LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – The field of candidates for the newly formed Third Congressional District includes several veterans, a prosecutor, a Colusa County supervisor and a current member of Congress who will seek the seat as a result of redistricting.
The seat, redrawn last year during the congressional redistricting process, represents all or parts of Lake, Colusa, Glenn, Sacramento, Solano, Sutter, Yolo and Yuba counties.
Lake County has for many years been represented solely by the First Congressional District, the seat for which currently is held by Congressman Mike Thompson (D-St. Helena), who as a result of redistricting will seek reelection to the new Fifth Congressional District.
The Third Congressional District will include Sacramento Valley counties and the upper two-thirds of Lake County, with the boundary being the southern shoreline of Clear Lake. The new Fifth Congressional District will represent the southern portion of the county.
The Republican-dominated field so far includes Tony Carlos of Yuba City, a deputy district attorney for Sutter County; Colusa County Supervisor Kim Dolbow Vann of Arbuckle; veteran Timothy Core of Yuba City; Charlie Schaupp of Esparto, a fourth generation farmer and retired U.S. Marine lieutenant; and Rick Tubbs of Vacaville, a decorated member of the military, lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves and former small business owner.
The race’s lone Democrat is Congressman John Garamendi (D-Fairfield), currently serving as representative for the 10th Congressional District.
According to the most recent reports available from the Federal Election Commission’s Web site, Garamendi had raised $302,174.45 through last October. Of that amount, $161,140 had come from individuals and $111,730 from political action committees.
By that same point, commission records showed that Vann had raised $125,149, of which $122,298 was from individuals, with political action committees providing $1,500. Schaupp has loaned his campaign $10,000.
No financial records were available for Carlos, who filed his statements of organization and candidacy Dec. 5, nor for Core, who first filed paperwork to run last June, or for Tubbs, whose statement of candidacy was filed Oct. 5, according to Federal Election Commission filings.
Meet the candidates
Carlos, a California native, has been married to wife Jamie for 10 years. They have three children, according to his Web site, www.carlos2012.com.
He holds a bachelor’s degree from California State University, Sacramento, and a juris doctor from University of Pacific’s McGeorge School of Law. He was admitted to the State Bar of California in 2009, and works for the Sutter County District Attorney’s Office.
Carlos said he has no interest in a political career, but his Web site said his campaign is about ideas, and notes that “the old Republican playbook has failed in California.”
“The impetus for this campaign was the complete failure of the California Republican Party in the 2010 elections,” according to the site, which added that Republicans failed to win a single statewide race that year.
Core, born in Northern Virginia, moved with his family to Southern California when he was 4 years old, according to his Web site, www.timothycore.com.
He served in the Marines and within the last few years moved to the Yuba City area, with wife, Sara. They have two young sons.
Core is running a grassroots campaign that promises to repeal laws like the president’s federal health care reform and supports a fair and simple tax code.
Garamendi, currently representing the 10th Congressional District, was raised on his family’s California cattle ranch. He would go on to receive his bachelor’s degree in business from the University of California and a master’s degree in business administration from the Harvard Business School, according to his biography.
He began his public service in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia, along with wife, Patti, with whom he has six children, according to his Web site, www.garamendi.org/.
Over the past three decades he has served in a variety of elected and appointed offices, including deputy secretary of the Department of the Interior, California’s lieutenant governor and insurance commissioner, and a member of the state Senate and Assembly.
Schaupp is a fourth generation farmer, retired U.S. Marine lieutenant colonel who is a combat veteran of Operation Desert Storm in 1991 and the Iraq War, having taken part in 2004’s Battle of Fallujah, as well as the former chairman of the Yolo County Republican Party, a former Yolo County Taxpayers Association director, and previous Esparto School District trustee.
Calling himself a “Reagan Republican,” Schaupp said he is for limited government, is pro-life and pro Second Amendment, and believe that local governments – not the federal government – are best suited to solve the nation’s problems.
He recently was selected and endorsed as one of 11 military veteran candidates for Congress by Afghanistan and Iraq Veterans for Congress Political Action Committee, which was successful in getting 10 new congressmen elected in 2010. His Web site is www.charlieschaupp.com/.
Tubbs originally hails from Wisconsin, eventually making his way to California, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from California State University, Fresno, and received a commission in the United States Air Force. He would spend five years as a T-38 instructor pilot working with NATO allies.
He is a union member and a former small business owner whose issues include balancing the national budget, cutting spending, reforming health care and addressing California’s water crisis.
A decorated military veteran and current lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves, Tubbs has the support of Combat Veterans for Congress, Warriors for Congress among other organizations. He and wife, Kristy, have three children, according to his Web site, http://ricktubbsforcongress.com.
Vann is a fourth-generation family farmer and in Northern California. She and her husband, Jim, have a young son.
She received a bachelor’s degree from California State University, San Marcos, and worked for eight years as a business consultant, also serving as senior advisor to former Congressman Doug Ose.
She was elected to the Colusa County Board of Supervisors in 2006, and currently is chair of the Regional Council of Rural Counties and vice chair of the Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee for the California State Association of Counties. Her Web site is http://www.kimvann.com/.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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