Marin candidates crowd Assembly race

A throng of candidates have announced they will run for a state Assembly seat being vacated by Damon Connolly.

Connolly announced on Thursday he will surrender to run for state Senate in 2026.

Eli Beckman, who is in the middle of his second term on the Corte Madera Town Council, announced his intention to run for the seat on Friday. Steve Schwartz, a Sebastopol resident who ran in the primary for the District 12 Assembly seat in 2022 garnering 10% of the vote, also announced on Friday that he will seek the seat again.

Holli Thier, who is serving as mayor in her third term as a Tiburon council member, confirmed on Monday that she will also compete in the contest.

Supervisor Eric Lucan announced on Tuesday he is throwing his hat in the ring.

“With courage and tenacity, I’m ready to bring my years of experience and effectiveness to the California State Legislature,” Lucan said in a statement.

Lucan has been a supervisor since January 2023. Prior to that, he served 11 years on the Novato City Council and worked as the chief marketing officer of Mike’s Bikes in Novato. Before completing his master’s degree in business administration in 2005, Lucan was an ordained minister and worked as a youth director in a church.

The District 12 Assembly seat includes all of Marin County and nearly 46% of Sonoma County, including the cities of Cotati, Petaluma and Rohnert Park. Less than half of the city of Santa Rosa is included in the district.

More candidates may still emerge.

San Anselmo Councilmember Steve Burdo said he is leaning strongly toward running and will make his decision soon. Also noteworthy are two candidates who have ruled out running: Sara Aminzadeh and Andy Podshadley. Aminzadeh finished second to Connolly in the November 2022 election with 49% of the vote.

“She’d be a formidable candidate,” said David McCuan, a political science professor at Sonoma State.

Aminzadeh said in an email, “At this time, I feel my highest purpose is to continue advancing California’s efforts to preserve climate progress, and defend public lands, values and the communities we hold dear as a Deputy Secretary in the California Natural Resources Agency.”

She added, “With so much at stake, I’m proud to support Eric Lucan for the Assembly seat, a leader who has the integrity and skill to lead the North Bay in challenging times.”

Aminzadeh said she made her decision about running after Lucan discussed his plans with her.

Podshadley competed in the March 2022 primary for the seat; he received just 1% of the vote after entering the race late. He ran again in 2024, however, and finished second to Connolly with 20.7% of the vote.

Podshadley said he decided not to run for the Assembly seat for a third time because he was afraid his candidacy would take votes away from Lucan and increase the chances of a more liberal Democrat winning the race.

“I had a meeting with Eric Lucan, and he asked if I was going to run,” Podshadley said. “Eric is a moderate Democrat, and I’m a moderate Republican, so he thought there might be some issues.”

Regarding Aminzadeh’s decision, Lucan said, “Sara and I have continued to stay in touch over the past several years. I don’t think either of us wanted to be faced with running against each other. There is just so much mutual respect between the two of us.”

As to Podshadley’s suggestion that Lucan’s politics are more centrist than some of the other Democrats in the race, Lucan said, “I don’t know if I necessarily see it entirely that way.”

Lucan pointed to his advocacy for fast-tracking the implementation of state minimum wage hikes while on the Novato City Council and efforts to finance the expansion of child care at the North Bay Children’s Center as examples of his politics.

“I don’t know if it’s liberal or moderate,” Lucan said. “That will be for voters to decide.”

Lucan said he has a little under $100,000 in campaign contributions left over from this campaign for supervisor, which he will be able to use in the Assembly race.

McCuan said Lucan is the favorite in the race primarily due to his visibility and ability to raise money.

“Also,” McCuan said, “because he has thought about this race and his path just like he did for supervisor. He has wanted to run for this seat for a long time.”

The other candidates, however, are conceding nothing to Lucan.

“I’m running and I’m planning to win,” said Schwartz, director of the Interfaith Sustainable Food Collaborative. “I learned a lot the last time in terms of what it is going to take to get my message out.”

Beckman, who describes himself in a statement as Corte Madera’s “first Jewish and first openly LGBT mayor,” said, “Voters have seen over the last seven years that I’m willing to question the entrenched systems that aren’t serving us well anymore, and to put in the hard work it takes to change those systems.”

Beckman is the founder and CEO of HAUS+, a sustainable prefab accessory dwelling unit company.

Thier, who heads Tiburon’s Diversity Inclusion Task Force, wrote in an email, “It’s been 25 years since there has been a woman in the House representing Marin and Sonoma! I’m so excited.”