Elections

In May, the Vanguard wrote a story saying “Most Elected Officials Avoiding the Krovoza-Wolk Fray For Now.”  At the time we wrote that “within the city of Davis, most elected officials have decided to avoid the fray.  The Vanguard was able to talk to nearly all of the elected officials and could identify just three committed to Dan Wolk.  However, one is his mother, Senator Lois Wolk, and a second is Cass Sylvia, the Public Guardian, married to Craig Reynolds, who is Lois Wolk’s chief of staff and Dan Wolk’s likely campaign consultant.”

That has changed and changed quickly.  We reported in May that Mariko Yamada, whose seat the two are seeking and a Davis resident, told the Vanguard in a statement that it was widely known that Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza was Yamada’s choice to succeed her.  With her candidate out, she indicated the race to be “wide open” and that she would not be making any early endorsements.

In a move, that figures to make waves in the burgeoning battle over the Assembly, the Vanguard received a release from the Wolk campaign indicating that Supervisor Don Saylor, a two-term former city councilmember and briefly Davis’ mayor had put his support behind Dan Wolk.

“Earlier today in a letter to his supporters, Yolo County Supervisor Don Saylor announced that he is endorsing Davis Mayor Pro Tem Dan Wolk to represent the 4^th District in the California State Assembly. Saylor joins more than 80 other community, education, public safety and other leaders from all over the district supporting Wolk, including his colleagues on the Yolo County Board of Supervisors, Mike McGowan and Jim Provenza,” the release stated.

Late last week, Lake County Supervisor Anthony Farrington announced via Facebook that he was dropping out of the Assembly Race for the Fourth Assembly District.  Supervisor Farrington, who had not announced any fundraising back in July, leaves a four-person race at this point for the seat vacated by Mariko Yamada.

Still in the race are two from Napa County and two from Yolo County.  Matt Pope, who is backed by Assemblymember Yamada as well as State Senator Noreen Evans for whom he works as a District Representative, and Napa County Supervisor Bill Dodd are running from Napa County.  Davis Mayor Joe Krovoza and Davis Mayor Pro Tem Dan Wolk are running from Yolo County.

In what could be another defining moment in the burgeoning Fourth District Assembly race, Yolo County Supervisor Jim Provenza, himself at one point considered a frontrunner, announced today that he has endorsed Davis Mayor Pro Tem Dan Wolk for State Assembly.

According to a release from the Wolk campaign, “Provenza joins a growing list of more than 60 local elected officials in the 4^th Assembly District who have already endorsed Wolk.”

This week came the surprising announcement that incumbent Assemblymember Mariko Yamada was not going to endorse one of her fellow Davis candidates, either Joe Krovoza or Dan Wolk, but instead would endorse the relatively inexperienced and certainly unknown candidate on this side of the district, Matt Pope.

However, as we evaluated the decisions before the assemblymember, the move is not nearly so surprising at all.  When we finally spoke to her late on Thursday afternoon, she said that the initial article, for the most part, got it right.

While some apparently saw the number of appearances outgoing Assemblymember Mariko Yamada was making with Napa County Planning Commissioner Matt Pope as a sign, the move by Assemblymember Mariko Yamada to endorse Mr. Pope as her successor still seemed to catch many in the Davis community off guard.

“After meeting with each of the candidates running for my seat, there is only one who I believe has what it takes to fairly represent the expansive 4th Assembly District, and that candidate is Napa County Planning Commissioner Matt Pope,” Mariko Yamada said.

You always tell yourself that you cannot read much into early returns – after all, we have nearly a year left until someone actually votes for one of these candidates.  However, there is a big winner in these early campaign finance statements and that is Davis Mayor Joe Krovoza.

Let me throw in a paragraph or two of caution here.  First, Dan Wolk remains a very formidable candidate.  He would probably hesitate at the label frontrunner, but when your mother is the state senator and has been in the state legislature for 12 years, and before that was a county supervisor and a mayor of Davis, you have to be considered the favorite.

The first test of the viability of anyone’s candidacy is the first reporting period, and while there is a long way to go and things will change, one thing is clear from the first filing: Joe Krovoza is a serious and viable challenger for the State Assembly District seat vacated by Mariko Yamada who is termed out after six years.

The Krovoza campaign amassed $118,161.62 in contributions from the January 1 to June 30 period.  Davis Mayor Pro Tem Dan Wolk was second with $49,856.62.  Napa County Planning Commission and District Representative to Noreen Evans, Matt Pope, amassed about $20,000 and neither Bill Dodd nor Anthony Farrington reported any contributions.

This weekend Joe Krovoza formally announced his run for the Assembly, citing his “20-plus years of volunteerism and public service in Yolo County through election to represent the 4th Assembly District in the state legislature. “

Mayor Krovoza  has led the City of Davis as its 34th mayor since 2011.  He was elected in June 2010 to a four-year term on the Davis City Council, which he will complete in full.

Jim Smith, editor of the Woodland Daily Democrat, makes an astute observation about the announcements from both Davis Mayor Joe Krovoza and Davis Mayor Pro Tem Dan Wolk of Davis.

He writes in a column on Wednesday, “It would serve candidates contemplating a run for higher office to step back and look at the bigger picture, instead of being so ‘Davis-centric.’ “

In one of the worst-kept secrets in local politics, Mayor Pro Tem Dan Wolk, just under one year into his official term, and about 27 months into his overall tenure on the city council, announced his decision to run to succeed Assemblymember Mariko Yamada.

The announcement took place at Willet Elementary School, where Mr. Wolk attended as a student and where he was joined by his family and approximately 100 supporters at the end.

While Davis will clearly focus on the Mayor Joe Krovoza – Mayor Pro Tem Dan Wolk battle for the 4^th Assembly District, the broader battle sees an interesting breakdown of the five candidates – all Democrats, two of whom are from Napa, two from Davis, and one from Lake County.

Thanks to data provided from Meridian Pacific, Supervisor Matt Rexroad’s consulting firm, we have a few observations.  First, the seat is Democratic, but not overwhelmingly so.  The registration is 45.8 percent Democratic, 26.1 percent Republican and 25.7 percent Independent.