Mario Enríquez has declared himself the victor in the race to represent Stockton’s 4th District on the City Council dias come January. But his opponent has yet to give up hope of a comeback.
Recent vote counts show Enríquez leading his opponent, Gina Valadez-Bracamonte, by about 500 votes as of Monday evening, according to the San Joaquin County Registrar’s latest ballot count.
“We have looked at the trending results for the past 3 weeks since Election Night and we can say we have locked in the victory,” the first-time political candidate announced via social media Monday afternoon.
He also thanked all the other candidates who ran campaigns during the 2024 election cycle.
“I know running for office isn’t easy,” Enríquez said. “I appreciate my opponent for a great, well-fought run and all the fantastic work I know she will continue to do for our community.”
The contest between Enríquez, an administrator at the University of the Pacific, and Valadez-Bracamonte, a local nonprofit leader, has remained close since polls closed Nov. 5, with ballot counts consistently staying within a few hundreds votes.
In response to questions from Stocktonia, Valadez-Bracamonte sent a statement saying she is seeking more information before making a decision.
“Following yesterday’s update, we are still trying to get a count from Registrar of Voters staff, who are hard at work counting ballots for every San Joaquin County race, of how many uncounted ballots remain in the 4th (District),” Valadez-Bracamonte said. “Following that, we will decide if victory is still achievable.”
Following initial vote reporting on Election Day, registrar officials began releasing county ballot counts three times per week, which will continue until all vote-by-mail ballots received after the Saturday before Election Day are processed.
Nearly 379,000 county residents are registered voters, according to the registrar. Voter turnout for this general election cycle sits at 68%. The registrar says it has just over 6,200 ballots left to be processed.
There also are about 5,295 ballots that have been challenged due to issues such as the registrar being unable to verify signatures or receiving ballots with unsigned identification envelopes that could ultimately be processed and counted as these voters are given an opportunity to correct problems with their ballots.
Counties must finish counting ballots and certify their election results by Dec. 3.
It’s unclear how many of the remaining ballots left to be counted are within Stockton’s 4th City Council District, encompassing areas in the north of the city.
Enríquez described his “victory” to the City Council as a demonstration that the city is ready for the next generation of Stockton leaders to take the reigns.
“We showed that as one of the most diverse cities in America, we can elect a son of immigrants, a first-generation college graduate, and an openly Gay Latino to elected office!” Enríquez said on his Facebook page. “And together, I know we will do wonderful things for our city.”
Enríquez came to the race with impressive academic credentials.
A graduate of UOP with a bachelor’s degree in sociology, he received his master’s in public administration from the USC Price School of Public Policy.
After graduate school, Enríquez went to Washington, D.C., and was selected as the higher education graduate fellow with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.
He recently served as Victory Institute’s director of constituent engagement in Washington, leading the programming for the annual International LGBTQ Leaders conference.
Valadez-Bracamonte, founder of the Stockton food bank Bread of Life, and Enríquez, director of UOP’s Center for Identity and Inclusion, ran to replace Councilmember Susan Lenz, who terms out at the end of this year.
Here’s a look at some other close races in San Joaquin County:
California’s 13th Congressional District
The race between incumbent Rep. Ray Duarte (R-Modesto) and Adam Gray (D-Merced) to represent California’s 13th Congressional District remains too close to call as of Monday evening.
According to the California Secretary of State website on Tuesday evening, Duarte is down by just 105 votes with 100% of precincts reporting — and there are still quite a few votes left to be counted.
“We’ll keep curing ballots on both sides,” Duarte told the Westside Connect. “This race is so close that it may end up going to a recount. We just have to stay patient until every vote is counted.”
The U.S. Congressional district encompasses all of Merced County and areas of Stanislaus, San Joaquin, Madera and Fresno counties. The state lists the race as a “close contest,” which means the vote margins are less than 2% and will fluctuate throughout the 30-day ballot counting period.
NBC estimates that 99% of the expected votes for the race are accounted for and just about 2,000 votes in the district remain unprocessed. While the U.S. House is slated for continued Republican control, there are a few key races still undecided that will determine how much control Republicans have, including California’s 13th District.
“Based on the type of ballots (remaining), we feel good about where we stand and our path to victory,” Gray told the Westside Connect. “This was always going to be a close race. It was decided by hundreds of votes in 2022 and I expect a similar story this year.”
San Joaquin County Supervisor District 3
The race for San Joaquin County’s 3rd Supervisor District, which has been a battle of the mayors, has finally been called.
Lathrop Mayor Sonny Dhaliwal thanked his constituents Tuesday for giving him this opportunity to serve as their supervisor. He also acknowledged the efforts of his opponent, former Manteca Mayor Steve DeBrum.
“I will work hard to make our county better for all of us,” Dhaliwal told Stocktonia in a statement. “I also want to thank my dear friend Steve DeBrum for running an issue-based campaign.”
On Monday, DeBrum conceded the race to Dhaliwal in a statement on social media, where he extended congratulations to Dhaliwal and reinforced his continued commitment “to the betterment of our district.”
“Running for this office has been a profound journey, allowing me to engage with and understand the concerns, aspirations and priorities of our diverse community,” DeBrum said. “This is not the end of my commitment to serving our community but rather a new chapter in working collaboratively to achieve shared goals.”
According to the county registrar’s latest ballot count, Dhaliwal leads DeBrum by nearly a 4 point margin, equating to about a 2,000-vote difference between the candidates in their bid to replace the termed-out Supervisor Tom Patti, who lost his bid for Stockton mayor.
SJ County’s 3rd Supervisor District encompasses Manteca, Lathrop, northwest Stockton and nearby areas of the Sacrament-San Joaquin River Delta.