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Election season is underway for the local candidates in this year’s June primary, with the filing deadline having passed last week for county and state election officials.
The upcoming local election is set to see turnover in three major countywide seats, with incumbent Contra Costa County Assessor Gus Kramer and Superintendent of Schools Lynn Mackey set to step down at the end of the year after deciding not to seek reelection in the June 2 primary.
The county’s current auditor-controller, Joanne Bohren – who was appointed last fall, following the retirement of her longstanding predecessor Robert Campbell – has also opted not to seek election to the seat this year.
That means three wide-open seats for this year’s race in addition to challengers to incumbent Clerk-Recorder Kristin Connelly and Rep. Mark DeSaulnier. Sitting treasurer-tax collector Dan Mierzwa, who was appointed to the seat in 2023, is the only countywide candidate to be running unopposed.
Mackey is set to be succeeded at the end of her second term in office this year by one of the two candidates campaigning for county superintendent of schools: Antioch Unified School District trustee Jag Lathan or Brentwood Unified School District Superintendent Dana Eaton.
The choice for auditor-controller is between assistant auditor-controller Peter Karumbi and accounting consultant Deepika Naharas.
Kramer’s seat, wide open for the first time in more than 30 years, is being sought by assistant county assessor Vince Robb, former clerk-recorder candidate and systems engineer Nick Spinner and tech entrepreneur Kismat Kathrani.
A candidate could win the assessor’s race outright if they earn more than 50% of the vote, otherwise the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff in November.
Connelly is seeking a second term as county clerk-recorder after being elected in 2022 following a crowded primary race in which she beat out Spinner along with two other hopefuls. She is being challenged by Pratima Sonavne, owner of the Danville-based day care center Kurious Kids, according to her LinkedIn profile.
One Contra Costa County Superior Court judgeship is being contested on the ballot: Judge Jesse J. Hsieh, who was appointed to the bench two years ago, is facing off against Stanislaus County deputy district attorney Valery R. Polyakov, who lives in Oakley.
Another 11 judge positions up for regular election saw only the incumbents file, so they won’t appear on the ballot.
Supervisors John Gioia (District 1) and Ken Carlson (District 4) are unchallenged on the ballot. Both seats represent areas other than the San Ramon Valley on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors.
Three county measures will be on local ballots for the primary: Measure A, which proposes updating Contra Costa County’s urban limit line; Measure B, which seeks a 0.625% sales tax increase countywide for five years; and Measure G, a $920 million facilities bond measure for the Contra Costa Community College District.
Measures A and B will require simple majorities to pass while Measure G will need approval from better than 55% of voters in June.
Connelly’s office, which is tasked with implementing local elections among its numerous functions, released a final list Thursday of county-level candidates who had filed paperwork by the March 6 deadline. A final list of qualified candidates for state and federal races was not yet available as of Friday afternoon.
State and federal seats in San Ramon Valley
According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, DeSaulnier – who has been in office since 2015 – is facing challenges from two fellow Democrats, Joshua Hamilton and Mitchell David Maisler. Republicans Jeffrey Frese and Katherine Piccinini – the latter of whom has run for the seat in 2022 and 2024, making it to the general election ballot in her second campaign – also pulled papers for Congressional District 10.
Longtime California Democratic Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan will once again seek reelection to the Assembly District 16 seat, which represents the cities of Alamo, Danville, Dublin, Lafayette, Livermore, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasanton, San Ramon, and Walnut Creek.
Bauer-Kahan has held the position since first being elected in 2018.
Two challengers put in to challenge the longtime assemblymember: Joseph Rubay, an Alamo businessman and perennial Republican candidate in District 16, and Chirag Kathrani, a civic technology entrepreneur and former San Ramon mayoral candidate who is running with no party affiliation.
Dublin native and U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell is among the 10 gubernatorial candidates from the two major parties on the ballot in the upcoming primary. The list also consists of fellow Democrats Katie Porter, Tom Steyer, Xavier Becerra, Tony Thurmond, Matt Mahan, Antonio Villaraigosa and Betty Yee, and Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco.
It remained unclear as of Friday whether the candidate lists for the two congressional seats and gubernatorial race were final. The secretary of state is set to release a final list of gubernatorial candidates on March 21.
The top two vote-getters in each state and federal race will advance to the ballot in November’s general election.
