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Tri-Valley voters in the congressional district currently represented by Eric Swalwell (D-Livermore) are set to see a familiar face on the ballot in this year’s election, with Melissa Hernandez throwing her hat into the ring for the seat this week.
With Swalwell launching a bid for the governor’s seat months ago, the race for his current seat representing Congressional District 14 – which includes Pleasanton, Livermore, and portions of Dublin – is wide open for the first time in the more than a decade since Swalwell’s tenure began in 2012.
“In Congress, residents will always come first for me,” Hernandez said in her campaign announcement Thursday. “I will show up every day ready to work on the big issues, like the rising costs of living, including housing, childcare, and healthcare.”
Hernandez was elected to the BART Board of Directors in 2024 for a four-year term after being appointed to the District 5 seat representing a majority of the Tri-Valley upon the death of the district’s longtime representative, John McPartland.
She was elected last month as the board’s new president for 2026. However, her time on the board could be cut short if Hernandez is elected to congress this year.
If so, it wouldn’t be the first time that Hernandez has had to depart an existing elected position for a new opportunity, having resigned from her second term as mayor of Dublin in 2024 after her appointment to the BART board.
During her time as mayor, Hernandez emphasized increasing the city’s housing stock and job opportunities, as well as affordable public transit – something that carried over into her work on the BART board as the agency continues to undergo turmoil such as budget challenges, unexpected outages, and impacts on ridership due to COVID-19.
Hernandez is also touting her current role as director of health services for Alameda County Supervisor David Haubert, pointing to her overall capacity for “the experience and leadership necessary to bring people together and find solutions that keep residents safe and healthy, while growing the local economy.”
“Washington is broken,” Hernandez said in Thursday’s announcement. “Our legislative leaders are out of touch, barely working, and serving the interests of billionaires and special interests at the expense of everyday Americans. Meanwhile, the American Dream is slipping away.”
Hernandez considers herself a product of the “American Dream,” according to her campaign website, as the daughter of migrant farm workers who she said embody that concept and were driven to pave the way for her and her siblings to have more opportunities – with Hernandez going on to be the first Latina woman to serve as either mayor of Dublin or on the BART board.
Thursday’s announcement means that Hernandez is joining a pool of four total candidates who have filed paperwork to run for the seat as of this week, with Democrats Abrar Qadir and Matt Ortega and Republican Wendy Huang also seeking the position. Additionally, a federal candidate filing suggests 10th District state Sen. Aisha Wahab has her eye on the seat, though she’s not formally declared her intent to run.
More information about Hernandez and her campaign is available at melissahernandez2026.com.
