Sonoma County Board of Supervisors incumbent Susan Gorin won the First District seat outright Tuesday, avoiding a November runoff by getting the majority of votes in the three-candidate campaign.
Gorin got 54.2 percent of the vote, Gina Cuclis had 35.2 percent and Keith Rhinehart got 10 percent.
There will be a November election for Third District State Senate between Bill Dodd (45 percent of Tuesday’s vote) and Marika Yamada (27.8 percent). Greg Coppes finished third in the primary with 20.1 percent.
The other tight race locally was the Fourth District Assembly seat, where Cecilia Aquiar-Curry (33 percent) will advance against Charlie Schaupp (25 percent), who edged out Dan Wolk (24.3 percent).
Mark Levine (Tenth District Assembly), Jim Wood (Second District Assembly), Mike Thompson (U.S. District 5), and Jared Huffman (U.S. District 2) were all re-elected by wide margins.
Measure AA, which promises to use a $12 per parcel per year for shoreline protection and marsh restoration, along the bay’s shoreline, got the two-thirds majority cumulative vote it needed with a 69 percent ‘yes’ total. Of the six counties voting on AA, Sonoma had the lowest show of support, with 63.3 percent.
I am of course very happy that Measure AA passed. The health of the bay is the life line of our area. But, I was sad to see Sonoma County’s percentage. It somewhat bears out something I have observed in my time living in the county. I hear a lot of talk about environmental issues, but I observe my fellow Sonomans doing the very opposite (tar yards, pesticides, herbicides, leaf blowers, water wasting). And I often hear from officials, friends and neighbors that there are so many more important issues and the environment is not up there anywhere near the top.