Running two years ago for a seat on the Walnut Creek City Council at age 33, Laura Patch faced questions about her youthfulness and lack of political experience from voters in the suburban Contra Costa County city. Unsurprisingly, she came up short on election night.
"Walnut Creek voters like people to serve eight, 10, 12 years on a city commission before they will support them as candidates for City Council. I got a lot of that two years ago when I tried to run," recalled Patch, a senior product manager and process improvement specialist for the Sierra Club.
Undaunted, Patch remained civically engaged and determined to win election to one of the council's five seats that are voted on citywide. She volunteers with the Walnut Creek Community Cleanup Crew, Walnut Creek Downtown, and Sustainable Walnut Creek.
She also sings lead with the Diablo Vista Chorus and the Sweet Adelines, a barbershop style chorus, both of which she joined in 2019. Last year, Patch became an inaugural board member of the University of San Francisco's Women in Leadership Program for those mid-career and seeking executive and managerial roles.
Earlier this year, when an opening came up on her city's transportation commission, Patch successfully sought appointment to the seat in May.
Another change since her first council candidacy came with Patch coming out of the closet as queer. As such, should she win election this November 5, she would be the first known LGBTQ council member in the city.
"I've always known I am not a zero on the Kinsey scale. Recently, talking with some of my friends in the community, it felt disingenuous to say I am straight when I am not," said Patch, who is single and started her coming out process last year.
Her sexuality has not, as of yet, been an issue in this year's campaign. In fact, it hardly comes up, Patch told the Bay Area Reporter during a recent phone interview to discuss her candidacy.
"In our candidate forums and such, people ignore the queer issues in a fascinating way to me. I am not experiencing direct attacks; they are ignoring the issue because they don't want to address it," said Patch, who gave an example of what happened at a recent event. "At one forum the other candidates were asked about DEI and how the city can be more accepting of diversity. My question was how to get young people involved in the city."
She is one of five candidates seeking the three council seats on this fall's ballot. Two incumbents are seeking reelection, City Councilmembers Kevin Wilk and Cindy Darling, thus the race is largely expected to come down to which of the three newcomers will win the open seat.
"People for the most part are happy with Walnut Creek so there is not a lot of sentiment to get rid of people currently in office," said Patch, a condo owner near the city's Walden Park who lives with her Chihuahua mix breed rescue dog Sookie, named after the chef Sookie St. James from the TV show "Gilmore Girls" played by Melissa McCarthy. "I think it is really coming down to what can me and the other two non-incumbent candidates offer this city in terms of different viewpoints."
At 35 years old, Patch would be the youngest person on the council and the only member who doesn't live in a single-family home. She also comes with a career in community activism versus owning or working at a business.
"For me, it is important we are making sure there is representation of different viewpoints on the city council. Studies have proven diversity leads to better choices and decision making," said Patch.
She is running against two straight married dads, real estate broker Brendan Moran and John Muir Walnut Creek Emergency Department Dr. Craig DeVinney. Among Moran's endorsers is gay Contra Costa County Supervisor Ken Carlson, while gay former Hayward city councilmember Kevin Dowling is among those backing DeVinney.
Patch's endorsers include the Contra Costa Labor Council, the Democratic Party of Contra Costa County, of which she is an elected member, and gay Pinole City Councilmember Devin Murphy. She serves as external vice president of the Contra Costa Young Democrats and, as of June, vice president of the Diablo Valley Democratic Club; both groups have also endorsed her in the race.
Patch is awaiting word on if the LGBTQ Victory Fund will endorse her. The national LGBTQ political group endorsed Murphy's bid for a second term last December and in late August endorsed bisexual Palo Alto City Council candidate Katie Causey. It is also supporting the reelections in November of bisexual South San Francisco City Councilmember James Coleman and gay Berkeley City Councilmember Terry Taplin.
Three other out city council candidates in Contra Costa County have also yet to be endorsed by the Victory Fund. Lesbian BART director Rebecca Saltzman and gay single dad William Ktsanes are running in El Cerrito, which already has two out council members, and gay tech leader Pablo Benavente is running for a second time in Concord to be its first out council member.
Patch grew up in the East Bay county in the leafy hamlet of Orinda on the other side of the Oakland Hills; her older brother now calls Florida home. Her parents divorced in 2012, and her mother now resides in Danville and is retired from owning a business that sold office furniture. Her father moved to Redwood City and is an attorney and partner at the San Francisco law firm Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass LLP.
After high school Patch left to attend UCLA, graduating in 2011 with a B.A. in political science then returned to the East Bay to serve as an AmeriCorps member for a year. Afterward, she enrolled in Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. for graduate school, leaving in 2014 with a master of arts in communications, culture and technology.
Over the next four years she bounced around the Bay Area, living in Sunnyvale, Danville, and San Jose, until moving to Walnut Creek in 2018, the same year she was hired by the Sierra Club, and buying her condo a year later. Based out of its Oakland headquarters, Patch has worked remotely since the start of the COVID pandemic four years ago.
Come October 21 through Election Day Patch will be on sabbatical in order to focus on her campaign. Among her platform priorities are allowing for dense infill housing developments near the city's downtown and two BART stations, incentivizing new construction to add solar and wind installations to provide energy for tenants or residents, and providing local financial resources for affordable housing and homeownership.
"Walnut Creek is becoming a great regional center in Contra Costa County. It offers great shopping and great dining as well as activities to do in the evening," noted Patch. "I think it provides a safe city for youth to not participate in destructive activities, if you will. To embrace that, I think, is really important."
Asked if she would run a third time for a council seat if she again falls short in this year's contest, Patch told the B.A.R. she would be unlikely to do so.
"If having run twice and the voters decide I am not the right fit for council, I would look at other opportunities to serve my community," said Patch.
For now, she is focused on connecting with residents and earning their vote. Patch has been hitting up local farmer markets, community events, and knocking on doors to promote her candidacy.
"For me, it is getting out into the community and talking to voters," she told the B.A.R. when asked what she sees as her path to victory this year.
UPDATED 9/21/24 to correct Laura Patch's current position with the Diablo Valley Democratic Club, the name of her graduate school and the year she bought her condo.
Web Extra: For more queer political news, be sure to check http://www.ebar.com Monday mornings for Political Notes, the notebook's online companion. This week's column reported on where the San Francisco mayoral candidates stand on competing ballot measures to cull city commissions.
Keep abreast of the latest LGBTQ political news by following the Political Notebook on Threads @ https://www.threads.net/@matthewbajko.
Got a tip on LGBTQ politics? Call Matthew S. Bajko at (415) 829-8836 or email [email protected]
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