Ken Carlson, a gay retired Concord police sergeant who serves on the Pleasant Hill City Council, is looking to follow in the footsteps of his grandfather by serving on the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors.
Should he be elected next year, Carlson would be the first out LGBTQ person elected to the county board. His grandfather, James Moriarty, was a county supervisor in the 1970s.
Carlson, 58, is seeking the board's District 4 seat, as incumbent Supervisor Karen Mitchoff announced in 2019 she would not run for reelection in 2022.
The district includes Concord, where Carlson spent his early childhood; Pleasant Hill, where his family moved to in the early 1970s; Clayton; and much of Walnut Creek.