We’ve got another Eureka City Council hopeful, folks!

Thavisak “Lucky” Syphanthong, a skateboarding real estate broker, well-known foodie and president of the Rotary Club of Eureka, announced his candidacy for Eureka’s Ward 4 City Council seat via Facebook last week. Scott Bauer currently represents the city’s Fourth Ward.

From what we can gather via Facebook and other corners of the internet, Syphanthong is a family man and local go-getter. He is the owner of Lucky Star Realty and Eureka Skate Shop in Henderson Center. He became president of the Rotary Club of Eureka back in June and has served on several other boards, including the Boys and Girls Clubs of the Redwoods, the Cutten-Ridewood Student Foundation and the NorCal Laos Foundation. He also runs a traveling foodie page with his wife, Bao Syphanthong.

Eureka City Clerk Pam Powell confirmed this morning that Syphanthong pulled paperwork for candidacy at the end of last week – exactly one week before the Aug. 9 candidate filing deadline – but said he has yet to return his nomination papers. If he can muster up 20 valid signatures from Ward 4 residents by 5 p.m. on Friday, he will qualify for the November ballot.

According to records on file with the Humboldt Clerk-Recorder’s Office, Syphanthong is a registered Democrat and a relatively new resident of Eureka’s Fourth Ward. Up until a few months ago, he and his family lived outside city limits at 4391 Cedar Street in Cutten, which means he was not eligible to vote or run in Eureka’s municipal elections. 

Syphanthong re-registered to vote at his new address on July 29 – the same day as Ward 2 candidate Kenny Carswell.

As the Outpost reported on Monday, Carswell, a project manager with Security National, just recently relocated to Ward 2 after having lived outside city limits. He closed escrow on a house in Ward 2 on July 29, the same day he re-registered to vote at his new address and changed his political party registration from Republican to “no party preference.”

Syphanthong has yet to respond to our request for additional comment on his candidacy. We’ll update this post if we hear back from him.