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Pleasanton voters will have to make some important decisions during the upcoming November election with contested races for the mayor seat, two city council seats and at least two school board seats as the initial candidacy deadline passed on Friday evening.
Voters will also be deciding whether or not to approve a half-cent sales tax revenue measure that would raise the city’s sales tax from 10.25% to 10.75%. The revenue measure will need a simple majority to pass.
The filing period would typically be extended five calendar days for newcomers for seats such as Pleasanton Unified School District Board of Trustees Area 4 and Pleasanton City Council District 4 seat, where neither current office-holder is seeking reelection, but the timing of the agencies’ transitions to district-based elections changes things.
Councilmember Jack Balch told the Weekly that since this will be the first time that the District 4 council seat is on the ballot following the city’s conversion to district elections in 2022, the filing period will not be extended — because Balch, who was elected at-large four years ago, is not technically considered District 4’s incumbent.
Balch will instead be vying for mayor against incumbent Karla Brown, who is seeking a third term leading the city. Brown previously ran uncontested in 2022.
With Balch not pursuing the District 4 council seat, the spot on the dais will be open to two new candidates. Pleasanton’s Planning Commission Chair Matt Gaidos is set to run against his colleague, Vivek Mohan, who also serves on the Planning Commission.
In District 2, Councilmember Valerie Arkin will be facing off against retired Pleasanton police captain Craig Eicher, who also worked a stint as the city’s interim police chief.
For the PUSD Area 4 seat, Trustee Steve Maher previously told the Weekly he will be retiring but because he had been elected before the conversion to district-based elections, it is not clear if the filing period will be extended as of time of publication.
As of Friday, there are two candidates seeking to replace Maher.
Charlie Jones, a teacher who works in Hayward and hails from Pleasanton, will be running against longtime Pleasanton resident Jen Flynn, who formerly worked at Hearst Elementary School as an administrative secretary.
For PUSD Area 3, Trustee Kelly Mokashi will be running for a second term on the school board against Pleasanton native Donalyn Harris, a longtime member of various parent-teacher associations across the school district and a former substitute teacher for nearly 10 years.
The PUSD Area 1 race will not be on the ballot this November because, according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters’ Office, nobody else has filed to run against incumbent and Board President Mary Jo Carreon.
Sunol
According to the registrar’s office, voters in Sunol will be choosing a new board member just months after the casting ballots in what would be the successful recall of now-former trustees Linda Hurley and Ryan Jergensen.
However, Jergensen will be trying his luck again at the board after having filed his papers for the upcoming election to run for the seat that had been Hurley’s. Jergensen will be facing off against Sunol Glen School parent and Sunol resident Erin Choin, who had been heavily involved in the recall campaign.
The two will be facing off for the two-year seat on the board.
Livermore
Up for election in Livermore are seats for Livermore Valley Joint Unified School District Board of Education, Livermore Area Recreation and Park District Board of Directors, Livermore City Council and mayor. The majority of the positions will be competitive, except for the mayor race.
Mayor John Marchand is the only qualified candidate in the mayoral race. As an incumbent, the filing period for mayoral nominations is closed.
In District 3, Councilmember Brittni Kiick is not seeking reelection, so the filing period has been extended to Wednesday (Aug. 14). So far, physicist and business owner David Farley and and business owner Jeff Kaskey are in the race for District 3. Livermore Planning Commissioner Steven Dunbar previously announced his intentions to run for the District 3 seat. With the filing extension, time still remains for him to qualify for the ballot.
In District 4, Councilmember Bob Carling is terming out this year, leaving the competition to retired physicist Thomas Soules and LVJUSD board trustee Kristie Wang. These are the final candidates, according to the city’s website.
Because Carling is termed out and therefore not eligible to run for reelection, there will be no filing period extension for District 4.
At the school district level, six candidates will vie for two at-large seats on the Board of Education. These seats will be vacated by Wang and Yanira Guzmán, neither of whom is running for reelection. Applicants currently include Tara Boyce, Deena Kaplanis, Jean Paulsen, Amanda Pepper, Margarita Tufts and Christiaan Vanderheuvel. However, with no incumbent in the race, that list could grow as the filing deadline is extended to Wednesday at 5 p.m.
The LARPD board will also be a contentious race as four hopefuls aim at only two seats on the Board of Directors. Incumbents James Boswell and Jan Palajac seek reelection, whereas Matthew Bogdanowicz and Jacob Vital are set to challenge them for the seats.
Dublin
Dublin will also see competition for seats in City Council and the Dublin Unified School District Board of Trustees.
The nomination period for mayor has been extended to Aug. 14 at 5 p.m., since an incumbent has not filed nomination papers by the Aug. 9 deadline. This leaves the door open to nominations for anyone except current Mayor Michael McCorriston until Wednesday.
As part of his appointment to interim mayor, McCorriston committed to not running for mayor in the coming election and to handing the torch to the winning candidate at the end of the term in December.
Those in the running for Dublin mayor include Shawn Costello, Vice Mayor Sherry Hu, Councilmember Jean Josey and Tom Evans. Jing Firmeza submitted an intent to run, but did not complete the final nomination paperwork by the deadline.
The other open seats on Dublin City Council are to be filled by the city’s first district-based election. This means, no incumbents are running for City Council District 1 or District 3 and therefore the nomination period is closed.
As of Friday, McCorriston is the only candidate running for District 1. Meanwhile, John Morada and Razi Hasni compete for District 3.
The school district has seats opening for Areas 1, 3 and 4.
The nomination period for Area 1 has been extended to Wednesday, with Kristian Reyes and Ramnath Shanbhogue as the contenders thus far. Trustee Kristin Pelham, who was drawn out of her Area 1 by the redistricting process, was unable to run for her current seat as the final map put her family’s neighborhood instead in Area 2.
In Area 3, there appears to be no qualified candidates listed on the registrar of voters website as of Friday evening. However, with incumbent William Kuo not seeking reelection, newcomers now have until Wednesday afternoon to file.
In Area 4, incumbent Gabi Blackman is set to reclaim her seat with no challengers stepping up ahead of Friday’s deadline.
Other local races
Four seats on the Chabot-Las Positas Community College District Board of Trustees are up for election this year, including Joseph Grcar challenging incumbent Maria Heredia for the Tri-Valley’s Area 4.
In the Tri-Valley’s Area 7, incumbent Steve Lanza is set to reclaim his seat on the board as no challengers filed ahead of Friday’s deadline.
In the western part of CLPCCD, Incumbent Luis Reynoso is set to compete against Hector Garcia for Area 1. For the Area 5 seat, Catheryn Grier is currently the only candidate seeking to fill the seat, however, the filing deadline for it is extended to Wednesday, leaving more time for challengers to surface.
Former Dublin mayor Melissa Hernandez – also appointed to a partial term on the BART Board of Directors’ District 5 seat vacated by the retirement of longtime director John McPartland – is seeking election to a full term in the position.
She is facing a challenge from Grcar who is also in the running for the Area 4 CLPCCD seat and was among the four candidates on the ballot for the March 5 primary vote for the State Senate District 9 seat, but failed to make it to the runoff vote for that race set for November’s ballot.
Meanwhile, in the other Tri-Valley BART seat, District 1 Director Debora Allen initially pulled papers to run for reelection but did not submit them by Friday’s deadline, leaving Pleasant Hill Mayor Matt Rinn as the only candidate thus far. Allen confirmed to DanvilleSanRamon.com on Saturday that she opted not to seek reelection and will be backing Rinn in the race.
For Dublin San Ramon Services District, board divisions 1 and 5 only saw the incumbents file for the race – Dinesh Govindarao and Arun Goel, respectively. However, in Division 3, Director Rich Halket is being challenged by asset accounting manager Javier Lopez Rivero.
In local runoff elections from March primary, former congressman Jerry McNerney (D-Pleasanton) will be facing off against businessman Jim Shoemaker (R-San Joaquin County) for State Senate District 5.
Assemblymember Tim Grayson and San Ramon City Councilmember Marisol Rubio, both Democrats, will be competing for the State Senate District 9. Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) and businessman Joe Rubay (R-Alamo) will be facing off for the State Assembly District 16 seat.
For the two U.S. House of Representatives seats for the Tri-Valley, District 14 incumbent Eric Swalwell (D-Livermore) will go against Republican Vin Kruttiventi and District 10 incumbent Mark DeSaulnier (D-Concord) will face Republican Katherine Piccinini.
For coverage of the San Ramon Valley candidacy deadline, visit DanvilleSanRamon.com.
