Vallejo Mayor Andrea Sorce has never been one to choose the easy route.
At 39, she divides her time between shaping young minds as an economics professor at the Pleasant Hill campus of Diablo Valley College (DVC) and steering the city of Vallejo toward transparency, accountability and trust.
“It has been a challenge balancing the dual roles, especially because there is a lot of work to do in Vallejo,” said Sorce, who says she wishes she had 40 hours in a day. “But I wouldn’t give up either role. I love them both, and there is so much that is complementary between teaching and serving in elected office.”
Born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina, Sorce moved to the Bay Area after college and now calls Vallejo home. She graduated from Millbrook High School in Raleigh before earning her bachelor’s degree in economics and international studies from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Later, she earned a master’s in public administration in international development from Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.
Sorce says she dreamed of being an astronaut when she was a child. These days, she says she’s focused on something just as ambitious — restoring confidence in local government and strengthening civic engagement in Vallejo. Her teaching background, she says, deeply influences how she governs.
“They absolutely connect,” she says of the classroom and Vallejo City Hall. “The perspectives of my students directly inform the way I approached both the campaign and my time as mayor. And I’m able to use examples from my work as mayor in my classes, especially when we cover topics like government budgets and housing.”
Sorce, who began teaching at DVC in 2018, was hired full-time in 2020 and received tenure last year. Her students often get an insider’s view of how public policy and economics intersect in real time.
“Because I teach economics with a policy focus,” she said, “it allows me to bring real-world issues into the classroom. And my students’ feedback helps me see how people are thinking about policy decisions from a community perspective.”
That cross-pollination has made her an advocate for fiscal transparency and inclusive decision-making at Vallejo City Hall.
“I don’t set the budget in Vallejo like many mayors do in other cities,” Sorce said. “But I get to weigh-in and vote on it, and I know that constituents appreciate that with my background I’m able to understand and engage with many aspects of the budget on a deeper level.”
Recently, Sorce pushed for two public study sessions on Vallejo’s finances so residents could better understand what it means to have a structurally balanced budget — and why the city doesn’t have one yet.
“I try to explain things like the risks of dipping into our reserves or the need to plan ahead for things like pension liabilities,” she said. “Having an economics professor on the dais presents an opportunity to break down some of the jargon and work through why these decisions are important and how they will impact our community in the short, medium and long term.”
Sorce says her path to public office came from a long-term commitment to public service.
“I’ve been in public service my entire career and have a strong belief that government can and should work for the people,” she said. “In Vallejo, I felt that wasn’t happening, and after many years of being engaged civically, it became clear to me that the best way to push for positive change was through running for office.”
Since being elected in a surprise upset last year, Sorce says she has focused on strengthening transparency, accountability and communication between residents and government. She says her goal is to shift “the culture of governance” in Vallejo from one of isolation to collaboration. Sorce says one of the most important steps toward restoring trust is openly confronting the city’s troubled history with police misconduct.
“Before I took office, I don’t think I had heard a high-up Vallejo official speak openly about the history of corruption and police misconduct in Vallejo,” she said. “We have to be honest about what happened and show the public that we are doing the work to rebuild trust.”
Part of rebuilding trust includes accessibility, Sorce says, noting that she believes in connecting with all parts of the community, especially those who have felt excluded from the political process.
“I take very seriously issues around fairness in who gets access to the mayor’s office,” she said. “For example, in the spring I visited all three of our school district’s high schools to meet with students and attended all the graduations in June. That had never happened before in Vallejo.”
She says her hope is to make city government feel more approachable.
“I want Vallejo students to recognize me on the street and feel comfortable coming over and saying hi,” she said. “That’s what community connection looks like.”
When she’s not teaching or leading the city, Sorce spends time with her husband, Slater Matzke, whom she met while serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Honduras. The couple share their home with a dog and five cats — “foster fails,” she calls them — from their local Humane Society.
Sorce says her guiding philosophy comes from Maya Angelou: “Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.”
“We have to push ourselves to do the right thing and live by our values,” said Sorce, whose four-year term ends in 2029. “Accountability doesn’t have to be punitive — it’s a necessary part of growth. We need to be continually learning and growing both as individuals and collectively.”
Looking ahead, Sorce said her measure of success will be simple.
“If people have more trust in their city government in 2029 than they did in 2024,” she said, “particularly when it comes to the stewardship of tax dollars and the city’s ability to deliver results — I will have done my job.”
Reach Charleen Earley, a freelance writer and journalism professor at Diablo Valley college, at charleenbearley@gmail.com or 925-383-3072.
Online
View a brief meeting between Vallejo Mayor Andrea Sorce and Diablo Valley College student Anya Gupta discussing how to create positive changes in communities at bit.ly/sorcegupta2025.