Los Rios college district board will have at least 2 newcomers after November
Three positions on the Los Rios Community College District board of trustees are up for election this November. The incumbents occupying two of them announced last week they would not run for reelection, leaving the door wide open for newcomers.
At a board meeting Wednesday night, Area 1 Trustee Dustin Johnson and Area 2 Trustee Robert Jones said they had decided not to seek reelection. Area 6 Trustee Deborah Ortiz, meanwhile, will be throwing her hat in the ring in November. The other four trustees will not be up for reelection until 2028.
With incoming Chancellor Torence Powell taking over July 1, this marks a period of transition for the district of four community colleges in the Sacramento region.
“I have really appreciated my time on the board, and this district is in very good hands with this board and the administration,” Johnson said. “I look forward to the rest of my time on the board, and I will see you guys here for the next several months until November.”
First appointed in 2009, Johnson will complete 17 years on the board in November. A retired civil rights and criminal defense attorney, he served as a student trustee on the board when he attended American River College. He has decided not to run this year due to health concerns and other personal issues he felt would distract him from his service on the board. Most of all, he said, he will miss the camaraderie within the board and district.
Devon Graves, an assistant professor of community college leadership at North Carolina State University, has already launched his campaign on social media for the Area 1 seat.
Jones, meanwhile, has been on the Los Rios board for two decades, having first been elected in 2006. His career in public higher education includes teaching and serving in leadership roles within the community college, California State University and University of California systems. While on the board, his focus areas have been transfer pathways, career technical education and apprenticeship programs, he said.
He decided to retire, he told The Sacramento Bee, “not because trustee work is done, but because the district will benefit from board leadership that is younger.”
“I want to return to another personal aspiration — the acquisition and preservation of public open spaces and working farms and natural environments,” Jones said.
Deborah Ortiz, who was first elected to the board in 2010 and currently serves as its president, is also up for reelection in November. She has decided to run, she said at the meeting Wednesday.
“My campaign isn’t going to be anything different than what we do,” Ortiz said. “Just sound leadership on our board. There are no particular issues. We just do good things and my approach is to do a good job and hold the faith of the public.”
A former member of the California State Assembly and Senate, Ortiz is not new to electoral processes and campaigns.
The nomination period for candidates in the Nov. 3 election opens July 13 and runs through Aug. 7. To run for a seat on the community college district board, a candidate must be a registered voter of the trustee area within the district and must not be an employee of a school district or community college district’s governing board.
This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 3:09 PM.
