There will be a variety of seats up for decision by Windsor voters this fall, and with the initial filing deadline in the rearview mirror, the individual races are starting to shape up. The filing deadline was Aug. 7 and not everyone who officially considered a candidacy by “pulling papers” finalized their applications.
Mayor’s seat
For the first time, the citizens of the Windsor will have the opportunity to select their mayor by a vote of the people rather than a selection by the councilmembers.
There are four nominated and qualified candidates for the two-year term: Dominic Foppoli, Tanya Potter, Rosa Reynoza and Sam Salmon.
Foppoli has been a councilmember since 2014 and is currently serving his second term as mayor. Salmon is the longest serving councilmember in the county with 26 years on the council, and has been mayor previously, most recently in 2009.
This will be Reynoza’s third try at an elected position, as she ran in both 2016 and 2018, finishing fourth both times. Potter, is a probation officer with the county and is new to Windsor politics.
Town council
This is also the first time for Windsor to be holding district elections, and this time the district up for election is District 3.
The two nominated and qualified candidates for District 3 are Debora Fudge and Jeffrey Leasure.
Fudge has served on the council for 24 years. Leasure is a 22-year resident of Windsor and an insurance broker, but a political newcomer.
A third candidate, Daniel Spain “pulled papers” but, according to town clerk Maria De La O, has chosen not to run for office and did not file final documents by last Friday’s Aug. 7 deadline.
School board
There are two candidates listed for the two available seats for the Windsor Unified School District Board of Trustees, but with one of the incumbents, George Valenzuela not running, the deadline to file will be extended to Wednesday, Aug. 12.
The two nominated and qualified candidates who have filed are Bill Adams, who has served on the school board since 2015 (he was appointed to a vacated seat), and newcomer Malinalli Lopez. Lopez is an adjunct professor as Sonoma State University and founder, chairman and CEO of XQL media, a media production company.
Fire district
The Sonoma County Fire Protection District has four open seats, with three of the candidates being incumbents. The fourth incumbent, John Nelson, is not running again. Because of that, the nomination period deadline has been extended to Wednesday, Aug. 12
The four nominated and qualified candidates are John F. Hamann, Frank Treanor, Arnold Tognozzi and Jason Weaver. Weaver is the only non-incumbent.
Voter information guides will begin to be mailed on Sept. 24 and mail-in ballots will be received after Oct. 5. Voter registration for the Nov. 3 General Election closes on Oct. 19.
The Nov. 3 consolidated General Election also will include two countywide sales tax measures, a renewal of a tax for transportation projects and improvements and a new sales tax for mental health and homeless services. There are no countywide seats up for election, but Nov. 3 is also the U.S. Presidential Election.
