Incumbents dominate in local elections
As expected, incumbents in the local congressional and Assembly elections continue to lead by wide margins in their bids. However, they will still have to clear one more hurdle in November, with the lists of candidates dwindled down to two.
As it turns out, all of them will be facing off against Vacaville residents.
The newly-drawn Assembly District 11 — consisting of all of Solano County and portions of Contra Costa and Sacramento counties — is already occupied by a Solano County resident: former Suisun City Mayor Lori Wilson. The Democrat announced her bid to fill Jim Frazier's vacated seat by running in an April 5 special election. Wilson ran unopposed in that race and was able to secure a seat in the Assembly.
For the primary election, Wilson was challenged by Jenny Callison, an independent Vacaville resident, Army veteran and legislative advocate with the California Assembly Military and Veterans Affairs Committee.
Wilson has received 66.23% of the vote so far, while Callison has received 33.17%. Both will face off in November. James Berg mounted a certified writein campaign but only received one vote.
Because of redistricting after the latest U.S. Census update, both of Solano's congressmen ran in different areas of the county, but they still received a large percentage of the vote. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Solano, ran in the 4th District, which now includes Dixon, Rio
Vista and a large portion of Vacaville as well as all of Lake and Napa counties and portions of Sonoma and Yolo counties. He received 68.2% of the vote in the district overall, followed by Republican Matt Brock at 15.7%.
““The outpouring of support I received last night is humbling,” Thompson said in a statement. “I was born, grew up, and still live in our district and I consider it the honor of my life to represent our beautiful region in Congress. We are moving into the general election now and I will continue to work every day with local, state, and federal leaders on the pressing challenges facing the people of our district and our country. “
An operations and maintenance supervisor for the Contra Costa Water District, Brock is a Vacaville resident who ran for City Council in District 1 in 2020. His campaign has been focused around water rights, energy independence and ensuring that masks and vaccines are a personal choice during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rep. John Garamendi, D-Solano, also ran in a new district — District 8 — which includes Fairfield, Suisun City, Benicia, Vallejo and part of Vacaville as well as northwestern Contra Costa County.
Garamendi received 63.9% in the district overall.
“I am deeply grateful and humbled by this vote of confidence from the voters in Contra Costa and Solano Counties,” he said in a statement. “This decisive victory creates strong momentum for the General Election on November 8th and gives us an opportunity to continue the critically important work that's before us.”
The next highest votegetter was Republican Rudy Recile at 21.1%. A retired Army officer, treasurer for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2333 and owner of website design business YCDI Corp, Recile is running on a platform that includes promoting school choice, support for veterans and honoring the Bill of Rights.
For full results, visit Solanocounty.com/depts/ rov/June_7_2022_election_results/election_results.asp.