Julie Combs to run for Sonoma County Board of Supervisors

Santa Rosa City Councilwoman Julie Combs said Wednesday that she will run for the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors seat held by Shirlee Zane, adding to a growing field of candidates seeking the post representing central Santa Rosa and parts of Rohnert Park.

Combs’ announcement confirmed speculation that had been swirling about her political plans since she moved recently into a new home in the county’s 3rd supervisorial district, represented by Zane since 2009. Combs appeared to take her first shot at the incumbent in her announcement to supporters Wednesday.

“The challenges we face are bigger than just the city, and we need greater leadership in District 3 to solve them countywide,” Combs, 62, said in a written statement.

The announcement came a day after Combs disclosed at Tuesday’s City Council meeting that she would not seek election to the newly formed District 2 City Council seat this fall.

Combs joins Gina Belforte, a third-term Rohnert Park councilwoman, who earlier this year began publicly laying the groundwork for a bid for Zane’s seat.

Combs’ second four-year term on the City Council is up in 2020. In Santa Rosa’s new political landscape where council members will be elected by districts, Combs had been toying with the idea of running this fall for the new District 2 seat, which includes Bennett Valley, Montgomery Village, Combs’ new neighborhood of Doyle Park and Kawana Springs. If she had won, she would have had a district-based seat on the council through 2022.

Councilman John Sawyer and former councilman Lee Pierce have both said they intend to run for the new District 2 seat.

But the opportunity to represent a wider swath of county residents called to Combs.

“We are living through a historic period of change in Sonoma County and I want to use my inclusive leadership style to help more people solve the problems we face as a region,” Combs said in her statement.

Zane, 58, who last month called Combs’ move into her district “carpet bagging,” on Wednesday said she would not discuss her own political plans or the growing list of people seeking her seat while so much recovery work remained in wake of the October wildfires.

“There is only one thing on my mind right now and it’s the rebuilding of our county,” Zane said.

Zane, the longest-serving supervisor on the current board, declined to rule out a bid for a fourth term. Still, she said it seemed a little early for others to be eying her job, 20 months before the March 2020 primary.

“Hell, we’ve got smoke in the sky!” Zane said. “It’s not time to be campaigning, it’s time for people to help rebuild this community.”

During her time on the council, Combs has shown a keen interest in and familiarity with in-depth policy issues, representing Santa Rosa on Bay Area planning and housing committees, and serving on joint city-county task forces addressing homelessness and the annexation of Roseland. She has been one of the strongest voices on the council for rent control and increased homeless services. In her statement she said housing would remain her top priority.

The city’s shift to district elections begins this year, when three of the seven seats will be in contention. The remaining are due to be up in 2020.

Combs is the second Santa Rosa incumbent to rule out a re-election bid. Mayor Chris Coursey, whose first term is up this year, previously announced he would not run again. He has not said if he plans to seek higher office.

Combs said she decided to announce now because the deadline for filing to run in District 2 was coming up and because lots of people were asking her.

Combs called the decision not to run for council again “bittersweet.”

“I have enjoyed my time on the council. I like the meaningfulness of the work,” she said in an interview Wednesday before announcing her bid for the Board of Supervisors.

She moved this summer from Bennett Valley to the Doyle Park neighborhood. Both areas are in Santa Rosa’s District 2, but the move shifted her residence from the county’s 1st District, represented by Supervisor Susan Gorin, to just inside Zane’s 3rd District. She acknowledged she picked the house in part to “keep my options open” politically.

Combs said wasn’t worried about political attacks that could label her as a carpetbagger, moving into a district to seek its elected office. She said she would wear the title as a “badge of honor.” Carpetbaggers, she said, were “people who promoted social equity in the post-Civil War South.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin McCallum at 707-521-5207 or kevin.mccallum@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @srcitybeat.