The filing deadline passed earlier this week for prospective candidates looking to run in Santa Cruz County elections.
An official candidate list provided by Alma Schultz, the county’s elections director, displays competitive races in all three supervisor districts, along with a six-candidate race for County Sheriff. Three official candidates have thrown their hats into the ring for Justice of the Peace, and two candidates are in the running for County Assessor.
Meanwhile, a number of elected incumbents will run uncontested: County Treasurer Anita Moreno; Superior Court Judge Liliana Soto; County Attorney George Silva; and County Superintendent Alfredo Velasquez.
Here’s the official list of candidates running in county elections this season.
County Supervisor: District 1
● Luis Carlos Davis, Democrat
● Mike Melendez, Republican
● Luis “Louie” Parra, Independent
● Manuel “Manny” Ruiz, Democrat (incumbent)
Five official candidates, including an incumbent, are in the running for District 1 Supervisor. Currently, the seat is held by Supervisor Manuel Ruiz, who’s served as supervisor for more than two decades. Ruiz also holds a seat on the Nogales Unified School District Governing Board and has spent years managing a non-profit apartment complex in the Monte Carlo neighborhood.
Luis Carlos Davis, a local filmmaker and high school teacher, is running against Ruiz in the Democratic primary. Robert Rojas, an NUSD Governing Board member who previously served on the Nogales City Council, is also running as a Democrat.
Only one candidate, Luis “Louie” Parra, is running as an Independent. The lone Republican official candidate is Mike Melendez, a local business owner.
District 1 covers a large swath of Nogales, including the downtown corridor, airport, and Beyerville area.
County Supervisor: District 2
● Bettina Damon, Democrat
● Arturo Garino, Democrat
● Greg Lucero, Independent
● Rudy “Bugs” Molera, Democrat (incumbent)
● Gerard “Gerry” Navarro, Republican
Five official candidates are in the running for District 2, a seat currently held by Supervisor Rudy Molera. A former athletics coach at Nogales High School, Molera has held the District 2 seat since 2008.
Bettina Damon, a local teacher, will also officially run within the Democratic primary. Arturo Garino, a property manager and former Nogales mayor, is also in the running as a Democrat.
Greg Lucero, a consultant, former county manager, and former South32 executive who holds a seat on the NUSD Governing Board and Santa Cruz Center, is the district’s only official Independent candidate. And Gerard Navarro, a retired law enforcement officer for the Department of Public Safety, will run as a Republican.
District 2 includes several regions in Nogales, part of western Rio Rico, and the western corner of the county.
County Supervisor: District 3
● Bruce Bracker, Democrat (incumbent)
● Jesus V. Jerez, Republican
District 3, the county’s geographically largest district, covers an eastern stretch of Rio Rico, along with Eastern Santa Cruz County communities including Patagonia, Sonoita and Elgin. This election cycle, three candidates will appear on the ballot.
Supervisor Bruce Bracker will re-run as a Democrat. Bracker, a Tubac resident who previously managed Bracker’s Department Store and currently operates Nogales restaurant Zula’s, has held the District 3 seat since his election in 2016. Only one other Democrat will run officially: John Fanning, a former Rio Rico High School associate principal who now serves as an outreach coordinator for the Santa Cruz Valley Unified School District and board member of the Santa Cruz Center.
Jesus V. Jerez, a former port supervisor with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, will run as a Republican.
County Sheriff
● Jose “Joe” Agosttini, Democrat
● Travis Arnold, Independent
● Rafael “Rafita” Corrales
● David Hathaway, Democrat (incumbent)
● Andrew Ibarra, Democrat
● Mario Morales, Democrat
Six candidates are in the running for Sheriff, including incumbent Sheriff David Hathaway. Initially elected in 2020, Hathaway previously worked as a Sheriff’s deputy and was a special agent for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
Democrat Jose Agosttini, a retired law enforcement officer, is also running as a Democrat, as is Mario Morales, who previously served as the department’s second-in-command before leaving the Sheriff’s Office last year. Democrat Rafael Corrales, a former long-serving Sheriff’s Office deputy who ran in the 2020 election, is once again entering the race as an official candidate. Andrew Ibarra, a veteran with a background in administration, is also running as a Democrat.
One Independent candidate will appear on the ballot: Travis Arnold, who worked for years within the Sheriff’s Office.
County Assessor
● Octavio “Tavo” Gradillas, Democrat
● Pablo Ramos, Democrat (incumbent)
Pablo Ramos has worked in the Assessor’s Office for more than three decades, spending more than 20 years in the deputy assessor position.
Nogales Councilman Octavio Gradillas will also run as an official candidate for county assessor.
Gradillas, a retired lieutenant with the Nogales Police Department, currently works as a real estate agent. His term on the council is set to expire this year.
Justice of the Peace
● Miguel Lopez, Democrat (incumbent)
● Adriana Olaiz, Democrat
● Rachael Sedgwick, Independent
Justice of the Peace Miguel Lopez, a Nogales native who spent years practicing law in New York, was appointed to the position late last year following the retirement of former Justice Emilio Velasquez. Adriana Olaiz, the lead interpreter for Santa Cruz County Superior Court and Nogales Justice Court, will also officially run in the Democratic primary.
Independent candidate Rachael Sedgwick, who previously served on the Tucson Unified School District Governing Board, currently coordinates STEM education at the County Superintendent’s Office.
