After a campaign fueled by a labor dispute with city firefighters, two incumbents on the Santa Maria City Council appear to have succeeded in the efforts to continue serving for four more years.
Mayor Alice Patino had 46.4% of the vote as the Elections Office released its final semi-official update of ballot counts.
Patino said she remained “very optimistic” as the counting continued.
“I’m so glad to have my family and friends here to help me celebrate,” she added.
She was challenged by three people who were all trailing in election night results:
- Diana Perez, a college administrator and former Santa Maria Joint Union High School District board member
- Andrew “Andy” Foster, who did not provide a ballot designation but said he previously worked on a smog check technician
- William “Will” Smith, who is listed as a reverend and previously served a contentious term on the Santa Maria-Bonita School District Board of Trustees
While the field had four candidates, the main competition involved Patino and Perez.
Perez had 40.1% of the vote in election night results, Smith had 7.1% of the vote and Foster had 6%.
Perez, who trailed by more than 900 votes, also remained hopeful.
“I think we did an incredible job,” she said, noting a number of votes remained to be counted.
Two other City Council seats were also were up for grabs Tuesday.
For District 1, or the northwest area of the city, incumbent Carlos Escobedo was challenged by Maria Salguero and Adilene Rojas-Alejo.
Escobedo was leading in with 57.9% of the vote, while Salguero had 35.3% and Rojas-Alejo had 6.4%.
“I’ll continue watching as more ballots are counted, but I feel good about the campaign we ran and the results so far,” Escobedo said late Tuesday night.
For District 2, the northeast neighborhoods, incumbent Mike Cordero, a retired police lieutenant, saw two challengers: Gloria Flores, a retired school principal, and Benjamin Ortiz, a software engineer.
As the semi-official results were released at the end of the night, Flores pulled into the lead by 24 votes over Cordero.
Flores led with 34.4% to 33.7% for Cordero.
More votes remain to be counted in the coming days, so that race remains undecided.
For most of the night the votes were more split among the trio. Ortiz trailed with 31.6% of the vote.
The Santa Maria Firefighters Local 2020 union, which is in the middle of contentious labor talks and has provided thousands of dollars for the campaign, endorsed Perez, Salguero and Ortiz.
The election came as a pivotal point for the city of Santa Maria, which is facing a budget shortfall amounting to millions of dollars. Additionally, a new city manager, David Rowlands, is set to arrive at the end of this month.
The candidates chosen by voters Tuesday will each serve a 4-year term.
The winners of the races will take office in December, joining Gloria Soto and Maribel Aguilera-Hernandez, whose terms expire in 2026.
Two other elected officials, City Clerk Patti Rodriguez and City Treasurer Teressa Hall, ran unopposed to continue those roles.
The Santa Barbara County Elections Office will be updating results as more ballots are counted in the upcoming days and weeks. The county will certify election results on Dec. 3.