Unofficial election night results posted by the secretary of state Tuesday night showed Denis Bilodeau jumping to an early lead with Tom Umberg and Cody Petterson trailing behind in the race for Board of Equalization.
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Five people this year are vying to represent a portion of Southern California residents on a board responsible for overseeing the state’s property tax system. That includes Democrats Martín Arias, Petterson and Umberg are running for the District 4 spot, along with Republican Bilodeau and Libertarian Gardner Osborne.
California’s Board of Equalization is a small statewide team — comprised of four people elected to represent districts encompassing some 10 million constituents each, plus the state controller — supervising property taxes and the Alcoholic Beverage Tax and Tax on Insurers programs.
• Related: 2026 Board of Equalization District 4 candidates discuss California’s property taxes and how to best use those funds
These members hear appeals from taxpayers regarding state-assessed property values, oversee all of the 58 county assessors and set the taxable value of property owned by the state’s public utilities and railroads, among other things.
Voters in Orange, Riverside, San Diego and Imperial counties, as well as some voters in San Bernardino County, get to choose someone new to represent them on the Board of Equalization for the District 4 seat. Mike Schaefer, who has served in the seat since 2019, is prevented from running again due to term limits.
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• Also see: June 2 Primary Election Results
Umberg has served in the state Legislature for several years, now representing northern Orange County communities and parts of Los Angeles County in the state Senate. He is a retired U.S. Army colonel, former federal criminal prosecutor, former deputy drug czar for President Bill Clinton and a small business owner. He has been leaning into his background prosecuting public corruption as he runs for the seat.
A San Diego Unified school board trustee, Petterson serves as chief deputy for District 4 and has already “focused on reducing overhead; maintaining close, constructive relationships with stakeholders; and fulfilling the Board of Equalization’s commitment to fairness, effectiveness and transparency,” his campaign website said.
Osborne is a tax accountant and investment adviser who said he has not heard from an elected Board of Equalization official before — and the San Diego resident wants the office to do better at showing the inner workings of how tax collection works in California. And when it comes to how the board can better oversee the county assessors, Osborne said it’s all about reviewing.
President of the Orange Taxpayers Association, Bilodeau is a licensed civil engineer and a member of the Orange City Council as well as the Orange County Water District. A UC Irvine alumnus, Bilodeau said he’s signed pledges to oppose tax increases and is adept at reading government budgets and spotting wasteful spending.
Arias, a San Ysidro school board trustee, already works as a taxpayer advocate in the San Diego assessor/recorder/county clerk office. He has also worked in the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office, where he oversaw resource fairs that helped unhoused people.
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Continue to check back here as more votes are counted.