Election 2018

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 career in the Alameda County criminal justice system as a group counselor and then a probation officer, Bates was first elected to Richmond City Council…

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 the city. Wearing a sharp, gray suit and delivering each answer with seemingly endless energy, Johnson, 25, has big plans for the city. He says…

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 High School and Contra Costa College. Over the past few years, Zepeda has helped start several local organizations and initiatives. Zepeda co-founded Richmond’s first LGBTQ…

Eduardo Martinez surprised everyone by winning a seat on Richmond’s City Council in 2014.   His successful campaign was fueled by small donations and grassroots door knocking. It was his third time running for the Richmond City Council after having lost in 2010 and 2012.  This year, Martinez hopes to repeat his victory as he runs for re-election. Martinez, 69, is originally from Dumas, Texas and moved to the Bay Area in the 1970s. He was an elementary school teacher…

Michael Gonzales was born in San Francisco but has been a Richmond resident for the past 20 years. He’s a man of many hats: a father of four and grandfather of one, a teacher, a pastor, a counselor and a consultant. After being recruited to run for school board three years ago by local teachers frustrated by the  West Contra Costa School District, Gonzales was recruited again to run in this year’s school board elections. Gonzales, 63, has one goal:…

Carlos Taboada is not a new face in West Contra Costa school board races. A teacher in the district for 21 years, Taboada first ran three years ago and is very vocal about his views as a critical eye of charter schools in the area. “I think we are in a very crucial moment in our district,” he said. His motivation to run lies primarily in recentering the focus on public schools.He has a young grandson who will soon enter…

Vanessa Calloway wants the state of California to change its laws and give power to school boards to decide if their districts need charter schools. There are currently 14 charter schools in the West Contra Costa County Unified School District, 11 of which are in Richmond. The decision to allow the charter schools to open in the district is currently made at state level by the California Department of Education. Calloway and critics of charter schools note that districts like…

Community organizer Anthony Caro wants the district to adopt a tough new requirement for students to graduate high school. They must have a letter of acceptance from a college or trade school, or have a job lined up. Otherwise, they must join the military. The West Contra Costa County Unified School District needs to model this graduation requirement, implemented in Chicago early this year, to help students transition into college or the workforce, Caro said. Caro, 21, a homeowner in…

Tiffany Grimsley has been thinking about running for a West Contra Costa school board seat for about two years. She lives in Hercules now, but grew up in El Cerrito, graduating high school there. Two of her three children have attended West Contra Costa Unified School District schools—her middle child is a recent graduate of Hercules High School and her youngest is a sixth-grader at Hercules Middle School. For Grimsley, 49, education is important. She works for the Bay Area-based…