Winning candidate Chris Kelstrom will serve as Shasta County District 5’s next supervisor.

Shasta County’s latest election results are in. Now, baring any unforeseen circumstances — like a recount — it’s all over but the shoutin’ for Shasta County’s Midterm Election.

Click here to see a complete list of all California/Shasta County Midterm Election results.

In a reversal of the June primary election results, a pair of far-right populist candidates won both open seats on the Shasta County Board of Supervisors in closely fought Nov. 8 elections in which neck-and-neck updates have trickled out for weeks.

Come January, unless something unexpected happens with regard to the election results, Kevin Crye will assume the District 1 seat, replacing outgoing District 1 Supervisor Joe Chimenti. Likewise, Chris Kelstrom will assume Les Baugh’s District 5 seat, available because Baugh, like Chimenti, opted out of running for re-election at the end of their 2022 terms.

Crye and Kelstrom will join District 2 Supervisor Tim Garman (who replaced Leonard Moty in a lie-based recall), and District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones in a 4-1 ultraconservative majority.

Soon, with Chimenti’s departure, District 3 Supervisor Mary Rickert will be the sole remaining moderate Republican on the dais, and for that, the ultra-conservatives have maliciously labeled her a “RINO”. The MAGA Republicans are all in and will dominate the board for at least the next two years, until March 2024, when three seats will be up for grabs: Jones’ of District 4, Garman’s of District 2, and Rickert’s of District 3.

As reported Tuesday in the most recent Shasta County election department estimated update, Crye and Kelstrom each maintained the thin leads they’ve held for weeks.

In District 1, Ninja Coalition gym owner Crye overtook Dutch Bros co-owner/opponent Erin Resner; 50.42 percent and 5,463 votes to Resner’s 49.58 percent and 5,373 votes. Before today’s results, the elections department’s Nov. 23 report had Crye leading Resner 5,445 votes to 5,357 — a margin of a scant 88 votes – with 385 remaining unprocessed ballots. Tuesday’s result showed Crye leading by just 90 votes.

In the District 5 Supervisor contest, today’s election results show that State of Jefferson secessionist/grocery store manager Chris Kelstrom advanced even further beyond opponent former Marine Anderson Mayor Baron Browning for the win, 51.85 percent to 48.15 percent;  6,238 votes to 5,793 votes, respectively. Kelstrom won by 445 votes.

Baron Browning, District 5 Supervisor candidate, lost to opponent Chris Kelstrom.

Last week’s Thanksgiving-Eve election update showed Kelstrom in the lead over Browning, 51.83 percent to 48.17 percent, with Kelstrom 439 votes ahead of Browning. Even before th e election had been officially called, Browning accepted what he must have believed was a fait accompli, and graciously conceded victory to Kelstrom.

Watch and learn, election-deniers (notice that they only deny elections in which their side loses).

Chris Kelstrom, District 5 Supervisor winner.

If the results stand, Connecticut multimillionaire Reverge Anselmo’s $1 million investment in Shasta County rightwing politics over the past three election cycles will have paid off well beyond the modest expectations of Jones, the chief beneficiary of Anselmo’s largesse with $110,000 in donations.

Connecticut son-of-a-billionaire Reverge Anselmo, aka The Connecticut Carpetbagger, has donated $1 million to local conservative causes.

Last year, in the Red, White and Blueprint political docuseries co-produced by alt-right provocateur Carlos Zapata, Jones yearned to be able to count to three, referring to the 3-2 majority required to prevail on the 5-member board. With Crye and Kelstrom joining the MAGA squad, Jones will have a 4-1 majority on most issues that come before the board. Welcome to Jonestown, courtesy of Reverge Anselmo.

While the supposedly (but not really) nonpartisan supervisor races were razor close in Shasta County, in national and statewide races the local electorate remains redder than ever, with more than two-thirds voting for Republican candidates and issues.

Of the 111,605 registered voters in Shasta County, 68,986 people actually voted, 61.81 percent of the electorate.

In the 1st Congressional District contest, nearly two-thirds of Shasta County voters — 66.06 percent –chose MAGA Republican and Jan. 6 insurrectionist Rep. Doug LaMalfa over decorated combat veteran and foreign service officer Max Steiner, a Democrat who got just over one-third of the Shasta County Vote, 33.94 percent.

In the governor’s race, almost three-quarters of the county’s 68,986 registered voters, 72.84 percent, chose Republican state Sen. Brian Dahle over Democratic incumbent Gov. Gavin Newsom. Nevertheless Newsom crushed Dahle 59.4 percent to 40.6 percent in the statewide vote, illustrating the disconnect between the state’s urban majority and rural minority voters.

Predictably, Shasta County voters rejected Prop.1, but by less than the expected 70-30 margin, with 54.92 percent voting against it and 45.08 percent voting in favor. The initiative was a response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial Dobbs decision eliminating the federal right to an abortion in June. Statewide, Prop. 1 passed with more than two-thirds of the vote, 67 percent to 33 percent.

Shasta County feels out of touch with the state as a whole because it is.

Nationally, the Democratic Party may have avoided the forecasted red wave in congressional races, but locally, Shasta County remains one of the reddest counties in the bluest of states. In addition to the Shasta County Board of Supervisors, the Redding City Council and several school boards have taken a more conservative turn. Expect these political upheavals to percolate to the surface sooner rather than later.

In this first segment of a two-part feature, A News Cafe journalists RV Scheide and Doni Chamberlain discuss the election outcomes, and weigh in with opinions, observations, projections and trends worth watching.

Suffering from premature congratulation: On the June Primary Election night, Shasta County District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones congratulates candidates Brian Caples, John Greene, Chris Kelstrom, Eric Jensen and Bob Holsinger. Of those pictured, only Kelstrom would advance to a November runoff.

RV Scheide: Democrats are scarce around these parts. The nonpartisan county supervisor races were all-Republican affairs, with conservative but inexperienced MAGA Republicans narrowly defeating more experienced moderate Republicans — labeled by the hard-right side as RINOs — in a reversal of fortune for Shasta County’s right wing populist movement.

In June’s primary election, experienced candidates, including Shasta County Clerk/Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen, District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett and Superintendent of Schools Judy Flores, easily defeated their untested ultraconservative Trumpublican opponents by double-digit margins.

But in the general election, the anti-establishment populists, aided by Anselmo bucks, evened the score. Conservative political newcomers Kevin Crye and Chris Kelstrom narrowly defeated their more experienced establishment opponents Erin Resner and Baron Browning in the races for the District 1 and District 5 Shasta County Supervisor seats.

Doni Chamberlain: I think one likely reason anti-establishment Shasta County supervisor candidates Crye and Kelstrom did better in this recent midterm general election than in the June primaries is because the anti-establishment candidates were brutally beaten in June.

They felt humiliated, so they redoubled their efforts. This time, they were in it to win it.

Regarding the Resner/Crye race, Resner’s campaign suffered several fatal missteps. For starters, although she was the most experienced candidate, she appeared tone deaf to how the majority of her constituents live.

For example, after the June primary, she didn’t hold enough of a lead over Crye for a win, which meant that Resner and Crye would face a runoff in the Nov. 8 Midterm election. Even so, on election night, Resner was so confident of her heir-apparent status that she hosted what I came to refer to as the “white girl’s party”.

Resner wore white. She asked all her guests to wear white.

The musicians wore white. The servers wore white. Even the balloons were white. The optimistically premature celebration was held outdoors upon on a meticulously landscaped yard with a stunning view, all of which were no surprise, since Resner and her husband are the founders and co-owners of the successful Dutch Bros chain of coffee kiosks. The thing is, as benign and innocent as Resner’s all-white event may have been, it looked like something out of a Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous episode.

The circulating images were wince-worthy, but so were social media posts the previous month boasting Resner’s campaign fundraiser at Anselmo Vineyard, the sprawling eastern Shasta County restaurant and winery formerly owned by Reverge Anselmo. That place is the epicenter of Anselmo’s Shasta County death wish.

Considering how much damage Anselmo has done to Shasta County politically, hosting a fundraiser at his former estate would be like inviting Camp Fire survivors to a memorial picnic on PG&E land.

Certainly, parties and fundraisers are part of the campaign process. However, in each of the above instances, the widely shared and re-shared social media posts about the events could easily leave the impression that Resner had forgotten – or was unaware – that the average Shasta County citizen cannot remotely relate to Resner’s wealth and upscale lifestyle. To publicize images of such lavish events at a time when many North State residents are struggling mightily to find living-wage employment and pay for housing, gas, medical bills and rising grocery prices, suggests insensitivity to most Shasta County folks’ realities.

District 1 candidate Kevin Crye at Red, White and Blueprint-hosted debate.

Moving on to Crye. He ran a nasty campaign from the get-go that smacked of an anything-goes desperation. His temper flared a few times, such as the time he spoke during one public comment period at the Board of Supervisors. On that morning, Crye turned his comments to a deputy district attorney in the audience who said she’d taken personal time off work to speak on behalf of District Attorney Stephanie Bridgett.

“Well, la-dee-frickin’ dah!” Crye said. He wasn’t joking. He appeared truly angry, an expression that seemed his resting debate-face throughout the campaign whenever Resner spoke.

Crye can hair-split all he wants regarding his true residence. He can insist when he did or when he did not live in which district (much like Michael Dacquisto and the Redding City Council race). But the fact remains that Crye was a textbook carpetbagger who announced his intentions to run as a District 1 candidate at a time when Crye’s family home was located in District 4; Patrick Jones’ district.

Furthermore, as Benjamin Nowain pointed out, Crye was so ignorant of his own district that he erroneously told Supervisor Chimenti during a Board of Supervisors public comment period that he’d voted for Supervisor Chimenti, which was impossible, because at the time Crye’s residence was located in District 4.

1. What’s with Crye’s fixation on District 1, anyway? If Crye was so determined to run for supervisor, he could have done it right. He could have waited until Jones — District 4’s representative — was up for re-election in 2024. Then Crye could have run as a bona-fide contender in the District 4 race. Had he done that, Crye and his family could have remained in his wife’s dream home. He could have avoided the rigmarole of listing his District 4 home for sale, and renting a District 1 townhouse in which to cram himself, his wife, their kids and the family dog.

2. What’s the rush? Well, we know that Crye has suffered some financial challenges. Perhaps Crye’s burning desire to secure a seat as a supervisor now was motivated by his desire for a supervisor’s annual salary of about $50,000, plus medical benefits, asap.

Either way, Crye was obviously hell-bent to win by almost any means. And when the going got tough, Crye got dirty. One of his nastiest schemes was to mail flyers to every District 1 voter that contained unsubstantiated claims about rats and roaches in the Resner’s Dutch Bros. businesses.

In fact, Resner’s lawyer sent Crye a cease-and-desist letter ordering Crye to stop sending the flyers.

During forums, Resner provided informative, detail-rich responses, while Crye’s M.O. was to attack Resner rather than answer questions and state fact-based positions and solutions.

The debate on Carl Bott’s KCNR radio show may have been the final nail in Resner’s campaign coffin. During the show, Crye repeatedly attacked Resner, yet Bott failed to rein in the amped-up gym owner, despite Bott’s frequent admonitions for the candidates to not bash each other, but to please discuss solutions. Crye blatantly ignored Bott, a Marine about whom I once joked was my favorite conservative; someone I mused would make an ideal debate-moderator because of his class and decorum.

Since Crye and Resner’s train-wreck of a KCNR debate, I’ve withdrawn that suggestion.

At the half-hour break point, when the show was off the air, Resner lashed out in anger at Crye. She dropped some F-bombs and allegedly threatened to punch Crye in his f……. face. (When ANC asked Resner to confirm or deny the the story, she didn’t deny it.)

That story spread quickly throughout the North State. Resner came across as a crazy woman with anger issues. But to Crye’s supporters, he was the hero.

Crye campaigned as a bully, which, in civilized places, is considered a despicable thing. But Shasta County is a darkly dysfunctional place sometimes, because many voters — men and women alike — find toxic masculinity appealing. They admire he-men like Crye who are rude, disrespectful and demeaning to women.

With Crye as supervisor, he’ll be in good company.

For precedence Crye can refer to misogynistic roll models Shasta County Supervisor Chair Les Baugh and Vice Chair Patrick Jones, each of whom have mastered the art of routine gas-lighting and disrespecting Supervisor Mary Rickert.

Chris Kelstrom, left, defeated Baron Browning in the District 5 Supervisor race.

Doni Chamberlain: Common sense would predict that Kelstrom, a virtual unknown before 2022, would be soundly beaten by Browning, the experienced, well-connected Anderson mayor and Fortune-500 businessman.

In fact, the exact opposite occurred.

I watched many of the Kelstrom/Browning forums, and I was struck by a few things. First, the men professed to be good friends, which was a huge relief in comparison to the Crye/Resner animosity-laced debates.

Second, on a purely psychological basis, I wonder whether the men’s physical differences played a part in Kelstrom’s success. Kelstrom, the 6-foot-9 former grocery store manager, even pointed out this most outstanding feature with his campaign slogan: “Head and shoulders above the rest.”

That’s a true statement, as Kelstrom towers over Browning (and pretty much everyone). Even their voices are in contrast. Kelstrom’s is a clear bass, while Browning’s is more in the tenor range.

They were a study in other contrasts, too.  Although Browning was clearly a high-caliber candidate, Kelstrom came across in the forums as more conversational, folksy, relaxed and laid back than Browning. I’ve heard anecdotally that for some voters, the more-refined Browning may have struck some as too highfalutin and unrelatable, similar to the curse suffered by young, blond, beautiful and wealthy Resner.

In rural Shasta County, superior candidates sometimes leave voters feeling inferior, which is a crappy feeling.

I’m reminded of the time after George W. Bush was elected, hearing that some voters chose Bush because they wanted someone with whom they could relate and have a beer. Kelstrom is that guy.

Setting aside physical and personality characteristics, Browning’s campaign, like Resner’s, had some dire moments that may have alienated progressives and far-right voters alike.

First, Browning stepped in it royal when he accepted an unsolicited maximum $4900 donation from Reverge Anselmo at the campaign’s outset.

Adding insult to campaign injury, Browning refused to return the donation, which was a deal-breaker for moderate voters opposed to Anslemo’s meddling in Shasta County politics.

Then Browning enraged many local ultra-conservative voters when his name and photo appeared on a poster promoting a town hall “meet and mingle” that featured Browning, Redding City Council candidate Erin Resner, and 1st Congressional District candidate Max Steiner, a Democrat. (NOTE: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Tenessa Audette participated in the Sierra Forward event. Our apologies for the confusion.)

It was a rather unusual event on many levels. It was held at the Frontier Senior Center in Anderson; which should have given Browning the homecourt advantage, since it’s where Browning lives, and where he’s the city’s mayor. The moderator was Mike Warren, former Redding City Manager and retiring Turtle Bay Exploration Park CEO, who’s surfed beneath Shasta County’s political radar for some time. Even the event’s sponsor caused confusion, as some people wrongly mistook the host, Sierra Forward — a non-profit super PAC — with Sierra Pacific, one of the largest lumber companies in the country.

As an aside, none of the candidates who appeared on that Sierra Forward flyer won their elections.

Campaign insiders reported that outgoing District 5 Supervisor Les Baugh, who’d originally endorsed Browning as his replacement, was displeased that Browning would appear on the stage with Democrat candidate Steiner.

Browning subsequently was a no-show at that forum. Even so, lo and behold, despite Browning’s absence from the Sierra Forward debate, Baugh soon withdrew his support for Browning and endorsed Kelstrom.

District 5 Supervisor candidate Chris Kelstrom is a fervent State of Jefferson supporter.

RV Scheide: I think it’s important to emphasize the races for District 1 and District 5 were extremely close. Slightly more than half of District 1 voters chose Crye over the more experienced Resner; slightly more than half of District 5 voters chose Kelstrom over the more experienced Browning. It wasn’t a landslide or a mandate.

I endorsed moderate Republicans Resner and Browning based on their years of experience in local government and business. Both candidates have traveled the traditional route to public office, joining civic organizations, volunteering for charities, forming networks of supporters. Ironically, their success worked against them in this election, branding them as establishment candidates in a political season in which the establishment is out of fashion.

Further cementing her status as an establishment candidate was Resner’s vote in a majority 4-1 Redding City Council decision in 2020. The decision approved the sale of a small parcel of public land to an LLC connected to the billionaire founder of Sierra Pacific Industries, Archie Aldis “Red” Emmerson.

Like the city of Redding at the time, Emmerson opposes the Redding Rancheria’s planned casino expansion in Strawberry Fields, which will fill open space between I-5 and the east side of Emmerson’s massive estate. The small parcel was purchased to block the Tribe’s access to the casino construction site.

Redding City Councilmembers Resner, Julie Winter, Kristen Schreder and Mark Mezzano voted for the sale, while only Michael Dacquisto voted against it. The Tribe sued Redding two years ago. A Shasta County Superior Court judge ruled the city’s sale of the land was illegal in May, just in time for the June primary.

The illegal sale reeked of establishment cronyism in an election where the establishment was already on trial. Resner bested Crye in the primary, but her vote for the illegal land deal remained a drag on her campaign in the general election, even as it elevated Crye’s campaign.

It’s worth noting that Crye, who received a maximum $4900 individual donation from Anselmo for the primary election and was listed on Anselmo slate fliers, has since distanced himself from Shasta County’s rightwing populists.

Like his personal finances, Crye’s politics are somewhat enigmatic. Crye claims to be a successful sports agent a la Jerry McGuire, but failed to disclose any income from that profession on his statement of economic interests. We know he’s against mask and vaccine mandates, and he says that he’s for balancing the county budget, and that’s about it.

As far as the county budget goes, both Kelstrom and Crye claim they’ll resist state funding that comes with strings attached. Every rightwing candidate always says that, and always winds up capitulating to the state. Both have expressed their preference for the smaller downtown jail project rather than the sprawling Wagon Wheel of Justice concept proposed by Shasta County Sheriff Michael Johnson and endorsed by Resner and Browning.

A slim majority of District 1 and 5 voters, many of them still traumatized by the state’s COVID-19 pandemic mandates, chose less government this election, and that extends to programs that might help repeat offenders break the cycle of addiction, criminality and violence. That’s why they gave Kelstrom and Crye the nod.

The main difference between a moderate Republican and a MAGA Republican is moderate Republicans have empathy. For MAGA Republicans the cruelty is the point.

RV Scheide: If past is prologue, expect the Jonestown majority to continue its assault on county officials, employees and services. For example, after the recall election in February gave Jones a 3-2 majority, Jones, Baugh and Garman cavalierly fired Public Health Officer Dr. Karen Ramstrom. It was a brutal and ignorant sacking from which the county has yet to recover, even as the so-called tripledemic of RSV, flu and COVID is at our doorstep.

District 4 Supervisor Patrick Jones films his staged lie-detector test in a Red, White and Blueprint episode.

Beyond more firings, expect more clown cars and magic tricks. For Jones, public service is performative, meaning elected officials perform actual stunts, from restaging the crossing of the Delaware to filming oneself vandalizing the board chambers at night to staging fake lie detector tests to prove imaginary events from 15 years ago somehow took place.

The son of a gun-store owner’s next stunt will almost undoubtedly involve advocating for the right to openly carry firearms in public. In June the U.S. Supreme Court’s far right 6-3 majority decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association Inc. vs. Bruen more or less made open carry the law of the land. Jones has been crowing about Bruen ever since, at board meetings and in TV news interviews.

California’s Democratic supermajority Legislature has so far failed to respond to Bruen, and put forward legislation reinforcing the state’s concealed and open-carry regulations, which may be unconstitutional as presently written. California gun rights advocates have already filed lawsuits citing the new Supreme Court precedent. Don’t be surprised when Jones resurrects the local chapter of the California Rifle and Pistol Association’s declaration of Shasta County as a 2nd Amendment sanctuary.

District 5 Supervisor Patrick Jones’ 2020 campaign poster.

More guns are coming. It will be interesting to gauge tourists’ reactions to local patriots carrying AR-15s on the Sundial Bridge and homeless people packing pistols down by the river.

District 3 Supervisor Mary Rickert will soon be the last remaining moderate Republican Shasta County County Supervisor.

RV Scheide: As long as Erin Resner remained in play in the District 1 Supervisor race, District 3 Supervisor Mary Rickert could count on at least one safe-and-sane voice joining her on the board minority. But now that Crye and Kelstrom have won, Rickert looks to be the odd woman out on a super-conservative 4-1 board majority. It will be up to her to resist Jones’s more reactionary impulses by persuading the more politically malleable Garman and Crye to vote with her against Jones and Kelstrom.

It’s not an enviable position to be in, especially for Rickert, who as the only woman on the board has endured nearly three years of misogynistic and often violent insults and threats from the medical freedom/MAGA mob that has occupied the board chambers since March 2020. Rickert’s up for reelection in 2024, but the board’s hard rightward slant makes running again a dubious proposition. Friends of Rickert (or perhaps Jonestown agents) have even urged her to “Get out now!” on social media.

Should she stay or should she go? It won’t be an easy decision for Ricker either way

Doni Chamberlain: I agree, RV.

I’ve watched with horror the emotional abuse and stress Rickert has endured for the last few years as a supervisor. Through it all — the put-downs from two of her supervisor colleagues, as well as blatant death threats — I’ve marveled how Rickert continues to not just show up, but she works circles around the other supervisors. I know she’s strong, and I know she takes her commitment to her constituents seriously. I also know she’s dedicated her heart and soul to Shasta County, and if she ends up the lonely 1 in a 4-1 MAGA majority, she’ll be rendered obsolete and virtually invisable.

If she did choose to leave before her term expired in 2024, Shasta County would lose a stellar leader, but voters would have nobody but themselves to blame for not standing up to the bullies earlier, way back when MAGA patriots were beating the recall drums. Do I sound bitter? Possibly.

As always, Rickert’s a class act. When it looked like the election count tide was turning in Crye and Kelstrom’s favor, she provided ANC with a statement regarding the election outcome.

Here’s what she said:

“Both races for the District 1 and District 5 campaigns were very close. I look forward to working with Mr. Crye and Mr. Kelstrom to serve the needs of all residents of Shasta County. Politics aside, our responsibility is to focus on the needs of our communities and serve with integrity.”

RV Scheide: It made me ill to see some of Supervisor Rickert’s supporters on social media suggesting she leave office now, two years before her second term is up. I’ve seen other people giving up too. It’s disturbing. I don’t like it. Granted, if you live in Shasta County and you’re anything to the left of a MAGA Republican, the election results are disappointing. But now more than ever is not the time to give up.

Yes, Supervisor Jones has a potential 4-1 majority. But the supervisor races were close, and the public may not be in the mood for a board pursuing MAGA’s anti-woke agenda when there are more important things at stake: You know, like trying to stop the whole county from burning down around us.

I’m biased about Rickert in large part because I live in the 3rd district and she’s my supervisor. She’s everything you’d ever want in a county supervisor. She takes the job seriously, attends countless meetings and is accessible to her constituents. Slowly but surely since she took office in 2017, things are getting done in the 3rd district. There’s a huge wildfire resilience project coming online in the Whitmore area, and Rickert has been instrumental in shepherding such projects to the district.

With Resner in the running, Rickert had a potential partner, protégé and maybe even a reason to run for one more term in 2024.

Without Resner, Rickert by herself won’t be enough to stop Jones’ performative shenanigans. It’s worth noting again that Crye and Garman aren’t as ideological as Jones and Kelstrom, and are therefore capable of being persuaded. But it’s an uphill slog. Hopefully a suitable replacement candidate will arise if Rickert chooses not to run in 2024. No one will blame her if she doesn’t run.

Things have gotten out of hand in Shasta County.

Click here for the most current Midterm Election updates.

Check back tomorrow for Part 2: Shasta County Election Postmortem.

Journalist Doni Chamberlain founded A News Cafe in 2007 with son Joe Domke. She’s an award-winning newspaper opinion columnist, feature and food writer.

R.V. Scheide is an award-winning journalist who has covered news, politics, music, arts and culture in Northern California for more than 30 years.

Doni Chamberlain and R.V. Scheide are both award-winning North State journalists.

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