City of Placerville City Council Councilmember David Yarbrough

In the November 2022 election, eight candidates ran for three seats on the Placerville City Council. Real estate agent David Yarbrough narrowly edged into third place, beating incumbent Dennis Thomas by just 73 votes. A newcomer to campaigning, Yarbrough introduced himself at a candidate forum: “I am not a politician. I’m going to tell you what I think. Hopefully, you like it. If you don’t like it, I’m sorry.”

Yarbrough’s success may in part be due to support from the El Dorado County Republican Central Committee, who endorsed him along with fellow candidate Ruth Carter. And Republican Tom McClintock’s re-election campaign for his 5th District congressional seat paid for a political mailer that urged voters to “Say no to Dennis Thomas for City Council.”

Notable quote: “I am not against housing. The one thing we don’t want to do though, is you don’t want to take away from our city and what it is. You don’t want to curtail to the NIMBYs.” (Source: Mountain Democrat)