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County · Statewide General Election

Mendocino County Board of Supervisors, District 3

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person is one of five supervisors governing Mendocino County: the budget, county health and social services, and unincorporated-area land use. A 4-year term.

Mendocino County has an open race for its 3rd District seat on the Board of Supervisors: Buffey Wright Bourassa, a Restorative Justice Program Manager with the County Sheriff's Office, faces Eric Hart, a fire-safe-council and arts-nonprofit board leader -- both from Willits. Sitting supervisor John Haschak is not seeking another term.

The winner serves a 4-year term as one of five supervisors governing Mendocino County: setting the county budget, overseeing county health and social services, and making land-use decisions for unincorporated areas of the county. District 3 covers the county's northeastern quadrant -- Willits, Laytonville, and Covelo.

This is a genuine runoff, not a fresh two-way race: four candidates ran in the June 2, 2026 primary (Wright Bourassa, Hart, machinist Clay Romero, and business owner Russell Green), and with no one clearing a majority, the top two advanced to November. The county's own updated primary count put Wright Bourassa ahead of Hart by a narrow 49 votes (1,494 to 1,445, still unofficial) -- a close race between two candidates with real, independently reported records of local involvement, per the Mendocino Voice's own reporting.

Buffey Wright Bourassa

Buffey Wright Bourassa has worked as the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office's Restorative Justice Program Manager since June 2023, after several years with the county's public health department doing substance-abuse and prevention education in schools countywide. She has served on the county's Safe Rx Opioid Coalition and on SEIU 1021's county-employee bargaining committee. Born in Ukiah and raised there and on the Pinoleville Pomo Nation reservation, she is a member of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians and a Pinoleville Pomo Nation descendant, now living in the Willits-area Sherwood Valley reservation with three adult children and grandchildren, per the Mendocino Voice's own race-entry profile.

Strengths

Direct county-government experience across two departments (public health, Sheriff's Office) plus coalition and labor-bargaining service; would be the first Native American on the Board.

Trade-offs

Never held elected office. At the county's own forum she framed dam removal and forest management through a tribal-stewardship lens, not detailed technical specifics.

Keep in mind

Substance abuse, environment, tribal representation, jobs, and trades pathways are her stated priorities. She led the June primary's initial count before her final margin narrowed to 49 votes.

Eric Hart

Eric Hart has lived in the Willits area since 2019. He sits on the Mendocino County Fire Safe Council's board of directors and chairs the Ridgewood Fire Safe Council (serving the area south of Willits), and also serves on the Willits Center for the Arts board. He is active in the Inland Mendocino Democratic Club, whose members encouraged him to run, and is married to a local physician, per the Mendocino Voice's own race-entry profile. His occupation beyond this nonprofit board work was not stated in that profile; his ballot designation is "Nonprofit/Business Advisor."

Strengths

Years of hands-on local nonprofit leadership on-point for the district's wildfire risk (two fire-safe councils) plus an arts-nonprofit board seat; calls it community work, not politics.

Trade-offs

Never held elected office; no coverage found names a primary employer or occupation beyond his ballot designation and nonprofit board service.

Keep in mind

At the forum, Hart took a pragmatic line on dam removal -- calling it likely, while emphasizing minimizing impact -- and named water storage and fire-safety education as priorities. He led the initial count before Wright Bourassa's final margin put her 49 votes ahead.

Source review: Strong (86/100) · 8 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • mendocinocounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Mendocino County Elections -- "CANDIDATE LIST - NOVEMBER 3, 2026": names Buffey Wright Bourassa and Eric Hart for Supervisor, 3rd District, and Marilyn Puget (incumbent) and Craig Perry for County Board of Education, Trustee Area 1 -- both races 2 qualified candidates for 1 seat.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Mendocino County, California": confirms the Board of Supervisors' 5-member, one-per-district structure and names John Haschak, not either 2026 candidate, as the sitting District 3 supervisor -- confirming a genuine open seat.
  • mendovoice.com (opens in a new tab)The Mendocino Voice -- "Willits resident Buffey Wright Bourassa enters race for District 3 supervisor": her occupation (Restorative Justice Program Manager, Mendocino County Sheriff's Office), prior public-health department work, Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians/Pinoleville Pomo Nation heritage, and stated platform priorities.
  • mendovoice.com (opens in a new tab)The Mendocino Voice -- "Eric Hart enters race for Mendocino County District 3 supervisor seat": his residence in Willits since 2019, Mendocino County Fire Safe Council board seat and Ridgewood Fire Safe Council chairmanship, Willits Center for the Arts board seat, and stated platform priorities.
  • mendovoice.com (opens in a new tab)The Mendocino Voice -- "Mendocino County District 3 Board of Supervisors candidates participate in packed forum": the April 19, 2026 Willits candidate forum, directly quoting Wright Bourassa's and Hart's positions on Potter Valley Project dam removal, Jackson Demonstration State Forest management, and wildfire policy.
  • mendovoice.com (opens in a new tab)The Mendocino Voice -- "Initial results in for two Mendocino County supervisor races": June 2, 2026 primary-night totals for the 4-candidate District 3 field (Hart 389, Wright Bourassa 384, Romero 344, Green 209) and confirmation that, with no majority winner, the top two advance to November.
  • mendovoice.com (opens in a new tab)The Mendocino Voice -- "Wright Bourassa holds on to lead for district 3, Measure A just shy of passing": updated (still unofficial) June primary tally, Wright Bourassa 1,494 to Hart's 1,445, a 49-vote margin -- both confirmed as the top two advancing.
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)Mendocino County's own elections page (HTTP 403, Akamai Bot Manager) and the state's Cal-Access filer search (a client-rendered page returning no extractable content): a documented access block for all four candidates across both contests, not evidence about any candidate's actual campaign finances.

Last updated September 2, 2026.