Election results: Updates as Rickert, Jones, others vie in 3 Shasta County supervisor races

Voters were deciding on three seats on the Shasta County Board of Supervisors in Tuesday's election.

In District 2, candidates Susanne Baremore, Laura Hobbs, Allen Long and Dan Sloan are vying to replace Supervisor Tim Garman. He chose not to seek reelection.

In District 3, Supervisor Mary Rickert is defending her seat against challengers Win Carpenter and Corkey Harmon. In District 4, Supervisor Patrick Jones is defending his seat against challenger Matt Plummer.

Plummer still has big lead in District 4; Long leads big in District 2; District 3 could be headed for runoff

With nearly 60% of the precincts reporting in District 4, challenger Matt Plummer still has a commanding lead against incumbent Patrick Jones.

Plummer has now got 62% of the vote to Jones' 38%.

Six of the 14 precincts in the district have yet to report.

Meanwhile, the District 3 race has tightened and could be headed for a runoff in November, while Allen Long in District 2 appears to be cruising to victory.

Incumbent Mary Rickert now has 49% of the vote with 5 of 16 precincts reporting. Challengers Corkey Harmon has 26.6% of the vote and Win Carpenter has 24.7% of the vote.

In District 2, Long has collected 57.7% of the vote with six of 14 precincts reporting. Laura Hobbs is a distant second with 15.2% of the vote.

Plummer leaps to early lead in District 4; Rickert leads in District 3

Challenger Matt Plummer jumped to an early lead as the first results of Tuesday's election were released.

Plummer has 65.6% of the vote to incumbent Patrick Jones' 34.2%.

In District 3, incumbent Mary Rickert jumped to an early lead with 52% of the vote. Challengers Corkey Harmon and Win Carpenter have garnered 25% and 23% of the vote, respectively.

In District 2, retired Redding Police Lt. Allen Long jumped out to a huge lead with 59.5% of the vote. Trailing are Laura Hobbs with 13.8%, Susanne Baremore with 13.6% and Dan Sloan with 13.1% of the vote.

Results so far do not include any precincts reporting, but reflect early voting results.

Original story

While there’s a chance two of the Shasta County Supervisors’ seats up for grabs in Tuesday’s election will go to a runoff in November, one will not.

District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones, who served as chairman of the board in 2023, is hoping to gain a second term.

He is being challenged by Matt Plummer.

Like Jones did in 2020, when he beat incumbent Steve Morgan, Plummer vows to bring change to the board if he is elected.

Jones, who also is a manager of his family’s east Redding gun store, Jones’ Fort, has campaigned that there is more work to do, including expanding the current county jail downtown to allow for more capacity, which he considers the county’s highest priority.

LIVE UPDATES: 2024 Shasta election results: Crye recall, supervisor races, measures

Plummer is a small business owner whose company does corporate training for other companies around the country.

Plummer has said he will help restore order and civility at Shasta County supervisors’ meetings and work more on issues and problems that voters really care about, like homelessness, crime, mental health and considering other options besides expansion for a new jail.

Read more: Shasta County employees file complaints against supervisors over the past 2 years. Why?

Here is a rundown of the other supervisors’ seats on the ballot.

Four candidates on District 2 ballot

There are no incumbents on the ballot here.

That’s because incumbent Tim Garman now lives outside the district after district boundaries were redrawn following the 2020 census. Rather than move to another home inside the new district boundaries, Garman decided not to seek reelection.

Four candidates have qualified for the March 5 primary to represent a large area that takes in portions of southwest Redding and rural areas to the west, including Centerville, French Gulch, Platina, Shasta and Igo-Ono.

Susanne Baremore has said she wants to bring mutual respect back to local governance. She works as a representative for the California School Boards Association, regularly speaks at board of supervisors meetings and serves on the county elections commission.

More: Here's where candidates stand on Shasta County District 2 supervisor's race issues

Laura Hobbs makes it clear that her campaign is "100% MAGA and America first.” She has become a fixture at supervisors’ meetings for pushing election conspiracy theories.

Hobbs, who has a PhD in microbiology from the University of California, Riverside, also supports the move to hand count election ballots instead of using machines. A state law, also passed last year, declared hand-counting illegal in California in all but the tiniest of counties and towns.

Allen Long is a retired Redding Police lieutenant and holds a business degree from the University of California, Berkeley. He also is a trustee for the Grant Elementary School District.

Long’s priorities are law enforcement and public safety, wildfire prevention, fiscal responsibility and bringing back order to the county and board of supervisors.

Read more: KQMS radio says Shasta County officials behind election ad pulled from the air

Dan Sloan is the Undergraduate Business Department chair and Master of Business Administration Program director at Simpson University.

Sloan wants to build a new jail. Regarding guns, he says he is a longtime gun owner and hunter and believes in "open carry" of guns, according to his website.

He says he favors compassionate care for the homeless, but he adds the community "must clear out tent camps, vagrants, drug dealers and traffickers. Ignoring this social reality leads to crime and social deterioration."

Two challenge Mary Rickert in District 3

Mary Rickert is seeking a third term on the board.

She is being challenged by Win Carpenter and Corkey Harmon.

Rickert has largely been in the minority on 3-2 votes on many key issues, such as whether to terminate a contract with Dominion Voting Systems and hiring a new public health officer and county counsel.

Dig deeper: 2024 primary: Shasta recall, supervisor races, charter county measure, other California races

District 3 encompasses a large rural area of northeast Shasta County that includes Palo Cedro, Millville, Oak Run Burney, Fall River Mills and McArthur.

Rickert has a bachelor’s degrees in psychology and business management from Simpson University. Rickert and her husband own Prather Ranch Meat Co. They also operate a farm and ranch management business.

Rickert said she is seeking reelection because she is concerned about the future of the county, due to the influence of campaign donations from outside the county.

Over the past five years Reverge Anselmo of Connecticut has poured some $2 million into supporting the election campaigns of far-right candidates for the Board of Supervisors.

Carpenter has received donations indirectly from Anselmo. From July 1, 2023, to Dec. 13, 2023, Carpenter received $22,145 in campaign contributions, with $8,820 in nonmonetary contributions, according to campaign finance statements.

He said he supports doing away with building impact fees and making the county a "charter county," an issue before voters on the March 5 ballot.

Read more: How to find a family doctor in Redding, Shasta County, when physicians are in short supply

Other issues he considers a priority, according to his website, are "operating as a constitutional republic versus a democracy," a forensic audit of county departments, "fair and transparent elections with traceable and verifiable data," fixing and replacing county bridges and supervisors providing "line item budget approval" for all county departments.

Harmon has said that public safety, dealing with “rampant crime,” addressing the homeless problem and expanding the county jail are his priorities.

"I am running to make a difference to the quality of life in Shasta County.  I am frustrated, as are many, to see the infighting among the board and our out-of-control crime and homelessness. I thought and prayed hard about running and came to the conclusion that I could not complain if I was not willing to stand up and affect change," Harmon said in written responses to questions from the Record Searchlight.

David Benda covers business, development and anything else that comes up for the USA TODAY Network in Redding. He also writes the weekly "Buzz on the Street" column. He’s part of a team of dedicated reporters that investigate wrongdoing, cover breaking news and tell other stories about your community. Reach him on X, Twitter @DavidBenda_RS or by phone at 1-530-338-8323. To support and sustain this work, please subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Election results: Rickert, Jones, others vie in Shasta supervisor races