Tuesday is primary election day in California with a host of choices needing to be made on races for congressional, state and local offices.
The June 7 primary winnows the field of contenders for statewide offices such as governor and attorney general as well as state legislative seats and U.S. congressional races for November’s general election.
Ceres and Keyes is being removed from the 10th Congressional District – represented by Josh Harder, D-Turlock – and placed into the 13th Congressional District. Harder is now running in the 9th Congressional District. Running for the 13th District seat are:
* State Assemblyman Adam Gray, D-Merced;
* Hughson farmer and businessman John Duarte, who is president of Duarte Nursery, Inc.;
* Democrat first-time candidate Angelina Sigala of Modesto;
* Democrat Phil Arballo, a Valley native who was defeated by Republican Devin Nunes in the 2020 congressional election;
* Republican and business owner Diego Javier Martinez;
* Teacher and business owner David A. Giglio, a Republican.
The 13th CD reaches up to Lathrop, down through Patterson and Mendota and into Coalinga of Fresno County.
District 4 State Senate race
Ceres is now within the new State Senate District 4, which stretches from Lake Tahoe, down through the foothills and all the way into Inyo County, forcing candidates to expand their priories for the variety of communities they will represent if elected.
Candidates are former Ceres City Councilman and businessman Jeff McKay, a Republican; former Republican Congressman George Radanovich; retired court judge Steve Bailey, a Republican; retired combat engineer and Republican Jack Griffith; mental health therapist and Republican Jolene Daly; labor federation executive and Democrat Tim Robertson; public school administrator and Democrat Marie Alvarado-Gil; and Republican Michael Gordon, president of the Rescue Union School District Board of Trustees in El Dorado County.
22nd Assembly District
Candidates running for the 22nd state Assembly District are Chad Condit of Ceres, attorney Jessica Self, former Sheriff candidate Juan Alanis, Guadalupe “Lupita” Salazar, Joel Gutierrez Campos and Sean Harrison.
In the 9th Assembly District, Heath Flora, a Ripon Republican, is seeking re-election unopposed. His district has retained Hughson.
Most of Ceres is represented in the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors District 5 which is represented by Channce Condit who is not up for election this year. But voters who live a small portion of District 4 south of the Tuolumne River in “no man’s land” and Ceres bounded by the area north of Hatch Road and east of Central Avenue as well as the River Oaks Golf Course and the homes around it and Parks Road north of Hatch Road, will be electing a supervisor. The term of Manmeet “Mani” Grewal is up for decision and his opponent is Joel F. DeGraef, a small business owner in Modesto. Grewal was appointed to fill the seat in December 2020 left vacant by the Aug. 29, 2020 death of Supervisor Tom Berryhill.
The term of Channce Condit expires next year.
Stanislaus County Assessor Don H. Gaekle is seeking re-election unopposed.
County Auditor-Controller Kashmir Gill is also running unopposed.
Donna Linder, the county clerk-recorder, is also unopposed.
Criminal prosecutor Jeff Laugero is running unopposed for Stanislaus County district attorney.
Also unopposed are Superintendent of Schools Scott Kuykendall, Sheriff Jeff Dirkse and Treasurer-Tax Collector Donna Riley.
California voters will also be electing a governor, two U.S. Senators, lieutenant governor, Secretary of State, state controller, state treasurer, state attorney general, state insurance commissioner, a member of State Board of Equalization and State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Gov. Gavin Newsom, who survived a September recall election, is up for re-election and being challenged by 25 candidates, mostly Republicans. California’s beleaguered Republican Party, with a mere 24 percent of the state’s registered voters, has endorsed state Sen. Brian Dahle, a Lassen County farmer, to carry the flag against Newsom. Democrats command 47 percent of voter registration rolls.
There will be two ballot items for the same U.S. Senate seat currently occupied by Democrat Alex Padilla. One is a special election to fill the seat vacated by Kamala Harris when she resigned to become vice president. The other race is for the general election to fill the six-year term beginning with the 118th United States Congress on Jan. 3, 2023.
Padilla is running in both elections. A jungle primary for each of the terms will take place on June 7. The top two vote-getters in each primary election, regardless of party, will advance to the special and regular general elections in November.
