Tom Schwedhelm reflects on District 4 race as ballot counting continues

After Supervisor James Gore leaves the board, either Melanie Bagby or Tom Schwedhelm will join to represent Northern Sonoma County.

photo credit: Shandra Back/KRCB
Tom Schwedhelm speaks with supporters at his election night watch party at Russian River Brewing Co. in Winsor on Nov. 3, 2026.

According to preliminary election results, which surely will change as more ballots are counted this week, Melanie Bagby has a slight lead over Tom Schwedhelm in the race for the District 4 seat on the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. KRCB News caught up with Schwedhelm at his Election Night watch party in Russian River Brewery in Windsor, prior to polls closing.

KRCB: How are you feeling tonight?

SCHWEDHELM: Obviously there's some nervousness because you put all the time, energy and effort into it. And until the votes first start coming in, we have no idea.

I equate it to going into a jury trial where you present all the information to the jury. They go into the jury box, but until they come out to say the jury's verdict, you have no idea what they're going to say. And it's kind of a similar thing. So we've done all the work. I have no regrets. We've worked our tails off and now we're going to see if the voters agree with what our message was.

KRCB: Looking back on the campaign, how are you feeling?

SCHWEDHELM: I'm feeling confident. Again, I have no regrets because, especially the last couple weeks where we've been doing seven days a week, door knocking. We hit over 15,000 doors. That doesn't happen overnight. The team of volunteers, and I've been out there with them.  And I can't think of anything, again, I'm saying this without knowing the results, but I have no regrets. I think we did everything we wanted to do. Nothing was left unsaid.

KRCB: What was the last week looking like for you in your campaign?

SCHWEDHELM: Last week we finished up some door knocking, but we also got from the registrar of voters how many people had been voting. And so last week we had a last couple meet-and-greets, raised some funds, and then we've done some sign wavings and just connecting with constituents via emails or text, answering questions that people might have.

KRCB: Speaking with constituents, what brought people out to the polls this year?

SCHWEDHELM: I couldn't tell you what brought people out to the polls this year, but the question that they would ask me, unfortunately, there's been a lot of misinformation about me in our campaign. Specifically, I've been called "mini MAGA" or that I voted for the current president, which I never have.

So there's a lot of misinformation, so I've been trying to clarify that. There's only one person who knows who I voted for and that's me, and no, I did not vote for the current person in the White House.

KRCB: Is there anything else you'd like to add tonight about the watch party, the campaign or the waiting game?

SCHWEDHELM: It is what it is. I just hope people got out and voted because that's the most important thing. Share your voice. If you don't share your voice, then other people are making decisions for you. So I hope we have a high voter turnout.