Candidate Profiles
Will Eduardo Martinez be Richmond’s next mayor?
Richmond Confidential posed the same questions to mayoral candidates Nathaniel Bates, Shawn Dunning, Eduardo Martinez and Mark Wassberg. Their answers are being presented verbatim, in the order they were received, with light editing, where necessary, for brevity. Today’s Q&A is with Eduardo Martinez. Where are you from, and how many years have you lived in Richmond? I am…
Will Mark Wassberg be Richmond’s next mayor?
Richmond Confidential posed the same questions to mayoral candidates Nathaniel Bates, Shawn Dunning, Eduardo Martinez and Mark Wassberg. Their answers are being presented verbatim, in the order they were received, with light editing, where necessary, for brevity. Today’s Q&A is with Mark Wassberg. Where are you from, and how many years have you lived in…
Will Nat Bates be Richmond’s next mayor?
Richmond Confidential posed the same questions to mayoral candidates Nathaniel Bates, Shawn Dunning, Eduardo Martinez and Mark Wassberg. Their answers are being presented verbatim, in the order they were received, with light editing, where necessary, for brevity. Today’s Q&A is with Nat Bates. Where are you from, and how many years have you lived in…
Will Shawn Dunning be Richmond’s next mayor?
Richmond Confidential posed the same questions to mayoral candidates Nathaniel Bates, Shawn Dunning, Eduardo Martinez and Mark Wassberg. Their answers are being presented verbatim, in the order they were received, with light editing, where necessary, for brevity. Today’s Q&A is with Shawn Dunning. Where are you from, and how many years have you lived in…
City council candidates weigh in on how to help Richmond’s unhoused community
Kevin Canamore wants answers. He wants his community to get the services it was promised. But more than anything, he just wants to live in a real house. Canamore was living on Rydin Road, one of the largest homeless encampments in Richmond until it was cleared last weekend. According to Contra Costa County’s Homeless Point-In-Time…
Former Mayor Gayle McLaughlin plans to continue Richmond’s progressive transformation
Former two-time Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin is back in the City Council race and she’s ready to start working for the community.
Running to ensure equitable access to education
Y’Anad Burrell has a mission: Improve education and opportunities for people of color in Richmond. That’s why she is hoping to serve as an area four board member for the West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD). “All I’ve been hearing over 10, 15 years is that the West Contra Costa Unified School District continues to…
Richmond’s native son strives to continue legacy
“To run is courageous,” Anderson said. “So you have to get right with yourself, there is no second place there is no third place – the winner wins. The process of running allows you to give a voice for the people.”
Bilingual teacher running for school board wants to improve English language classes
Gonzalez-Hoy is running for West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD) board trustee for area four.
Watch our Coffee With A Candidate video profiles: Wicks and Beckles fight for Assembly District 15
Democrats Buffy Wicks and Jovanka Beckles are running a tight race to represent California’s Assembly District 15, which includes Richmond, Berkeley and North Oakland. While Wicks won the majority of votes in the June primary, and Beckles barely squeaked by, the two are now neck and neck a week ahead of election day. Buffy Wicks,…
Stephanie Hernández-Jarvis, School Board Candidate
Stephanie Hernández-Jarvis, a teacher in the West Contra Costa Unified School District, is running for the school board on a platform of improving teacher retention, the school climate and student academic and learning outcomes. Hernández-Jarvis, 27, once an undocumented immigrant, also considers herself a strong advocate for immigrant rights. “It’s not about security for me;…
Valerie Cuevas, School Board Candidate
Valerie Cuevas comes from humble beginnings. As a child of a working-class family, beset by problems that put her at risk of academic failure, Cuevas attached to her family’s belief in the transformative power of education. “My family believed in the innate ability and potential of all the kids to succeed, and to succeed at…
Elizabeth Block, School Board Candidate
Elizabeth Block has served as public education principal, school psychologist and special education administrator over the course of a 35-year career. She’s currently an incumbent member of the West Contra Costa Unified School Board, running for a second term. “I consider myself to be the candidate with experience that matters because I’ve had experience at…
Consuelo Lara, School Board Candidate
Consuelo Lara found structure and safety in attending school as a child. Then she became a teacher and taught for 38 years, much of the time in the West Contra Costa Unified School District. She is now running for a seat on the school board. Lara, of San Pablo, seeks to encourage dual language literacy,…
Madeline Kronenberg, School Board Candidate
Madeline Kronenberg has gathered a wealth of experience while serving three terms on the West Contra Costa Unified School Board. A former teacher, she is currently running for a fourth term. Kronenberg, 71, a resident of El Cerrito, wants voters to return her to the board to work toward eliminating the achievement gap—the difference in…
Virginia Ramirez, City Council Candidate
A newcomer to city government, Virginia “Vicky” Ramirez has a lot to prove. Born and raised in Salinas, Ramirez, 28, grew up with parents who worked in agriculture; her father picked celery and her mother picked mustard seed. She was raised in a predominantly Mexican community and sees her fluency in Spanish as a special…
Ada Recinos, City Council Candidate
A proud salvadoreña and first generation college student, Ada Recinos isn’t afraid to confront issues head-first. The youngest person ever appointed to Richmond’s city council, Recinos, 27, beat out 12 others seeking appointment to the council last November. In the year since, she has learned valuable political lessons. “[It’s] important to have a lot of…
Nat Bates, City Council
After serving several terms on city council, Nathaniel Bates, 87, thinks he knows Richmond best. Bates, a 77-year resident of Richmond, remembers taking the Santa Fe train from Texas to Richmond in 1942 after his mother moved to work at the Kaiser shipyards. “Richmond is the only home I’ve ever known,” he said. After a…
Demnlus Johnson III, City Council Candidate
Demnlus Johnson III waves and smiles to young kids and their parents as he asks a Nevin Community Center employee if they’ll be hosting a Halloween party this year. He’s at the community center — which sits across the street from his great grandparents’ home — speaking at a candidates’ forum about his plans for…
Cesar Zepeda, City Council Candidate
A health and benefits broker by trade, Cesar Zepeda is passionate about helping his community. Zepeda, 37, ran unsuccessfully for the Richmond City Council in 2016 and is trying again this year. After immigrating from Mexico when he was 8 years old, Zepeda grew up in Richmond and San Pablo, attending Helms Elementary School, Richmond…