Jesse Arreguín became Berkeley’s mayor just as Donald Trump first took the White House.

Now, as the Democrat enters the California Senate representing District 7, he’s preparing to face similar challenges on a bigger stage after defeating Democratic Socialist Jovanka Beckles for the seat formerly held by termed-out Nancy Skinner.

His mayoral tenure was a crucible of crisis management.

“It was a very difficult, chaotic, unpredictable time and our city, our state, were under attack, our residents were under attack,” Arreguín said, recalling how he had to contend with white supremacist provocateurs fighting in Berkeley’s streets, responded to Donald Trump’s “Muslim ban,” and joined other San Francisco Bay Area leaders in issuing the nation’s first Covid-19 stay-at-home orders.

As a freshman senator and chair of both the Public Safety and Human Resources committees, Arreguín has proposed three bills so far: SB 9, which would eliminate owner-occupancy requirements for accessory dwelling units; SB 91 a proposal that would bar health care workers or hospitals from sharing information about their patients with immigration authorities; and SB 63, co-authored with Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), which would authorize a transportation bond to support struggling Bay Area transit agencies.

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