This month, Democratic voters will chose between the incumbent Clerk of Court and a former employee of the office in a race to see who will run the operations of the Courthouse.
The winner of the Aug. 20 Democratic primary between incumbent Kelvin Soto and unrelated challenger Jennifer Soto will face Republican Jossue Lorenzo in the Nov. 5 general election.
Clerk of Court and Comptroller Kelvin Soto, an attorney, won election to the Clerk’s Office after spending eight years on the School Board. Jennifer Soto was named Chief of Staff in the office in 2012 by former Clerk Armando Ramirez.
“I was elected in 2020 to restore the credibility of the office,” Kelvin Soto said, noting the headlines that came out of the office as predecessor Ramirez led it. “My opponent was the daughter-in-law of the prior clerk, and was revealed to have run the office in a way it shouldn’t have been. It eroded the public trust, and I don’t want this office to return to the past in that direction.”
Calling the past four years “a whirlwind,” Kelvin Soto noted spending his time in office upgrading its best practices, and bringing in a staff of professionals to accomplish it.
“I didn’t bring in family members or gym friends,” he said. “We now have a professional place free from nepotism. That’s important if we are going to deliver services at a level of quality this county deserves, but there’s still work to be done. We’re going to continue to upgrade systems and technology.
“We look forward to accomplishing those projects. I told the voters in 2020, ‘I won’t let you down, haven’t let you down.’ I feel we have done a great job in the past four years, managing through the pandemic, and we’ve already met the minimum-wage requirement that will go in effect in 2026.”
Jennifer Soto said her Chief of Staff experience in the office would allow her to “hit the ground running” if elected.
“[My platform] isn’t just a goal, it’s something I’ve accomplished before,” she said. “My focus is on resolving court system issues, enhancing community services, and ensuring our tax dollars are used effectively and transparently,” she said. “With the community’s support, we can achieve these results once again.”
She said her primary goals as Clerk would be to protect tax payer dollars through preventing financial mismanagement and adding additional oversight to how tax dollars are spent, expanding the availability of courthouse services, both online and in-person, providing a productive work environment for employees of the department and recruiting and training skilled staff to support the judicial process.
