photo credit: Frankie Myers for State Assembly/xlyeugri56

On the March 5th primary ballot, there are six people competing for the seat held by Assembly-member Jim Wood for the past decade.

Healdsburg's Wood opted not to run for reelection this year.

KRCB interviewed all the candidates in the race.

Frankie Myers, Vice Chairman of the Yurok Tribe, spoke with KRCB’s Noah Abrams about what he would bring to the table in representing District 2, from east of Santa Rosa all the way up the coast to Oregon.

You can read an excerpt from their interview below, or listen to the left.

The field for the 2nd Assembly District seat is crowded. While Frankie Myers says he knows the list of candidates is strong, he also knows there’s one thing he brings to the race that no one else does.

"I stand aside as the only tribal leader in this race," Myers said. "And I think that's important to distinguish because of what it means to be a tribal leader. The fact that I, you know, help oversee a sovereign government, in charge of both our government system and our economic system, which brings a certain amount of experience that you just don't find on the other side of the government structure or under the State. And I think that really has afforded me to build the skills necessary to really represent Assembly District Two in Sacramento."

Myers said he is prepared to address the diverse needs across the expansive district.

"I think it's important for people to understand as a tribal leader, as a Vice Chairman of the Yurok tribe, my responsibility isn't just to the reservation," Myers said. "It's not just to the rural parts of the district, but it's to the urban areas as well. And whether it's the, you know, 50 units that we put in of housing going through the City of Arcata or the housing that we've done in Del Norte County as well; but it's also the healthcare facilities that we work with and with our tribal partners in Weaverville and Orleans that really bring this experience to the forefront. And I think it's much easier as a tribal leader to understand and recognize what needs to be done in urban areas than it is for an urban leader to try to wrap their heads around the needs and services of the rural community."

When it comes to main goals, Myers cited issues like homelessness and housing affordability, healthcare and mental health access, and the climate crisis, all at a moment of budget uncertainty in Sacramento.

"I think we really need someone who's able to have a sit down at the table and ensure that we are looking at every faucet of available resources to bring to solve these much needed issues for Assembly District Two," Myers said. "And that's whether it is the educational initiatives that we brought forward in Del Norte, bringing almost $30 million to Del Norte to not just serve our tribe members, but our entire community. Or the 60 million that the tribe brought to the table to help connect broadband from Humboldt to Del Norte along with our partners with the Karuk tribe and the Hoopa tribe building an entire broadband network that's gonna connect I-5 to [Highway] 101, [Highway] 101 back up to [Highway] 96 to create redundancy. I think it's these type of experience that I bring to the table that'd be very, very helpful."

When it comes to intangibles or goals that go beyond budget constraints, Myers said he feels he’s got a leg up to help build a resilient economy along the North Coast.

"We want an economy that is free from the boom and bust industries that we've seen come through Assembly District Two," Myers said. "We've created a restoration economy within the Yurok Tribe that has enormous benefits to the entire district...It's a model that we could recreate for every single rural community within the district...and as it turns out, you can in fact build an economy on restoring the land. Bringing fire back to the landscape is another opportunity where not only you create an economy, but you're also creating fire adapted communities that are so critical to our district."