Candidate Profiles

Eleanor Thompson brings over 50 years of experience working for the city of Richmond to her campaign election to the Richmond City Council. Originally from Arizona, Thompson, 70, has lived in Richmond since 1967. She is the founder and executive director of Social Progress, Inc., a nonprofit organization where youth of the Iron Triangle neighborhood gather after school for tutoring and mentoring. Thompson began her career as a substitute teacher with the Contra Costa Unified School District. She also served…

Jim Rogers is one of several candidates running for Richmond City Council who has served previously. Before serving on the council from 2002 to 2014, he served as a Contra Costa County supervisor in the mid to late 90s. In 2014, Rogers helped negotiate a deal with Chevron that includes a program known as “the Richmond Promise,” through which Chevron will give a total of $35 million dollars in scholarships to every Richmond and North Richmond high school senior who…

On a night where every speaker had just 7 minutes to present themselves to the audience, Dave Schoenthal did something different. While other city council candidates rushed through their time, he turned the attention to the audience and began asking them what they think Richmond needs. “This is about them,” he said in an interview. “This is about the people in the audience out there. What do they want to have done?” Schoenthal carries himself with a contagious, easy-going attitude….

Diego Garcia’s slicked back hair and tattoos help give away the fact that his background is different than a typical political candidate’s. The 40-year Richmond resident first joined a neighborhood gang when he was just 9 years old. At 17, he was shot and nearly died. Garcia explains that according to the statistics, he shouldn’t have survived long enough to be in the position he is today.    “A Latino who came from the streets and was a gang banger,…

Vinay Pimple was born in Mumbai, India, but moved to New Jersey in 1993 to pursue a PhD in English Literature with a focus on women’s studies at Rutgers. He moved to Richmond in 2010. Pimple, 50, was appointed to Richmond City Council in 2015, soon after receiving his U.S. citizenship, to fill a vacancy made when Tom Butt was elected mayor. He wasn’t re-elected for the spot during the 2016 election, but says on his campaign website that his…

Melvin Willis is Richmond’s current vice mayor and is running against incumbent Tom Butt for the mayoral seat. Willis, 28, is a member of the Richmond Progressive Alliance and a Richmond native who became the youngest councilmember in Richmond’s history when he was elected at the age of 26. From 2012 to 2014, he served as the city’s youngest city planning commissioner. Willis first ran for public office after nearly six years working with the Alliance of Californians for Community…

Tom Butt, the current mayor of Richmond who’s running for a second shot at the position, is clearly proud of his first term. When asked what he could have done better during his time as mayor, he had a simple answer: “Nothing,” he said. Butt, 74, grew up in Fayetteville, Arkansas. He graduated from UCLA in 1973 with an architecture degree and moved to Richmond with his wife, who was starting a master’s degree at UC Berkeley. The couple was…