Christopher Cabaldon, a progressive Democrat from West Sacramento, is poised to replace state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa, in District 3.

With about 41% of the total potential votes counted, Cabaldon leads Republican Thom Bogue, 61.5% to 38.5%.

“My Republican opponent is very out of step with the values ​​and priorities of the district, and it shows in tonight’s results,” Cabaldon said after the first returns came in.

“We ran a 20-month campaign, in every nook and corner of the district, and the results are reflected in this result. »

This sprawling district of just over a million people stretches from Rohnert Park in the heart of Wine Country – Sonoma Valley and Napa County – to the Sacramento River. It includes the I-80 corridor cities of Vallejo, Fairfield, Vacaville, Dixon, Davis, and also dips like a comma to Antioch and Brentwood.

Cabaldon, a public policy professor at Sacramento State University, decided to run for mayor of West Sacramento in 1998, hoping to “serve two years, fix some things and then move on.” told an interviewer in 2019.

Instead, he spent the next two decades as mayor and is credited with transforming West Sacramento from a stagnant industrial municipality into a magnet for entrepreneurs now recognized as one of the world’s most successful small cities. most “livable” in America.

Yes, Cabaldon admitted, his move from mayor to Assemblyman will be something of a big step forward, even though he’s not exactly a stranger to state government, having spent 8 years in the ‘Assembly in key positions.

He hopes to “take fewer leaps” by bringing to his new office the same “pragmatic and practical” approaches and “bridge building” that he implemented to “transform a city,” he said .

“We need more of that in state policy.” It can’t always be all partisan shouting and screaming.

His opponent, Bogue, had one of the most remarkable stories of any candidate in the country.

As a teenager, he lived in Jonestown, Guyana, the Peoples Temple colony founded by cult leader Jim Jones.

Bogue was shot during the 1978 rescue mission led by Rep. Leo Ryan, whom he cited, by completing a Ballotpedia questionnaireas someone whose example he would like to follow.

You can contact staff writer Austin Murphy at [email protected] or on Twitter @ausmurph88.