Six vie for Antioch mayor, four in Districts 1 & 3, three in District 4, three run for Clerk, two for Treasurer, one more enters Area 1 school board race, Hack faces no challengers
La Donna Norman (left) filed to run for Antioch City Council in District 1 on Friday, August 7, 2020. Photo courtesy of La Donna Norman. Lauren Posada also filed on Friday to run for Antioch City Treasurer. Photo from her Facebook page.
By Allen Payton
More candidates entered the race, filed or qualified to run for the 10 Antioch city and school board offices in the November election on Friday, the deadline for filing to run. Mayor Sean Wright will for sure face three challengers and most likely five, assuming both newcomer and unknown Beverly Beckman and Councilman Lamar Thorpe, who are awaiting signature verification, qualify. Gabriel Makinano qualified to run for mayor on Friday. Manuel Sidrian didn’t file, nor did Kenny Turnage who chose to run for school board in Area 3, instead.
In the City Council races, both Manny Soliz and Tamisha Walker qualified to run while La Donna Norman filed her Nomination papers for District 1 to take on Mayor Pro Tem Joy Motts, by Friday’s deadline. But Fernando Navarette didn’t file.
According to her candidate statement, Norman has lived in Antioch and specifically in District 1 for the past 16 years. She earned a degree in Social Science, with a Minor in African American Studies at Cal State Chico in 2004 and a master’s degree in Counseling Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage Family Therapy at Argosy University in 2011. According to her LinkedIn profile Norman earned her Ph.D. in Psychology, Cognition and Instruction from Grand Canyon University in 2016. A video was posted of Norman taking her candidate’s oath off office was posted on her Instagram page.
She has worked in the behavioral health and human services profession for over 14 years, and currently manages five outpatient behavioral health programs serving children and transitional-age youth in Stanislaus County with the title of Children’s System of Care Manager-II. According to an internet search Norman previously worked in private practice as a mental health counselor in Rio Vista. According to her Instagram page, Norman’s nickname is “LD”.
In District 2, it will be a two-man race between former Councilman Tony Tiscareno, and Real Estate Broker and retired police lieutenant Mike Barbanica.
In District 3, Nichole Gardener filed her papers on Friday. She and Marie Arce are awaiting verification of their nomination signatures. As was announced earlier, today Wayne Steffen withdrew from the race and threw his support behind Antwon Webster, who will join the two ladies in challenging Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock who is running for re-election. (See related article)
Finally, in District 4 Antioch Councilwoman Monica Wilson, having pulled out of the mayor’s race earlier this week, qualified to fun for re-election, while Alex Astorga filed his papers on Friday. His ballot designation is Businessowner/IT Engineer and he will join Sandra White in challenging Wilson who is seeking her third term on the council. No other information nor any photos could be found for Astorga from an internet search other than he’s 60 years old.
Candidates in Districts 1 and 4 will be running for a two-year term and will have to run again in 2022, while those in District 2 and 3 will be running for full, four-year terms.
In the City Treasurer’s race, Lauren Posada, an accounts payable clerk in the City of Antioch Finance Department, filed to challenge incumbent Jim Davis who is seeking his first full term in the position. He was appointed by the council 2018 to fill the vacancy left by former City Treasurer Donna Conley.
Posada recently moved back to Antioch two months ago, and said she was cleared to run by the City Attorney having no legal conflict of interest holding the position should she win. (More about that in a follow-up article). However, Posada said she’s lived in Antioch for a total of 16 years during her life. Ruben Rocha did not file in the Treasurer’s race, but announced last week that he would not run.
In the final city race, incumbent City Clerk Arne Simonsen will face two challengers, including Ellie Householder, who is running in the middle of her term as an Antioch School Board Trustee, and Antioch Police Crime Prevention Commissioner Dwayne Eubanks who qualified to run on Friday.
Antioch School Board Races
In the races for Antioch School Board, according to Friday’s County Elections office report, Trustee Gary Hack faces no challengers in the Area 4 race, and unless someone runs a successful write-in campaign against him, will win re-election to his third term on the board.
In the Area 1 race, Alexis Medina filed on the last day possible to join Antonio Hernandez and George Young, III in their efforts to unseat Board President Diane Gibson-Gray, who is seeking her fourth term as a trustee. No information could be found on Medina from internet searches.
In the Area 3 race it will be Dr. Clyde Lewis and Kenny Turnage challenging Trustee Crystal Sawyer-White who is running for re-election for her second term on the board.
According to City Clerk Simonsen, the following Antioch residents have Qualified, Withdrawn, or Did not File as of the 5:00 p.m. Filing Deadline on August 7th, for the following City offices. All candidate names who have qualified to run are as they will appear on the ballot:
Mayor
Sean Wright (I) – Qualified on 8/4/20
Julio Jesse Mendez – Qualified on 7/31/20
Rakesh Kumar Christian – Qualified on 7/22/20
Gabriel Visaya Makinano – Qualified on 8/7/20
Beverley Beckman – Filed on 8/7/20 (awaiting signature verification)
Lamar Thorpe – Filed on 8/7/20 (awaiting signature verification)
Elizabeth Householder – Withdrawn 8/3/20
Monica Wilson – Withdrawn 8/4/20
Wade Harper – Withdrawn 7/31/20
Kenneth Turnage II – Did not File
Manuel Sidrian – Did not file
Council District 1
Joy Motts – Qualified on 8/5/20
Manuel Louis Soliz, Jr. – Qualified 8/7/20
Tamisha Walker – Qualified on 8/7/20
La Donna Norman – Filed on 8/7/20 (awaiting signature verification)
Fernando Navarrete – Did not file
Council District 2
Tony G. Tiscareno – Qualified on 7/30/20
Michael Barbanica – Qualified on 8/4/20
Council District 3
Lori Ogorchock – Qualified on 8/6/20
Antwon R. Webster, Sr. – Qualified on 8/5/20
Marie Arce – Filed on 8/5/20 (awaiting signature verification)
Nichole Gardner – Filed on 8/7/20 (awaiting signature verification)
Wayne Steffen – Withdrawn on 8/7/20
Lamar Thorpe – Withdrawn 8/5/20
Council District 4
Sandra Gail White – Qualified on 8/3/20
Monica E. Wilson – Qualified on 8/7/20
Alex John Astorga – Qualified on 8/7/20
City Treasurer
James Davis (I) – Qualified on 8/6/20
Lauren Posada – Qualified on 8/7/20
Ruben Rocha – Did not file
City Clerk
Arne Simonsen (I) – Qualified on 8/4/20
Ellie Householder – Qualified on 8/5/20
Dwayne Donald Eubanks – Qualified on 8/7/20
ANTIOCH SCHOOL BOARD
Area 1
Diane Gibson-Gray – Filed 7/31/20
Antonio Hernandez – Filed 8/5/20
George Young III – Filed 8/6/20
Area 3
Crystal Sawyer-White – Filed 7/24/20, Withdrew, Filed again 8/3/20
Clyde Lewis – Filed 8/6/20
Kenny Turnage – Filed 8/6/20
This list will be updated when the candidates who have filed but awaiting verification of signatures become Qualified for the various city races. To see the final list of candidates for all 10 races in Antioch visit www.antiochherald.com/election-2020.
the attachments to this post:
La Donna Norman Video
La Donna Norman Video
La Donna Norman & Lauren Posada
