On May 12, in an event co-sponsored by Lookout, the Santa Cruz County Business Council, the Santa Cruz County Chamber of Commerce, Santa Cruz Works, Downtown Santa Cruz and Hotel Paradox, candidates for State Assembly District 28 and 3rd District Santa Cruz County Supervisor turned out for a forum moderated by Lookout’s Community Voices editor, Jody K. Biehl.
The approximately 75 in the audience at Hotel Paradox and another 75 participating via Zoom saw fireworks between Santa Cruz City Councilmembers Justin Cummings and Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson, who are running for supervisor along with Ami Chen Mills.
The two-hour forum first focused on the race for the newly drawn State Assembly District 28 and its four candidates: longtime Santa Cruz County Clerk Gail Pellerin, UC Santa Cruz student and union activist Joe Thompson, Los Gatos Mayor Rob Rennie and former Monte Sereno Mayor Liz Lawler.
The District 3 County Supervisor contest will determine who replaces Ryan Coonerty and looks out for the interests of most of Santa Cruz, Bonny Doon and Davenport.
Read Mark Conley’s coverage of the event here; video footage of the event, via Santa Cruz Works is below in two parts.
To read op-eds from each of the seven candidates making their case to voters, visit our Community Voices section here.
