First Sikh Punjabi Bakersfield Councilwoman Backs Lee’s History-Making Campaign  

BAKERSFIELD, CA — In a continued sign of momentum building for her campaign for Senate after last week’s visit to the Central Valley, Congresswoman and U.S. Senate candidate Barbara Lee today announced the endorsement of Bakersfield Councilwoman Manpreet Kaur.

A homegrown champion for people in Bakersfield, Councilwoman Kaur became the first Sikh Punjabi woman ever elected to serve on the Bakersfield City Council when she won her 2022 contest. 

“I am very proud to support Congresswoman Barbara Lee for Senate. The Southern Central Valley is often discounted and underestimated, but not in the eyes of Congresswoman Lee. Her early visit to the Central Valley indicates a clear commitment to the most vulnerable populations in California. I was also heartened to learn Congresswoman Lee and I both share in having a family member who was a Mail Carrier. With shared, working-class roots, I am confident in Congresswoman Lee being a voice for my fellow Central Valley residents and our most marginalized communities. Since its inception, only two African American women have served in the U.S. Senate – it’s time to add a third name.” Councilwoman Kaur said. “That is why – Barbara Lee speaks for me.”  

Prior to her service on the City Council, Councilwoman Kaur was involved in local, statewide, and national policy work, and in 2016 she founded Jakara Movement Kern County – a grassroots community-building organization working to empower, educate, and organize Punjabi Sikhs, and other marginalized communities; to advance their health, education, and economic, social, and political power. 

“Councilwoman Kaur has been an inspiring leader for the Sikh Punjabi community throughout Kern County and an excellent representative of her constituents in Bakersfield. I’m very happy to have her support,” said Congresswoman Lee. “Representation matters, and thanks to Councilwoman Kaur’s election last year, the City of Bakersfield has for the first time ever the unique perspective of a Sikh Punjabi woman at the table.”

There are currently no Black women serving in the U.S. Senate. Since 1789, when the first Congress met, only two African American women have been in the Senate, serving a total of 10 years.

Councilwoman Kaur joins a growing list of high-profile current and former elected officials from around the state who have endorsed Lee’s campaign for Senate, including five of the eight statewide constitutional officers – Attorney General Rob Bonta, Treasurer Fiona Ma, Controller Malia Cohen, Secretary of State Shirley Weber, and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.

Other national and California endorsers of Lee’s campaign include Congressmembers Jamaal Bowman, Sheila Jackson Lee, Steven Horsford, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Troy Carter, Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Nikema Williams, Jim Clyburn, Bennie Thompson, Lucy McBath, Terri Sewell, and Gregory Meeks, former Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Cedric Richmond, former Georgia General Assembly House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams, State Senators Susan Talamantes Eggman, Anna Caballero and Nancy Skinner, Assemblymembers Isaac Bryan, Mia Bonta and Corey Jackson, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, San Francisco Mayor London Breed, Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran, Redlands Mayor Eddie Tejeda, Rialto Mayor Deborah Robertson, former Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf, Palm Desert Mayor Pro Tem Karina Quintanilla, Dolores Huerta, California Democratic Party Asian Pacific Islander Caucus Chair Deepa Sharma, California Democratic Party Progressive Caucus Chair Emeritus Amar Shergill, California Democratic Party LGBTQ Caucus Co-Chair Emeritus Tiffany Woods.

Lee also has the backing of the Alameda County Building and Construction Trades Council, California Legislative Black Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus PAC, Feminist Majority PAC, Black Women Organized for Political Action PAC, and Higher Heights for America.