James Gore claims victory in north county supervisor race

James Gore stood before a room of supporters early Wednesday morning and savored his victory over Deb Fudge in the race for 4th District Sonoma County supervisor.

Hours earlier, the 36-year-old political newcomer had vanquished his well-known and highly experienced rival and propelled himself into public office for the first time.

The win was a commanding one, made clearer when preliminary results were reported about 1:30 a.m. Wednesday. Gore had opened up a wide lead in early results Tuesday and kept it throughout the night, earning 58.8 percent of the vote to 40.8 percent for Fudge.

“I feel we dominated every aspect of our campaign,” Gore said Wednesday by phone following a breakfast meeting of the Sonoma County Alliance, the business coalition that backed him in the race. The group’s members gave him hearty applause on his victory.

“We didn’t think we’d win by this large of a margin,” he said. “I am just so elated.”

Gore, who will replace Supervisor Mike McGuire representing the north county, attributed his win to a strong ground campaign that gave him the name recognition he lacked at the start of the race. His blue and orange signs were prominently displayed throughout the 4th District, stretching from northern Santa Rosa to the Mendocino County line. The well-financed campaign also filled mailboxes with advertisements that laid out Gore’s personal and professional past - a story that was largely unknown to voters when he announced his bid for supervisor late last year, after McGuire opted to run for state Senate.

Gore estimated that his campaign team, including paid staff and volunteers, knocked on some 40,000 doors and made thousands more phone calls.

“That was very McGuire-like,” said Brian Sobel, a Petaluma political consultant, describing the approach McGuire took to beat Fudge for the 4th District seat in 2010. “Fudge is known for her experience, but Gore was everywhere walking and talking with a big smile on his face.”

Fudge conceded early Wednesday in a congratulatory phone call to Gore.

The 18-year Windsor Town councilwoman was the top vote-getter in the June primary, but Gore managed to pick up more of the support that went to their two nearest rivals in that contest, Ken Churchill and Pete Foppiano. Foppiano threw his support behind Fudge after the primary while Churchill endorsed Gore late last week.

Fudge said she felt confident her campaign was strong, and called the results in her third unsuccessful bid for the north county supervisor seat shocking. The 4th District, traditionally one of the most conservative in the county, has never elected a woman to the Board of Supervisors.

“Maybe this part of the county wasn’t ready for a female supervisor,” Fudge said. She said low voter turnout may have played a role in her defeat.

Fudge ruled out another run for supervisor and said she would not seek re-election to the Windsor Town Council in two years.

“I won’t run for anything again,” Fudge said. “I’ve given almost 20 years of my life in public service. I’m going to give myself some more personal time.”

Gore held the advantage in fundraising throughout the race, taking in $441,000 to Fudge’s $320,500. A large share of his financial support came from the wine industry. Real estate and farming interests, including the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, also poured money into his campaign.

Fudge’s top financial backer was the Service Employees International Union, which represents the largest unionized group of county employees.

Total spending in the contest last month eclipsed a county record and was on pace to top more than $1 million. The expenditures included attack-ad mailers by outside groups. Analysts said the efforts, including those made on behalf of Fudge, may have hurt her the most.

“The negative attacks backfired,” said Sobel. “Numerous mailers came out telling people what was wrong with James Gore and little about what was right with Deb Fudge. People got so tired about seeing the political attacks.”

Fudge focused her campaign on her tenure in Windsor, where she helped create the Windsor Town Green. She also pointed to her leadership on boards overseeing the Sonoma-Marin commuter rail and county water supply and her support for green energy programs and land-use planning.

“The Town Green, SMART and Sonoma Clean Power are the three things I’m most proud of,” she said. “I’ve always tried to push the envelope here toward a more sustainable future.”

Gore, a Sonoma County native who returned to the area last year, most recently served as assistant chief of the Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resource Conservation Service. His platform focused on water policy, investment in the county’s crumbling roads and other infrastructure and programs to support agriculture. Like McGuire, his campaign sought to build alliances among business and farming interests and also with some environmental and labor groups. He said, however, that he never signed any pledges to those special interests.

“I’m not beholden to anyone except the residents I ran to represent,” Gore said.

Gore said the race was not without its personal hardships. He talked about the complications with his wife’s pregnancy last month as a particularly tough period, forcing him to cancel his appearance at the last two candidate forums.

“It was a difficult time, but our family and friends swarmed around us,” he said.

Gore will be sworn in on Jan. 6, but he’ll start work on his $136,000-a-year job unofficially long before then. McGuire, who won his bid for the 2nd District Senate seat, is set to leave county office by the start of next month.

Gore is set to join a board that split endorsements in the race. David Rabbitt, the board chairman, backed Gore while Supervisors Shirlee Zane and Susan Gorin endorsed Fudge. McGuire did not endorse and Efren Carrillo did not make a public endorsement, though he is politically aligned with Gore and attended his party Tuesday night along with Rabbitt.

Rabbitt, said Gore’s experience at the federal level would be an asset to the board.

“Everyone says they’re going to hit the ground running, but I’ll be the first to admit, everyone has a learning curve,” Rabbitt said. “But I know James to be energetic and deliberative and he brings an intimate knowledge of Washington, D.C., to the board.”

Zane said Fudge’s defeat was disappointing but she said she looks forward to working with Gore.

“My expectations are high,” she said.