Election update: Here’s the latest results for races throughout Sacramento County

Sacramento County elections officials tabulated another round of ballots following Election Day on Friday, giving clear victories to some candidates in local races. Others remained too close to call.

Here are the latest results on elections throughout the county:

Elk Grove Mayor and City Council

Challenger Bobbie Singh-Allen is poised to unseat Elk Grove’s incumbent mayor Steve Ly. The Elk Grove Unified School District board member has secured 46% of the vote thus far, while Ly has received support from 34% of voters. His campaign has been shadowed by allegations of harassment, clouding his chances at a third term in office.

Meanwhile, incumbent city councilman Darren Suen handily won re-election. As of Friday, he had 68% of the vote, while Ali Moua, a personal injury attorney, received 31%. Suen represents Elk Grove’s District 1, the westernmost area of the city.

The northwest area of Elk Grove, District 3, will be represented by businessman Kevin Spease, who replaces Vice Mayor Steven Detrick after he chose not to seek re-election. Five candidates vied for his seat at the dais. Civil engineer Amandeep Singh received the second-most votes in the race, with 20% of the vote.

Citrus Heights City Council

Voters in Citrus Heights participated in its first district-based election, re-electing one councilman and putting a new one in office.

District 1, the easternmost portion of the city, re-elected councilman Bret Daniels. Rival Nicole Castor, who has been politically active with the Green Party of Sacramento County, received 36% of the vote and was soundly defeated by Daniels’ 63%. Daniels was first elected to City Council in 1999, and has since had several stints as a councilman.

Tim Schaefer, the chairman of the Citrus Heights Planning Commission, won the District 3 City Council seat with 62% of the vote. Thomas Goetz, a technical engineer who described himself as a socialist, received 37% of the vote. Mayor Jeff Slowey chose not to seek re-election, leaving a seat on the council open to newcomers.

Rancho Cordova City Council

Three seats on Rancho Cordova’s City Council were filled this year. Mayor David Sander and councilman Donald Terry will remain in office. Sander received 21% of the vote, while Terry received 19%, around 200 votes more than newcomer Siri Pulipati received. The top three candidates will be elected into office. Pulipati, an engineer, leads over incumbent Robert J. McGarvey by 1,200 votes.

“I thought I could offer some stability the way this year has been going,” McGarvey told The Bee Thursday. “But (the voters) were looking for somebody new, at least that’s way it looks like now.”

McGarvey was first elected to the council in 2002 and has served as councilman and mayor for the city several times since then.

Folsom City Council

Two new faces will appear at Folsom City Hall.

YK Chalamcherla, an India-born state worker, took the lead with 23% of the vote. Next was Folsom restaurateur Rosario Rodriguez, who took 22%. The top two candidates in the six-person field will be elected to City Council.

Mark Moore, a member of the Folsom Utility Commission, came short of Rodriguez by 6%. The two winning candidates emphasized the importance of a response to the coronavirus pandemic.

Galt City Council

Electrician Jay Vandenburg is currently leading in the race for Galt City Council. He, along with Kevin Papineau, will be elected to represent the city. Vandenburg received 29% of the vote and Papineau, who works as a criminal investigator at the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office, received 26%. The next runner-up was insurance adjuster Kami Martin, who received 18% of the vote. The top two candidates, Vandenburg and Papineau, will be elected to City Council.

Los Rios Community College Trustees

Four trustee seats were up for election this year. In Area 3, a newcomer has taken the lead. Incumbent John Knight has received 34% of the vote, compared with fiscal consultant and former college administrator Chris Yatooma’s 41%. Area 3 consists of Folsom and most of El Dorado County.

Kelly Wilkerson, a Davis high school teacher, will be the next trustee for Area 4. Opponent Katie Villegas received 33% of the vote, while Wilkerson secured a 10% lead over her. Area 4 includes parts of Yolo County plus the southern portions of Sacramento County.

Incumbent Pamela Haynes will keep her seat as trustee of Area 5. She took 78% of the vote, while substitute teacher Ralph Merletti received 21% of voter support. Haynes was appointed to the Board of Trustees in 1999 and was elected in 2000.

Merletti has run several unsuccessful campaigns in the past. He ran as a Republican in 2014 for a state Assembly seat and that same year ran to be a Los Rios trustee for Area 7. He previously ran against Haynes in 2016. Area 5 consists of the southern portion of the city of Sacramento, including Oak Park, the Pocket and Meadowview.

Tami Nelson, another incumbent trustee, will also remain in office. Business owner and vice president of the Sacramento Taxpayers Association ran against her, garnering 36% of the vote to her 63%. Area 7 consists of Elk Grove, Sloughhouse, Florin and part of Rancho Cordova.

Sacramento City Unified School District

The big upset in the Sacramento school district came in the race for Area 7, currently represented by the Board of Education’s president, Jessie Ryan. Ryan failed to secure enough votes to beat her opponent, teachers’ union-backed Lavinia Grace Phillips. Phillips has won 55% of the vote, while Ryan received 44% of the vote.

“This wasn’t supposed to happen. I was the underdog, and I came up from the bottom,” Phillips told The Bee, although added that she is still holding off on declaring victory until an official result is declared.

Meanwhile, incumbent Christina Pritchett secured re-election to the board. She will continue to represent Area 3. Her challenger, Jose Navarro, received 45% of the vote while she won 54% of the vote. Navarro, who works for the California Franchise Tax Board, was endorsed by the Sacramento City Teachers Association, along with Phillips and Area 4 candidate Nailah Pope-Harden and Area 5 candidate Chinua Rhodes.

Pope-Harden was soundly defeated by Jamee Villa, who works at the nonprofit California State Retirees. Villa won 60% of the vote, while Pope-Harden won 39%, making him the next board member for Area 4.

Chinua Rhodes, however, still has a chance at winning the Area 5 seat. Rhodes, an organizer with Mutual Housing California, has received 51% of the vote, just barely leading therapist Vanessa Areiza King, who has 48% support.

Natomas Unified School District

Three seats are up for election on the Natomas Unified School District’s board, and one remains in play. Incumbents Micah Grant and Susan Heredia have enough of the vote to retain their seats on the board, but Scott Dosick’s seat may be in jeopardy.

He has received 12% of the vote, significantly short of Grant’s 17% and Heredia’s 16%. Challenger Ericka Harden is only 400 votes shy of Dosick, a gap that could shrink as final votes are tallied. The top three candidates in the race will be elected to the board, meaning that Dosick will remain in office only if he stays ahead of Harden, who is a speech pathologist for students with special needs.

Elk Grove Unified School District

An incumbent and a newcomer have been elected to Elk Grove’s school board. Incumbent Tony Perez won with 59% of the vote. His opponent Regina Banks received 40% of the vote. Perez will remain the representative for Area 1.

Sean Yang, a medical engineer at Kaiser Permanente, will be the new board member for Area 3. Yang won 45% of the vote, while the runner-up, Bobby Roy, won 37% of the vote. A third candidate, Victor Wilson, won 17% of the vote.

Folsom Cordova Unified School District

The president of Folsom Cordova’s board has been re-elected. Christopher Clark won 61% of the vote while challenger Larry Leroy Ladd won 38%.

Clark will keep his seat in Area 4, but the race for Area 2 is not over yet. Incumbent JoAnne Reinking has a 2% lead over Tim Hooey. A third candidate, Hari Shetty, has won 28% of the vote.

San Juan Unified School District

No shakeups here: three incumbents will keep their seats in the San Juan Unified School District.

Pam Costa was the most popular in the field of candidates, and although all three top candidates will win election, she garnered 21% of the vote in a seven-person field. Board President Paula Villescaz won 18% of the vote, while board member Saul Hernandez won 17%. The next runner-up, entrepreneur Melinda Avey, had 14%.

Robla School District

An outsider is currently poised to win a seat on the Robla School District’s board, leaving two incumbents struggling for votes.

Sharona Devine, who was endorsed by the Democratic Party of Sacramento County, has won the lion’s share of the votes so far, with 36% support. Ken Barnes and Kim Howard, two incumbent board members, are nearly neck-and-neck, and only one of them can advance. The top two candidates in the running will be elected into office.

Barnes, the board’s current president, is leading slightly over his colleague with 32% of the vote. Howard has 31% of the vote.

SMUD Director

The president of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District has been re-elected. Rob Kerth, who serves on the board representing Ward 5, the northwestern area of Sacramento County, has won 55% of the vote.

His sole challenger, Fatima Malik, works at the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. She won 44% of the vote.

American River Flood Control District

Two board members for the American River Flood Control District have been re-elected. Tamika L’Ecluse, the board’s secretary, leads with 34% of the vote. Next is Cyril Shah with 30% of the vote. Shah will remain in office as president of the board.

Only the top two candidates will be elected in, which means runner-up Steven Maviglio, a political consultant, will not make it onto the board. He garnered 20% of the total vote.

Fulton-El Camino Recreation and Park District

All three incumbents held onto their seats on the Fulton-El Camino Recreation and Park District’s Board of Directors. Kathleen Stricklin, Laura Lavallee and Teresa Higgins were all up for re-election, and all made it into the top three in a field of four candidates. Stricklin won 35% of the vote, Lavallee won 26% and Higgins won 20%. Challenger Pamela Stathos won 16%.

North Highlands Recreation and Park District

In the North Highlands Recreation and Park District, three newcomers won seats on its Board of Directors, leaving two incumbents high and dry.

Incumbents Pedro Marquez and Diane Richards failed to make it into the top three out of five candidates. Marquez won 16% and Richards, the chair of the board, won just 15%.

Crystal Harding-Jenkins, the program director of the Black Child Legacy Campaign and an immigrant from Liberia, won the most votes, with 27% support.

Beau Reynolds, the vice chair of the Stonewall Foundation of Greater Sacramento, won 21% of the vote, earning him a spot on the Board of Directors.

Business owner Max Semenenko won the third available seat, garnering 19% of the vote and holding a lead of 3% over Marquez.

This story was originally published November 7, 2020 at 6:19 PM.