San Joaquin County Supervisor Tom Patti put on a strong showing in the early primary results in the race to be Stockton’s next mayor, and former vice mayor Christina Fugazi was positioned to join him in the general election.
All the Stockton city races seemed destine to go to runoffs on Nov. 5, with none of the candidates approaching the 50 percent plus one vote needed to secure election in the primary. Besides the mayor’s contests, there are races for the District 2, 4 and 6 seats on the Stockton City Council.
The latest results have Patti garnering 35.06 percent of the vote, with Fugazi at 23.59 and Stockton City Councilman Dan Wright with 18.43.
The vote counting continues, but Patti said he’s seen enough to foresee a Fall matchup with Fugazi.
“I’m confident I’ll be in the race in November and I’m confident that my opponent will be Christina Fugazi,” Patti said on Tuesday evening. “I’m happy about that because Christina is a friend and I think it will be a good campaign.”
Fugazi released a statement to Stocktonia, saying in part: “As the early returns come in, I stand with unwavering respect for the vote and all fellow candidates who made the courageous decision to run for office.”
Wright said he was not prepared to concede, but acknowledged he needs for the voting trend to change soon if he is to mount a comeback.
“It doesn’t look good, but there’s votes to count,” Wright said. “It’s going to take a significant change in voter behavior. We’ll see what happens.”
The top three were trailed by Jesus Andrade (11.63 percent), Jessica Velez (7.90) and Shakeel Ahmad (3.39).
The highly anticipated battle in District 6 between incumbent Kimberly Warmsley and businessman Jason Lee appears headed for a runoff. Lee, a Hollywood personality who grew up in Stockton, leads with 38.71 percent, and Warmsley, the current vice mayor, has 30.60.
“I think we’re off to a great start,” Warmsley said. “Looks like we’re headed to a runoff.”
In District 4, Gina Bracamonte-Valadez and Mario Enriquez spent Tuesday night and Wednesday morning trading the top spot. Bracamonte-Valadez leads with 32.76, and Enriquez has 29.51. Jerome Clay is third with 25.48.
“I think I’m going to go to November and work hard and fight hard,” Bracamonte-Valadez said. “I’m excited. I’ve never run for office before, so surprisingly I’m not nervous.”
Enriquez said he believes his ground game made a big difference in the primary.
“I’m so happy with our ‘people power’ campaign,” Enriquez said. “We’ve been doing the work for the past 15 months. … We’ve knocked on 12,000 (doors), and it shows. We want to be as engaged as possible.”
Political newcomer Mariela Ponce has a strong lead in District 2, with 39.26 of the vote. There is an incredibly tight race for the other runoff position, with former Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva and Waqar Rizvi separated by 12 votes.
“You would rather be leading, but the primaries is about getting in the top two,” Silva said. “I feel like we’re in the game.”
SJ County Supervisor races
Supervisor Robert Rickman faced off with Tracy Mayor Nancy Young and retired schoolteacher Wes Huffman to represent District 5, which covers Escalon, Ripon, Tracy, and Mountain House.
Rickman seemed poised to end the election in the primary with 52.99 percent of the votes, while Young had 31.13 percent and Huffman had 15.87 percent.
District 1 and 3 supervisor candidates will possibly head to a runoff election in November.
District 1 covers South Stockton and unincorporated areas near the city and is currently represented by board chair Miguel Villapudua.
San Joaquin County native and third-generation firefighter Mario Gardea; Lilliana Udang, who is a Stockton native and is district director for state Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman; Terence West, a San Joaquin County community services director; businessman and electrical contractor Mark Stebbins; and Chris Rouppet, who currently serves as chief of staff for Villapudua, were running for the seat.
Early election results showed Gardea taking a large lead with 41.76 percent.
Rouppet was behind with 19.01, while Udang, Stebbins, and West followed with between 10-17 percent of the votes apiece.
District 3 serves the areas of Lathrop, Manteca and a northwest section of Stockton and is currently represented by Patti.
Contenders in the race included Angel Sepulveda, an insurance company owner; Sonny Dhaliwal, who has served Lathrop for 25 years and is now in his sixth two-year term as mayor; and Steve DeBrum, who served on the Manteca City Council for 15 years and was mayor.
Dhaliwal has 46.64% and DeBrum was second with 37.72%.
The Bay City News contributed to this report
Dan Wright – “isn’t prepared to concede” – well, just as in his years in public office when he was never PREPARED, where he DID NOTHING, and was UNprepared for even the most basic of tasks… Dan Wright is going to EARN the title FORMER city councilmember AND mayoral candidate (Thank goodness for Stockton!).
Your name doesn’t help you.
Ambiguous statements like yours are the reason free speech can be dangerous.
What a shame.
More of the same.
A choice between fugazi and patti is right from the playback.
Ignorant one sided dicey characters are back in front again.
Unbelievable the lack of pride and education in this city.
Tell you what, go get gas at Patti’s friend’s gas station at march and i5.
5.99 for gas throughout covid.
This ugly american is the definition of rotten.
That 25$ EXTRA per fill up that goes into the UA owners pocket for every fill-up.
Stupid population gets stupid neighbors.
Ashamed to be from here anymore.
Christina is actually pretty good. I’ve seen her at work in the past. And she gets things done. Patti on the other hand, is a hard no for me
I think she works hard yes, but her associations can’t be ignored.
She’s constantly dancing with melodrama.
Anyone “ashamed” of being from here should have enough respect for themselves TO LEAVE!!! Also-here’s a NON-ambiguous statement about the NOW-DONE mayoral candidate Dan Wright… He’s always 1st in line to talk about his experience in SUSD & the council, he said “I’m the one who knows WHO to call.” Problem is he’s PART OF THE PROBLEM! He has been standing around, going to ribbon cutting & good press opportunities FOREVER! AND – nothing got accomplished! Looks at the navigation center, the new library…SPECIFIC EXAMPLES!
As a matter of fact I am leaving.
It’s insanity to stay in my home town.
The collective education here is disturbingly low. So is the morality.
You still said nothing specific.
I would like a specific example so I can compare actions between our mostly elixir peddlers.
Learn how to communicate rather than bark.
GPJ – congrats on your having found your UTOPIA. This is really shaping up to be an example of “follow the leader.”
Still can’t answer the question.
I have no idea what follow the leader means.
I’m serious about suggesting you get some talk therapy.
Good luck blob.