One of these men will fill Sean Loloee’s former seat on Sacramento council. Who are they?

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Earlier this year, it appeared former California Assemblyman Roger Dickinson would have an easy path to the Sacramento City Council.

But Stephen Walton, realtor and former Grant Union High School basketball star, gained enough votes in the March primary to force a runoff, and now it looks like it could be close.

The last elected representative to hold the District 2 seat was Sean Loloee, who in January resigned after he was criminally charged with federal labor violations at his grocery store chain. Loloee also lives in Granite Bay, far outside the district, the U.S. Department of Justice determined following a Sacramento Bee report. Shoun Thao has been serving in the seat on an interim basis.

Both Dickinson and Walton say they want to restore trust in City Hall with residents of the largely-disadvantaged district, as well as attract housing and retail back to the once-booming Del Paso Boulevard just north of downtown.

Dickinson, 74, has lived in Woodlake, the district's most affluent neighborhood, since the 1970s, he said. He's a former member of the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors and the California State Assembly, where he largely focused on youth issues. He left the assembly a decade ago, and wasn't planning to reenter politics — until watching what happened under former council members Allen Warren and Sean Loloee, who each had "personal economic motivation," he said.

"I didn't expect to run for office again, but what really triggered it was people came to me after Loloee and said, 'We need help,'" Dickinson said. "I saw the same things they saw and I just said, 'I'm not willing to sit on the sidelines and watch this continue.'"

While Walton and Dickinson have multiple similarities policy-wise, Dickinson is touting his experience and relationships. Walton, who's never held elected office, said his lack of experience is actually a positive.

"With all those relationships our neighborhood still looks the exact same way for the past 30 years," Walton said during a recent candidate forum. "I'm not a career politician. I'm a neighborhood guy that cares for this neighborhood and I want to see it rightfully served. I'll leave everything on the table to do so."

Walton, 43, said he has dozens of family members in the district who have told him stories about when the district was thriving, prior to his lifetime, he said. He grew up in Del Paso Heights, and played basketball for Grant Union High School, then went to Morris Brown College on a basketball scholarship. He later moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in acting and also to try to bring "LA capital to North Sacramento," he said. He then moved back to Sacramento in 2018. He lives in Old North Sacramento with his wife, who's also a realtor, and their son, who was born earlier this week.

"I wanna see where my parents lived in real life, not just from stories," he said of his desire to revitalize the boulevard and the rest of the district.

Dickinson is endorsed by the Sacramento Central Labor Council, Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522, Sacramento Police Officers Association, Mayor Darrell Steinberg and all council members except Rick Jennings.

Walton is endorsed by Jennings, Warren, Sacramento Sheriff Jim Cooper, the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, the Sacramento Apartment Association, and Sacramento Realtors Association. As of Sept. 21, Dickinson's campaign had raised $240,000 while Walton's had raised $166,614. That does not count money given to independent expenditure committees.

Views on homelessness

On the city's most pressing issue of homelessness, the two candidates agree they do not want more homeless shelters or Safe Grounds open in the district, which already has the Roseville Road shelter. City officials plan to double the capacity of that 240-bed shelter using a state grant, which Dickinson supports and Walton is undecided on.

That means both candidates would fight off any effort by other city officials to open a homeless site at a contaminate-free city parcel at Eleanor and Traction avenues, near the site where the city shut down the Camp Resolution Safe Ground.

Both candidates agreed they'd support shelters or Safe Grounds open in other districts in the city. Both declined to provide addresses.

Asked whether they support the criminal citations for camping-related violations that Sacramento police have been issuing following pressure from Sacramento District Attorney Thien Ho, the two candidates disagreed. Dickinson said he does not support the citations, which often require the homeless person to pay over $200 in fines.

"I don't think simply criminalizing behavior is gonna make a meaningful change," Dickinson said. "People who don't have someplace to go and don't have money are not gonna pay fines and are not gonna change their behavior because they got a citation. Are we really gonna go out and execute bench warrants on people and put them in jail? Is that our housing solution? I don't think so."

Walton, who is endorsed by Ho, said he wants to continue to allow to give police the discretion to write the tickets.

"The city of Sacramento really was not doing much of anything especially when it related to the things in my district, so my reasoning (to support Ho's lawsuit) was because of the willful neglect taking place in District 2," Walton said. "I believe (police) should have that discretion but also the intent is not to criminalize homelessness."

On the topic of the controversial police budget, both candidates had similar views. Despite a looming $77 million city budget deficit, both said they want to fill the roughly 100 police officer vacancies.

"There are not enough police officers on the beat to provide services we need now and that's a major issue across the district," said Walton.

Dickinson agreed.

"We need more officers and can't rely on mandatory overtime on a prolonged basis because it just burns people out," said Dickinson.

The city currently uses the money it has budgeted for vacant positions in order to pay officers for mandatory overtime — a strategy the council has had mixed views on in the last several years.

The election will be held Nov. 5. The new council member for District 2 will be sworn in Dec. 10, along with a new mayor and Phil Pluckebaum to represent midtown and downtown.