Burlingame City Council member enters race to succeed Jackie Speier

Burlingame City Council member Emily Beach announced Monday that she will run for Congress, joining the race to fill a seat currently occupied by Rep. Jackie Speier, D-San Francisco/San Mateo.

Beach, who joined the Burlingame council in 2015 and who served as the city’s mayor in 2020, announced on Twitter that she has filed to run for the District 14 seat, which currently stretches from the southwestern portion of San Francisco to Redwood City and which also includes East Palo Alto and the eastern portion of Menlo Park. The district lines are currently being redrawn, with the new boundaries set for adoption in late December.

Beach said in a tweet on Monday that she plans to formally announce her candidacy next week. She joins a field that already includes San Mateo County Board of Supervisors President David Canepa and Assembly member Kevin Mullin, D-South Francisco, a former district director for Speier who on Tuesday announced his own candidacy for the seat. Speier, who has represented the district in Congress since 2008, said last week that she will not run for another term after her current term expires in 2022.

Beach, who also chairs the San Mateo County Transportation Authority’s board of directors, called Speier “indomitable” and said that her “fearless, compassionate legacy must continue.”

“As a @USArmy veteran, mom of teens, environment champion, business exec and pandemic Mayor, I am qualified and ready to lead,” Beach tweeted. “I’m ready to fight for environmental protections, immigrant rights, early child ed, mental health, reproductive freedom, higher wages, and a more fair and collaborative economy,” Beach tweeted. “I hope you will join me.”