Senator Leland Yee announced Tuesday that he is endorsing Shelly Masur for
Senator Leland Yee announced Tuesday that he is endorsing Shelly Masur for San Mateo County Supervisor, increasing the pressure on the other five who have expressed intent to run for the District 4 seat.
Rose Jacobs Gibson will conclude her term this year, vacating the seat.
Yee and other prominent individuals in San Mateo County’s Asian American and Pacific Islander community are banding together to publicly support Masur, who currently serves on the Redwood City School Board.
“As a school board member and non-profit executive, Shelly has worked to solve problems using creative solutions and collaborating among all facets of our community,” Senator Yee said.
“I am excited to support Shelly for Supervisor – I know she will continue to be a tireless advocate on issues that not only impact the Asian-American community, but all of San Mateo County.”
About 25 percent of San Mateo County residents self identified as Asian American in the 2010 U.S. census, which equates to about 178,000 potential voters.
District 4 contains more than 150,000 people within its boundaries, although only about 57,000 people are registered to vote there, according to the San Mateo County Elections office.
Whoever is elected to the seat would represent the interests of Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, and Redwood City. However, supervisorial races are voted on countywide, opening the vote-casting arena to any one of the 332,737 registered voters in the county.
“The representative has to live in the district, but someone in District 3 can vote in District 4,” explained Meaghan Hassel-Shearer, elections specialist at the San Mateo County Elections Office.
Six people are campaigning for a seat on the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, with three having pulled paperwork from the county elections office.
While Kirsten Keith, Carlos Romero, and Shelly Masur appear on the county elections office candidate roster, the actual number of candidates is still in flux, according to Hassel-Shearer. Memo Morantes, David Woods, and Ernie Schmidt, filed paperwork with the Secretary of State’s office that enables them to solicit funds and contributions for a campaign.
The candidacy declaration period for the county begins next week.
“Between February 13 and March 9 anyone can come in to fill out all necessary paperwork to be a candidate,” Hassel-Shearer said.
The election will be held Tuesday June 5.
http://menlopark.patch.com/articles/masur-gains-senatorial-endorsement