The 2024 primary campaign for Assembly District 2, the large North Coast region stretching from Santa Rosa to the Oregon border, is winding up this week, and local voters are—or should be—well aware of the six candidates, and the controversies that surround at least some of them.
Five of the candidates are Democrats, and one is Republican. The party registration in the five-county region (Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, Trinity and Del Norte) is 51% Democratic, 22% Republican and 19% no party preference.
That suggests that with the split vote on the Democratic ballot, sole Republican candidate Mike Greer is likely to coast into the top two slots for the general election race.
But among the Democrats, the race is a toss-up. Early favorite Rusty Hicks, the chair of the state California Democratic Party, would seem to have the inside track based on his considerable financial backing from powerful unions and other interest groups. However several of the other candidates have called into question his status as a North Coast resident, since he moved from Southern California to Humboldt County less than two years ago.
While a Political Action Committee (PAC) supportive of Ariel Kelley raised the “carpetbagger” accusation in a series of mailers in early February, other Democrats have also chafed at Hicks’ entry to the race. Ted Williams, for the past five years a Mendocino County Supervisor and also a candidate in the Assembly race, said that in late September he was paid a visit by Hicks, who seemed to be “strategizing his run for Assembly and wanted referrals to influential people in Mendocino County.”
Only some time later did Jim Wood announce he would not seek re-election. ”My decision to not run was made in late October. I followed what I thought was the best protocol. I informed the speaker of the Assembly and my chief of staff shortly after that,” Assemblyman Wood told the Tribune.
That suggests Hicks moved to Arcata for another reason, leaving behind an influential role as a labor leader and political organizer for the college town in the redwoods, where he was prepared to run for office.
“I don’t doubt Hicks has worked for the benefit of society, but it’s categorically inappropriate for an outsider from Los Angeles” to run for the seat, Williams said.
Door-to-Door
All of the candidates have been traveling the huge district since October to meet with voters and bolster their campaigns. Some have gone door-to-door in the Healdsburg area, or reached out to voters by phone campaigns either in person or through surrogates.
Chris Rogers, currently serving on the Santa Rosa City Council, has been in town several times, most recently on Feb. 24 following a campaign breakfast at Gallina d’Or (formerly El Farolito) with State Sen. Mike McGuire. Rogers worked as an aide in Sen. McGuire’s office, and has earned his endorsement.
Following that breakfast, Rogers hit the neighborhoods of Tucker, Haydon and University streets to knock on doors and make his pitch. Relying on a database updated daily of registered voters who have not yet voted, he spoke briefly to residents—connecting over the issue of dealing with four fire emergencies in the past few years and other local issues. If no one was home, he left a handout in the door.
“Particularly in a low-turnout election like this one, truly grassroots campaigns matter,” Rogers said. “When you’ve got so much money being spent on TV and on mail, what’s going to be most effective is to have one-on-one conversations with voters.”
Similarly, Republican candidate Greer spent some time on Monday, Feb. 26, meeting potential supporters at Big John’s Market, then following a similar course through neighborhoods near the high school, armed with his own sheet of talking points. “Really, it’s a matter of getting out and meeting people,” said the former special ed teacher and education trustee for Del Norte County.
“It’s fun, it’s fascinating,” Greer said. “You know, I enjoy meeting people, and I’ve yet to have one person that got upset at me because I was a Republican or anything else. They’ve just been very nice and polite. Which is a little bit different than what you see in the newspaper!”
Kelley, of course, is a known entity in Healdsburg, in her fourth year on the city council after serving as mayor in 2023. She has held several meet-and-greets with voters, the most recent at Cartograph Winery on Center Street, on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
Additionally, she has doubled-down on her status as the only woman in the race, with a “Standing Strong for California Women” message and holding a special campaign event in Santa Rosa on Feb. 24 with “reproductive access champions” to support her campaign.
Tribal Voice
The other Democratic candidate is Frankie Myers, the vice-chair of the Yurok tribe in the Humboldt River watershed. (A sixth candidate, Cynthia Click, left the race in December to endorse Myers.) He has been a key advocate for removing the decades-old dams in the Humboldt River watershed to return the natural wealth of the river to the area, specifically but not exclusively for the tribal communities.
It was only in the short window of time between Wood’s announcement (Nov. 10) and the closing of the application period to run for the Assembly seat that Myers decided to enter the race, and he admitted he hasn’t had time to personally campaign locally. “I have not in person,” he said. “I’ve reached out, I’ve talked to folks in Healdsburg via email and messaging, but haven’t been in person to Healdsburg as of yet.”
He has been to campaign events in northern Sonoma County, most recently the Feb. 25 Community Fashion Show at the California Indian Museum & Cultural Center in Santa Rosa. Yet he is confident and gratified that his campaign has moved beyond tribalism, so to speak, and is reaching a wider base.
“You know, the whole idea and premise of what I’ve been working on are these holistic visions for community and the environment, and our belief is that they’re based on these core truths of what it means to be here in this place,” he said in a telephone interview this week.
“These are things that aren’t singularly tribal, but these are initiatives and things that resonate with the entire community,” he continued. “Having now gone throughout the basin, throughout the district, throughout California, that is absolutely true. People care about the environment, they care about healthy communities, they care about sustainable economies.”
Hearts and Minds and Money
As for Hicks himself, much of his considerable campaign war chest has gone into TV ads and mailers, the most recent of which have tarred Ariel Kelley as financed by “big oil,” after Kelley’s PAC raised the carpetbagger issue.
Kelly pushed back on the characterization, stating she received from her late father (who died in March, 2023) trusts that included oil investments that she has since divested from.
As far as Hicks’ local on-the-ground campaigning, his aide Robin Swanson said, “Just as they have all across the 2nd Assembly District, Rusty and volunteers have been actively engaging with voters in Healdsburg, Cloverdale and Windsor over the phone and knocking on doors.”
Said Rogers, about the battle of negative campaign mailers and accusations, “I think in general, the public is looking for leadership that can unify people. And while these things work, otherwise [PACs] wouldn’t do them, I think that it has a tendency to make people less interested in participating in democracy.”
Election Day is Tuesday, March 5. Completed ballots are being accepted by mail-in or at the official drop box at Healdsburg City Hall, 201 Grove St. Healdsburg’s voting center at the Community Center, 1557 Healdsburg Ave., is open daily from March 2 to March 4, 9am to 5pm, and on March 5 till 8pm.
