Glenn Church wins a strong lead for District 2 supervisor.

North County native Glenn Church seems poised to win as Monterey County supervisor for District 2 in his race against Regina Gage. As of 8am Wednesday, Nov. 9, Church led with 59 percent of the vote, compared to Gage’s 41 percent.

If these numbers hold, Church will replace John Phillips, current District 2 supervisor, who is retiring after eight years in county politics and his prior career as a judge. Both Church and Gage ran campaigns based on addressing the lack of services available to the residents of District 2. It’s Gage’s second run for this seat, after she challenged Phillips four years ago and he was re-elected to a second term.

Church gathered with over 100 supporters, including current District 5 County Supervisor Mary Adams and a few former supervisors, at the Elkhorn Yacht Club in Moss Landing. (There was plenty of food and wine, but no available parking spaces.)

“I didn’t take a single dollar from a PAC,” Church said during his election party, emphasizing his commitment to his voters – and, it seems, taking a dig at his opponent, who did receive campaign contributions from several PACs, including public safety and labor groups like the Monterey County Deputy Sheriff Association PAC, SEIU United Healthcare Workers West PAC, and others.

In the last few weeks of campaigning he was met with an outpouring of support, he says. But there was also the humbling part: At the end of those conversations voters would look him in the eyes and ask: “Please, don’t forget about us.”

Church believes he learned the basic issues of District 2 years ago. His father, Warren Church, was a Monterey County supervisor from 1965-77. His experience goes as far back as the late ’60s when he canvassed for his dad. But Church didn’t seriously consider a political career himself until his father died in 2017. This is his first run for political office.

During the campaign, Church says he learned about District 2 neighborhood by neighborhood. Many problems are infrastructure issues specific to communities – water spilling into people’s properties in multiple neighborhoods, roads that are so bad that a resident needs a tractor to push sand off the road. “I took notes,” Church says, promising to deliver results.

“He is born for this,” says Susan Gerbic of Salinas, a longtime friend, who remembers the elder Church’s time in the supervisor seat.

Gage, who gathered privately with family and friends, declined to comment.