How we reported on the extent of Latino political power in Sonoma and Napa counties

The newly published Election 2024 The series began, like many reporting projects, with a simple question.

Civic groups and Latino community leaders launched new initiatives this year aimed at increasing both the number of registered Latino voters in North Bay and the number of Latino officials in local elected offices.

But how many Latinos hold these offices? And what percentage of voters in the two districts identify as Latinos or Hispanics?

In Sonoma and Napa counties, the answers were not clear or widely known.

Outside the superior court system, where such information on the ethnic and racial composition of the judiciary is collected, there is no other reliable data for elected officials at the local level.

And neither the election offices in either county nor the California Secretary of State keep records that break down voters by race or ethnicity.

To find out, our reporters first made hundreds of phone calls and emails to local officials, including county councilors, city councilors and school board members.

We asked these officers whether they identify as Latino or Hispanic.

Their responses helped create a demographic snapshot of current local government leadership, which in some cases included surprising revelations about the level of Latino representation in the two districts.

General findings

* The largest differences in Latino political representation were in key elected offices at the county, city, and judicial levels.

* Some local school districts had higher Latino representation. However, in some cases, particularly in school districts, incumbents did not respond or refused to respond.

* The survey did not rely on last names. In some cases, elected officials proudly declared themselves to be of Latino or Hispanic origin but did not identify themselves, highlighting the difference between origin and immediate culture.

* The results are a snapshot in time. The composition of elected officials may change, in some cases dramatically, due to vacancies, appointments and turnover after the November election.

All stories, a dozen in total, can be found on our Election 2024 Page.

Reach staff writer Martin Espinoza at 707-521-5213 or [email protected]. Follow on Twitter at @pressreno.