Tuolumne County's Big Election Day: Schools and Supervisors on the Ballot

Tuolumne County voters face a crowded primary ballot today with decisions that’ll shape local schools and county governance for years to come. The race for superintendent of schools pits incumbent Zachary Abernathy against Gabe Wing, the Twain Harte school superintendent—a direct clash between the status quo and an alternative vision for the district’s future.

But that’s just the warmup. The real complexity lives in the supervisor races, where District 2 has turned into a six-candidate slugfest. Steve Green, a small business owner; Mark Brooks; Rayanne Tamayo, a licensed clinical counselor; incumbent Ryan Campbell; Juli Healy, a business owner; and Diego Martinez, a business owner—all competing for one seat. That’s the kind of field where a solid 20 percent might be enough to advance. District 3 looks cleaner: incumbent Anaiah Kirk faces off against Tim McCaffrey, a business owner.

Here’s the wrinkle that matters: unless someone wins an outright majority today, the top two finishers in each race head to a November runoff. Translation? Don’t expect final answers when the polls close at 8 p.m. For voters, that means this primary is really just the first act. For candidates, it’s a test of ground game and name recognition—and a second bite at the apple is already baked into the calendar.

The superintendent race could signal how much appetite voters have for fresh educational leadership versus continuity. The supervisor fights, particularly District 2’s six-way scramble, reveal fault lines around local economic priorities, community services, and who residents trust to steer the county’s day-to-day operations. These aren’t glamorous races that make statewide news, but they hit where people live—literally.