Election Day at the Depot Park polling location in Santa Cruz on Tuesday, Nov. 4, 2025. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

SANTA CRUZ >>  Ryan Coonerty may soon have a challenger for the mayoral seat in Santa Cruz — longtime environmental advocate Gillian Greensite. 

Coonerty, who declared his candidacy for the four-year, at-large position days into the filing period, is a former Santa Cruz City Councilmember who served two yearlong terms as an appointed mayor, and served for eight years on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors until leaving politics in 2022. 

Greensite confirmed she has met with city staff to start the process of declaring candidacy. She declined to discuss her campaign until her official filing is complete.

Unlike Coonerty, Greensite has been an outspoken critic of new development and city infrastructure. She has opposed housing projects in Downtown Santa Cruz and a portion of the rail trail through Westside Santa Cruz, on environmental grounds. 

In 2020, Greensite was part of a group that sued the city over long-term plans to add a new walkway and large building to the Santa Cruz Wharf. City leaders eventually removed the large building from the plan.

Two other competitive seats

Incumbent Santa Cruz City Councilmember Scott Newsome faces a challenge from former city council candidate Greg Hyver. Newsome represents District 4 of the city, which includes Downtown and a part of the upper Westside.

Hyver, a property manager and real estate agent, lost to Newsome in the 2022 election for the seat. In an interview in 2022, Hyver told Santa Cruz Local he wanted to take direction from his constituents as part of a direct democracy by creating a virtual forum for residents to give input on local issues.

The race to represent District 4 on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors is currently the most crowded on the ballot, with two challengers for incumbent Felipe Hernandez. District 4 includes much of Watsonville and surrounding areas of south Santa Cruz County. 

Hernandez’s challengers are longtime community advocate Elias Gonzales and local nonprofit leader Tony Nuñez.

Gonzales has worked with nonprofits Motivating Individual Leadership for Public Advancement (MILPA) and Community Action Board of Santa Cruz County, and has also served on the Santa Cruz County Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention Commission. He has been endorsed by Watsonville City Councilmember Vanessa Quiroz-Carter.

Nuñez is former reporter and editor for local papers Good Times and The Pajaronian, and is the current Marketing and Communications Director of nonprofit Community Bridges. He serves as the chair of the Pajaro Valley Health Care District, a public agency that stewards Watsonville Community Hospital. 

Hernandez, a former Watsonville City Council member elected to the board of supervisors in 2022, has pointed to his success securing funds for improvements in South County, including the renovation of the Pinto Lake pump track and road repairs. His endorsers include U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-Santa Cruz), Santa Cruz County Supervisors Justin Cummings, Kim De Serpa and Monica Martinez, and Watsonville Mayor Kristal Salcido.

Elections for the board of supervisors and the Santa Cruz City Council follow a two-round system. If no candidate receives at least 50% of the vote in the June primary, the top two finishers face off in the November 3 general election.

Two unchallenged incumbents

With two weeks left to file for candidacy, two incumbents have yet to see a challenger: Santa Cruz City Councilmember Renée Golder, who represents lower Westside and part of the UC Santa Cruz campus, and District 3 Santa Cruz County Supervisor Cummings, who represents much of Santa Cruz, including the North Coast. Candidate filing closes March 6. 

In the coming months, Santa Cruz Local will conduct in-depth interviews about incumbents’ records and candidates’ positions. Our voting guides are based on the Peoples Agenda – a list of local issues residents most want candidates to address. 

Tell us what we should ask candidates using the form below, or email us at [email protected]. 

Editor’s note: this story has been updated to reflect the areas that are represented by District 3 Santa Cruz County Supervisor Justin Cummings.

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