Two years ago there was also a competitive race for an open seat on the board, the most competitive election in a decade. Four well-known candidates were running for Mark Church’s vacant position — Dave Pine, the eventual victor who was then a member of the San Mateo Union High School district board of trustees; Richard Holober, a well-known labor leader and a member of the San Mateo County Community College District board; Millbrae Vice Mayor Gina Papan; and Burlingame Councilwoman Terry Nagel.

This race is going to be very different. District 4 includes Redwood City, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto and the unincorporated areas of North Fair Oaks and Oak Knoll. The six candidates are not as well known as the four main contenders in 2010. No candidate will have a monopoly of endorsements from the county’s political elite. The candidates are Kirsten Keith, mayor of Menlo Park; Shelly Masur, Redwood City school board trustee; Memo Morantes, San Mateo County school board trustee; Ernie Schmidt, Redwood City planning commissioner; Carlos Romero and David Woods, both East Palo Alto councilmen.

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Memo was first to announce. He has the support of former assemblyman Gene Mullin, East Palo Alto Mayor Laura Martinez; Sheriff Greg Munks and San Mateo Councilwoman Maureen Freschet plus most of his colleagues on the county school board. So far, Shelly Masur seems to have the lead on big name countywide endorsements — state Sen. Leland Yee, Supervisors Dave Pine and Don Horsley and an impressive list of councilmembers: Christine Wozniak, Belmont; Michael Brownrigg, Burlingame; Pam Frisella and past member, Linda Koelling, Foster City; Christine Krolik, and Marie Chuang, Hillsborough; Jeff Gee, Barbara Pierce, Jeff Ira, John Seybert, and former member Diane Howard, Redwood City; Ron Collins, Andy Klein, Mark Olbert and Bob Grassilli, San Carlos; Dave Lim, San Mateo and Rich Garbarino, South San Francisco. Schmidt, Keith, Woods and Romero have not produced their list of endorsements yet although Redwood City Mayor Alicia Aguirre is endorsing Schmidt and Jacobs-Gibson has indicated her support for Woods.

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Rose was appointed in 1999 to fill the board seat vacated by Ruben Barrales (who went on to run for statewide office and lost). Both Rose and Ruben were favored by the county’s political establishment. and had no trouble winning a countywide race. In the 2010 election, the county’s prime political endorsements were split by the four candidates. But it’s much more difficult now when there are six.

The two most recent District 4 supervisors came from primarily minority communities, Gibson, East Palo Alto and Barrales, North Fair Oaks. In the upcoming race three candidates are Latinos — Morantes, Romero and Schmidt — and one African American, David Woods. The county’s new Latino PAC does not plan to support a candidate in the June primary. They will wait to see who emerges in the run-off in November.

The pending lawsuit regarding the California Voting Rights Act argues that minority candidates would do better in district rather than countywide elections. But in this primary that might not be true given the number of so-called minority candidates running. It’s also unusual to have two members of a city council vying against each other for the same county position as in the case of Romero and Woods. It’s also strange that most of the Redwood City councilmembers are supporting a Redwood City school boardmember, Masur, rather than a member of the city’s planning commission, Schmidt. Keith is a late entry and by announcing so late she may have forfeited the endorsements of several of her city council colleagues in other cities. In the 2010 election, Nagel, then Burlingame mayor, entered late and had a difficult time catching up. However, it’s way too early to speculate on the outcome. The two top vote getters in June will vie in November. They will probably be the ones who raise the most money and have the most important endorsements.

Stay tuned.

Sue Lempert is the former mayor of San Mateo. Her column appears every Monday. She can be reached at sue@smdailyjournal.com.