Politics

Candidates have begun pulling papers and contemplating their plans for elected offices in Hollister, San Juan Bautista and on local school boards on the ballot in the Nov. 8 general election. The nomination period for candidates for local offices started July 18, and continues until...

Arguing that county officials and an out-of-town developer have ignored the voice of the voters over the last two years, a group of local residents has been circulating a petition to place a measure on the Nov. 8 ballot that would limit or prohibit...

Citing the impact of across-the-board rising prices and economic uncertainties, the San Benito County Board of Supervisors declined to ask the voters for a 1% sales tax in the November election. And despite their ongoing search for more local revenues to fund public services, the...

San Benito County officials certified the citizens’ petition for an initiative that would require voter approval for certain land rezoning decisions, but are waiting for an impact report on the proposal before deciding whether to place the measure on the November ballot. The board of...

Unofficial June 7 election results show that two San Benito County Supervisor candidates—Mindy Sotelo in District 3 and Angela Curro in District 4—as well as Sheriff Eric Taylor have secured enough votes to win their contests outright and avoid a runoff.  And the county is...

The race for the newly drawn 18th U.S. Congressional District features two challengers to the incumbency of Congressmember Zoe Lofgren, who is vying for her 14th consecutive term.  But Lofgren has not yet represented San Benito County in Congress, as her district lines were redrawn...

Late May 27, just as California legislators were preparing to check out for the long holiday weekend, an earthquake rocked the California political world: Assemblymember Robert Rivas, a Hollister Democrat, announced that he had “secured enough votes” to become the next speaker of the...

San Benito County’s current District 3 supervisor, Peter Hernandez, is not running for re-election in 2022. Instead, Hernandez is running for the 18th District U.S. Representative seat.  That leaves the field open for three non-incumbent candidates appearing on the ballot for District 3 Supervisor: Eddie...

Three candidates are on the June 7 ballot for San Benito County Supervisor District 4: Tony Avilla, Angela Curro and Elia Salinas.  Avilla grew up in Santa Clara County and served in the U.S. Air Force before he began working for his family’s construction company,...

The June 7 election for San Benito County Supervisor for District 1 will determine who will complete the current four-year term, which began in 2020 with the election of Mark Medina. Medina resigned from the board in June 2021, and in October the governor...