Modesto council elections may be a year away, but 3 candidates have stepped forward
Modesto’s City Council elections are about a year away, but three candidates with extensive community involvement already have stepped forward.
Jeremiah Williams and Naramsen Goriel are running to replace Councilwoman Jenny Kenoyer in District 5, which encompasses north-central Modesto, and Nick Bavaro is running to replace Councilman Bill Zoslocki in District 4, which encompasses southeast Modesto.
Kenoyer, Zoslocki and Councilman Tony Madrigal are in the last years of their second, final terms and cannot run for re-election in the November 2022 election. Madrigal represents District 2, which encompasses west and south Modesto as well as part of downtown.
Modesto’s three other council members and Mayor Sue Zwahlen are not up for re-election.
Longtime school board member
Bavaro, 69, is the owner of Bavaro Gingerich Employee Benefits and Insurance Services. He is a longtime member of the Empire Union School District board. He said he won’t seek re-election so he can run for City Council.
Zoslocki said he supports and will endorse Bavaro. He said Bavaro knows how to work well with others who have a range of viewpoints and knows how to disagree respectfully.
Goriel, 37, became a criminal defense attorney in April and works in the Law Office of Aaron Villalobos.
He also is a community organizer and co-founded Indivisible Stanislaus, part of a nationwide grass-roots progressive movement. He also co-founded the Assyrian Democrats of Stanislaus County and serves as chairman of the city’s Landmark Preservation Commission and Board of Zoning Adjustment.
Goriel ran for mayor in the November 2020 election, finishing sixth out of the eight candidates.
Williams, 56, owns Oak Crafts by Jeremiah, which makes kitchen cabinets, vanities and entertainment centers. He is an assistant pastor at the Revival Center United Pentecostal Church and a member of the North Modesto and Modesto Kiwanis clubs. He has served as chairman of Modesto’s Fourth of July Parade for 11 years.
Williams also has served on the Stanislaus County Fair board since 2015 and is starting his one-year term as board president. Williams said he is the first Black person to serve on the fair board in its 106-year history.
Redrawing district boundaries
Kenoyer said she supports and will endorse Williams because of his long involvement in the city.
Madrigal did not respond to two text messages regarding whether he knows of anyone interested in succeeding him. The filing period for City Council typically starts in July, but candidates often will announce about a year before the election in order to build support, raise money and meet with various constituencies.
City Council members are elected by district (but the mayor is elected in a citywide vote), and Modesto is in the process of redrawing its council district boundaries ahead of the November 2022 election. The city is redrawing the boundaries based on the results of 2020 U.S. Census.
The three candidates said they don’t think they will find themselves living outside of the districts they seek to represent, and therefore not eligible to run for, after the city redraws the boundaries.
Bavaro, Goriel and Williams all touched on the bread-and-butter issues facing the city — such as public safety, housing and economic development — as among the reasons they are running.
‘Your life is no longer your own’
When asked what advice she would give to people hoping to serve on the City Council, Kenoyer said get to know city staff, learn as much as you can about how the city works, and have an open mind. She also said elected officials need a thick skin.
“The thing you have to learn,” she said, “is your life is no longer your own. You have to accept what people say about you and not take it too personally, and not react immediately, and take a step back.”
Zoslocki said when officials first take office, they expect they are “going to change the world” but bump into the reality that government moves slowly. “I think everyone experiences it,” he said. “I had high expectations when I first joined the council.”
But he said there is satisfaction in learning how to get things done as part of a team of seven elected officials, who can have different ideas but hopefully can reach an amicable compromise.
“Sometimes you are going to win, sometimes you are going to lose,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean you stop the world and have a fit. You adapt to it and continue working for a better community.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2021 at 6:11 AM.
