UKIAH, CA., 10/7/26 — The moderator had already given Mike McGuire two extra 30-second rebuttals as a penalty for what she called James Gallagher’s personal attacks, asked the audience twice to hold its applause and cut both congressional candidates off in mid-sentence. Shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday, with the two of them talking over each other about rural hospitals, Michelle Hutchins stopped the forum.
“I have kindergartners that behave better than the two of you right now,” she said. “Serious. This is embarrassing.”
That was the last hour of a nearly four-hour candidates forum at the Ukiah council chambers put on by the Mendocino Women’s Political Coalition, the American Association of University Women and the League of Women Voters of Mendocino County. Before the Congressional foes came the two candidates for the Ukiah Unified school board, the two for the county Board of Education and seven of the eight running for three seats on the Ukiah City Council. Mia Uribe didn’t attend the forum
Moderator Hutchins served as county superintendent of schools from 2019 to 2022 and was elected to the county Board of Education in 2024. When she resigned in 2025, David Strock was appointed to her seat. She put the questions to the two candidates for that board in the second hour.
Congress
Gallagher, the Sutter County Republican who won a June special election to finish the late Doug LaMalfa’s term, opened on the state senator’s 12 years in Sacramento. “You’ve had one guy for 12 years, and I’m here to ask you tonight, how’s that working out for you?” he said.
McGuire, the Democrat, opened on the president: “Right now, our president is shredding our democracy, dismantling the rule of law, stripping healthcare away from millions.”
On wildfire, Gallagher said McGuire’s budgets cut prevention money every year while funding high-speed rail. “I hear Mike’s a really good auctioneer,” he said. “And that makes a lot of sense because in Sacramento, he sells you out.” Hutchins gave McGuire 30 more seconds. “It’s not a personal attack, it’s what he does in Sacramento,” Gallagher said. McGuire used his time: “The voters aren’t buying what you’re selling, sir.”
On water, Gallagher said he passed the bill that will help build Sites Reservoir. “I wanna build new water storage, not tear dams down,” he said, and on the Potter Valley Project: “It’s going to dry up Potter Valley. That’s wrong.”
McGuire said, “We need to raise the dam at Coyote Valley” and that the region needs a “four-basin solution” that brings Lake, Mendocino, Humboldt and Sonoma counties all to the table.
On healthcare, McGuire said 43% of the district’s population is on Medicaid and 3 million Californians will lose coverage next year “because of Republicans in Congress.” Gallagher said HR1, the Republican budget bill, hasn’t taken effect. “We’re losing maternity care. We’re losing labor and delivery. That’s on you, Mike,” he said. “That’s not on Donald Trump.”
On Iran, Gallagher said the strikes “set back their nuclear program decades” and “that is a big accomplishment.” McGuire: “If you all think that Donald Trump is doing a great job with the war in Iran, I got an iceberg to sell you.”
Gallagher closed by calling himself the change candidate. McGuire closed on his town halls: “There’s more that unites us than divides us at the local level.”
Ukiah City Council
Seven candidates for three seats sat at one table for 80 minutes. The incumbents are Mayor Susan Sher, Juan Orozco and Mari Rodin. They are challenged by Sean White, Robert Bazzani, John Strangio and Matt Froneberger.
The clearest split was on the city’s Flock license-plate readers. White: “Ukiah operates flock cameras and they work.” Bazzani: “I am on the fence,” and the town doesn’t “need 41, or what the number is now.” Froneberger said other jurisdictions are removing them, and “I would rather see something that is city-owned and -controlled.” Strangio said he was glad the city chose Flock over the system the council first approved, which he said sells its data to third parties.
On federal immigration agents, Sher said she has talked with the police chief about it. “I think ICE is just a cancer on this country,” she said. White said he was “a hard no and a harder no.” Bazzani: “I support lawful cooperation with federal authorities on legitimate criminal investigations within the limits of California law.”
Strangio said the city should work with federal agents on people with violent offenses and “get them out of here as soon as possible.” Froneberger: “I don’t know that we should be spending our taxpayers’ time seeking out people that have lived here for 20 years.”
On the Palace Hotel, Sher said, “We’ve given owner after owner a chance” and “it needs to come down.” White: “For the Palace, I think entropy will solve that.”
On water, Rodin said: “The only viable route to water reliability is to continue the diversions from the Eel River.” Strangio said of Scott Dam, “I’m not a fan of pulling that dam down.” White said the city turned in a $16 million grant application last week for a single consolidated system running from Hopland to Redwood Valley.
On homelessness, White said “there is a gap in delivery, not a gap in dollars.” Rodin said the city “receives absolutely zero funding to respond to the problem of homelessness.” Sher said the county’s homeless people are in Ukiah “because the services are here. The services aren’t in Hopland or Mendocino, they’re in Ukiah.” Orozco said too much of the police department’s effort goes to the unhoused, and closed on representation: a third of the city is Latino, he said, and the council should have more than one member from that community.
Ukiah Unified
One Ukiah Unified seat is on the Nov. 3 ballot, Trustee Area 1, and two candidates filed for it, both from Redwood Valley. Bea Arkin has held the seat for 25 years. Gabriel Baca Meza, a caregiver and Ukiah High graduate, ran for the Mendocino College board in 2024.
The two split over Superintendent Deb Kubin, who has run the district since 2012. Asked how they would judge the superintendent’s performance, Arkin said the board reviews Kubin every year against a list of expectations. “She has, in all her years that she has been there, which 10, 12 years, she has always met those expectations,” Arkin said.
Baca Meza said the superintendent’s priorities should be enrollment, gaps between students of different ethnicities, truancy and expulsions, with regular check-ins to hold her to them. “If it feels like maybe this is a discussion about finding a new superintendent, then I think that is a discussion that needs to be had,” he said. One person is not always right for a job “for years on end,” he said.
Arkin asked if she could respond. “No, it’s not a debate. Just a forum,” Hutchins said.
Baca Meza said the seat had not been on a ballot in 25 years. “This is literally a once-in-a-generation race,” he said.
County Board of Education
One of the five county Board of Education seats is on the ballot, Trustee Area 1, which takes in Calpella, Hopland, Potter Valley, Redwood Valley, Talmage and east Ukiah. The board approves the budget of the Mendocino County Office of Education, which runs special education, court and community schools and other countywide programs. The board also hears expulsion and transfer appeals and rules on charter school petitions.
Marilyn Puget, the incumbent and board vice president, has held the seat eight years. Craig Perry, the challenger, has worked at the county office for 24 years by his own count, handling its CalSTRS and CalPERS retirement reporting, and has run an accounting practice for 28 years. Both live in Ukiah.
Puget said her priorities are school safety, “ensuring that our taxpayer dollars are spent responsibly” and career and technical education. Perry said “85% of school budgets is health and salaries” and that keeping benefits is “critical to our solvency.” He said he has served 17 years on the board of the schools’ health plan.
Asked what in the county office’s Local Control Accountability Plan showed improvement for students, neither could say. “Gosh, I’d have to have an LCAP in front of me,” Puget said. “I’ve read eight of them.” Perry: “I have not studied an LCAP report,” but “I study all the fiscal performance reports because that’s what I’m privy to.”
On charter petitions, Puget said that when the state tightened charter rules, the county office’s lawyers found it “should not be subsidizing” certain charter schools “and we have had to deny them.” Perry said charters are buried in paperwork and he would want to “get rid of some of the administration.”
Hutchins ended the night when McGuire finished his closing statement. “Now we can applaud,” she told the audience.
Election Day is Nov. 3.
Correction: This story did not make clear that Hutchins was elected to the county Board of Education. The story has been corrected.
As a former UUSD board member and teacher, I can testify that Superintendent Kubin has worked diligently on attendance, unequal achievement among different student populations, enrollment and expulsions. There were reports to the Board on these issue. Many approaches were studied, advice sought from successful programs and community resources explored. Some changes can only occur when parents, local law enforcement and additional resources are brought into play. Superintendent Kubin and Trustee Arkin have worked tirelessly to bring about change but it is difficult without the support of those directly responsible for student behavior. Children who are allowed to miss school will always trail behind.
Very well said!
I was sympathetic to considering James Gallagher for Congress because I appreciated that he authored and supported AB 2700 to make sure victims of utility-caused wildfires from 2017-2019 are fully compensated (not the 70% that we ended up with). But I cannot stomach his ugly attacks on Mike McGuire flooding my mailbox. It has made me realize that if he wins, he’s going to be another Republican in Congress creating a divisive, dysfunctional government intent on dismantling healthcare, education, social safety systems, as well as raping and pillaging the environment for the benefit of billionaires. No thanks.
Honestly, I don’t want to vote for either one of them anymore than I want to vote for the governor position. I think that all of them need to be set out in public and thoroughly whipped. None of them are actually working for the people. I’m disgusted with pretty much most all candidates for everything right now because all they talk about is their TDS or they attack the other side which is stupid crap. And then for the voter books to be sent out with what they say was absolutely appalling and I have never in all my years since 1975 seen any voter booklet talking about the candidates and the issues like this one did. It was absolutely disgusting and I think whoever wrote it should be put in jail for a while so that he can learn a lesson as to how to be a good citizen. The choices are so hard right now and I will get out there and I will vote which I have been doing since 1975 but it is a battle to read through the booklets on the good and the bad and all of it is just ugly. I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels this way
Unseat all Republicans!
McGuire isn’t “working out for me”…
Two losers in a contest in an apathetic area…
Trump wants Iran to “take out L.A. and San Diego”…
That about sums it up for the Republicans…
I am responding to provide clarity and context regarding the recent candidate forum and the comments made by Gabriel Baca Meza regarding Trustee Area 1 Representative Bea Arkin and Superintendent Deb Kubin. While healthy public discourse is vital for our community, it is equally important that discussions about the leadership of the Ukiah Unified School District (UUSD) are grounded in facts and an accurate understanding of how public school systems operate.
Mr. Baca Meza suggested that a discussion needs to be had about finding a new superintendent, claiming that “one person is not always right for a job ‘for years on end'”. This perspective overlooks the profound stability and documented success that both Bea Arkin and Superintendent Deb Kubin have brought to our schools. Over her 25 years on the board, Bea Arkin has volunteered countless hours, serving on parent teacher associations and school site councils at every level. Her extensive institutional knowledge ensures the district remains accountable and focused on student achievement. Under Superintendent Kubin’s leadership since 2012, UUSD has successfully navigated historic challenges—including a global pandemic that earned her the recognition of Assembly District 2 Woman of the Year.
Furthermore, the critique regarding superintendent oversight reveals a common misconception about public education governance. A school board’s role is to set policy and hold the superintendent accountable through rigorous annual evaluations based on fixed criteria—a process Trustee Arkin noted Superintendent Kubin has consistently met year after year. Priorities such as managing enrollment, closing demographic performance gaps, and lowering truancy are complex, systemic challenges that require long-term, stable strategic planning, rather than arbitrary leadership turnover.
UUSD has thrived because of dedicated, long-term public servants who educate themselves on the intricacies of school finance, state compliance, and curriculum development. Making assumptions about governance without understanding these operations does a disservice to our voters, our hard-working educators, and our students. We should celebrate the steady progress and tireless commitment that Arkin and Kubin continue to deliver to Ukiah Unified.
The moderator, Michelle Hutchins favored one candidate over the other, which was evident by the entire room in attendance. The entire room erupted in BOOS when Hutchins failed to recognize Mike Maguire’s personal attacks on James Gallagher. Hutchins favored only one candidate and it showed time and time again during the entire event.
“Gallagher tops Roll Call’s latest list of the most vulnerable House lawmakers.”
https://rollcall.com/2026/09/30/most-vulnerable-house-members-election-day/
I had hoped for a better future with Mike McGuire. For 12 years we have had his leadership in California destroying our way of life. He constantly turns a blind eye to our needs and frankly makes life harder for all of us, as he continues to back Gavin Newsom and all his rhetoric in raising gas prices and the cost of living.
I cannot stomach the multiple disgusting email attacks on James Gallagher THAT NEVER STOP. Then to watch Mike McGuire during the debate, my stomach turned in disgust. It’s a hard No for McGuire. McGuire is NOT looking out for our community’s best interests and the water concern with Potter Valley Dam is an issue he couldn’t care less about.
The 12 years of misery and deceit with Mike McGuire destroying California has come to an end.
I now see the candidate in our community corner is James Gallagher.
My response to the issue of Flock cameras was much more nuanced than the soundbite in the story. Heres what I actually said:
I take both public safety and civil liberty very seriously.
Ukiah operates Flock cameras and they work. Consistently leading to the arrest of individuals in stolen cars, often with compounding narcotic, firearms, and parole violations. I want these people off the street, but at what cost?
Technology is only as trustworthy as its rules and those in charge of the rules. Ukiah’s current policy is to only capture plates and vehicle characteristics, no faces, no gender, or race, and the data isn’t shared with federal agencies and retention time is only 30 days. There is a good transparency portal as well. Safety and trust can go together.
As a council member I’d make sure safeguards in remain in place and Id support adding a citizen oversight committee to reconsidering the entire program.