WEST SACRAMENTO-
The November election is over and many candidates are breathing a sigh of relief, but one winner is scratching his head.
Matt Taylor was elected to the Yolo County Board of Education despite trying to remove his name from the ballot.
“It started to look like there was going to be a lot of fundraising, and I thought, ‘Man, this is going to be a lot of time to do a big campaign. I’m not ready for that right now, my family is not ready for that right now,’ so I tried to pull out,” Taylor said.
Taylor says he didn’t spend any money on his campaign. No fliers and no signs.
Even though it was only hours after Taylor announced his candidacy, he wasn’t allowed to remove his name from the ballot. Election rules require a candidate to pull his or her name prior to 5 p.m. 88 days before the election.
“I was disappointed I couldn’t take my name off because I really didn’t want to force the other candidate to do a big campaign, because it was unnecessary,” Taylor said.
Taylor didn’t know incumbent Xavier Gamez also didn’t run much of a campaign, and when his election guide came in Taylor realized there was just two names on the ballot, and no campaign statement for either man. He went to work in the final days hitting social media and getting friends to vote.
“Given the size of some of my friends’ social network sites, I am sure there was a lot of folks out there that didn’t know who I was but got to meet me through friends and then I stared posting on Facebook and talking about my ideas,” Taylor said.
The last minute push paid off for Taylor, who received 300 more votes than Gamez, the incumbent. While Taylor never expected to win, he is ready to tackle the job, using his expertise to benefit children.
“I work in education policy, I have my masters degree in public policy, I have worked at the California Department of Education for the better part of the last 10 years and I love education and education policy, so, for me, helping the county and all the kids in the county is where I want to be,” Taylor said.
Taylor will be sworn in Dec. 9. Gamez did not return any of FOX40’s calls.
