He’s the second challenger taking on an established incumbent in the race for the Manteca Unified Board of Education. 

And legally speaking, he doesn’t formally reside at the address that he provided with the San Joaquin Registrar of Voters when he submitted his paperwork to take on Don Scholl for Manteca Unified’s Area Six seat representing a large portion of Manteca’s city limits. 

Alexander Bronson, it appears, is a ringer. 

On Wednesday afternoon The Bulletin spoke with the property owner at the address that Bronson – a University of Southern California graduate that, according to his Facebook page, just moved back to Manteca on Aug. 21 – listed on the paperwork that he filed to make himself eligible for the ballot. According to the lease on the property, a young couple and their two children live at the residence and anybody over the age of 18 that lives on site would have to be included on the lease. 

No such addition has taken place and the landlord, who operates that and other rental properties as part of a trust and asked not be named in the story, wasn’t even aware of the situation until she was contacted by a concerned community member wanting to know how she could go about finding whether he actually lived at the address listed. 

He didn’t know, the landlord said, that the property was actually owned by her along with her husband.. 

Numerous phone calls to Bronson and at least a pair of voicemails were not returned Wednesday evening. 

Bronson, a graduate of Stockton’s Lincoln High School, was active in the community before moving away to attend USC. He was a member of the Youth Advisory Commission and Save our Stockton – a youth movement that worked within Mayor Anthony Silva’s office to preserve the spirit of the community. He also championed causes such as literacy and providing healthy and positive outlets for young people. 

He was also a member of Youth Empower Stockton and co-founded an entertainment company that was awarded a contract to provide a dance to young people in the community.

What Bronson’s motivations are for seeking election are unclear, but the questions come just weeks after Ashley Drain, who is running against longtime incumbent Manuel Medeiros this cycle, submitted her paperwork listing that she actually resided in Weston Ranch and then posted a video to her Facebook page that appeared to indicate otherwise. That video pinpointed a specific low-income apartment complex in Downtown Stockton that is well outside of Manteca Unified’s sphere of influence and electoral boundaries. 

Drain said that her location changes depending on her work situation. Sitting trustee Sam Fant said that he couldn’t comment specifically on where she lived other than to reiterate that he knew she stayed in multiple places. 

Bronson’s link to Stockton’s youth groups as far back as 2009 also put him in the same circle that Fant – a close friend to Stockton Mayor Silva who also used to work at the Stockton Boys and Girls Club – traveled in during that time. Silva wasn’t elected until 2012 and held onto his position as Executive Director of the non-profit until a scandal was brought to light that eventually cost the chapter its national charter.