KING CITY — Voters across King City and southern Monterey County will decide several local races in the Nov. 3 general election, including city council seats, school board positions and college district trustees.
Here is a brief look at the candidates running for office.
City Council
In King City, newcomer Jonas Lalehzadeh is running for City Council District 1 against incumbent Oscar Avalos, who has filed as a write-in candidate. Mike LeBarre, who currently serves as mayor and represents District 2, is running unopposed for his council seat.
The mayor’s position in King City is appointed by the council rather than elected separately.
School Boards
Local school board races are prominent on the South County ballot, which also includes Measure J, a proposal to reorganize three existing school districts into two unified K-12 districts for the King City and Greenfield areas.
If approved by voters, Measure J would create King City Joint Unified School District and Greenfield Unified School District, dissolving the existing King City Union School District, Greenfield Union School District and South Monterey County Joint Union High School District, which includes King City and Greenfield high schools. The proposed unified boards would take office only if the measure passes.
Candidates for the proposed King City Joint Unified School District five-member governing board are Linda Benway, David Gaboni, Leslie Girard, Mindy Hunt, Susan King, Miguel Lomeli, Franky Lopez Jr., Monique Ross, Sonia Valerio-Quiroz and Yesenia Zavala. Benway, Gaboni, Girard and Hunt currently serve on the SMCJUHSD board, while King serves on the King City Union board. Because the proposed board would take office only if Measure J passes, the race is tied to the outcome of the reorganization measure.
The existing King City Union School District board race includes incumbent King, Lopez Jr., Ross, Valerio-Quiroz and Zavala. The current district would be dissolved if Measure J is approved, making the proposed unified district’s board election particularly important to voters.
For SMCJUHSD, incumbent trustees Girard and Paul Dake are running alongside Lomeli and Valerio-Quiroz. The district also would be dissolved under the proposed reorganization.
In South County, the San Ardo Union Elementary School District board race includes incumbents Kaeda Barrios and Tiffini Moore competing against Nayeli Camacho and J. Felix Sanchez Jr. for three available seats. San Lucas Union Elementary School District has a contested two-year seat, with appointed incumbent Esmeralda Wittmann facing Nereida Gonzalez.
Hartnell College
Hartnell Community College District trustees also represent voters across the region.
In Trustee Area 6, which stretches roughly from Chualar to Soledad, Rosalie Sanchez and Sofia Ramirez are competing to succeed incumbent Cesar Iracheta, who is not seeking reelection. In Area 7, which includes Greenfield and the lower portion of South County, John Huerta Jr. and Nancy Reyes are running to replace incumbent Candi DePauw, who also is not seeking reelection.
Some local district seats will not appear as contested races because the number of qualified candidates did not exceed the number of available positions. Others had insufficient candidates and may be filled by appointment under state law.
Election Day is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Monterey County voters can find local ballot information, including candidate lists and measures, at MontereyCountyElections.us. For information on statewide candidates and ballot measures, visit sos.ca.gov/elections.
