California State Senator Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) has represented Senate District 7 since 2015. He will not seek reelection in 2024 and, as of mid-November, had not declared candidacy for another office.
California State Senator Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) considers his work to be public service, not politics.
Serving the public well and avoiding politics are the reasons he decided not to seek reelection in 2024.
In early November, Glazer spoke with The Orinda News about his decision. His primary reason for not seeking reelection is tied to a 2012 state law that limits elected state senators and assembly members to12 years of service over their lifetime. The law does not yet specify if the years of a partial term count against that total.
In 2015 Glazer was elected to a partial term in a special election to fill the spot vacated when Mark DeSaulnier began his first term in the U.S. House of Representatives. Because state senators are elected to four-year terms, if Glazer were reelected in 2024, he would reach the 12-year limit during the new term.
Rather than contest that law and risk the district’s having to run another costly, mid-term election, Glazer wants the district to have as robust a field of candidates as possible.
“As an example, I don’t think you would have as strong a candidate as Tim Grayson running for the seat if I had declared for reelection,” he said.
His decision not to seek reelection, he said, does not feel like a sacrifice in the slightest, nor is he ruling out seeking other elected positions. To Glazer, public service is all about community.
“I love this work and I’m still healthy, have a lot of energy and am very much committed to representative democracy,” he said, describing his approach as steeped in ongoing learning to understand all aspects of various issues. “I reflect a thoughtful center of the district in the work I do and the positions I represent. That’s very fulfilling in an otherwise polarized world, country and state.”
On his Table Talk podcast in August, Glazer suggested he was “looking into” the possibility of running for the California State Assembly. Given that State Assembly terms are only two years, Glazer would be able to complete a full term with the Assembly should he run and win.
By early November, he was not ready to announce a decision on seeking that seat, for which the period to declare candidacy ends Dec. 8. Glazer also would not speculate on the possibility of a 2026 run for the State Treasurer’s office or the U.S. House of Representatives.
Born and raised in Sacramento and a graduate of San Diego State University, Glazer and his family moved to Orinda in 1996. He soon became active in local government. By 1997, he was appointed to serve on the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission. The same year, he joined the committee to form the Moraga Orinda Fire District.
Ultimately serving 10 years on the Orinda City Council, including three terms as mayor, Glazer co-chaired two Orinda school parcel tax committees that protected schools facing budget cuts.
As a state senator since 2015, Glazer has authored bills aimed at addressing air and water pollution, gun control and predatory lending. Among legislation he has authored, one bill closed a loophole on assault-style weapons. While mayor of Orinda he was also a charter member of the national organization Mayors Against Illegal Guns.
In the upcoming and final year of his time as state senator, two of Glazer’s key focus areas are to better empower BART’s newly created office of the inspector general and to continue his push for the state university systems to increase their four-year graduation rate.
“I can talk about all the state stuff and bore you to death,” joked Glazer, noting his belief that all politics are local and he likes meeting residents of his district. “I have great affection for this community and the enormous volunteer spirit across Orinda.”
It’s misleading to say (or, the reporter was misled to say) he had the option to run again – the legal text is clear, he seems to just wish it weren’t for dignity’s sake.
Article IV, Sec. 2 of the California Constitution: “A person is ineligible to be a member of the Legislature unless the person is [a citizen and resident] and service of the full term of office to which the person is seeking to be elected would not exceed the maximum years of service permitted by subdivision (a) of this section.”
All agree he was first elected in 2015 to a partial term, so he would hit the now-hard cap of 12 years in 2027. If he ran in 2024, the “full term” to which he would be “seeking to be elected” would end 2028, exceeding the maximum years of service permitted. Therefore, he’s ineligible to run in 2024. Unambiguous.
No chance of him somehow wangling a partial term that ends 2027 either, because the Constitution specifically says “full term”. Full Senate term is 4 years.
From both a purely textual reading and a historically-informed reading, you get the same interpretation – the voter guide argument in favor Prop 28 (2012), which added this constitutional text, specifically decried “loopholes” arising from partial term vacancies, so it makes sense they tightened the calculation method to leave no leeway here.