Merced County prosecutor says she’ll run against her boss, the DA, in June election

Nicole Silveira, a prominent Merced County prosecutor, is running against her boss in the June 2022 election for district attorney, according to registrar of voters records.

The candidate list shows Silveira, 40, filed “signatures in lieu” paperwork to run for county district attorney on Feb. 9, and as of Feb. 25, she has yet to file a declaration of intent, nomination papers, a candidate statement or a declaration of candidacy.

The only other candidate to file paperwork for the DA race, incumbent Kimberly Helms Lewis, 51, has also only filed signatures paperwork as of Feb. 25.

“Signatures in lieu” allow candidates for elected office to turn in a certain number of signatures of registered voters, with each signature worth a certain dollar amount. For the Merced County District Attorney’s race, the filing fee is $2,269.69, or 1% of the annual salary of the position.

About 4,620 signatures would have to be collected to completely replace the filing fee in that race. Silveira and Lewis both collected that number of signatures, according to the candidates list for the June 7 election.

“I decided to get in the race because Merced County needs strong leadership to make the county a safer place,” said Silveira, the county’s supervising deputy district attorney. “I think I’m the choice that will make Merced County a safer place.”

The Atwater native, who was raised by water well diggers and grew up in the county’s agricultural community, said she would prioritize crime perpetrated against Merced’s farmers; strengthen relationships with law enforcement (she says Sheriff Vernon Warnke, who is also campaigning to keep his seat, has endorsed her); create a family justice center to advocate for vulnerable crime victims; and expand the county’s school attendance review board, which holds parents accountable for minor students’ truancy from school.

Lewis, who successfully campaigned for her seat in the last election, said in addition to restructuring managerial roles in the office, she started working closely with local law enforcement agencies on combating human trafficking in Merced County, addressed gang and drug-related crime, worked with officials at the Merced County Office of Education to reduce truancy in local schools and launched an auto theft task force project.

“I think I’ve made a clear stance about aggressively prosecuting crime,” Lewis said. “I’ve seen an increase in our prosecution of child molestation cases and an increase in sentences. My platform has always been a tough, fair and honest enforcement of the law.”

The question begs to be asked, though: What does the current DA think about one of her employees running against her?

“I think if she feels she has something to offer to Merced County, she should be running,” Lewis said. “It’s a fairly common situation in DA’s offices to have an employee become an opponent.”