Police and labor groups have funneled nearly $1.2 million into the election for the only open seat on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors election this Novemb er, according to campaign filings reporting 2024 transactions through Sept. 21.
Mike Barbanica , who was elected to the Antioch City Council in 2020, is a retired Pittsburg police lieutenant and owner of a real estate property management company, which he said oversees more than 200 properties in the region. Shanelle Scales-Preston is a sixth-year Pittsburg City Councilmember who has worked for California’s 10th Congressional District since 2001, currently serving as District Director for Rep. Mark DeSaulnier.
Both candidates are fighting to replace Supervisor Federal Glover, who represents the county’s northern waterfront, encompassing Martinez, Hercules, Pittsburg and a sliver of Antioch, as well as a dozen other unincorporated communities. Glover announced his retirement in December after serving on the board for 24 years — the first African American elected to the highest county office, who remains the only person of color in the board’s history. A little more than a month before the November election, the election is awash with independent expenditures — an unlimited spending mechanism separate from a candidate’s own campaign, which advocacy groups frequently use to bolster their influence in policy-making.
This financial support, in part, illustrates the starkly different ways Barbanica, 55, a.