Assembly Race, Judgeship & School Board Contest On Tuesday Primary Ballot

San Leandro voters will go to the polls Tuesday in a primary election with three races of particular local relevance.

Three candidates are vying to represent the 18th Assembly District in the state legislature, a new jurisdiction dominated by Oakland, but including Alameda and San Leandro.

The candidates are: Alameda Vice Mayor Rob Bonta; Peralta Community College District trustee Abel Guillen; and AC Transit District director and fellow Joel Young. Guillen and Young are both from Oakland.

The . Local political leaders fear that our city will be a poor third in getting attention from the new Assembly person.

There is also three way race for a Superior Court judgeship in Alameda County.

As with the Assembly contest, it is occurring because there is no incumbent. Incumbents win so routinely that elections are almost farsical except when there is an open seat, as in the two cases above.

The judicial candidates are three attorneys; Catherine Haley, 60; Andrew Wiener, 53; and Tara Flanagan, 48. The Oakland Tribune has profiled the candidates. 

Former Oakland teacher Geraldine Sonobe is running against Alameda County Fire Department spokeswoman Aisha Knowles for a seat on the Alameda County School Board.

The seat represents San Leandro, San Lorenzo, Castro Valley, and other parts of unincorporated Alameda County. The county school board is the intermediary between the state Department of Education and local school districts like those in San Leandro and San Lorenzo.

Mike Katz-Lacabe, a San Leandro School Board member, profiled Sonobe and Knowles on his San Leandro Bytes website. He noted that the Oakland Tribune has endorsed Sonobe.

San Leandro will also vote for the first time in a congressional district represented by Oakland Democrat Barbara Lee. She faces token opposition from Marilyn Singleton, who has blogged for Patch, and Justin Jelincic, a conservative Democrat.

Finally, San Leandro is now part of the state Senate District represented by Berkeley Democrat Loni Hancock, who is unopposed.

Look for live election coverage Tuesday evening on Patch.

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