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Primary election ballots are coming into clearer view for Tri-Valley voters, as the main candidacy deadline passed on Friday afternoon with many local contests solidified while some others saw their nomination period extended until Wednesday after incumbents opted not to run.
Alameda County district attorney, Zone 7 water board and county Board of Education are among the local offices with a candidacy extension – and the latter two already have recognizable challengers on their ballot, including former Livermore mayor John Marchand and ex-Pleasanton councilwoman Cheryl Cook-Kallio.
For those contests whose lists are settled, Alameda County Sheriff-Coroner Gregory Ahern has two opponents while local U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell and Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan face largely unheralded challengers.
Tri-Valley State Sen. Steve Glazer, whose term in the California Legislature is not up for regular election this year, has thrown his hat into the ring for a statewide position – California state controller.
The candidacy nomination period to qualify for the June 7 primary election ballot ended at 5 p.m. Friday, unless an eligible incumbent did not file for re-election, in which case the deadline is extended for five calendar days to this coming Wednesday (March 16) at 5 p.m., according to the Alameda County Registrar of Voters’ Office.
The primary election, at the local level, typically features countywide positions as well as district representatives for state and federal positions. The Zone 7 Water Agency Board of Directors is among the additions for the Tri-Valley.
Three incumbents and three challengers – though not all newcomers – are on the ballot so far for Zone 7, with four positions up for grabs at-large on the seven-member board. The deadline is extended with Director Michelle Smith McDonald not on the ballot.
The Zone 7 candidate list includes current directors Dennis Gambs, Sarah Palmer and Olivia Sanwong; Marchand, a former mayor of Livermore who also previously served on the Zone 7 board; former Dublin San Ramon Services District director Dawn Benson; and Todd Shinohara, a pharmacist.
The top four finishers in the primary will earn election to the Zone 7 board.
Another election specific to the Tri-Valley this June is Alameda County Board of Education, Trustee Area 7 – with incumbent Yvonne Cerrato not running.
The two candidates thus far are Cook-Kallio, a former Pleasanton City Council member and a retired teacher; and Eric Dillie, whose ballot designation is public school teacher and was formerly principal at the now-defunct Livermore Valley Charter Preparatory school.
Four candidates are on the ballot so far for Alameda County DA: Oakland civil rights attorney Pamela Price, current chief assistant DA Terry Wiley, current deputy DA Jimmie Wilson and Seth Steward, a former San Francisco prosecutor who now works as chief-of-staff for Oakland City Councilman Dan Kalb.
The deadline is extended until Wednesday for DA, with incumbent Nancy O’Malley opting not to run for another term.
In countywide elections, a candidate could win the position outright in the primary if they earn more than 50% of the vote. If no one wins a majority in June, then the top two finishers would advance to a runoff to be held during the general election in November.
Sheriff-Coroner Gregory Ahern faces two challengers in his re-election bid: sheriff’s office Division Commander Yesenia Sanchez and San Francisco Police Department Officer JoAnn Walker.
Alameda County Superintendent of Schools L.K. Monroe is being challenged by Alysse Castro, an Alameda resident who works in a leadership position with San Francisco Unified School District.
County incumbents Phong La (assessor), Melissa Wilk (auditor-controller/clerk recorder) and Henry “Hank” Levy (treasurer/tax collector) are each running unopposed.
Local voters seem poised to decide three new Alameda County Superior Court judges while the other 23 judgeships up for election this year will not appear on the ballot as only the incumbents filed for those seats.
Office 1 will be on the ballot with Tamiza Hockenhull, a current court commissioner, running unchallenged for an open full judgeship.
Office 12 has its deadline extended, with current court commissioner Pelayo A. Llamas competing for a full judgeship in which an incumbent is not running. Delbert Gee pulled papers but has not yet qualified.
Office 21 also received an extension. Current court commissioner Michael Bishay has qualified for the ballot while Yolanda Northridge pulled papers but has not yet qualified.
For the newly redrawn Congressional District 14, Swalwell (D-Livermore) is on the ballot against six challengers.
That includes three Republicans: Alison Hayden, a special education teacher from Hayward who lost to Swalwell 70.9% to 29.1% in November 2020; Sri “Steve” Iyer, a global renewable executive whose campaign address is an office park in Pleasanton; and Tom Wong, a small business owner from Hayward.
Also on the congressional ballot are Democrat James Andrew Peters, a team builder/waiter whose residency is unknown; Major Singh, software engineer with no party preference from Fremont; and Liam Miguel Simard, who has no ballot designation nor party preference.
For Assembly District 16, which includes the majority of the Tri-Valley, incumbent Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) is facing businessman Joe Rubay (R-Alamo). This is a rematch of the 2020 election, which Bauer-Kahan controlled 67.4% to 32.6%.
The race for the redrawn Assembly District 20, which now includes portions of western Dublin and Pleasanton, has four candidates competing for the open seat so far.
The Democrats are Dublin City Councilman Shawn Kumagai, psychiatric registered nurse Jennifer Esteen of Ashland and San Leandro resident Liz Ortega, who works as statewide political director for AFSCME Local 3299, representing University of California employees. The lone Republican candidate is Joe Grcar, a retired laboratory scientist.
The Tri-Valley will have one elected official on the statewide ballot. Glazer (D-Orinda), who is in the middle of a four-year term in the State Senate for District 7, is running for California state controller.
With incumbent Betty Yee termed out, the contest will include heated competition with Board of Equalization Member Malia Cohen, a Democrat, and Republican political campaign adviser and Stanford University professor Lanhee Chen.
The top two finishers in the state and federal contests will advance to a runoff election in November, even the races with only two candidates in the primary.
Other statewide offices on the primary ballot include U.S. senator and California’s governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, insurance commissioner, superintendent of schools and treasurer.
Jeremy Walsh, you have done a disservice to your readers here in Pleasanton and the Tri-Valley area. In your article above, you state, “. . . local U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell and Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan face largely unheralded challengers.” Your comment needlessly implies that these challengers are of no significance, leaving the readers to have to plow through 19 paragraphs to learn that the Republican challenger that opposed Swalwell in the last election is running, as well as Steve Iyer, a global renewable energy executive with a campaign office right here in Pleasanton, as well as at least 5 others.
Your paper has skewed coverage favoring Swalwell for the last two elections (at least) and looks like it will continue again to do so, despite a prima facia case that he has misled (lied to) his constituents when quoted that he would not seek reelection to Congress if he ran for President (https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/Rep-Eric-Swalwell-will-give-up-East-Bay-seat-if-13646628.php) Please give fair coverage to all candidates. Maybe even consider being of real use to your readers by publishing an interview with some of the candidates.
All we seek from our press is to report objectively and fairly. It is always understandable that editorials may well endorse a candidate, and often do. But, in an article categorized as “News,” I believe all residents and readers would appreciate an objective, factual, unbiased article.
Thanks for your consideration. I will be reading all following comments and closely following your election coverage this year. Joe Reed, Pleasanton Resident since 1996
By the way, as a follow-up to this article, I witnessed the news last night that the Alameda County GOP has endorsed Sheriff Ahern for Alameda County Sheriff and Steve Iyer for US Congress.