We finally have an answer in one of the last remaining unsettled races from the primary election ballot that many Sonoma County residents filled out earlier this month: the contest for Healdsburg politician Jim Wood’s second-district seat in the California State Assembly, representing the state’s entire North Coast. State election officials haven’t yet formally announced the two Assembly District 2 winners who will appear on the Nov. 5 ballot, and won’t until April 12. But the candidates themselves are making the call. It became clear very early on in the ballot-counting process that the sole Republican in the race — Mike Greer, a school board trustee from Del Norte County way up north — would move ahead to the general election. And he’s still clinching the No. 1 spot, with about 27.5 percent of the vote. But among the six Democratic candidates, three of them have been neck-and-neck from the start: Santa Rosa City Councilman Chris Rogers, closely followed by California Democratic Party Chair Rusty Hicks, followed by Healdsburg City Counclilmember Ariel Kelley. Ariel conceded a week-and-a-half ago. And late last week, Rusty Hicks conceded as well. So Chris Rogers is our guy! Which makes him the favorite to win the seat in November, since our State Assembly district leans Democrat. Chris wrote on Facebook last week: “We can now confidently say that when every vote is counted, we will be moving forward to a run-off in November’s General Election. When we first entered this race, we were told that we would be buried in money — that a local candidate would be drowned out. That the proverbial ‘David’ didn’t stand a chance. But in a race with millions of dollars in outside spending, we had a secret weapon: you. So many of you not only stood with me but stuck your necks out to support our campaign — and your belief that we should win gave me confidence that we could. Together, we had one heck of a slingshot, and I’m so grateful. Onward to November!” Rusty Hicks got some flak throughout his campaign for not giving up his job as the leader of California’s Democratic Party during the race. One would assume that he’s pretty glad he didn’t, right about now — and it means he’ll likely be collaborating with Rogers, if the Democrats do take the seat again. As for the rest of the races on our March 5 ballot: By my read, all the candidates reported to be ahead in the first rounds of ballot-counting are still winning now. One other outcome worth noting, though, is that all three open seats on the Napa County Board of Supervisors will go to women — making this the first-ever all-female county government in the wine country, and only the second in the state. (It happened before in Los Angeles County.) Especially notable is the newcomer among them, Amber Manfree — a progressive local scientist who beat out longtime politician Pete Mott by a little over 500 votes. She’ll replace existing supervisor Alfredo Pedroza in the fourth district, who’s in the hot seat right now as federal investigations look into Napa County government and industry relationships. It’s a new day… (Source: Chris Rogers via Facebook & Healdsburg Tribune & Napa County Government & Sonoma County Government & California Secretary of State)
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