It’s all but official that County Clerk/Registrar of Voters Clint Curtis has lost his rebid for the position in the June 2 primary election, but Curtis isn’t ready to concede just yet.
In an interview with the Record Searchlight on June 17, Curtis addressed this topic and others, including his thoughts on his apparent loss, the lawsuit he threatened against Oppenheimer Investigations Group, and what he might do after his term is up.
Asked his reaction to the results of the county clerk race, Curtis said the following:
“It is what it is … you know, I never concede until it’s actually been certified. It’s kind of a personal thing, I always thought that having the candidate concede was kind of taking the final voice away from the voter.”
According to the unofficial election results, Curtis received 42.03% of the vote while his opponent, Joanna Francescut, received 57.97% of the vote. The election is expected to be certified in July.
Asked if he plans to reach out to Francescut, Curtis said: “Why would I do that?”
He continued, and said “we obviously have divergent ways of doing things. When she takes over, all the flags (in the elections office), all the stuff just goes away, and you’re back where you were before.”
Francescut had worked in the elections office for over 17 years, and held the position of assistant county clerk/registrar of voters when she was fired by Curtis in May 2025. Francescut has since filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against Shasta County.
Curtis said he was surprised by the result of the election, but attributes his loss to causes beyond his platform as a candidate.
“There have been a lot of people that have been trying really hard to mess it up. So, you know, they kind of got their way, false accusations, all this kind of thing. I’ll make money off of it in the end because, when I sue Oppenheimer (Investigations Group), they end up having to pay me a couple million and that will be probably worth the loss,” said Curtis.
Oppenheimer Investigations Group was a third party hired by Shasta County in August 2025 to investigate allegations of workplace misconduct against Curtis. The investigation, which concluded in March 2026, found substantiated evidence that Curtis engaged in workplace misconduct at the elections office, including that he “used exaggerated violent imagery in the workplace” and more than likely made appearance-based comments toward female employees.
Curtis later held a press conference in which he denied the validity of all claims made against him, called the investigation a “hack job” and announced plans to sue Oppenheimer.
Curtis said on June 17 he has not yet filed a lawsuit against Oppenheimer and is waiting until the situation fully plays out “so we don’t have any mess … “
Still pending is an official decision by the Shasta County Board of Supervisors on whether to censure Curtis for the behavior detailed in the Oppenheimer investigation, as well as a separate county investigation.
At an April 28 meeting, the board decided to delay taking action until after the election.
It is unknown when that item might come back before the board for discussion.
If he loses, Curtis said he doesn’t have any plans at the moment for what he might do.
“I might go back to being a lawyer and making four times as much money. But it’s hard to restart a practice once you shut it down. You know, there’s a drag time. I have had people call me from Orlando and go ‘Come on in. You can help me, we’ll join together and you can do your federal stuff and I can do mine,'” said Curtis.
Before being appointed to the position of registrar of voters by the board of supervisors in May 2025, Curtis worked as an attorney based in Titusville, Florida.
Curtis said he “might” consider going after the position of registrar of voters again someday in Shasta County or elsewhere, but would not consider going after any other kind of government position.
Curtis also said he doesn’t know if he will stay in Redding or move elsewhere, but he plans to continue work in the realm of elections.
“I’ll be fighting elections until I drop. Been doing it for forever, so, you know just continue to fight the battle until we get elections that actually belong to the people as opposed to bureaucrats,” said Curtis.
Curtis has maintained that past elections in Shasta were fraudulent, despite findings by the Shasta County Grand Jury in June 2024 that there was no fault in the way Shasta conducted its elections.
Drew Askeland covers Redding and Shasta County government issues, as well as anything else that needs reporting for the Record Searchlight and USA Today Network. Reach him at drew.askeland@redding.com or (530) 225-8247. Please subscribe today to support our newsroom’s commitment to public service journalism.
This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Shasta elections clerk won’t concede until results are certified
Reporting by Drew Askeland, Redding Record Searchlight / Redding Record Searchlight
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By Drew Askeland, Redding Record Searchlight | USA TODAY Network
