Spending by outside groups made last year’s race between Susan Gorin and John Sawyer for the 1st District Sonoma County supervisor’s seat the most expensive in county history, campaign finance reports show.

Santa Rosa City Councilwoman Susan Gorin has sealed her victory over rival Santa Rosa Councilman John Sawyer in the 1st District Sonoma County supervisor’s race. Gorin led Sawyer by 1,299 a day after the election. She increased that margin by 483 votes in the final results released by the county Friday.

Santa Rosa recently declined to pay for the printing of a neighborhood newsletter that named council members who voted in favor of allowing the BoDean asphalt plant to expand.

Santa Rosa City Councilwoman Susan Gorin on Wednesday claimed victory in the tight race for an open seat on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. Her rival, John Sawyer, conceded, saying it was unlikely he would overturn the 1,299-vote margin that now separates the two candidates, even with thousands of mail-in and provisional ballots uncounted in the race.

A surge of last-minute spending has sparked a final war of words between Susan Gorin and John Sawyer, the two candidates vying for the 1st District seat on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors.
The sparring has included proxies making independent expenditures on behalf of the two rivals, who are long-time opposites on the Santa Rosa City Council.
The money race has accelerated in the past week, with both direct campaign contributions and outside spending pouring more than $80,000 into the contest to replace retiring Supervisor Valerie Brown, campaign finance records show.

The money race between the two candidates vying for Sonoma County’s 1st District Board of Supervisors seat has narrowed in October.
Susan Gorin still trails rival John Sawyer by more than $60,000 in contributions received since the start of the year. But Gorin eclipsed Sawyer in the latest reporting period, from October 1 to October 20, pulling in $40,641, or $8,238 more than Sawyer, campaign finance records show.

The political chasm separating Susan Gorin and John Sawyer, who are campaigning to become the next member of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors from the 1st District, runs wide and deep.

Susan Gorin and John Sawyer long have been rivals on the Santa Rosa City Council, staking out contrasting positions on land use, fiscal issues and neighborhood involvement.
But the election to decide who takes over the 1st District seat on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors, held for 10 years by Valerie Brown, marks the first time the political opposites have become opponents on the ballot.
The bruising runoff, now more than a year old, is being fought along familiar fronts for the candidates and their dueling political camps.

The contestants for the 1st Supervisorial District snapped and sniped furiously at each other Thursday while differentiating themselves on issues from a living wage ordinance to medical marijuana to reviving a stalled improvement project along Highway 12 in The Springs.
Susan Gorin and John Sawyer, both Santa Rosa City Council members, faced off at a forum in Sonoma, the figurative heart of a district that will soon be represented for the first time in two decades by someone not living in Sonoma Valley.

Sonoma County Supervisor Efren Carrillo has endorsed John Sawyer in his bid for an open seat on the Board of Supervisors. Carrillo backed Sawyer over Susan Gorin, who also is seeking the supervisor’s seat for the 1st District, which encompasses east Santa Rosa and Sonoma Valley.
Sawyer and Gorin are Santa Rosa City Councilmembers.
Carrillo and Sawyer announced the endorsement Thursday at a press event at La Favorita Carniceria on Highway 12 in Fetters Hot Springs outside of Sonoma.