A fourth-Generation Encinitas resident, Catherine Blakespear grew up in Del Mar and Cardiff, where she attended Torrey Pines high school. She was a three-time MVP of her varsity basketball team and captain for two years. She then attended Northwestern University in Chicago, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in journalism.

After five years as a print journalism reporter, writer and editor for the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press, she attended law school at the University of Utah, where she served as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Law and Family Studies, graduating in 2006.

As an attorney, Catherine clerked for a justice on the Utah Court of Appeals before working for a large law firm, and eventually co-founding a woman-owned law firm focusing on estate planning.

Catherine and her husband moved back to her hometown of Encinitas in 2009, where she joined the city’s Traffic and Public Safety Commission. At the end of her term, she was elected to the Encinitas City Council in 2014. She was subsequently elected Mayor in 2016, and re-elected in 2018 and 2020 by double-digit margins.

In December of 2020, she was unanimously chosen in a bipartisan vote to be the Chair of SANDAG, San Diego County’s powerful transportation agency. She is also a member of the county’s Airport Authority and the Regional Solid Waste Association board.

Catherine and her husband Jeremy live in Cardiff with their two teenage children. They enjoy backpacking, biking and harvesting fruit and honey from their backyard.

Sitting on the sidelines isn’t Matt Gunderson’s style. That’s why he’s running for California’s 38th State Senate District. California needs officeholders with real-world experience who aren’t afraid to say what they mean and act on it. In the State Senate, Gunderson will be a bipartisan problem solver, working with everyone to solve the challenges of our time including affordability, homelessness, crime, ensuring local control, and maintaining our quality of life.

As the 7th of 8 children in a community-minded family in Wisconsin, something in Matt’s DNA always told him public service is a virtue. Public officials should work for the people, not the other way around. Matt now hopes to take his voice to Sacramento and change the ‘business as usual’ approach that is driving middle-class people to leave our state.

Twenty-two years ago, Matt moved to Orange County, bringing his business sense with him. In 2000 he started a new auto dealership, Infiniti of Mission Viejo. He then built two additional dealerships from scratch: Audi of Mission Viejo and Volvo Cars Mission Viejo. The three businesses created over 185 good-paying local jobs. Gunderson’s strong business skills and professional integrity earned him appointments to the Audi National Dealer Advisory Board and the Infiniti Dealer Council, where he served as Council Chairman for three years.

After recently selling his dealerships, Matt realized he had a choice – sit back and complain or run for office to try to improve the state. He picked running for office.

Matt is currently closing out 10 years on the Mission Hospital Foundation Board, where he served as Chairman and where he led one of its most recent capital fundraising campaigns. He also served as the Chairman of the Mission Hospital’s Emergency and Trauma Task Force. Previously, Matt served on the Saddleback College Foundation Board, was Chair of the Orange County Auto Dealers Association, and spent several years as a volunteer AYSO Extra soccer coach.