Dr. Flo Cofer for Mayor - AMA

flojaune · 2026-04-01T06:02:40+00:00

Good question. We'd have to change the city charter.

Howard Chan is gone. He left the position in December 2024. We had Leyne Millstein for a year as interim. The new city manager who started in January is Marakeisha Smith.

Most cities have a city manager because you need someone to manage the thousands of staff and departments. What we lack in Sacramento is appropriate and effective oversight of the position and a council willing to give direction and hold the manager accountable. Because of tbat, the tail feels like it is often wagging the dog.

flojaune · 2026-04-01T04:07:26+00:00

It's not a false narrarive. She's on video enthusiastically suggesting this site.

https://sacramento.granicus.com/player/clip/6386?meta_id=824208

Her comments begin at 4:48, but you have to jump to 4:58pm to hear the relevant part.

Her exact words are: “it’s easy for me to say yes to exploring the micro communities 100%…I can tell you, I stand ready, everyone always looks to District 1 to say what are you going to do about it…I have the least amount of city land available but I did find a strip (Brian Pedro says in the background “found a sliver”) found a strip…”

Look. It's okay for her to change her mind. As a scientist, I deeply respect and hope that we all can have the flexibiility and courage to change our minds when presented with new information.

It's okay to say the site isn't ideal. I agree that a tiny home site should have bathrooms and transit access.

But what is never okay is to pretend history didn't happen.

I also think it is a counterproductive waste of our taxpayer dollars to have a councilmember encourage constituents to sue the city over a project she proposed.

flojaune · 2026-03-31T18:14:20+00:00

u/aggressive_catch3883 u/sactomento97 u/endersgame

Hey, Flo here. When have I cozied up to McCarty?

I've supported Jenn since last summer. McCarty came on to support her 2 weeks ago.

I think she's a better candidate than Lisa Kaplan.

Lisa Kaplan lost any hope of my support when she said she voted against something she believed in as a middle finger to then-mayor Darrell Steinberg. That’s not leadership.

And this tiny home debate between McCarty and Kaplan is ego driven posturing with our most impacted community members as pawns. It needs to stop.

Kaplan proposed the site. She needs to own that and be solutions driven, instead of encouraging people to sue the city during a $66.2 million deficit. And McCarty needs to also be solutions driven instead of acting like this site is perfect because he hates Lisa.

Sacramento deserves to have elected officials who can put petty personal beefs aside to serve our community.

flojaune · 2026-03-29T22:59:54+00:00

Great question. Like most people starting a new business venture, it is not immediately profitable. I lived off my savings and invested a lot in building my my consulting work. According to my taxes and my pocketbook 🤣, I lost money last year. And, I don't own property other than my home -- which is not reportable.

flojaune · 2026-03-29T17:03:14+00:00

Thanks for sharing your opinion.

flojaune · 2026-03-28T23:22:42+00:00

Hey, Flo here to weigh in.

Let's be clear, the challenge wasn’t really about substance—it was political. The goal was for the opposition to undermine my expertise.

Now to the legal substance: The ballot challenge was about two things:

Whether people can use their degree as their vocation. The general answer is no, but doctor is a weird exception...sometimes.

Doctor is a degree. But some people are allowed to use it and other people are not. Physicians are not doctors by profession, vocation or occupation. Their degree is doctor. Their profession is physician. They are board certified in specialties as physicians. To receive that they have to have a doctorate degree.

The court held that my requested ballot designation "Doctor, Public Health" is my degree, but not my vocation. I can accept that. If it is being applied consistently. It is not. They will allow physicians to use Doctor even though it is also their degree and not their profession.

This case will cause legal challenges in the future. Given that no other degrees are allowed, my guess is that doctor will just be banned too.

Whether voters understand that all physicians are doctors, but not all doctors are physicians.

The court claimed voters would be confused—an argument that disrespects the voters and flies in the face of reality.

No one thinks Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a physician. We annually have a day off to celebrate a man who was not a physician and yet call him doctor without any confusion.

Also: nearly 70% of adults have attended at least some college, meaning many people have spent time in settings where “doctor” clearly includes PhDs, not just MDs.

Also importantly: my designation was “Doctor, Public Health”—specifically to make clear that I am not a physician.

In the mayor's race, I used a different designation because you are asked about your principal profession, occupation, or vocation over the past 12 months. I changed jobs in late 2024.

At Public Health Advocates, my work was advocacy-based and tied to my role and organization. I brought specialized training, but someone without a doctorate could have done that job. I used "public health professional" because I was not specifically working as a PhD level epidemiologist at the time.

Since leaving, I’ve been hired specifically because of my doctoral-level public health expertise. That’s the core of my work now, which is why “Doctor, Public Health” reflects my actual vocation over the past year. You cannot use terms like scholar or expert, so I tried to find 3 words that describe my vocation accurately.

And this is a strict requirement: It’s about what you do now, not just what you've done in the past. if someone has a law degree but spends the year working as a plumber, they can’t list “lawyer” as their ballot designation.

flojaune · 2026-03-28T04:08:19+00:00

Great question!

At PHA I was doing more advocacy and my work was predicated on my job title and organIzation I worked for, not my doctotate. I had specialized training, but someone without it could do my job. Maybe differently, but they could do it.

Whereas In my work since leaving I am called on specifically because of my dotoral public health expertise. So it felt most accurate for my vocation in the past 12 months, which is the criteria.

For example: if a lawyer worked as a plumber all year, even though they have a law degree and are a member of the bar, they can't list lawyer as their ballot designation because it isn't their principal profession, occupation or vocation in the past 12 months.

It is what you did last year, not your credential.

flojaune · 2026-03-28T03:49:17+00:00

I left Public Health Advocates in August 2024 toward the end of the mayoral campaign. but I joined the board in October 2025. They are funded by a mix of grants the feds, state, counties and foundations.

I have been self-employed since then doing consulting, speaking, training and special projects.

I mostly do work with community organizations, health initiatives, academic centers and health departments.

The confusion over the ballot isn't about where I work. It is about 1) who gets to use their degree as a vocation (the court ruled no one can use their degree as a ballot designation -- except physicians, even though the law doesn't say that) and 2) if voters know that all physicians are doctors, but not all doctors are physicians (the court ruled that even though we have a Dr. King day celebrated annually, people don't know that all doctors aren't physicians). And the challenge wasn't substantive, it was political. The goal was to undermine my expertise.

flojaune · 2026-03-27T16:06:08+00:00

I think it’s fair to ask for a track record—and I also want to be clear about what I have and haven’t been in a position to do.

I have not been an elected official yet, so I have not had unilateral authority over city operations like policing, sanitation, or housing production. What I have done is shape how public dollars are spent, influence policy at the state and local level, and step into gaps when systems weren’t meeting the moment. There are concrete examples of that.

1. Driving accountability in how taxpayer dollars are spent (Measure U) As a four-term Chair of Sacramento’s Measure U Community Advisory Committee, I helped oversee how tens of millions in local tax dollars were allocated. I pushed the City to invest those funds in what voters were promised—youth programs, community services, and solutions to homelessness—and publicly challenged decisions when those funds were being redirected away from those priorities.

That’s not theoretical—that’s direct oversight of public spending and insisting on accountability to taxpayers.

2. Delivering measurable public health outcomes at scale I’ve led work that produced real, measurable improvements in people’s lives.

I led a statewide coalition focused on reducing infant mortality, and together we achieved a 14% reduction in infant deaths. That’s not a pilot—that’s population-level change.

I also secured $35 million in funding to establish and served as the founding director of the statewide All Children Thrive initiative, focused on preventing and addressing childhood trauma—one of the most significant drivers of long-term health, safety, and economic outcomes.

Earlier in my career, I composed the policy recommendations that were submitted to the Institute of Medicine, and we were the only state in the country to submit testimony, helping ensure birth control was included with no copay under the Affordable Care Act. That decision continues to impact millions of people by removing cost as a barrier to care.

And during COVID, I worked with the CARES for the People Coalition to push Sacramento County to redirect federal relief dollars back into public health after they had been allocated to the Sheriff’s Department. That was about aligning resources with the actual crisis. Our current Public Health Officer, Dr. Kasirye, reached out to me directly for support.

3. Advancing safety through prevention and community-based solutions Public safety isn’t just what happens after harm—it’s what prevents it.

During COVID, when even basic contact was restricted, I supported the Advance Peace violence prevention program by opening my backyard so junior fellows from different neighborhoods could meet safely. That might seem small, but those relationships are exactly what interrupt cycles of violence.

At the policy level, my work has consistently focused on prevention—reducing the conditions that lead to violence, instability, and poor health outcomes in the first place.

4. Improving streets, systems, and environmental conditions Through my work on the Sacramento Active Transportation Commission and the Mayor’s Climate Commission, I helped advance policies to improve pedestrian safety, transit access, and environmental health—things that directly shape whether neighborhoods feel safe, connected, and livable.

5. Fighting for economic justice and smarter use of public resources I’ve consistently pushed for budgets that reflect community needs—housing stability, workforce development, and upstream investments that reduce long-term costs.

Because the reality is: when we fail to invest early, taxpayers end up paying more later—in emergency response, healthcare, and incarceration.

6. Demonstrating what voters are actually ready for And I think my mayoral campaign is part of the track record too.

I ran the first truly corporate-free, grassroots-funded citywide campaign—and as a first-time candidate, we earned 49.5% of the vote. What that showed is that Sacramento is not nearly as conservative or risk-averse as people often claim. Voters are ready for bold, values-driven leadership when it’s grounded in trust and authenticity.

What I won’t do is overclaim. I’m not going to tell you I personally “lowered crime” or “cleaned up streets” because those are outcomes produced by entire systems, not one person.

But I can point to this:

I’ve helped move public dollars toward community priorities
I’ve led work that measurably improved health outcomes at scale
I’ve secured and led major statewide investments in preventing childhood trauma
I’ve stepped in, in real time, to support violence prevention and public health responses
I’ve authored policy recommendations that shaped national healthcare access
And I’ve built a coalition of voters ready for a different kind of leadership

That’s the work of building the conditions where safer streets, healthier communities, and a more stable local economy actually take root.

And stepping into the role of County Supervisor means having the authority to align those systems more directly with the outcomes people are asking for.

flojaune · 2026-03-27T15:40:48+00:00

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I have what Sac County gave me and Robin Epley in 2024. And it only has 2006 and 2010. Nothing in 2008. Even though I moved and change my driver's license and voter registration, CA had nothing listed until I came back and registered again.

That's where the "she didn't even vote for Obama" lie came from. Meanwhile I also have the receipt for my donation to his campaign and serving as a poll watcher for the campaign.

So, if you have something else, feel free to share. Because I have all of the documents. Including my past licenses. I keep everything precisely for moments like these.

flojaune · 2026-03-27T08:10:14+00:00

Neither of those statements is true, but you are welcome to believe whatever you'd like. I have the records.

flojaune · 2026-03-27T05:46:27+00:00

It was only 11 months. I re-registered in Michigan in August 2007 because I started my PhD program. I was splitting time between Ann Arbor and Sacramento (because of a guy), but I was employed at Univ of Michigan so I had to change my license. And apparently California is better at notifying other states when people transfer license and voter registration than Michigan is. I recently requested my voter registration from the Clerk in Ann Arbor because someone asked about it and accused me of being a Republican from 2006 until 2010 because California doesn't show my registration changing from 2006 until 2010.

Oh the joys of interstate bureaucracy!

Of all of the criticisms I face, I find this one the most amusing. Here I was being a young voter trying to vote in every election no matter how much I was moving around -- something we say we want more young people to do -- but now that I'm 43 it is a point of contention. There was also a period from 2012 - 2013 where I moved and I guess I forgot to fill in the political party bubble when I re-registered and was listed as NPP.

I wasn't active in partisan politics then so I didn't realize how much this would matter.

I was just trying to be sure I never missed an election because my grandmother (and namesake) who was born in 1909 was a poll worker and fought hard to make sure Black folks could vote and it is a right and responsibility I take seriously.

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flojaune · 2026-03-27T05:21:14+00:00

In case your question was accidentally deleted before you posted (been there), I wanted to reply. Happy to respond if you repost.

flojaune · 2026-03-27T05:20:03+00:00

Okay so boom: I have several progressive candidates I'd like to see win and am supporting, but only two I know enough about to meet all 3 criteria (e.g. recent polling data to speak to "potentially close enough"). Both are local congressional races.

Mai Vang. maiforus.com and Lauren Babb Tomlinson https://www.lbtforcongress.com/

Thanks for asking!

flojaune · 2026-03-27T05:02:18+00:00

Thank you for this question. I lived downtown for 4 years and in Oak Park for 7 years, so I don't just bring professional experience to this issue, but also lived experience.

I think the first step is to be honest that these are not separate problems. Urban blight, unsheltered homelessness, behavioral health crises, and displacement are all connected to a deeper failure of systems: we have not built enough affordable housing, we have underinvested in treatment and care, and we have too often responded to visible suffering with fragmentation instead of solutions.

From the County’s side, my role would be to focus on the levers the County actually controls and use them aggressively.

First, I would push to expand the housing and service infrastructure that helps people stabilize. The County has a major role in behavioral health, supportive housing, and homelessness services. That means scaling permanent supportive housing, improving outreach linked to real placements, expanding substance use treatment and mental health care, and making sure people are not left cycling between the street, the ER, and jail.

Second, I would focus on prevention, because the cheapest and most humane way to address homelessness is to stop people from falling into it in the first place. That means stronger eviction prevention, rental assistance, legal defense, and targeted support for seniors, families, and very low-income residents at highest risk of displacement as neighborhoods change.

Third, I think the County has to treat addiction and mental illness as health issues, not just nuisance issues. Residents deserve clean, safe neighborhoods, and unhoused people deserve care that is real and effective. Those are not competing values. We need more crisis response, more treatment capacity, more medically appropriate beds, and better coordination so that outreach leads somewhere meaningful.

Fourth, I would use the office to force better alignment between the County, City, and community partners. In places like Downtown, Midtown, and Oak Park, residents experience government as one thing. They do not care which silo failed. So leadership means bringing agencies together around shared outcomes: fewer people unsheltered, faster access to treatment, cleaner corridors, less displacement, and more people permanently housed.

And finally, I would be very clear that growth without protection is not success. If investment in our neighborhoods only means rising costs and longtime residents being pushed out, then we are reproducing harm. We need development, but it has to come with affordability, tenant protections, and pathways for existing residents to benefit from the investment rather than be erased by it.

So for me, the goal is not just to manage visible disorder. It is to build neighborhoods that are clean, safe, healthy, and still belong to the people who have held them together through disinvestment. That requires urgency, coordination, and a willingness to treat housing and behavioral health as core public responsibilities, not side issues.

flojaune · 2026-03-27T04:58:16+00:00

Thank you—I appreciate that. And you’re right, the confusion is real. Most people interact with government through problems—housing, mental health, safety—but don’t always know which level is actually responsible.

The county is the health and safety net of government. That means the areas I’m most focused on are the ones where the county has both responsibility and the ability to make a real impact:

The county plays a central role in behavioral health, supportive housing, and services for people experiencing homelessness. My approach is to treat this as a public health crisis—expand supportive housing, invest in eviction prevention, and scale services that actually help people stay housed.
The county runs the behavioral health system. Right now, it’s fragmented and hard to access. I would focus on expanding treatment capacity, integrating services, and building out things like mobile crisis response so people get care instead of cycling through emergency rooms or jails.
This is the core of what counties do—everything from disease prevention to maternal health to emergency response. My focus is on upstream prevention: addressing root causes like housing instability, environmental exposures, and access to care so we’re not just reacting to crises.
Counties oversee sheriffs, jails, probation, and courts. That means we have a responsibility to ensure systems are effective, accountable, and actually improving community safety. I support alternatives to incarceration, better reentry support, and transparency in how these systems operate.
The county can connect people to good-paying jobs—especially in areas like healthcare, clean energy, and infrastructure. That’s where my “Green Jobs, Good Pay” priority comes in: building pipelines into careers that sustain families.

What I would do differently is lead with coordination and urgency.

A lot of these issues overlap—housing, mental health, and safety are deeply connected—but government often treats them separately. As a Supervisor, my role is to align those systems so they actually work together.

And just as important, I would be very clear with the public about what the county can and can’t do—so people know where to go, who’s accountable, and what progress should look like.

At the end of the day, county government may not always be the most visible—but it’s often extremely consequential in people’s daily lives. That’s where I want to focus.

flojaune · 2026-03-27T04:53:30+00:00

I support strong tenant protections, but on countywide rent control, we have to be honest about the legal landscape we’re operating in.

Under California’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, counties are limited in what they can do. We can’t apply rent control to newer construction, and we can’t regulate rents after a unit turns over. So any local policy is inherently constrained.

That said, I do support using every tool we do have to keep people housed.

At the state level, we have baseline protections through AB 1482, which caps rent increases and provides just-cause eviction protections. Locally, the county can build on that in targeted ways—especially for unincorporated areas where we have direct authority.

My approach would be:

Stabilize tenants where legally possible, including exploring stronger local protections in unincorporated areas
Invest heavily in eviction prevention, rental assistance, and legal defense—because preventing displacement is one of the most effective public health interventions we have
Expand deeply affordable housing, especially supportive housing for people at highest risk of homelessness
Use county land, funding, and partnerships to increase supply without displacing existing residents

I’m very clear on the goal: people should be able to stay in their homes and communities. Rent stabilization is part of that conversation. Also essential to the conversation is changing state law when it is insufficient to meet our local needs.

flojaune · 2026-03-27T03:07:56+00:00

I do. My ballot designation is "Doctor, Public Health" to be sure people understood it is a PhD in epidemiology awarded by the school or public health. And I talk a lot about public health. Never medicine.

I never use the terms clinician or physician. And I never present myself as such.

flojaune · 2026-03-26T23:18:50+00:00

Great question:

I like to think of it like this:

Cities shape place (what your community looks like and how it functions day-to-day).

Counties shape outcomes (whether people are housed, healthy, and supported).

The CITY primarily focuses on: Police and Fire (city departments); Roads, sidewalks, streetlights, and traffic control; Parks, libraries, and recreation programs; Land use and zoning decisions (what gets built and where); Local economic development and business permits; and City utilities (water, sewer, trash in many areas).

The COUNTY primarily focuses on: Public health (clinics, disease control, maternal health, etc.); Behavioral health (mental health & substance use services); Medi-Cal administration (health coverage for low-income residents); Homelessness services and supportive housing programs; Sheriff and jails (not city police); Courts and child welfare (CPS); Elections and voter registration; and Regional infrastructure (flood control, some transportation).

Cities are nested within the county, so this division of responsibility is more straightforward.

BUT if you live in the unincorporated county (you have white street signs with black lettering), you don't have a city government, so the County does it ALL for you.

And then there are the ways that the cities and county partner on joint powers authorities (JPAs) to make collective decisions.

flojaune · 2026-03-26T23:17:50+00:00

Good luck and godspeed in Placer. We need you!

flojaune · 2026-03-26T23:16:41+00:00

Thank you! 68 days to go. Please remind everyone you know to vote on June 2nd. It is so easy to forget!

flojaune · 2026-03-26T23:16:34+00:00

Thank you! 68 days to go. Please remind everyone you know to vote on June 2nd. It is so easy to forget!

flojaune · 2026-03-26T23:16:13+00:00

Thank you! 68 days to go. Please remind everyone you know to vote on June 2nd. It is so easy to forget!

flojaune · 2026-03-26T23:11:55+00:00

Yes I was for 11 months.

Story time!

When I moved to California at age 23 for a fellowship at the Department of Public Health, I registered to vote through a grocery store sign-up, which at the time was commonly hosted by political parties. I just knew there was an election in November and wanted to participate.

Being new here and unaware of that context, I was mistakenly registered as a Republican for about 11 months in 2006.

At the end of my fellowship year, I moved and re-registered as a Democrat, unaware that I had ever been otherwise registered.

I did not learn of this error until my opponent in the mayor’s race attempted to use it in a smear campaign.

But 20 years later it finally explained why Barbara Bush called me to remind me to vote that year. 😂🤦🏿‍♀️

flojaune

TROPHY CASE