Early results from Tuesday’s election show Measure P, the one-cent sales tax increase for Ceres coffers, passing with 57.86 percent while Gary M. Condit and Rosalinda Vierra winning seats on the Ceres City Council.
Things could change, however, as votes continue to be counted at the Stanislaus County Elections Division.
The latest count as of Wednesday morning shows Measure P with 3,396 votes (57.86 percent) and 2,473 “no” votes, or 42.14 percent. The measure needed a 50 percent plus one vote majority for passage. If it prevails, Measure P would give Ceres the highest sales tax rate in the county at 9.375 percent. City officials say it would infuse over $9 million per year into city coffers.
In the District 1 Ceres City Council race, Condit appears to have handily defeated Dorie Perez. As of Wednesday’s vote count, Condit collected 916 votes (65.99 percent) to Perez’s 472 votes (345.01 percent). Both serve on the Ceres Planning Commission.
The winner will replace James Casey who is retiring from the council next month.
Incumbent Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra appeared to be safe in her re-election bid to represent District 2. The Elections Division reported Vierra ahead with 543 votes (43.68 percent), bypassing Jorge Guerrero at 416 votes (33.47 percent). Galen Guzman, who didn’t run much of a campaign, collected 284 votes (22.85 percent).
In the city of Hughson, scandal plagued Mayor George Carr has appeared to face an upset with Geoff Powers claiming the win as of latest vote counts. Powers had 530 votes (43.87 percent), followed by Sam Rush at 349 votes (28.89 percent). Carr, who has been accused by several women of inappropriate behaviors such as unwanted touching, was trailing in last place with 329 votes (27.24 percent).
In the Hughson City Council races, two candidates for two slots mean the election of Julie Ann Strain and Brian Evans. Strain’s vote count was 59.15 percent while Evans had 40.85 percent.
As part of a nation sweep against Republicans, Democrat Adam Gray has outdistanced Republican challenger Kevin Lincoln in the 13th Congressional District. As of Wednesday morning the California Secretary of State Elections website gave Gray 58,217 votes (61.3 percent) over Lincoln’s 36,724 votes (38.7 percent).
Congressman Tom McClintock held onto a wide lead over Democrat challenger Michael Masuda in the 5th Congressional District. Republican McClintock had 102,646 votes (56.2 percent) as of Wednesday morning while Masuda has 79,957 votes (43.8 percent).
Things remain close in the contest for the State Senate District 4, with Republican Alexandra Duarte ahead of Democrat Jaron Brandon. As of Wednesday, Duarte had 123,606 voters (52.2 percent) with Brandon trailing with 1123,160 votes (47.8 percent).
Unopposed for his 22nd district seat, state Assemblyman Juan Alanis collected 45,013 votes as of Wednesday.
In the governor’s race, Senator Xavier Becerra will succeed Gavin Newsom, having trounced Republican businessman Steve Hilton. Becerra had 4,992,161 votes (63.9 percent) compared to Hilton’s 2,815,459 votes (36.1 percent) as of Wednesday.
Democrats swept all statewide offices.
California voters defeated a voter ID initiative in Prop. 39 and the so-called Billionaire’s Tax in Prop. 40. They passed Prop. 42 which prohibits new state personal property taxes and certain retroactive state taxes.
