It’s safe to say at least one incumbent will win re-election for the Concord City Council.
Dominic Aliano, currently serving as Concord’s mayor, is running unopposed for the District 3 council seat. He’ll be back on the council — which rotates members into the mayor position every year — next year, barring an unprecedented write-in campaign.
District 1
District 1 incumbent Laura Hoffmeister won’t have it quite so easy. Hoffmeister is challenged by two newcomers, one of whom is opposed to the city’s current development plan for the former naval weapons station and its city-selected master developer, Seeno Homes.
Quinne Anderson says on her campaign site she wants more progress made on city homelessness issues and more investment in Black, Indigenous, people of color and women-owned businesses. She says she wants to see public safety reforms with more community oversight and improvements to city sustainability.
Anderson has also said the city made a mistake in choosing Seeno as master developer for the weapons station and went against the wishes of the community.
Robert Ring is a sales manager and mortgage advisor at a mortgage company. He is pro-development and thinks overregulation has contributed to the region’s housing shortage. He favors pay increases for police and better living wages for residents.
Hoffmeister, currently serving as vice mayor, has been on the council since 1997 and has served as mayor five times. She retired as Clayton’s assistant city manager in August. Hoffmeister also made headlines in May for a DUI arrest, for which she was sentenced to three years of probation in September.
Hoffmeister says she wants to bring more affordable housing to Concord and more resources for unsheltered people.
District 5
The third incumbent is District 5 councilmember and former mayor Tim McGallian, who is facing a challenge from Laura Nakamura, a cardiac sonographer who has lived in Concord since 1988.
Nakamura says on her website, when it comes to the naval weapons station: “The needs of current and future residents should come first. The vast majority of new housing should be affordable. Policymakers should listen to current residents. The benefits of development should accrue primarily to Concord and the community.”
Nakamura says she wants more “compassionate solutions” to homelessness, transparency and oversight for the police, and safer spaces for pedestrians and bicyclists.
McGallian, an insurance agent, has been on the council since 2017. He also served as city treasurer and on the city’s planning commission.
McGallian says on his campaign site that he wants more housing for residents of all income levels, to decrease the number of unhoused people, and to provide grants and rent relief to small businesses to expand business and create new jobs.
He says he wants to ensure local residents are paid living wages and “steward redevelopment of the Concord Naval Weapons Station that is true to what residents want, including open space and parks and a mix of jobs and housing near BART.”