, October 07, 2024
SOLANO COUNTY – November’s election could be the most consequential in years for the cities of Vallejo and Benicia, with a majority of seats on the city council in both cities up for election.
In Vallejo, only one incumbent is running for reelection, District 6 Councilmember Cristina Arriola. Councilmember Mina Loera-Diaz has declined to seek reelection and longtime council fixtures Mayor Robert McConnell and Councilmember Rozzana Verder-Aliga have both served two consecutive terms and are ineligible to run again, guaranteeing at least three new faces on the council next year.
Meanwhile in Benicia, longtime Councilmember Tom Campbell has declined to seek reelection while Mayor Steve Young and Councilmember Trevor Macenski will both face reelection challenges.
Solano County will also choose a new representative for the state Senate and will decide whether to reelect Assemblymember Lori Wilson to another term. School districts in Vallejo and Benicia both have seats up for election, but a lack of interested candidates have led to some candidates running unopposed.
The city of Benicia will decide on two tax measures as the city grapples with its ongoing fiscal crisis.
Vallejo’s mayor is elected to a four-year term by a plurality of city voters. The mayor’s responsibilities are not as extensive as in other cities with strong mayor systems. The mayor runs the City Council meetings and is a voting member of the council who represents the entire city.
Ryan Geller
Ryan Geller
Three Vallejo City Council seats are up for election in November. But for District 3, where Councilmember Mina Loera-Diaz declined to run, only one candidate filed to run, San Francisco Housing Authority CEO Tonia Lediju.
District 1 represents the northeast area of Vallejo, which includes the Hiddenbrooke and Northgate neighborhoods. With three candidates running, the candidate with the most votes will win the election, regardless of whether they have a majority.
Ryan Geller
District 6 represents South and Central Vallejo on the Vallejo City Council.
Ryan Geller
Benicia's mayor is elected to a four-year term. The mayor’s responsibilities are not as extensive in other strong mayor cities. The mayor runs the City Council meetings and is a voting member of the council.
Isidra Mencos
Unlike Vallejo, the Benicia City Council does not have districts and all councilmembers are elected by the entire city. Two seats are up for election in November and the top two vote-getters will be elected. One big change this year is five-term Councilmember Tom Campbell declined to run for reelection, so his seat will have a new face for the first time in 20 years.
Scott Morris
While there were two seats up for election on the Benicia school board this fall, multiple candidates only filed to run in one of them – for Trustee Area 3, which covers the western area of the city north of Highway 780. Incumbent Gethsemane Moss did not file for reelection, leaving an open contest between two newcomers.
Holly McDede
The seven-member Solano Community College Governing Board manages the 10,000-student college, which is based in Fairfield and offers classes in Vallejo, Vacaville and Travis Air Force Base as well. Its members are elected every four years. Area 3 includes Benicia as well as parts of Vallejo and Suisun City. In two other trustee areas, representing parts of Fairfield, Vacaville and Dixon, the candidates are running unopposed.
Incumbent Trustee Rosemary Thurston was first elected to the board in December 2008 She was a business professor at Solano College for nearly 30 years and the college’s Vallejo center is named for her husband, Bill Thurston, who was a history teacher and college trustee and died in 2004. Thurston is in her mid-80s and would be nearly 90 at the end of another term.
Lilia Dardon has worked as a teacher in seven school districts, including the Vallejo, Fairfield-Suisun City and Travis Air Force Base school districts. She founded a nonprofit, Ivan & Ivon Charities, in 2011.
Shannon Frisinger is a Benicia resident and a retired English teacher who worked at Jesse Bethel High School in Vallejo.
California’s third state Senate district covers all of Solano County and portions of each surrounding county. Sen. Bill Dodd, who was first elected in 2016, isn’t eligible for another term.
Dixon City Councilmember Thomas Bogue received the most votes as the Republican candidate for California State Senator District 3 in the March 5 primary election. Bogue served on the Dixon City Council from 2010 to 2014, then he was elected to serve a 4-year term as mayor in 2016. After losing his reelection bid in 2020, Bogue won back his current seat on council in 2022. Bogue is the owner of First Choice Automotive in Dixon. He is an advocate for parental rights in schools and supports the removal of some LGBTQ materials from school libraries. Bogue supports reducing taxes on small businesses and streamlining approval processes that can slow much needed development projects such as housing.
Christopher Cabaldon received the second largest number of votes in the March 5 primary despite a split among the other democratic candidates Rozzana Verder-Aliga and Jackie Elward. Cabaldon served as mayor of West Sacramento for over 20 years, during which time the city became one of the top housing producers in the state. Cabaldon worked in the California State Assembly as a committee staff director and then as chief of staff and he was vice chancellor of California Community Colleges from 1997 to 2003.
Californa’s Eleventh State Assembly district covers all of Solano County and small sections of Sacramento and Contra Costa counties. State Assembly members are elected for two-year terms and they can serve a total of 12 years in the state legislature.
Assemblymember Lori Wilson overwhelmingly won a special election in 2022 to succeed Assemblymember Jim Frazier after he resigned. She was elected to a full two-year term later that year and is seeking a second full term in office. Wilson has a background in accounting and was elected to the Suisun City Council in 2012. She was then elected mayor in 2018. In the March 5 primary election Wilson received 50% of the vote.
David Ennis is a civil engineer and former business executive who is running on a platform of fiscal discipline and infrastructure improvements. He spent years working with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and says that experience will help him bring federal infrastructure funds into the region. He is running as a Republican and describes himself as "a fiscal conservative and a moderate on social issues."
Measure F, also known as the Benicia Special Sales Tax for Streets, would levy a half-cent sales tax on purchases in the city except for some grocery store food items. The tax would create an estimated annual revenue of $4 million which would only be used for street and road repair such as filling potholes, repairing storm drains and improving pedestrian and bicycle safety. The measure requires annual audits of the fund created by the tax as well as a citizens’ oversight committee. The measure requires a majority of over 50% to pass. Benicia voters overwhelmingly passed a three-quarter-cent sales tax in March.
If approved, Measure G would create a Benicia City Charter for the sole purpose of adopting a real property transfer tax beyond the amount allowed by the state under the city’s current general law status. The charter is limited to the implementation of the real property transfer tax as described in Measure H and the charter could be amended only by voter approval.
Measure H would create real property transfer tax to fund roads, infrastructure, facilities and essential city services including police and fire. The tax would be due upon the sale of a property and assessed based on the sale price. Properties selling for $2 million and under would be taxed at a rate of 0.004%, over $2 million at 0.006% and over $10 million at 0.008%. The tax is expected to generate $850,000 in annual revenue for the city. Property transfers between family members would be exempt from the tax.
