The primary election for a seat in the District 30 California State Assembly ended Tuesday evening, with Democratic candidate Anna Caballero leading in the polls.
Caballero outpaced Watsonville City Councilwoman Karina Cervantez-Alejo by 20 percent district-wide, setting up a November runoff election as neither candidate earned more than half of the votes. With all of the precincts reporting, Caballero had 45.2 percent of the district-wide vote, while Cervantez-Alejo came in second at 24.9 percent with 100 percent of precincts reporting as of June 10.
Caballero previously served in the 28th District State Assembly in 2006 and ran uncontested in 2008. Cervantez-Alejo is seeking to take the seat being vacated by her husband, Luis Alejo, who is being termed out.
Republican candidates Georgia Acosta — at 16.1 percent — and John Nevill — 13.1 percent — received the remainder of the votes.
In early May, Caballero attended a political forum hosted by BenitoLink and the San Benito County Farm Bureau, at which she answered questions about issues directly affecting the county. When asked to describe the most important issue facing the county of San Benito, Caballero spoke of the dire need for a restructuring of the water and transportation systems of the county. She cited the importance of funding transportation projects, particularly Highways 25 and 156, and mentioned that she is working on a plan to re-purpose underperforming properties such as strip malls.
On election night, shortly after the closing of the polls, Caballero spoke to BenitoLink about the issues that her campaign has focused on this year, as well as during her previous term in the State Assembly:
“We have a huge need for more planning and development of housing for the workforce in San Benito County,” said Caballero. “We also need to focus on early education, especially on increasing literacy rates and ensuring that our younger students are reading at grade level at latest by the third grade. For high school students, we need to be creating more vocational education opportunities, which in turn will also help the economic development of the whole area. Putting a priority on education and restructuring our water and roads, to give rural communities more access to the resources they need, will help bring more businesses to the area as well. We need to make sure the whole district is getting what it needs, together. So we can look at the county holistically, and see how all the issues are related and depend upon each other.”
Caballero’s campaign has put an emphasis on the importance of water quality, access to education, environmental protection and affordable housing for the rural communities of San Benito. Caballero began her career as a lawyer more than 30 years ago, when she moved to San Benito County to provide legal assistance to farmworkers. In 2011, she was appointed to the California State and Consumer Services Agency by Gov. Jerry Brown, and previously served as a Salinas City Council member, State Assembly member, and mayor of Salinas.
Caballero spoke with BenitoLink again after the results of the primary polls came in. When asked about her campaign plans between now and the general election in November, she said:
“The win for my campaign has been consistent over the counties, and the highest wins came from Santa Cruz, Monterey, and San Benito County,” she said. “Summer will bring an opportunity to learn how to better communicate with the voters, and how to change the campaign. No one wins in a primary election, and it’s hard to figure out who the voting public will be in November. The expectation that there will be more voters, and new voters in November, so we’re going to work on reaching out to newcomers over summer. I’ve run a very grassroots campaign, gone door to door, made phone calls. I think everyone wants a little relief from that in the summer months and we’re going to jump back into it in August and September, when the kids are going back to school.”
Caballero said her “chances of winning in November are very good. I won by 22 percent over my nearest competitor in the primary, which is encouraging. It’s very rewarding to do the actual field work and to see that work reflected in the numbers. When you’re walking and talking with supporters, and they say they’re going to support you and then the numbers support that, it means your campaign is on the right track. People have seen I’m committed to doing the work.”
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