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Election season is almost here. The candidate nomination period for the Nov. 3 ballot launched on Monday.
Those hoping to qualify in city, school board and special district races have until Aug. 7 to submit their paperwork and make the cut. That deadline would be extended by five business days (until 5 p.m. Aug. 12) for any contest where an eligible incumbent does not file.
The race has already been underway for several folks in the Tri-Valley who announced their intent to run weeks ago, or more – examples include Pleasanton Mayor Jack Balch, Pleasanton City Council hopeful Jamie Yee, Livermore City Councilmember Evan Branning and Dublin City Councilmember Michael McCorriston, who’s bidding for mayor.
The full lists will be determined in the next 3-1/2 weeks. In the meantime, we are working hard to chase down incumbents and prospective candidates for their decisions – are they in or out?
Kudos to those like longtime Danville Town Councilmember Karen Stepper, who publicly confirmed in April that she would not run again and helped ensure an honest, clean slate for newcomers. Plenty of incumbents keep that information quiet until the last minute in a bit of questionable electoral gamesmanship so only their preferred successor has the time to put in a bid.
One election where who’s running and who’s not is still unclear but begets some intriguing hypotheticals is Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District Board of Education. This is the first ballot for LVJUSD under districting for trustee seats, instead of all at-large, so where current trustees live is a crucial factor.
Incumbent Emily Prusso falls into Area 5, and she just confirmed to me she is not running again. (Look for a full story soon.)
Do you know who else lives in Area 5? Deena Kaplanis and Christaan VandenHeuvel, who were each elected at-large two years ago. So one or both could run for a fresh four-year term in Area 5 from a safe seat – and if one wins, there would be a vacancy for that at-large spot.
Trustee Steven Drouin resides in Area 2, which is on the ballot, and I don’t believe he’s shown his cards yet. Longtime Trustee Craig Bueno’s term is up this year, but he doesn’t live in Area 3 so he can’t run for reelection … in November anyway; if that Area 5 scenario plays out for Kaplanis or VandenHeuvel, maybe Bueno makes a play for the resulting at-large vacancy.
And with this being LVJUSD’s first election under district seats, there are technically no eligible incumbents for seats that don’t exist yet, so Aug. 7 appears to be the final date to file.
That area pattern – 2, 3, 5 – is the same for Dublin Unified School District’s Board of Trustees. Pleasanton Unified has Laurie Walker’s Area 2 and Justin Brown’s Area 5 on the ballot. It’s 1, 4, 5 for San Ramon Valley Unified, and we already know Trustee Jesse vanZee is out for Area 1. Sunol Glen Unified will have two at-large seats up for grabs.
City of Pleasanton could be an interesting contest, particularly if someone shows up to challenge Balch for mayor. The council seats on the ballot are first-term Councilmember Jeff Nibert’s District 1 and District 3 where Councilmember Julie Testa has served two consecutive terms, the limit in Pleasanton.
In Livermore, the terms are up for Mayor John Marchand, Branning in District 1 and Councilmember Ben Barrientos in District 2. For Dublin, there’s Mayor Sherry Hu and City Council Districts 2 and 4 will be on the ballot for the first time ever.
I saw San Ramon Mayor Mark Armstrong post that he pulled papers to run again; then it’s District 2 (Richard Adler’s seat) and District 4 (Marisol Rubio’s seat) on the ballot. Danville Town Council is still at-large with two positions up for election, the soon-to-be-former Stepper seat and Robert Storer’s spot.
We’re also tracking the special districts:
Chabot-Las Positas Community College District – includes Area 7 (Steve Lanza’s seat) in part of the Tri-Valley.
Livermore Area Recreation and Park District – at-large seats currently held by Chair Philip Pierpont, Vice Chair Maryalice Faltings and Director David Furst.
Dublin San Ramon Services District – Division 2 (southwest San Ramon, Ed Duarte’s seat) and Division 4 (central Dublin, Georgean Vonheeder-Leopold).
BART – neither Tri-Valley seat is on the ballot this time around.
East Bay Regional Park District – includes the Ward 5 position in the southern Tri-Valley held by Olivia Sanwong and the Ward 6 position with the San Ramon Valley of John Mercurio.
East Bay Municipal Utility District – four wards are on the ballot, including Ward 2 with most of the San Ramon Valley and Ward 7 with Norris Canyon and part of San Ramon.
Central Contra Costa Sanitary District – Divisions 2 and 3 (Lamorinda and Walnut Creek areas).
Diablo Community Services District – multiple seats; still need to confirm.
San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District – two at-large seats, currently held by Ryan Crean and Donald Parker.
Contra Costa Community College District – including Andy Li’s Ward 4 seat with most of the San Ramon Valley.
Contra Costa County Board of Education – Mike Maxwell’s Area 4 seat with most of the San Ramon Valley and Sarah Butler’s Area 2 with a portion of Alamo are up for election.
While local candidates remain up in the air, several ballot issues are set in the Tri-Valley so far.
The Pleasanton City Council is asking voters to approve a hotel tax increase amid the city’s budget deficit. The city of Dublin – which is in better financial condition at the moment – balked at a transient occupancy tax hike of its own weeks ago amid some pushback from hoteliers, but the council still has time to push it forward by early August.
Then there’s the sales tax measure to bail out BART and other transit agencies that will be on ballots in five counties including Alameda and Contra Costa. It appears Alameda County voters will also decide on a $30 minimum wage.
Of course, the big Congressional District 14 runoff is set for Nov. 3 too: Democrats Aisha Wahab and Melissa Hernandez.
But remember, first Hernandez and Wahab will face off in a special runoff election for District 14 (to complete the unexpired Eric Swalwell term) on Aug. 18. That’s barely a month away now; guess it’s election time again already.
Editor’s note: Jeremy Walsh is the associate publisher and editorial director for the Embarcadero Media Foundation’s East Bay Division. His “What A Week” column is a recurring feature in the Pleasanton Weekly, Livermore Vine and DanvilleSanRamon.com.
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