Three former First District supervisorial candidates have endorsed Manu Koenig in his runoff race with incumbent John Leopold, who is seeking his fourth term.
Leopold finished first in the March 3 primary with 45.4 percent of the vote.
Koenig, partnerships lead with Paystand and formerly executive director of Santa Cruz County Greenway, was second with 30.5 percent.
Because no candidate received more than 50 percent, the top two go to a Nov. 3 runoff.
The First District includes Live Oak, Soquel, the Summit, Santa Cruz Gardens and Carbonera. County supervisor is a nonpartisan position.
Mark Esquibel, Betsy Riker and Benjamin Cogan, the candidates who came in third, fourth and fifth, offered their support to Koenig.
Manu Koenig
John Leopold
Esquibel got 11.5 percent of the vote, Riker 5.2 percent and Cogan 4.1 percent. Their votes plus Koenig’s add up to 51 percent, a winning margin if their supporters vote for Koenig in November.
Leopold said he didn’t see a movement for change but Koenig, a first-time candidate, said he believed he could attract supporters of his former rivals.
“We need to demonstrate the post-partisan politics locally that we’d like to see nationally,” Koenig said. “I’m putting together a coalition of common sense that welcomes all voters.”
Mark Esquibel
“I’m supporting Manu because of his approach to infrastructure,” said Esquibel, an environmental safety manager. “I’ve spent my career handling large, potentially hazardous and multimillion-dollar projects.
Thanks to COVID-19, we now live in an era of needs, not wants. We don’t need freight and passenger rail running through our neighborhoods; we need a safe place to walk, run and bike. Now more than ever, we have to use taxpayer dollars more efficiently. Manu gets that.”
Betsy Riker
Riker, a former physician’s assistant at UC Santa Cruz, said, “I ran for supervisor to champion women’s rights, improve SC Metro, curb UCSC growth, work toward developing responsible housing, support a 1:1 needle exchange and open up the rail corridor for immediate public use. Manu is the candidate who echoes my stand on the issues facing the county.”
Benjamin Cogan
Cogan said he is endorsing Koenig to improve how the county bureaucracy serves residents.
“Today, the County Planning Department makes it impossible for people to improve their property,” he said. “We need a representative who will stand up for us against crushing bureaucracy and get things done for our community.”
Asked about the endorsements for his opponent, Leopold said, “I am proud of the endorsements I have from health care and public safety leaders. In times of crisis, those are the relationships that can really help our community.”
●●●
Manu Koenig is a candidate for Santa Cruz County Supervisor in the First District. He’s running because “we can do better” on major issues of homelessness, housing affordability, health care and traffic. For more information go to manukoenig.com.