February 5, 2024

SMC District 4 Candidate Forum Held January 30, 2024

The District candidates for San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, from left to right: Antonio Lopez, Maggie Cornejo, Lisa Gauthier, Celeste Brevard, and Paul Bocanegra.

Thrive Alliance and Leadership Council SMC hosted a District 4 Candidate Forum on Tuesday evening, January 30, 2024, in person at the Menlo Park Council Chambers with live Spanish translation. It was also broadcast via Zoom webinar with simultaneous translation and on Thrive Alliance’s YouTube channel. Thrive Alliance Senior Director of Programs Petra Silton, and Leadership Council SMC Co-President Kaarin Hardy were moderators, with community members and nonprofit leaders asking the questions.

All five candidates participated:

Paul Bocanegra, Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Commissioner - Legislative Coordinator, County of San Mateo
Celeste Brevard, Project Manager, Stanford University
Maggie Cornejo, Director of Government and Community Relations, Boys and Girls Club of the Peninsula
Lisa Gauthier, Councilmember, City of East Palo Alto
Antonio Lopez, Mayor, City of East Palo Alto

The top two vote getters from the March 5 primary will move on to the general election in November. If one candidate receives 50% of the vote +1, that candidate will win the election in the primary.

The purpose of this nonpartisan Candidate Forum was to provide voters with information so they can make informed voting decisions. The Forum allowed all candidates running to represent District 4 the opportunity to introduce themselves and answer questions regarding issues of importance to the community of voters.

Prior to this evening, constituents could submit questions via our registration page. Questions were reviewed by Thrive Alliance and Leadership Council SMC and consolidated by common themes.

The program went very smoothly. Candidates answered a wide range of questions on the issues, participated in a “lightning” round, and answered some lighter questions enabling viewers to learn more about each person.

We thank the City of Menlo Park for hosting this event and Thrive Alliance for their partnership. Over 100 people combined attended in person and virtually.

You can watch the Forum, in English or Spanish, on Thrive Alliance’s YouTube channel.

English: www.bit.ly/CForum20240130ENG

Español: https://youtu.be/bWDi8C8Cg3M

Ballots will be mailed on February 5 and we encourage everyone to vote!