MONTEREY COUNTY — South Monterey County voters gave strong support to a major shake-up of the region’s public schools, backed local tax measures in Greenfield and King City, and weighed in on a slate of city council and school board races in last Tuesday’s general election.
With Monday’s updated returns from Monterey County Elections Department, several local contests remain close, including a Gonzales City Council seat, while candidates in other races have built substantial leads.
A voter turnout of 51.52% was reported so far, with 113,448 voters out of 220,213 total registered in Monterey County casting a ballot.
According to election officials, the latest results are unofficial and could change as additional ballots are counted. An estimated 14,000 vote-by-mail ballots and nearly 2,000 provisional ballots are still to be counted, the department said.
City council races
In King City, Jonas Lalehzadeh had 324 votes in the City Council District 1 race. Incumbent Oscar Avalos, who was running as a write-in candidate, was not listed in the Monday results report. Mayor Mike LeBarre was unopposed in District 2, with 177 votes.
Greenfield Mayor Robert “Bob” White and current District 1 Councilmember Belen Garcia were also unopposed, with 2,064 and 528 votes, respectively. In District 3, David Godoy had 407 votes to incumbent Rachel Ortiz’s 277.
Gonzales voters favored current Mayor Pro Tem Elizabeth “Liz” Silva in the mayoral race, where she received 1,136 votes. Andrew Castillo trailed with 286 and Henry Laizure McDowell had 98.
The closest contest was in Gonzales City Council District 1, where incumbent Maria Orozco held a 17-vote advantage over Delia Gutierrez, 227 to 210. (Gutierrez had been leading the race until the latest results Monday.) Adrian Paco was unopposed in District 3 with 260 votes, while Constance “Connie” Arellano had a commanding lead over Henry Martinez Sr. in the District 4 two-year term race, 307 to 47.
In Soledad, Eugene Ivey received 702 votes to Don Bolin’s 296 in the District 2 council race.
School boards take shape
With Measure J currently passing, the existing King City Union, Greenfield Union and South Monterey County Joint Union High School districts will be reorganized into two unified K-12 districts. As a result, the new King City Joint Unified and Greenfield Unified school boards are taking shape, with five seats up for election on each board.
In the proposed King City Joint Unified School District, Linda Benway topped the at-large field with 1,536 votes. David Gaboni (1,240), Leslie Girard (1,231), Susan King (1,137) and Yesenia Zavala (1,059) held the other four positions among the top five. Mindy Hunt was next with 1,013 votes, followed by Sonia Valerio-Quiroz with 981, Monique Ross with 845, Miguel Lomeli with 798 and Franky Lopez Jr. with 708.
In the proposed Greenfield Unified School District, Josefina Silva earned the most votes, with 1,668. Sonia Heredia (1,327), Lorena Chavez (1,270), Juergen Smith (1,085) and Paul Dake (1,002) rounded out the top five. Denise Jaime trailed with 923 votes, followed by Lucila Ayala with 916, Gabriela Mora with 809, David Kong with 783 and Jose Madrid with 529.
Gonzales Unified School District had three contested trustee-area races. In Area 2, Erin Askew led with 172 votes, followed by Marvelia Valdez with 135 and Joe Sanchez with 124. In Area 3, incumbent Maria Cuevas received 228 votes to Gerardo Villegas’ 188. In Area 4, Abraham Flores Avila led with 213 votes, compared with 180 for Rubycela Valdez.
In the San Ardo Union Elementary School District race for three seats, incumbent Tiffini Moore led with 74 votes, followed by Nayeli Camacho with 68 and J. Felix Sanchez Jr. with 60. Incumbent Kaeda Barrios trailed with 36 votes.
San Lucas Union Elementary School District’s two-year board race has incumbent Esmeralda Wittmann winning with 41 votes, compared to Nereida Gonzalez’s six.
Hartnell Community College District voters also chose trustees in three areas. Felicia Perez-Kausin held a lead over Patricia Coyt in Area 5 (2,502 to 2,339), while Sofia Ramirez was ahead of Rosalie Sanchez in Area 6 (3,338 to 2,921). Nancy Reyes also had an advantage over John Huerta Jr. in Area 7 (3,035 to 2,653).
Local measures pass — mostly
Locally, four of the five measures affecting South Monterey County were above the approval threshold in Monday’s returns.
Greenfield’s Measure O, establishing a 0.75% transactions and use tax, had 61% support, above the simple-majority requirement. The tax is set to expire March 31, 2033.
King City’s Measure P, increasing the city’s sales tax from 1% to 1.5%, earned 74.42% support.
Monterey County’s Measure E, increasing the transient occupancy tax in unincorporated areas from 10.5% to 12.5%, had almost 71% support.
Measure J, the school district reorganization measure, received nearly 70% support and was above the simple-majority threshold. Its passage paves the way for the proposed King City Joint Unified and Greenfield Unified school districts.
Measure U, the Soledad-Mission Recreation District special tax, remained below the two-thirds (66.67%) approval threshold required to pass. It had 58.3% support as of Monday, leaving it short despite receiving more “Yes” than “No” votes.
District and statewide results
Two U.S. House districts representing Monterey County were up for election. In Congressional District 19, incumbent Democrat Jimmy Panetta received 192,571 votes districtwide to Republican Peter Coe Verbica’s 71,217, as of Monday’s results. In District 18, incumbent Democrat Zoe Lofgren had 118,251 votes to Republican Shane Lewis’ 44,409.
State Assembly races in the region also favored Democratic incumbents. In District 29, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas earned 77,756 votes to Republican Dennis Sanchez’s 30,393. In District 30, Assemblymember Dawn Addis had 105,966 votes to Republican Shannon Kessler’s 52,353.
In the California governor’s race, Democrat Xavier Becerra received 7.28 million votes, or 65.8%, compared with 3.79 million votes, or 34.2%, for Republican Steve Hilton. Becerra, a former state attorney general and U.S. health secretary, will succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Voters also weighed 14 statewide propositions. As of Monday, seven measures were leading, including Propositions 1, 2, 3, 5, 37, 38 and 42. The remaining seven — Propositions 4, 39, 40, 41, 43, 44 and 45 — were trailing. The measures address a range of issues, including affordable housing, school and healthcare funding, recall elections, voter identification, taxes, public campaign financing and environmental review.
For complete statewide election results, visit electionresults.sos.ca.gov.
