Another Democrat enters race for Central Coast state Assembly seat
A new challenger is throwing her hat into the 2026 election to represent the Central Coast in the California State Assembly.
Democrat Susannah Brown, a data scientist and former chair of the South County Chambers of Commerce, announced her run for the 30th District Assembly seat on Jan. 1, setting up a three-way race against incumbent Dawn Addis, D-Morro Bay, and Republican challenger Shannon Kessler.
According to her campaign announcement, Brown is running on improving infrastructure, housing and funding public schools, touting her background as a data scientist as her qualification to bring accountability to Sacramento
The South County resident has lived experience benefitting from well-backed public programs such as public schools and the Head Start program, she said.
“When I was about 4 years old, my home life was completely unstable — we had no food, we had very minimal stuff,” Brown told The Tribune. ”I remember getting on that bus that would come to my apartment complex in Oceano was sometimes the only stable thing in my life, and I remember it very clearly, because we got snacks and we had food, and there was people looking out for us when I didn’t have that at home.”
According to her announcement, Brown’s work as a data scientist has largely served operations related to cost of living, workforce shortages and housing production across the Central Coast.
Brown has been an advocate at the state and local level for education funding goals including transitional kindergarten and broader school budget priorities, according to the announcement.
She’s also organized and fundraised for community efforts supporting domestic violence awareness, according to the announcement.
In addition to her professional responsibilities, Brown also serves as an honorary commander with Space Force Delta 30 at Vandenberg Space Force Base, which fosters connections between the base and nearby communities, according to her announcement.
On the issue of energy, Brown — whose husband works in operations at Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant — supports accountability for Diablo Canyon while recognizing its necessity, according to her vision statement on her campaign website.
According to her vision statement, Brown wants to maintain reliable power while expanding renewables and modernizing the electric grid by hardening transmission infrastructure.
A common theme in Brown’s policy goals is alignment among related policies such as housing production, water, energy, schools and transportation.
To continue freeing up development in California, Brown supports more reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act, which has seen some recent revisions in the past three years but still can serve as an obstacle to development, she said.
Locally, she’s supported new developments including the Dana Reserve in Nipomo and Coastal Community Builders’ redevelopment efforts in Grover Beach, Brown said.
Brown said many local disagreements about housing don’t really come from “not in my backyard” politics, but from a feeling by neighbors that housing is being implemented without appropriate care, pointing to ongoing clashes in Grover Beach as an example.
“It’s not perfect, but I think housing is better than no housing, and that’s where we all need to come together and find better solutions to make sure that we’re not pitting neighbors against neighbors,” Brown said. “Even the people who go out to these meetings and disagree with certain projects, they all say we’re not anti-housing — ‘We’re not NIMBY’ — they say that, and I really believe them.
“I don’t think that’s really who they are,” Brown said. “At the core, we all want housing — we just need it to be in alignment with infrastructure.”
Heading into a three-way race, Brown said the key distinctions between her and Addis and Kessler comes down to her policies on energy and schools.
Brown said she supported Addis for many years and appreciates her work with special education, but is more supportive of nuclear power than the incumbent.
She said while there are more differences between her and Kessler, they’ve also found common ground advocating for housing projects such as the Dana Reserve.
“I respect a lot of that housing work that she’s done as well, but we do have different core objectives, and I think that mine are more focused on, again, housing infrastructure, funding the school districts and these critical programs (like) energy and water, and I haven’t seen her platform emphasize some of those topics as well,” Brown said. “I think she’s more focused on the ‘girls for girls in sports’ program that she’s focused on right now.”
If elected, Brown said her leadership should be measured by outcomes, not rhetoric.
“I think sometimes I get a little sassy in my head, but I think that I’m just so over the rhetoric and the back-and-forth that we see,” Brown said. “I think we really just need to focus on what the Central Coast people really are saying and needing and crying out for help for basic things, and it’s just not been the focus.”
The primary for the State Assembly seat will be held June 2, and the top two finishers will face off in the midterm elections on Nov. 3.
