Monica Brown takes big lead in District 2 Solano supervisor race; District 1 seat too close to call

VALLEJO – Monica Brown appears poised to retain her seat on the Solano County Board of Supervisors as she  took a commanding  lead from mail-in voters on Tuesday, while another seat vacated by outgoing Supervisor Erin Hannigan is too close to call.

Brown, who was first elected in 2016, faced a spirited challenge for the District 2 seat to represent southern Vallejo, Benicia and parts of Fairfield from consultant Rochelle Sherlock and real estate broker Nora Dizon.

But as of 10:30 p.m., Brown had received 6,935 votes, more than 55% of the votes counted, while Sherlock was in second place with 3,750 votes, or 30%, and Dizon is trailing with 1,959 votes, giving her 15.5%, according to unofficial results released by the Solano County Registrar of Voters.

Dizon and Sherlock were hoping to at least keep Brown from drawing more than 50% of the vote, as in the primary election a candidate can win outright with 50% of the vote. If no candidate received more than 50%, it would trigger a runoff between the top two candidates in November.

The District 1 supervisor race to represent northern Vallejo is very close but Michael Wilson has a narrow lead with 51% to Cassandra James’s 49% of the vote, with Wilson leading by only 139 votes. With a number of votes still to be counted, either candidate could still win. 

Wilson is the district representative for Hannigan, who chose not to run for another term. Wilson’s work with the current supervisor may give him an edge for his familiarity with the office. James is a community development specialist for the city of San Francisco and sits on the Vallejo Housing and Community Development Commission.

Meanwhile, court commissioner Bryan Kim was leading attorney Micheal Thompson to be Solano County Superior Court judge, with 54% of the vote to Thompson’s 46%. The seat is being vacated by retiring Judge Robert Bowers.

The state Senate seat for District 3 was also a close race with votes still being counted, but former West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon took an early lead followed by Dixon City Councilmember Thomas Bogue. The top two candidates in that race will advance to November’s general election.

In the state Assembly District 11 race, incumbent Lori Wilson had a huge lead with 50% of the vote. Republican challenger David Ennis, a former business executive, received 27% of the vote and it appears he will face Wilson in November’s general election, but he has a lot of ground to make up.

As of 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, 57,906 ballots had been counted countywide, representing 22% of registered voters. That includes mail-in ballots received before Election Day and all Election Day precincts reporting. The county estimates there are roughly 19,000 mail in and provisional ballots to be counted.