030. Will we be the last ones?

In a country with as many resources and privilege as the United States, the responsibility to prepare for a crisis like COVID should not be done at the last minute.  Proper planning based on scientific principles, clear communication, and agility to respond to surges and shortages is what saves lives. 

We have now clearly seen the human and monetary cost of the gaps in our healthcare system. We m Access to Healthcareust demand better. 

Universal Healthcare
Transparency + Oversight
Agility + Pandemic Response

We can do better.  The United Nations is advocating for universal healthcare by all member countries by 2030. Will we be the last ones?

In a country with as many resources and privilege as the United States, the responsibility to prepare for a crisis like COVID should not be done at the last minute.  Proper planning based on scientific principles, clear communication, and agility to respond to surges and shortages is what saves lives. 

We have now clearly seen the human and monetary cost of the gaps in our healthcare system. We must demand better.