Yolo County judicial race tightens as Ryan Davis holds slim lead over Diane Ortiz
The two candidates running in a contested Yolo County judicial race remain neck and neck, the latest results show.
Former public defender and Sacramento County court commissioner Ryan Davis held a slight lead over Yolo County Deputy District Attorney Diane Ortiz with about three-quarters of ballots counted, according to updated results released Tuesday.
Davis received 50.55% of the votes counted, while Ortiz received 49.45%. Davis’ 1.1-percentage-point lead amounted to about 460 votes.
Precinct-level results showed Davis’ support was strongest in the city of Davis, while Ortiz held an advantage in the county’s rural precincts and won more votes in Woodland.
Davis’ career included work as a public defender at the state, county and federal levels. He also served as a deputy attorney general for the California Department of Justice before being appointed as a Sacramento County court commissioner.
Ortiz received endorsements from the police unions in Winters, Davis, West Sacramento and Woodland, as well as the Yolo County Deputy Sheriff’s Association. She worked for years in internal affairs and as a legislative analyst for the California Highway Patrol and came from a law enforcement family. She was endorsed by Janene Beronio, the judge vacating the seat.
Yolo County experienced higher-than-expected turnout for a primary election and received a larger share of ballots on or after Election Day than in prior elections.
Yolo County had just over 13,000 more ballots to count. The county counted about 13,000 ballots between Friday afternoon and Tuesday’s update, but it was not yet clear whether the county would finish counting before the next update, scheduled for 4 p.m. Friday.
This story was originally published June 10, 2026 at 12:24 PM.
