What to watch for in upcoming 2022 Stanislaus County political races
The recent Election Day meant more in some parts of the country, particularly Virginia and New Jersey, than here in Stanislaus County where nothing happens anymore in odd years. But it’s never too soon to start thinking about our next big election: the crowded California June Primary, only seven months away.
Keep reading to find newly announced candidates for district attorney and for California’s 10th Congressional District.
June is the first voting round for our representatives in the U.S. House of Representatives and California Legislature, as well as governor. Offices up for grabs in Stanislaus County include sheriff, district attorney, county supervisor and seven judges. More positions on city councils, school boards and irrigation boards will follow in November 2022.
Many June candidates won’t emerge until new geographic districts are revealed in the coming weeks, followed by the official candidate filing period in early January. But some already have told everyone they intend to run.
House members, always on a two-year election cycle, never really stop running. Incumbent Josh Harder, a Turlock Democrat, seeks contributions via email just about every day. Also, congressional candidates don’t have to live in the district they seek to represent, so several challengers already have come forward, including fellow Democrat Angelina Sigala, a vaccine educator.
The latest Harder challenger is Eugene Rubio Kilbride, a veteran of the Iraq War, self-described moderate Republican and longtime Stanislaus resident.
Kilbride joins fellow Republican candidates Simon Aslanpour, a San Jose business owner, Modesto therapist Jolene Daly and Jack Griffith, CEO of Protecting Soldiers’ Rights. Griffith spoke at an alt-right rally in Ceres a week ago attended by Proud Boys members and a guy whose pickup had the words “I hit libtards” scribbled on the tailgate, apparently in fake blood.
Local California Legislature races
Our Assembly representatives in Sacramento, Republican Heath Flora and Democrat Adam Gray, are expected to seek re-election, although the boundaries of their districts could shift radically. Because of term limits, this would be Gray’s final two-year term, by the way, if he succeeds.
The four-year terms of two California senators representing Stanislaus County — Anna Caballero and Andreas Borgeas — also are up next year, while a third, Susan Talamantes Eggman, would stand for re-election in two years.
The first candidate I’m aware of for Stanislaus district attorney is no surprise: Jeff Laugero, assistant to outgoing DA Birgit Fladager. First elected in 2006, Fladager announced her retirement in September and will serve out her term ending in late 2022.
Unless more candidates for sheriff emerge, we could have a repeat of the 2018 contest between Jeff Dirkse, who won, and Juan Alanis, a sergeant with the Stanislaus department.
Rumors are flying like crazy about potential challengers to county Supervisors Mani Grewal and Terry Withrow, but I’m afraid I wasn’t able to nail down the official word on any. Scott Kuykendall, Stanislaus schools superintendent, is up for re-election, too.
Six-year terms for Stanislaus Superior Court judge are up for Shawn Bessey, Alan Cassidy, Ricardo Cordova, John Freeland, Marcus Mumford, Dawna Reeves and Ruben Villalobos. Also up for re-election are county Assessor Don Gaekle, Auditor-controller Kashmir Gill, Treasurer-tax collector Donna Riley and Clerk-recorder Donna Linder, whose office runs these elections.
Stanislaus-area candidate debates coming
Several statewide posts — including attorney general, secretary of state, lieutenant governor, controller, treasurer and insurance commissioner, schools superintendent and our Board of Equalization member — are up for grabs, too, and appointed California Senator Alex Padilla is expected to seek re-election to a six-year term. The Modesto Bee won’t focus on those races because their impact is further removed, and we’ll all find out about them from other news agencies.
You can follow most of the high-profile local races in our newspaper, though, with stories in the news section and commentary on this opinion page. As usual, our editorial board will provide videos of numerous candidate debates at modbee.com, as well as our endorsements in major contests about the time your ballots arrive in the mail.
California Citizens Redistricting Commissioners are in the heat of debating new district boundaries for state Senate and Assembly and House seats, and could issue proposed maps around Nov. 10, commission Chairwoman Sara Sadhwani told me. She expects a final vote on boundaries as soon as Dec. 20 and no later than Dec. 27.
Shifting deadlines for this redistricting effort prompted a recent change in the candidate filing period, which now is Jan. 10 to Feb. 9 for county supervisor candidates and Jan. 3 to Feb. 9 for everyone else. Things should start heating up after that.
The people we elect make decisions affecting our lives. So stay tuned.
This story was originally published November 8, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
