Five candidates file for Merced County District 4 supervisor seat

Five candidates met this week’s deadline to seek the Merced County District 4 supervisor’s seat, making it the most contested of the three board positions going before voters in June.

After serving as supervisor for two decades, Deidre Kelsey announced in July she would not seek re-election. District 4 stretches from Snelling to Gustine and includes the communities of Ballico-Cressey, portions of Castle Commerce Center, Delhi, Hilmar, portions of the Lake Yosemite area, Stevinson and Winton.

The five candidates who filed candidacy papers by the deadline late Wednesday are Fidel Cervantes, Rich Ford, Jack Mobley, Lloyd Pareira and Ramon Prado.

Cervantes, 23, is a UC Merced graduate and has served on the Delhi Unified School District board of trustees since 2011. He collected $2,743 in contributions last year, election records show.

Ford, 57, was on the Gustine City Council for 24 years, also serving as mayor. He owns Ford’s Farm Supply. Election records show Ford did not collect any campaign contributions.

Mobley, a 58-year-old resident of Merced, is the president of ServiceMaster Commercial Cleaning Services. Election records show Mobley also didn’t collect campaign contributions.

Pareira, 53, is a Merced resident and a trustee on the Merced River School District governing board. Pareira has a farm of more than 500 acres for livestock. He no longer runs the Oak Valley Farm, as the Sun-Star previously reported. Pareira collected nearly $25,000 in campaign contributions, election records show. Pareira reported more than $9,000 in campaign expenditures.

Prado, a 29-year-old resident of Delhi, works in education and serves on the Municipal Advisory Committee. Prado intends to spend less than $2,000 and has not formed a campaign committee, according to the Registrar of Voters office.

Paul Dunn, a Snelling resident and retired Merced College educator, pulled papers to run for the seat but did not file for the candidacy.

The five members of the Board of Supervisors each serve four-year terms. Districts 1 and 2 also are up for a vote in the June race.

In District 1, incumbent John Pedrozo, 58, will be challenged by Livingston Mayor Rodrigo Espinoza, 47. The district stretches from Le Grand and Planada to Livingston, encompassing parts of south Merced along the way.

In District 2, an area encompassing north and central Merced, incumbent Hub Walsh, 65, will face two challengers: Lee Lor, the 34-year-old executive director of the Merced County Education Fund; and Casey Steed, 53, who is an electrical contractor and co-host on “Citizens Watch,” a weekly talk radio show on KYOS-AM.

If a candidate does not receive 50 percent plus one of the votes, the top two contenders will head to a run-off election in November.

This story was originally published March 17, 2016 at 6:29 PM with the headline "Five candidates file for Merced County District 4 supervisor seat."