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She’s the Republican challenger to incumbent Jim Wood, but Charlotte Svolos is not a typical representative of her party.

The Del Norte High School special education teacher is the first local candidate to compete for a state office since Alissia Northrup became county clerk in 2008.

Svolos is the treasurer of the Del Norte Teachers Association and is calling for fully funding special education. She’s been involved with the California Teachers Association and National Education Association, which represent teachers, as well as the Del Norte Republican Central Committee.

As she runs for the California Assembly District 2 seat, Svolos says she’s trying to find commonalities politically and geographically. The district she hopes to represent includes Del Norte, Trinity, Humboldt, Mendocino and about half of Sonoma counties. Sonoma County counts for about 45 percent of the vote, Svolos told the Wild Rivers Outpost and KFUG Community Radio’s Paul Critz during a Feb. 21 interview.

“If you look at my candidate statement, I (say), ‘Let’s look at 80 percent of the things we can all agree on that are not the fringe issues,’” Svolos said. “Let’s settle those and then maybe we can take on the fringe issues.”

Svolos and Wood will appear on the California Primary ballot Tuesday. But since it’s just two candidates vying for that seat, both will compete in the Nov. 3 General Election.

Svolos came to Del Norte County from Southern California about five years ago. With family in Cave Junction and a husband diagnosed with multiple-sclerosis, she chose Del Norte County because of the low cost of living.

Svolos is the first local candidate to participate in an Assembly election, this isn’t the first time she’s challenged a candidate at the state level. She said she ran for state senate in 2012 against Roderick Wright, a Los Angeles-area representative who resigned in 2014 following a conviction for perjury and voter fraud.

Svolos, who has fallen in love with Del Norte County, said she’s challenging Wood because she feels he’s not a “proactive advocate” for her community.

Though she praised Wood’s advocacy for transparency in healthcare for his district, Svolos said she can’t think of much else he’s done. No matter the outcome of both elections, she says making the incumbent pay attention to Del Norte County will be a significant accomplishment.

“I think he tends to ride the coattails of those who do a lot,” Svolos said of Wood. “I have a few complaints, but very mild complaints, on (Congressman) Huffman and (State Sen.) McGuire because I really feel like they do their job…. I don’t feel that’s the case with Jim Wood.”

Though she’s running as a Republican, Svolos said much of her campaign is finding a middle ground both Democrats and members of the party she represents can agree on. She’s brought this philosophy to issues like balancing the needs of religious institutions against those of the individual, especially in healthcare.

Svolos suggests that creating a flexible spending account with a third-party administrator would insulate a religious organization from covering a procedure it opposes while still allowing the individual to have their health needs met. That account could also be used for a procedure that wasn’t covered under standard health insurance, she said.

Another idea draws on her expertise in special education. Svolos said there’s not a single school district in California whose special education budget does not encroach on their general fund.

For Del Norte Unified School District, that amount is nearly $6 million a year, according to Jeff Napier, DNUSD’s assistant superintendent of business.

Del Norte and Humboldt make up the lowest funded special education local plan area, or SELPA, which seeks to meet the needs of all special education students in the region, Svolos said. According to Svolos, 20 percent of DNUSD students have special needs.

“If you fully-funded special education, you’d be giving a raise to every district in the state,” she said. “Because they would be able to use that general fund money where it belongs.”

Her campaign addresses issues on a state level, but Svolos said she won’t ignore local needs. One that applies to Sonoma concerns its wineries, she said.

“You have wineries that want to make money, but when you have the land being completely depleted of nutrients and then areas abandoned, that’s not good for the county as a whole,” she said of Sonoma.

Svolos said Sonoma County is very similar to Torrance, the Los Angeles suburb she came to Del Norte from. She said she’s traveled all over District 2, conducting three town hall meetings in Sonoma County, two events in Humboldt and call-ins to Mendocino and Trinity counties. She plans to step up her campaign during the summer.

Some issues, homelessness for example, transcends all counties, Svolos said. She attributes this to a lack of mental health and drug addiction treatment programs, feeling that if those well funded homelessness would decrease.

“That’s where you get your service-resistant homeless,” Svolos said, adding that those who experience economic hardships are most likely to seek help. “If you get them medication, you get them those mental health services and you have alcohol and drug programs… even though I know the emphasis with the state is housing first, it seems like you need to do that hand-in-glove.”

Svolos says though her views on public education, healthcare and homelessness may say otherwise, they’re in-line with Republican philosophy on spending government dollars wisely. Republicans aren’t anti-tax, she says, they’re anti-tax-for-no-reason.

Further, Svolos said, she doesn’t feel government is always the best vehicle to fix a problem when private enterprise can do it. She noted that for it to be eligible for state funding, faith-based Our Daily Bread, which provides emergency shelter and meals to Del Norte County’s homeless, is partnering with a new organization that’s secular.

“I don’t have a problem with religious institutions accepting funds, it just means they have to accept the state’s regulations also,” Svolos told the Outpost, applying it to trespassing rules. “It has to be this public entity. It cannot be a private church-run facility.”

Following Tuesday’s primary, Svolos said she will use the results to determine where she should concentrate her campaign ahead of the November general election. She said she feels fortunate since as DNTA treasurer, she’s been involved in the contractural impasse between the union and DNUSD over salaries and health benefits.

This, she said, has taken up much of her time and has been a bit of a distraction for Tuesday’s election.

Between Tuesday and Nov. 3, Svolos said she’ll increase her fundraising. Since she has neither spent nor received more than $2,000, Svolos hasn’t had to submit a finance report to the local elections office.

“March is kind of a poll,” she said. “You can look at voting data from all of the counties and how they chose to vote. Obviously I want them to pay a little more attention to Humboldt and Del Norte, but it’s important that they pay attention to Trinity and Mendocino and those areas that are more rural and not Sonoma.”

On Tuesday, the polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Polling places and precinct information can be found on the Del Norte County Elections Office website. Election results will be posted online likely at about 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, Northrup said.

Hear the full conversation between Svolos, KFUG and the Outpost.

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