|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The two candidates for Contra Costa County clerk-recorder on November’s ballot are in the final days of their campaigns ahead of election day, as vote-by-mail ballots arrive and begin to be filled out by county voters.
Vicki Gordon and Kristin Connelly were the top two vote-getters in the four-candidate race in this year’s June primary, setting them up to face-off in a runoff race for the clerk-recorder’s seat on Nov. 8.
Although a runoff was anticipated with the relatively crowded race from the start, the months since the primary have led the two candidates to amplify their campaign efforts and start thinking about plans for January if elected.
With no incumbent running – and a competitive race for the position – Connelly and Gordon said they have both spent a large portion of their campaign efforts educating residents about the function of the office, and its importance in overseeing fair election practices.
“When people find out like ‘oh this is the office that runs elections’ and ‘oh also runs the clerk’s office’ people care about those issues and care about that and it does take some explaining that this is the first time an incumbent hasn’t been running,” Connelly said. “When I first have the chance to talk to people and they get that awareness, they get excited and they get engaged.”
Both candidates also noted that, if elected, outreach and education are critical functions of the office that they would seek to fortify.
“There’s been a lot of education about what the role is, and I… focus on especially the outreach and education because so many of the three areas that need the support is the outreach and education, and again that’s what my background experience has been for the last 35 years, so those are the skills that make me uniquely qualified for this position,” Gordon said.
Gordon has a background in county politics, most recently serving on the West Contra Costa Unified School District’s redistricting committee after losing her seat on the Contra Costa Community College District’s Governing Board in 2020 to challenger Judy Walters. She said she had not planned to run for office again until retired clerk-recorder Steve Weir encouraged her to run for the position, later giving her his endorsement after she launched her campaign.
But despite having less name recognition in county politics, Connelly has been able to leverage plenty of her own experience as relevant and attractive to voters in this year’s race. She became familiar with the debates surrounding voting rights and the role of the clerk-recorder’s office as a law student during the 2000 election and the subsequent Bush v. Gore case brought before the U.S. Supreme Court, before going on to volunteer as a poll monitor, organizing law students to do the same, and training other law students on how to educate and support voters on election day.
Connelly is currently the CEO and president of East Bay Leadership Council and executive director at the Contra Costa Economic Partnership, along with coming towards the end of a term on the Acalanes Union High School District Governing Board.
“My full time work has been running organizations, and I think being a CEO is an experience that distinguishes me in terms of my ability,” Connelly said. “This is a department with 82 employees, and I have a track record of getting results.”
Gordon also pointed to the importance of administrative functions in the clerk-recorder’s office, and to relevant experience and education for the role.
“My bachelors of science in business administration with emphasis in human resources, all of those things and all of my varied background helps build the foundation that will really again those are the skills that will make me successful or uniquely qualified,” Gordon said.
But with neither candidate in office until January., both are currently continuing to focus on outreach and education as major components of their campaigns, as well as looking ahead to how they can keep these efforts at the forefront if elected.
“I’ve already been talking with and speaking with a lot of K-12 district trustees and really bs about how we really can get that education as far as also identifying mis and disinformation doing the research that it takes, but also trying to recognize when you’re being scammed as well as doing some more civic engagement,” Gordon said. “…One hotbuttion issue I’ve discovered is how do you engage voters.”
Fighting disinformation and engaging voters have also been at the center of Connelly’s efforts on the campaign trail.
“We do have 93 percent of eligible Contra Costans registered, and that’s just extraordinary,” Connelly said. “That’s such a high statistic, and I want to make sure we’re looking at the data about who’s voting and what communities could use more support in outreach and making sure their vote is counted.”
“We’ve never had more Californians registered to vote, but the turnout percentage will continue to be low if we don’t convert all those registrants into voters,” she added.
Connelly said that one issue compounding the low turnout – especially in the clerk-recorder’s race for a relatively obscure office with no incumbent running – was a distrust in vote-by-mail options, and the myth that avoiding voter registration could mean avoiding jury duty.
“They really believe there’s something nefarious happening and I just want to educate those voters about the fact that Contra Costa has a long history of very well run elections, and vote-by-mail is legal and it is safe,” Connelly said. “That’s real for those voters, and I’m really committed to working with Contra Costa voters to make sure everyone has a high degree of confidence in the office.”
Gordon noted that in addition to disinformation and lack of trust in elections in recent years, there were more everyday impediments to increasing turnout for county voters.
“One of the things I’ve talked with many people is what are the barriers and a lot of times its prioritizing and when you have to prioritize school, rent, food where does that leave voter engagement?” Gordon said.
Gordon noted that this issue was also present in education, with the same points being recognized by educators about student needs applying to voters in general.
“What we found with student engagement is that you have to deal with some of those basic level needs in order to help those people climb up Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and get to that area where they’re like ‘I want to be positively engaged in the community and help out’,” Gordon said. “As soon as we’re meeting those other issues, that’s when we can really engage those voters and get a number of voters to turn out.”
With mail-in ballots already coming into the office, Connelly and Gordon both said they were hoping for the best in terms of turnout in the Nov. 8 election. Both plan to continue their campaigns in full-force through Election Night, and continue seeking to engage voters.
More information on Connelly’s campaign is available at kristinconnelly.org. More information on Gordon’s campaign is available at vickigordon.com.
Appeal over redevelopment project at old Chevron HQ coming to San Ramon councilApril 6, 2026 10:32 pm
