JESSICA PATTERSON FOR CAGOP CHAIRWOMAN

• Flipped four Congressional seats from Democrat to Republican
• Reclaimed an additional GOP assembly seat.
• Raised $37.5 million to fund GOP candidates and our party
• Helped register over 600,000 California Republicans
• Implemented new Get-Out-The-Vote tactics to level the playing field with Democrats
• Defeated Democrat Secretary of State Alex Padilla and Attorney General Xavier Becerra in court when they tried to prevent the CAGOP from implementing their GOTV program
• Delivered on the most important priorities for President Trump and the Republican National Committee.
• Brought us a step closer to defeating Nancy Pelosi and making Kevin McCarthy Speaker of the House
• Rallied the GOP to stop the Democrat split roll tax increase
• Helped roll back the Democrats’ plan to restrict our right to work independently
• Successfully mobilized Republicans to defeat the reintroduction of racial discrimination in college admissions, public employment and public contracting

Republicans Win Mayor’s Races in the Bay Area

by Roger Riffenburgh

While there were many Republicans who won local office around the Bay Area, often with the support of their county Republican party, we report on some who won races for mayor.

Marie Blankley won a big victory in the race for mayor of Gilroy. She is a lifelong Gilroy resident, a mother of two grown kids, and a Certified Public Accountant. Since she came onto the Gilroy City Council in 2018, she has been building a record of achievement and fiscal conservatism. At a time when many cities are in fiscal crisis due to Covid-19, and Gilroy is still overcoming the pain of the 2019 Garlic Festival shooting, she successfully made the case that she is well prepared to lead the city and return it to financial stability.

Dave Hudson campaigned on his experience, and voters were impressed, as he won the race to become San Ramon’s next mayor. Hudson is serving a record seventh term as a councilmember. He has also represented the city on many boards and commissions, including the League of California Cities and various transportation boards, where he has successfully worked to reduce traffic congestion and promote bike sharing. He had also served earlier on the Planning Commission, as well as in Vietnam.

In the northern Solano County town of Dixon, Steve Bird defeated the incumbent to win the mayor’s race. Bird is completing 8 years on the city council and previously was in law enforcement for over 20 years, having retired as a Dixon police captain. Bird’s campaign plan for Dixon focused on a transparent and balanced budget, partnerships for jobs and the economy, and fair & reliable water delivery. After Bird won, the Vacaville Reporter quoted him: “I’m your mayor in this community. I’m here for everybody and everybody has a place at the table.”

In Gonzales, in the Salinas Valley of Monterey County, Jose Rios was elected mayor, defeating the longtime incumbent by over 10%. He graduated from Gonzales High School and from UC Santa Cruz with a degree in economics. Rios and his wife raised four children, and he retired after working for a utility company. He has been active in the community as a former city councilman, a volunteer firefighter, a city planning commissioner, and a middle school basketball coach. Rios walked almost every door in town during his campaign and opposed the rezoning of a downtown site from a proposed community center to affordable housing.