Sacramento elections: Latest on who’s ahead in two competitive City Council races
With early results trickling in Tuesday night, incumbent Allen Warren is trailing behind his challenger to hang on to his Sacramento City Council seat representing North Sacramento, while Mai Vang and Pastor Les Simmons remain locked in a tight race for the seat representing south Sacramento.
As of Wednesday morning among ballots counted thus far, Vang had secured 50% of the vote and Simmons had 49% for the south Sacramento District 8 seat. In the North Sacramento race for District 2, early results showed Sean Loloee had secured about 54% of votes counted thus far, and Warren about 45%.
The results of the vote will change, as additional late-arriving mail-in ballots and provisional ballots are processed. The Sacramento County Registrar of Voters will release more results Friday afternoon.
North Sacramento District 2
Loloee, who knocked on something like 6,000 doors during the campaign, said he decided to spend Election Night at home with his family. “Of course, I had my phone right next to me refreshing the county election page for results,” he said Wednesday afternoon.
“Obviously until the county gives us the stamp of approval, this race is still going, but internally, we feel very good, very strong,” Loloee said about results thus far.
If Loloee win, he would be the second person to unseat an incumbent council member this year. Councilwoman-elect Katie Valenzuela defeated Councilman Steve Hansen in the March primary to represent the central city and Land Park in the District 4.
“The residents, they were all kind of unanimous that we need change, and they’re tired of the district not getting enough attention like some of the other districts,” Loloee said. “What the residents wanted and what the incumbents wanted obviously didn’t match up.”
Warren has been on the council since 2012. He was reelected by a wide margin in 2016, but failed to win a majority of the vote during the March primary.
A real estate developer, Warren says his biggest accomplishments while representing North Sacramento neighborhoods have been attracting grocery stores, helping to keep the Sacramento Kings in Sacramento and uplifting disadvantaged youth with new programs.
Warren did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday morning.
The Sacramento Bee reported last month that Warren and his businesses had been issued notices for delinquent federal, state and county taxes totaling at least $472,080 since 2015.
Loloee owns two Viva Supermarkets in the district, including one in Del Paso Heights, an underserved neighborhood with little access to fresh food. The stores in the district employ 100 people and 95% live in North Sacramento, his website says.
In 2018, Loloee’s company was hit with a class-action lawsuit by two former Latino employees, claiming they were not paid overtime and were not given meal or rest periods. Loloee paid a settlement in September and has denied the charges.
A competitive race, Warren received nearly $139,000 in campaign donations this year, while Loloee received about $133,000 over the same period.
South Sacramento District 8
Either Vang or Simmons will replace District 8 Councilman Larry Carr, who is retiring, to represent the south Sacramento neighborhoods of Meadowview, Parkway, North Laguna Creek and Jacinto Creek.
Vang is an outgoing Sacramento City Unified School Board member and a former staffer for Carr. She had earned 47% of the vote during the March primary. Simmons is a senior pastor at South Sacramento Christian Center and a longtime community activist in south Sacramento.
Council members Carr, Warren, Angelique Ashby and Jeff Harris endorsed Vang, while Councilmen Hansen, Jay Schenirer and Rick Jennings endorsed Simmons. Vang received more than $172,000 in campaign contributions this year, while Simmons received nearly $130,000 over the same period.
There was historic turnout among voters in District 8, Vang said Wednesday afternoon, a feat that is emblematic of aggressive grassroots campaigning by both candidates that has energized residents.
“Many of the voters who’ve lived here for 25 years or more said there has never been a candidate who’s knocked on their door,” Vang said. “We put our heart and our hustle in the ground game and now we wait and we see.”
Vang would be the first Asian American woman to serve on the council if she won, and the first Hmong council member. With Valenzuela, the council would also go from having only one woman member, Ashby, to having three.
Simmons said he was encouraging last-minute voters up until about 15 minutes before the polls closed Tuesday night, before retreating to a small watch party at a local community center.
“I thought it was gonna be very close,” Simmons said Wednesday morning. “I didn’t know it was going to be like, 50-49.”
The presidential election loomed large over Tuesday night, Simmons said. “We need real leadership that takes COVID-19 seriously and the racial tension seriously,” he said.
Regardless of the outcome, “local leadership is going to be vital to unifying our communities,” he said.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 8:32 PM.
