photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB
Assembly District 2 candidate Chris Rogers addresses supporters at a watch party in Santa Rosa on election night. Rogers jumped to an early lead amongst Democratic candidates in the field.

The race to replace Jim Wood in the California State Assembly 2nd District seat is crowded, and competitive.

A final tally could take some time, but as of midnight on election night it isn't Rusty Hicks, chair of the California Democratic Party, nor Chris Rogers, the Santa Rosa council member, who is leading the race for the 2nd Assembly District.

Out front of everyone: Del Norte County school board member and lone Republican in the race, Mike Greer.

"I'm excited to go back out and keep working and talking to people," Greer said. "I do not tear people down to build myself up. That's how I'm gonna look at my campaign. I'm gonna build my campaign up, but not at the expense of whoever my opponent's campaign is."

Greer’s strong showing may be thanks to a split field of Democratic party candidates.

The six Democrats on the ballot garnered over 45,000 votes between them by Tuesday night.

Leading the Democratic field: Chris Rogers, Santa Rosa City council member and former mayor of the largest city in the district.

"This entire time we were told that we are gonna get buried by money," Rogers said. "And if not, for the strong support from locals in this district who wanted to make sure they had a voice in Sacramento, we would've been."

Rogers, despite being outspent, has deep roots in the district and counts dozens of current and former local elected officials among his endorsements.

Hot on his heels, and third overall as of initial results - Rusty Hicks.

"Honored to have the opportunity to run and hopeful for the opportunity to serve in the state capitol," Hicks said. "You know, at this point in time, we're grateful to everyone that's already voted. Certainly proud of the campaign that we've run and want to celebrate tonight, but get back to work tomorrow."

Hicks has pledged to step down from his position within the party if he ultimately triumphs in November.

Also close behind, well-financed Healdsburg council member Ariel Kelley.

"I'm hopeful that we had more turnout today," Kelley said. "I know the numbers we're looking historically low for voter turnout, which is always just sad to see, especially for young people not voting. And so I wanna hold a lot of hope out there that more people came to the polls today and that we're gonna see, you know, democracy in action."

A slew of attack ads landed in mailboxes throughout the district in the lead up to Tuesday’s election - one of them aiming at Hicks as a newcomer to the district, paid for by a political action committee supporting Kelley.

Trailing the pack is Yurok Tribe Vice Chair Frankie Myers.

"I couldn't be more proud of the team we put together, and the community support that I've gotten from across the district," Myers said. "It has been absolutely phenomenal."

Further behind: Ted Williams, Mendocino County Supervisor, and the withdrawn candidate, Cynthia Click.

Who the top two vote getters will be remains to be seen.