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Half a dozen San Ramon Valley elected officials are seeking to defend their seats this November, with the pending departures of two incumbents set to provide extra time for additional candidates to come forward in those notable races.
Friday at 5 p.m. marked the deadline for candidates to qualify for the upcoming general election ballot for seats with incumbents running, with the deadlines extended for the two races in which incumbents are departing.
That extension through Wednesday (Aug. 12) applies to one at-large seat on the Danville Town Council being vacated by Karen Stepper, and the Area 1 seat on the SRVUSD Board of Education being vacated by Jesse vanZee at the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the stage is set for races in which incumbents are seeking to defend their seats, including all three officials up for election in San Ramon, one incumbent Danville councilmember, and the Area 4 and Area 5 seats on the SRVUSD board.
SRVUSD Area 5 Trustee Rachel Hurd is being challenged by Joel Woods in her bid for a sixth term in office.
Area 4 Trustee Susanna Ordway is set to run unopposed for a third term in the seat she was first appointed to in 2018. Only one new candidate, Amanda Butland, has launched a campaign for vanZee’s seat with more time for others to join the race.
San Ramon’s two incumbent councilmembers up for reelection – Marisol Rubio and Richard Adler – each appear to be facing last-minute challengers who qualified for the ballot Friday.
Former mayoral and State Assembly candidate Chirag Kathrani is listed on the city website as confirmed to challenge Adler for District 2, but the Contra Costa County Elections Division described Kathrani as not qualified on its list posted at 7:15 p.m. Friday.
In District 4, Rubio will face a challenge from political newcomer Jeffrey Joh. While a third candidate, Nick Harvey, pulled paper for the seat, he had not qualified for the ballot as of Friday’s deadline.
San Ramon Mayor Mark Armstrong is facing two opponents vying for the dais: ElitSwim Club founder Paschalis Ntatsos, and lifetime San Ramon resident and Diablo Valley College speech and debate champion Emma Chigbu, both of whom are political newcomers.
Although a fourth prospective candidate had pulled papers for San Ramon mayor – Brian Swanson, a vocal critic of the city government in recent months who has filed multiple lawsuits regarding redevelopment projects in Bishop Ranch – he had not qualified for the ballot as of Friday evening.
While the final candidates for the two at-large seats up for election on the Danville Town Council won’t be known until next week, it became clear Friday that it would be at least a three-way race.
Incumbent Robert Storer and retired San Ramon police chief Denton Carlson had announced their campaigns earlier in the nomination period, with former county clerk-recorder candidate Pratima Sonavne’s formalized bid on Friday signaling that it will be a competitive race with more than two candidates.
On the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District Board of Directors, President Donald Parker is set to depart at the end of his current term in November, with its vice president Ryan Crean seeking another term and former San Ramon mayor Bill Clarkson running to join the board.
At the Diablo Community Services District, incumbents Alan Bonny and Greg Lorenz are running for reelection, with Steve Lichliter and Jessica Raefield seeking to join the Board of Directors.
The wider region
A majority of San Ramon Valley representatives at the county level are set to run unchallenged, with East Bay Regional Park District Ward 6 Director John Mercurio, Contra Costa Community College District Area 4 Trustee Andy Li, Contra Costa County Board of Education Area 4 Trustee Mike Maxwell, and East Bay Municipal Utility District Ward 1 Director Luz Gomez being the only ones to qualify for the ballot for their seats representing the region as of Friday evening.
Contra Costa Board of Education President Sarah Butler, whose Area 2 includes portions of Alamo, is poised to campaign for reelection against two challengers, Pamela West and Sybil Minighini.
The EBMUD Ward 7 seat, which includes a portion of San Ramon, has four candidates on the list: April Chan, Joseph Grcar, Luis Reynoso and Gary Wolff.
At the federal level, the runoff race for California’s 10th Congressional District this November will be between incumbent Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) and Republican candidate Jeff Frese.
This seat will represent residents in San Ramon, Danville and Alamo, along with others in portions of Contra Costa and Alameda counties. During the primary election, DeSaulnier finished with 54.50% of the vote while Frese, who has not made any public statements or comments, ended with just over 11% of the vote.
In the State Assembly District 16 race, Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) is set to face off against real estate appraiser Joe Rubay (R-Alamo) for the fourth time in the last six years.
The seat represents the communities of Alamo, Danville, Dublin, Lafayette, Livermore, Moraga, Orinda, Pleasanton, San Ramon and Walnut Creek.
Back in June, Bauer-Kahan ended the primary election with nearly 64% of the vote while Rubay finished with 32.15% of the vote.
To see the lineup of candidates across the Tri-Valley, information about Pleasanton, Livermore and Dublin elections is available on our sister websites.
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