Journalists or former journalists are in three races in the region this fall.

In San Benito County, former Mercury News reporter and Hollister Pinnacle owner Tracie Cone will be in a run-off in November for a seat on the county Board of Supervisors against incumbent Reb Monaco. Neither candidate in a three-way primary race received more than 50 percent, which was necessary to win the seat. Cone, 48, quit her job as a Mercury News staff writer in 1999 and bought The Pinnacle in Hollister. She sold it in 2004 to MainStreet Media, which has acquired other nearby papers including the Gilroy Dispatch.

In Berkeley, former Daily Planet columnist Zelda Bronstein is taking on incumbent Tom Bates, who four years ago admitted stealing free newspapers containing the endorsement of an incumbent — the allegation came out after the election, however. Also running are activists Zachary Running Wolf and Richard Berkeley and recent Stanford graduate Christian Pecaut, according to the Daily Cal newspaper. Bronstein wrote the “Public Eye” column for the twice-a-week Planet, which commented on politics, but quit when she announced her campaign.

In Pacific Grove, three candidates have qualified for the mayoral race: appointed incumbent Dan Cort, City Councilwoman Susan Goldbeck and newspaper publisher Lee Yarborough, according to the Monterey Herald. Yarborough is editor and publisher of the twice-a-month Pacific Grove Hometown Bulletin.