PD Endorsement State Legislature: Mike McGuire, Jim Wood and Damon Connolly

California’s top-two primary system produced three distinct types of legislative elections for North Bay and North Coast voters to decide in November.

In the 2nd Senate District, voters will choose between a Democrat and a Republican.

In the 2nd Assembly District, two names are on the ballot, but only one candidate is actively campaigning.

And in the 12th Assembly District, two Democrats are vying for an open seat.

Sen. Mike McGuire, D-Healdsburg, is seeking a third term in a district spanning the North Coast from the Golden Gate to the Oregon border. His opponent is Republican Gene Yoon, a former finance and technology executive who moved to Lake County and is looking to put his experience to work for the public.

The second-ranking Democrat in the Senate, McGuire is an authority on disasters and utilities, most recently sponsoring legislation intended to hold PG&E to its pledge to bury 10,000 miles of power lines. He also was instrumental in derailing a shadowy plan to restore an abandoned railroad line to ship trainloads of coal up the North Coast for export. He already had secured approval to turn that route into a trail that promises to boost tourism in a struggling region.

Yoon is a lawyer with experience in venture capital and technology, including five years as a manager at Google, which he contrasts with McGuire’s career in elective office. Yoon wants to increase civics education, reduce the influence of lobbyists and tighten regulation of the technology industry.

An active supporter of Elizabeth Warren in 2020, Yoon re-registered as a Republican last year because “I think the Republican Party has got to come back to a place in California where it’s a reasonable choice for people.”

Yoon is a creative thinker with an impressive background, and we might have recommended him for an open seat. We hope he stays involved, but McGuire has delivered for his constituents and has earned our nod for another term.

Assemblyman Jim Wood is running for a fifth two-year term representing the 2nd District, which stretches from Santa Rosa to the state line.

Wood, D-Santa Rosa, is the longtime chairman of the Assembly Health Committee. He has sponsored legislation to expand access to health care and develop strategies for containing costs. Wood’s Republican opponent is Charlotte Svolos, a special-education teacher in Del Norte County and a two-time candidate in the 2nd District. Svolos didn’t mount any visible campaign in 2020, and she is MIA again this year.

For all intents and purposes, the 2nd District is uncontested. Fortunately for residents, Wood is a well-informed and hardworking legislator who doesn’t hide from voters or duck questions. He has earned another term in Sacramento.

In the more compact 12th Assembly District, which includes all of Marin County and southern Sonoma County, Democrats Damon Connolly and Sara Aminzadeh finished first and second respectively in a four-way race in the June primary.

We recommended Connolly in the primary, and our view has not changed.

A Marin County supervisor and former school board and city council member, he brings extensive experience in local government and on issues that matter most in the North Bay, including transportation, fire prevention, open space and renewable energy. His base is in Marin, but he has ties to Sonoma County — assisting, for example, in the formation of Sonoma Clean Power.

Aminzadeh, a member of the California Coastal Commission, is well versed on land-use, water and climate issues. Her credentials are impressive, but she’s a relative newcomer to the district and cannot match Connolly’s breadth of local government experience.

For the state Legislature, The Press Democrat recommends Mike McGuire, Jim Wood and Damon Connolly.

Editor’s note: This editorial has been revised to note that Mike McGuire is seeking a third term in the Senate.

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