With the candidate filing period ending on Friday, the lineup of political hopefuls in local races has little change.
The filing period began July 13 and ends at 5 p.m. this Friday, August 7 in order for a candidate’s name to be placed on the Nov. 3 ballot. If the incumbent does not file to run, the candidate filing period for that office is extended to Wednesday, Aug. 12.
In the Ceres City Council District 2 race, incumbent Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra has filed papers to run again and as of Tuesday before this edition went to press, Jorge Guerrero, president of Ceres Youth Baseball, has not filed his nomination papers. On Monday, Galen Guzman picked up papers to run.
In the Ceres City Council District 1 race, Gary M. Condit and Dorie Perez, both members of the Ceres Planning Commission have returned nomination papers to run. Condit’s papers were verified on July 27 while Perez awaits her verification of voter signatures.
The incumbent in that District 1 council seat, James Casey is not running again, meaning the deadline will be extended to Wednesday, Aug. 12.
Next year three Ceres City Council seats will be up for grabs with the expiration of the terms of Mayor Javier Lopez, and councilmembers Cerina Otero and Daniel Martinez.
Prospective city candidates must get in touch with City Clerk Fallon Martin for nomination papers and receive instructions on how to adhere to campaign finance reports.
To qualify as a candidate for Ceres City Council, one must reside within and be a registered voter in the respective Ceres City Council district they are running in. Candidates must pick up nomination papers, which must be signed by no less than 20 and no more than 30 signatures of registered voters living within the city limits. Candidates are advised to get a few more than 20 signatures in case the county finds out that “nominators” are actually not registered voters. The city clerk handles the process nomination papers but the county conducts the election.
All four incumbents on the Ceres Unified School District Board of Trustees facing election have filed to run and have no opponents as of Tuesday. They are: CUSD Trustee Area 2 (Cynthia Ruiz), 3 (Valli Wigt), 5 (Lourdes Perez) and 6 (Dave McConnell).
Trustee area maps are available for viewing online by visiting the website www.ceres.k12.ca.us, clicking on the Board of Trustees tab at the top, then on Trustee District Information, then on Trustee District Assignment Information.
In the city of Hughson, three two challengers are emerging to take on Mayor George Carr. The two-year term has piqued the interest of Geoff Powers who has filed his papers and Sam Rush who picked up papers on July 29.
The Hughson City Council seats of Randy Crooker and Julie Ann Strain are up for grabs. Strain has picked up her nomination papers as has Ranjit Singh.
Voters in the Hughson Unified School District will be decidinhg who to elect to the Board of Trustees. The seats occupied by Alida Garcia (Area 2), Randall “Randy” Heckman (Area 4) and Mark Foss (Area 5) are all up for grabs. As of Tuesday, only Heckman has emerged as a candidate in Trustee Area 4. No one has picked up papers for Area 2 and 5.
Two seats on the Hughson Fire Protection District occupied by directors Gus Villarreal and Miguel Oseguera are to be decided this year. No candidates were listed as of Tuesday.
Three seats on the Keyes Union School District Board of Trustees are to be filled by voter choice this November. The terms of Jimmy Emmons, Sr. (Area 2), Jeff Reed (Area 3) and Wesley A. Greene (Area 5) expire this year. All three have filed to run again with no opposition as of Tuesday.
Also expiring this year are the terms of Keyes Community Service District board directors Shannon Williams and Johnathon Parker. One seat is presently vacant. Only Parker had filed papers to run as of Tuesday.
Two board director seats in the Westport Fire Protection District are expiring this year. They are occupied by Ross Lee and Ed Amador who appear to be unopposed.
Voters in Turlock Irrigation District’s Division 2 (which includes Ceres) will be deciding on who the board director should be. Incumbent David Yonan has filed for re-election with no opposition as of Tuesday. Yonan won the seat over Wayne Zipser in 2022. District 2 covers Ceres.
Also unopposed thus far are TID directors Joe Alamo (Division 3) and Ron Macedo (Division 5).
There appears to be no interest in the three seats on the Monterey Park Tract Community Service District Board occupied by directors Jerry Tyrone McKinney, Dean Riddle and Bettie J. Yelder. No candidates had emerged as of Tuesday.
Three seats are open on the Stanislaus County Board of Education. They are occupied by Kim Rose in Area 1; Alice Pollard in Area 2; and Chinyere Nnodim Jack in Area 5.
Candidates have emerged for the three seats on the Yosemite Community College District Board of Trustees expiring at year’s end. Trustee Don Davis (Area 1) was unopposed as of press deadline. Trustee Nancy Hinton (Area 2) had not filed as of Tuesday but Debra Hendricks, a retired school superintendent, has filed her candidacy. Trustee Jenny Nicolau (Area 4) has filed and may have an opponent in teacher Ryan Segoviano.
Ceres voters will be asked if they wish to implement a one-cent sales tax to bolster city coffers. Measure P is titled the “Ceres 911 Emergency Response, Community Safety, Essential Services Measure.” If passed it would generate an estimated $9.4 million annually for the city but also make Ceres’ sales tax rate the highest in Stanislaus County at 9.375 percent.
State offices
Ceres’ next representative in the state Assembly will be incumbent Juan Alanis who had no challenger in the 22nd Assembly District.
In the 4th state Senate race, voters will be deciding between Jaron Brandon, a Democrat, and Alexandra Duarte, a Republican. Incumbent State Senator Marie Alvarado-Gil lost the primary election by falling in third place.
California voters will be deciding if Democrat Xavier Becerra or Republican Steve Hilton should be the next governor.
Voters in the 13th Congressional District have a choice between Adam Gray (D) and Kevin Lincoln (R).
