The races for both state Senate and Assembly District 2 are looking fairly tame. The deadline was earlier this month for candidates to file. Here are the candidates who have submitted declaration of candidacy paperwork for the two seats.

State Senate district 2

Despite an opening for Mike McGuire’s seat this year as he terms out of the state legislature, just a couple of candidates are running for his spot.

The district McGuire represents includes the counties of Del Norte, Trinity, Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake, Marin and most of Sonoma County. McGuire is now running for California’s 1st Congressional District seat after 12 years in Sacramento.

California Senate District 2. Map: CA Senate

Democratic candidate Damon Connolly — current member of the State Assembly for the 12th district, former San Rafael city councilmember, Marin County supervisor and deputy California Attorney General — filed to run in the district after announcing his candidacy in April.

Connolly originally had a couple Democratic challengers for the primary. But Sonoma County Supervisor James Gore dropped his campaign in October after an early announcement. Former Santa Rosa Mayor Natalie Rogers suspended her campaign for the seat in December.

Connolly recently attended a Eureka rally in opposition to the Trump Administration’s offshore oil and gas drilling proposal. He regularly collaborates with North Coast representatives on legislation as a representative of Marin and Sonoma for the 12th District.

Connolly has accumulated a spread of endorsements including McGuire, Chris Rogers, State Attorney General Rob Bonta, four of the five Humboldt County Supervisors, the Arcata City Council, former state representative and Arcata resident Wesley Chesbro and Congressman Jared Huffman, according to Connolly’s website.

As for contenders Tief Gibbs, a Republican co-owner of a vintage car business in Novato, has filed to run in Marin County.

Gibbs ran for Congress in 2024 but fell short in the Republican primary. She is a Marin conservative activist, previously involved in the recall Gov. Gavin Newsom campaign, anti-COVID19 vaccine rallies as well as anti-trans activism.

Her website says she advocates for limited government, individual freedoms, fiscal responsibility, traditional values, pro-life policies, Second Amendment rights and religious freedom.

Aaron Smith has filed for the Senate seat in Sonoma County. Details on this candidate are slim.

State Assembly District 2

Democratic Assemblymember Chris Rogers, currently representing Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Sonoma, and Trinity Counties, has filed paperwork to run for a second term.

Rogers successfully got a bill passed aiming to keep water in the Scott and Shasta Rivers, plus eight others, and has generally focused on the environment, natural disasters and the cost of living — and penned a tongue-in-cheek bill to establish bigfoot as the state’s official cryptid.

The Democratic incumbent’s sole challenger is Republican Michael Greer.

California Assembly District 2. Map: CA Assembly

Greer previously garnered 34% of the vote in the 2024 election against Rogers as the only Republican to run, following a crowded Democratic primary sparked by then-Assemblymember Jim Wood’s decision to not seek reelection.

Greer, a Del Norte County Unified School District board member, aims to raise educational standards, strengthen law enforcement, address the cost of living, and to tackle the housing and homelessness crisis’s, his website says.

Greer, a retired special educator, has been endorsed by Doug LaMalfa, who represented California’s 1st congressional district before his death. Greer also nabbed endorsements from assemblymembers James Gallagher and Meghan Dahle, according to his website.

The write-in period for these seats runs from April 6 to May 19.

The primary election is scheduled for June 2, 2026.