Former Modesto City Schools trustee Zwahlen joins crowded field in mayor’s race
Modesto Mayor Ted Brandvold now faces eight challengers in his November re-election bid as former Modesto City Schools trustee Sue Zwahlen has entered the race.
Zwahlen, 66, served on the school board from 2009 to 2017 and is a retired emergency room registered nurse.
She said her top issue is getting the seven-member City Council to stop its infighting, bickering and grandstanding and work as an effective elected body. Brandvold is completing his first term as mayor and under his tenure council meetings can fall apart because of bad faith and bad dealing among council members.
“I’d love to restore Modesto’s reputation,” she said, “and really promote the city. ... I have a great history here. I was born and raised here. We need to be able to tap into those resources (including in the community and through working with other local governments) and make Modesto the best place to raise our families, have a business and thrive in a healthy, safe environment.”
Zwahlen said her experience as a schools trustee gives her knowledge of government budgets, how local government works and how to build consensus among fellow elected officials. She said she also has small-business experience because she helped her husband, Lynn, make the decisions needed to run his successful dental practice.
Strength among Modesto’s voters
Zwahlen ran for California’s 10th Congressional District — which covers Stanislaus and southern San Joaquin counties — in 2018 as a Democrat. She finished sixth out of eight candidates with 8.2 percent of the vote in that year’s primary.
But she said that does not show her electoral strength because she said she did very well among city of Modesto voters in the primary.
The other candidates are council members Doug Ridenour and Kristi Ah You, Naramsen Goriel, a community organizer and one of the founders of the progressive movement Indivisible Stanislaus, Co-Senior Pastor Rick Countryman of Big Valley Grace Community Church, Bert Lippert, the city’s building safety program coordinator, and Armando Arreola, who received 1.1 percent of the vote in the last mayoral election.
Erin Sommer Tenorio, 27, also is running for mayor. She said she works in marketing, merchandising and as a brand representative for sustainable natural products including beauty, food and nutrition, and herbal supplements.
She said she is completing her degree in public relations and marketing communications from Pepperdine University. Tenorio said her priorities include ensuring all residents “feel like they are heard,” that their needs are met, and said she will give all residents a reason to be proud to be from Modesto.
All candidates, except Arreola, took out paperwork this week to run for office. (Arreola filed an intent to run for office in November, a step before the filing period.) The deadline to file for office is Aug. 7.
This story was originally published July 17, 2020 at 4:30 AM with the headline "Former Modesto City Schools trustee Zwahlen joins crowded field in mayor’s race."
