Cary Swensen

Candidate for City Council Member, Salinas, District 3 · Business Owner/Educator

Cary Swensen holds a BA in Education from Western Washington University and an MA in History from the University of Colorado, Boulder. She has owned and operated Salinas Sylvan Learning for 15 years, growing it to more than 50 educators, directors, and staff serving over 1,000 students, after 26 years working for Sylvan Learning. She also teaches American History at Hartnell College and at Salinas Valley State Prison, and holds CTA membership. She describes herself as a homeowner, landlord, and renter: she owns rental property in Issaquah, Washington, and rents her own home in Salinas. She is an officer of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), serves on the city's Measure G oversight committee and the county's Housing Advisory Committee, is a past president of the Steinbeck Rotary Club, volunteers with Meals on Wheels, and is a board member of Seeds4STEM and the county's Civil Rights Board.

Swensen points to Salinas's rising housing costs as a top concern, drawing on her own experience renting locally while owning rental property elsewhere. She has highlighted crumbling roads and broken sidewalks as infrastructure problems needing attention, lists neighborhood safety among her priorities, and — building on her career as an educator and small-business owner — emphasizes expanding youth educational resources and STEM opportunities.

Profiles are compiled from the candidate’s own statements and public records. We never tell you how to vote.