Democratic Women’s Club endorses Coonerty, Golder and Newsome for SC city races; no endorsement for District 4 county supervisor race

The Democratic Women’s Club of Santa Cruz County (DWC) endorsed Ryan Coonerty for Santa Cruz mayor and Scott Newsome and Renee Golder for city council districts 4 and 6, respectively over the weekend following a candidate forum in Capitola.

The forum covered all of the contested races in the county: Santa Cruz mayor, city council Districts 4 and 6, and District 4 county supervisor. 

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However, the group did not endorse a candidate for the District 4 county supervisor race as incumbent Felipe Hernandez and one of his challengers, Elias Gonzales were not present at Saturday morning’s forum. Tony Nuñez, the third candidate for this race was not considered since he did not state a party preference.

Part of the reason why no endorsement was made for the supervisorial race, according to DWC president Peggy Flynn, was that the candidates didn’t attend, so voting members didn’t get to hear about their platforms. She added that Saturday’s candidate forum was the only chance for Hernandez and Gonzales to seek an endorsement from the group. 

A candidate must receive 50% plus one — a simple majority — from voting members present at the forum and those who tuned in via Zoom. There appeared to be about 30 in-person attendees, and nearly 30 online attendees. 

In the crowded Santa Cruz mayoral race, those hoping to replace Fred Keeley, who is not seeking reelection, are: former supervisorial candidate and Get The Flock Out co-founder Ami Chen Mills; activist and former mayoral and city council candidate Joy Schendledecker; former city councilmember and mayor Chris Krohn; environmental advocate Gillian Greensite; and former mayor, city councilmember and county supervisor Ryan Coonerty. 

Santa Cruz City Council District 4 sees incumbent Scott Newsome defending his seat against community activist Hector Marin, who also ran against Newsome in 2022. District 6 has incumbent Renee Golder facing off with graduating UC Santa Cruz senior Gabriella Noack. 

Santa Cruz mayoral race 

Candidates for all three races were given two minutes for introductions and to discuss some of their priorities if elected, followed by questions from Flynn and the audience. 

Coonerty was the only mayoral candidate who was not present Saturday morning. Audience members were mostly concerned about housing and development — primarily in the downtown area of Santa Cruz. 

Schendledecker said she believes there’s a housing shortage and that Santa Cruz has been “underbuilt for so long.” She said the city is stuck between community preference for less building and state housing laws, which call for more housing to be built. Schendledecker said she has concerns about the empty commercial spaces in many of the newer housing developments. 

APRIL 15: Hear from District 4 county supervisor candidates in an election forum moderated by Lookout

Chen Mills echoed her opponent’s comment about an ongoing housing shortage. She said local officials need to educate the public about the efforts to meet state housing numbers. She added that the city needs to have objective standards when it comes to housing and lay out what types of buildings it would like to see. 

Krohn said that rather than a housing crisis, there’s an affordability crisis in Santa Cruz. He criticized the lack of affordable units in some of the new apartments being built downtown. 

Greensite said that by approving so many projects, the city is causing overdevelopment. She said median incomes are increasing because more affluent people are moving into the area, leading to an increase in rent prices. She added that it might be time for the city “to take a pause” in approving housing developments. 

Santa Cruz City Council

Candidates from both races participated in the second forum. District 4 candidate Marin was the only one absent. Members of the audience and Flynn asked candidates what projects or issues they would like to address and how they’d plan to push back against the federal government on issues such as immigration and offshore oil drilling.

All three candidates said they are supportive of policies prohibiting federal immigration officials from using city properties for enforcement purposes, such as those recently passed at the county level and in Watsonville. Golder mentioned that some of her colleagues on the city council are beginning to work on legislation related to immigration. 

Noack said she wants to prioritize creating a sustainable, long-term local economy, in addition to helping streamline the permitting process for local business owners seeking to open brick-and-mortar stores. She said one of the reasons there might be empty spaces in the new developments is that the permitting process is too lengthy and complicated. 

Golder said she would continue to focus on workforce housing, and would like to see more such projects in the community. She said she’d also like to look into converting older buildings into condos to create opportunities for residents to have homeownership. 

Newsome also said he would like to continue pushing for more affordable housing, and would like to invest more attention on local infrastructure to make roads safer for pedestrians and bicyclists. 

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FOR THE RECORD: This story was updated to include the results of the DWC’s candidate forum and to clarify comments made by Greensite about how a rise in median incomes affects affordable housing.

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