By Derek Grasty
Every day, millions of Californians sit in traffic, exhausted before they even reach work, carrying the weight of rising costs, stagnant wages, and shrinking opportunity. The frustration on their faces reflects a deeper reality: our values are being ignored, our fundamental rights are under pressure, and the California dream is slipping away for too many working families.
All is not lost. My name is Derek Grasty, and I am running for Governor of California to restore a state that works for the people who keep it running: workers, families, and young people who deserve stability, dignity, and a fair chance at a better life.
- Making Housing Truly Affordable
Housing must be within reach for young people and working families, not just global investors. One key step is to stop the practice of foreign buyers purchasing properties in California’s most stressed markets with all-cash, above-market offers, then leaving them vacant or using them solely as financial assets. This behavior drives up home prices and property taxes while worsening the housing shortage for people who actually live and work here.
Rising insurance costs are also crushing Californians. My neighbor’s home insurance tripled in 12 months. When a homeowner’s insurance bill can triple in a single year, something is fundamentally broken. As governor, the goal will be clear: bring accountability and transparency to insurers, protect consumers from price shocks, and ensure that state policy prioritizes stability for homeowners and renters.
- Fixing a Broken Education Funding Model
As a teacher, principal, mentor to administrators, and school board trustee, I have seen how current systems fail students and educators. California’s funding formula, driven by Average Daily Attendance (ADA), penalizes schools for absences even though core costs remain the same whether there are 30 students in a classroom or 24. A new, fairer formula must fund schools based on student need and educational goals, not day-to-day attendance fluctuations.
Public schools are non-profit institutions that exist to serve communities and should remain tax-free and fully supported. As governor, priorities will include increasing funding for special education, expanding mental health services on campuses, and addressing California’s unacceptable ranking at the bottom of the nation in literacy.
- Protecting Communities from Unlawful Intimidation
No one in California should live with the fear of being seized by unidentified agents in masks, without badges, in unmarked vehicles. I will pursue an amendment to Penal Code 207: if a person approaches you wearing a mask, lacks proper identification, arrives in an unmarked vehicle, and tries to move you from place to place, that is kidnapping under state law. Local law enforcement has a duty to protect residents from kidnappers, regardless of who they claim to represent. A Government That Serves the People!
