Lathrop Mayor Sonny Dhaliwal led former Manteca Mayor Steve DeBrum Wednesday in the race to succeed Tom Patti as San Joaquin County’s supervisor in District 3.
Patti, who is running for Stockton mayor, terms out at the end of this year.
Dhaliwal, who also garnered the most votes in the primary election, and DeBrum both believe their extensive backgrounds in city government are critical assets in the race. Besides the western portion of Stockton, the district includes both the fast-growing cities of Lathrop and Manteca, where both are well-known to voters.
DeBrum mingled with supporters at Squeeze Burgers in north Stockton in the wake of early results.
“I feel good. You know, we’re down … if we start to get a trend, we’ll go from there,” DeBrum said.
Dhaliwal has more than 20 years of experience in government. He started with Lathrop’s Planning Commission before going on to the City Council and then to mayor. He is serving his sixth term.
“I am very accessible. That is why people in Lathrop keep electing me term after term,” he said at a candidates’ forum during the campaign.
One of his priorities as supervisor, he said, would be to make sure large businesses pay fees that compensate for their impact on roads and other infructure.
“They are coming in and they are creating jobs, but they need to pay their fair share so that we can continue to improve our infrastructure,” Dhaliwal said.
Like Dhaliwal, DeBrum leaned on his extensive political background during the campaign — three terms on the Manteca City Council before being elected mayor in 2014, though he lost a reelection bid four years later.
DeBrum ran not only on his political experience, but also on his background as dairy executive. During the campaign, his top issues included crime, jobs and homelessness.
He said he hopes to bring behavioral and mental health problems into the discussion when it comes to coping with homelessness and crime.
“I’m a firm believer that we have to work diligently to find ways to increase support for the mental illness facilities in our communities and have facilities individuals can go and get help,” DeBrum said.