James Gore wins Supervisor race

Fudge falls behind as results roll in
James Gore’s early and forceful lead in the race for Fourth District Supervisor remained consistent as results rolled in on election night, eventually securing him the position with an 18 percent edge over opponent Deb Fudge.
While the outcome won’t be made offical for 28 days, results reported from the Sonoma County Registrar of Voters as of 1:28 a.m. on Nov. 5 showed that James Gore garnered 12,070 (58.8 percent) of votes cast in the race, while Deb Fudge earned 8,371 (40.8 percent), with tallies from all precincts completed.
At the culmination of a tight race to succeed State Senate-bound Mike McGuire in the Fourth District, Gore and Fudge gathered with their respective supporters on Tuesday evening to celebrate and wait for results to trickle in.
Figures representing absentee ballots, which were released shortly after 8 p.m., favored James Gore with just over 58 percent of votes, while Fudge held around 41 percent. At his election-night party held at the Healdsburg Bar and Grill, Gore expressed that he was both excited and overwhelmed with the initial lead.
“People responded to optimism, collaboration and a forward-looking vision for this area,” he said. “I want to thank everybody who voted today, whether they voted for me or not. I look forward to representing them and I’ll work hard to earn their trust and deserve this position that they’ve entrusted me with.”
Gathered with her supporters at the home of Steve and Glenda Castelli, Fudge expressed cautious optimism in spite of the initial deficit. “Those results are very early, it’s just a few absentees,” she said. “So really, we can’t tell what’s going to happen yet.”
After announcing her candidacy in November of 2013, Fudge pushed ahead to lead in June’s primary election, earning 36.8 percent of votes cast for five candidates. James Gore took second place in the primaries, with 373 votes separating him from Fudge.
“I’m very proud of my campaign team,” Fudge said. “We ran a very positive campaign. We were extremely organized. We had roughly half the budget of my opponent and we did extremely well with the money that we had.”
Sonoma County’s Fourth Supervisorial District includes the entire north county, from Cloverdale to the northwest portion of Santa Rosa. Since 2010, Mike McGuire has served on the Board of Supervisors as the fourth district representative.
James Gore was born and raised in the north county and currently resides in Healdsburg with his wife Elizabeth and two children. After receiving a bachelor’s degree in agribusiness from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, Gore joined the Peace Corps, where he worked in Bolivia on agriculture, health, hygiene and natural resource-related issues. He also received a master’s degree from George Washington University.
Though Gore has not held public office, he has served as a presidential appointee as assistant chief of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service. Currently, he is co-leader for the working landscapes team of the California Economic Summit.
Deb Fudge serves on the Windsor Town Council and was formerly the mayor of Windsor. She is also currently a member of the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency and Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit boards, and has also served on organizations including the Sonoma County Water Agency Water Advisory Committee and the Local Area Formation Commission.
“Deb and I have a long relationship – we go back to 2001 when I opened the Windsor Farmers Market,” said Glenda Castelli. “She’s always given so much to her community. I just like the calm about her. She’s a nice person who cares about humanity.”
Fudge was born in Palo Alto, Calif. and grew up in the surrounding area. She received a bachelor’s of science degree from the University of California at Davis and has a master’s  in Environmental Planning. In total, Fudge has led three campaigns for the north county supervisorial seat, losing to Paul Kelly in 2006 and Mike McGuire in 2010.
Despite their differing resumes, Fudge and Gore have been noted for sharing similar views on issues important to local voters, including water conservation, road repairs, affordable housing and county workers’ pensions.
Through their respective campaigns, Fudge earned the backing of environmental groups including the Sonoma County Conservation Action and the Sierra Club, while Gore won support from the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, the Sonoma County Alliance and leaders in the wine industry.