FILE: Demonstrators call for the recall of Shasta County Supervisor Kevin Crye in Redding, Calif., on Tuesday, Feb. 20, 2024. 

Two highly controversial public officials, once liked for being “outsiders,” were ousted from office in Shasta County last month after residents seemingly had a change of heart.

Erin Resner, the owner of eight Redding-based Dutch Bros franchises and a current Redding City Council member, will replace Shasta County Supervisor Kevin Crye, a MAGA-friendly candidate who has held office since 2023. Crye’s tenure was divisive within the community over some of his ideas, like peddling election denial, attempting to end the use of voting machines based on debunked conspiracy theories, and the denial of funding for a mental health project. 

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Now, Resner’s win is a sign that the conservative county may be shifting more toward the middle.

“It feels like a signal from the community that they’re done with the chaos,” Resner told SFGATE in a phone call. Resner launched her bid for Crye’s seat in January after another candidate dropped out, saying she felt obligated to put her name in the hat so Crye would have an opponent. 

“I knew six months before the primary was not a lot of time for someone to gain name recognition and raise enough money to compete. I was unwilling to let voters have no other option,” she said. If she hadn’t taken the bet on the board seat, it would mean another four years of a “disruptive leader” who brought “chaos, a lack of solutions, a style of leadership that is the opposite of collaborative,” she said, which she just couldn’t stomach.

Shasta County has been ruled by its heavily conservative city council since 2020, when distrust toward the government and elections........

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