Two San Benito County residents, Mark Medina and Mark Starritt have filed for the District 1 Supervisor seat that will be vacated by two-term incumbent Margie Barrios. The current District 1 Supervisor, Margie Barios will not be running after two terms.  The deadline for filing for the seat is Wednesday, March 16.

District 1 is made up of northern Hollister and the northern part of San Benito County.  

Mark Medina’s family has been in San Benito County since 1935. He was born and raised here and graduated from San Benito High School. Medina served in the Air Force and graduated from Sonoma State University with a degree in business.

Medina's Facebook page explains that he has been a business manager and finance director for several businesses in the county.  Medina wrote that he would, “run the county like he would run a business.” Some of his priorities listed on Facebook are job creation and fire and road safety.  He also mentioned his intention to be efficient with tax dollars and would be “strickly transparent." 

Mark Starritt has been a general contractor for 35 years and is a commercial pilot. Starritt, a Republican, ran for Assembly District 30 in 2014. He finished with 40.2 percent of the votes., losing to Democrat incumbent Luis Alejo, who won with 59.8 percent of the votes.

In his candidate's statement, Starritt wrote, “As your County Supervisor, I will protect our way of life and make Public Safety the top budget priority.  Additionally, I will stand-up to preserve jobs & help our community businesses thrive.”

Starritt was raised in San Benito County and earned a bachelor of science degree in business administration. His wife, Patty, is a teacher at Spring Grove School.

The deadline to file papers to run for supervisor in Districts 1, 2 and 5 expired Friday, March 11. The District 1 filing deadline has been extended because the incumbent Barrios chose not to run. According to the county clerk's office, no one will be running against incumbents Anthony Botelho or Jaime De La Cruz.