For the first time in years, both Sonoma County supervisor seats on the June 2 ballot are wide open, with no incumbents and no default favorites. The League of Women Voters forums on April 8 and 9 gave voters their best look yet at who wants the job and how they plan to do it.
Here’s what you need to know.
Two districts, two very different races
The 2nd District covers Petaluma and the south county farm belt, territory Supervisor David Rabbitt has held for 16 years. He announced in March he would not seek a fifth term, and four candidates jumped in almost immediately.
Joanna Paun, a Petaluma City Schools board member and foster and homeless youth education coordinator for the Sonoma County Office of Education, is running alongside Sylvia Lemus, Cotati’s mayor and first Latina council member, who is also a retired county government employee. Shelina Moreda, a professional motorcycle racer who works on her family’s Petaluma-area dairy farm, and John King, a Penngrove rancher and operational engineer who has run for the seat twice before, round out the field.
The 4th District stretches from Cloverdale and Healdsburg through Windsor and into northern Santa Rosa. Supervisor James Gore has held the seat since 2015. He initially pursued a state Senate bid, suspended that campaign last October and ultimately decided not to seek reelection. Three candidates filed.
Tom Schwedhelm, a former Santa Rosa police chief and two-term city council member who also served as mayor, is facing Melanie Bagby, a former Cloverdale mayor and longtime council member, and Todd Lands, Cloverdale’s current vice mayor who also serves as a deputy sheriff and school board trustee.
What they actually talked about
The pair of 90-minute forums, held online, covered the issues that have dominated the Board of Supervisors’ agenda in recent months. A few themes stood out.
On wildfire and emergency preparedness — this is Sonoma County, so it always comes up — Schwedhelm pushed for what he called “creative solutions,” including faster electrification of government vehicle fleets and stronger city-county partnerships on climate goals. Lands went the other direction, arguing that more aggressive brush management is the most practical way to cut wildfire risk. In the 2nd District, rural water sustainability came up repeatedly, which is not surprising given the district’s agricultural roots.
On housing and homelessness, every candidate acknowledged the county’s affordable housing shortage, but specifics on what they would do differently were harder to pin down. The county has declared a homeless emergency and spent more than $12 million on permanent supportive housing, including a 60-unit tiny home village. Lands emphasized cost of living and health care access as connected pieces of the same puzzle.
Immigration may have been the most charged topic. Just days before the forums, the Board of Supervisors adopted a limited sanctuary ordinance in a contentious hearing where immigrant rights activists were detained by deputies after breaking into song during the meeting. The ordinance limits federal immigration authorities’ access to county information and property but pointedly excludes the Sheriff’s Office, a distinction that has infuriated advocates. Supervisor Chris Coursey pushed to extend restrictions to the Sheriff’s Office but could not get a second vote. The debate is all but certain to follow candidates through June.
Federal budget cuts loomed over the discussion as well. With Washington tightening spending, the county’s 2026 board chair has emphasized “innovative strategies” to fill the gaps. The annual budget workshops starting Monday will show just how deep those cuts go, and whoever wins these seats will inherit the fallout.
Who wasn’t talking
The Press Democrat noted that not all candidates showed up or engaged equally at the forums. That is worth paying attention to. With mail ballots going out in early May, voters have about six weeks to figure out who is serious and who is coasting.
The math
If any candidate in either race clears 50% on June 2, they win outright. If no one does, the top two finishers advance to a November runoff. In a four-way 2nd District race, a majority is a tough pull. The 4th District’s three-candidate field makes it slightly more likely someone gets over the line, but nobody should count on it.
Recordings of both forums are available on the League of Women Voters of Sonoma County YouTube page.
New supervisors take office in January 2027.
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