Election results are in. Who's representing San Joaquin County, Stockton Unified?

The San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters has finished counting ballots and official election results are in.

The 2022 general election drew 46.5% voter turnout from San Joaquin County’s 385,679 registered voters. Most chose to vote by mail, with just 16,449 people ― 4% ― choosing to vote in-person at a polling place.

The registrar’s office counted 179,333 ballots in just over three weeks. County supervisors will still need to vote to certify the election results to meet the Dec. 8 deadline.

San Joaquin County registrar of voters: ‘Best election we’ve seen in five years’

The California governor’s race was called in favor of Gavin Newsom by national media almost immediately on election night; he has about 2 million more votes than Republican challenger Brian Dahle.

But Dahle earned 51.78% of the vote in San Joaquin County, where Democrats make up a much larger percentage of registered voters than Republicans. There are nearly 80,000 no-party preference voters in San Joaquin County.

Harder (back) to Washington

Democratic Congressman Josh Harder will represent most of San Joaquin County in Washington via the 9^th Congressional District after defeating County Supervisor Tom Patti.

Harder garnered 92,603 votes, 55.43%, to rise about 11 points decisively above Patti. He’s currently finishing out his term representing the 10^th District encompassing Modesto, Tracy and Turlock.

“There’s a huge amount of work that needs to get done, and I truly believe if we focus on common sense solutions we can get prices down, protect our water and keep our community safe,” Harder said in a press release after a mud-slinging campaign season with Patti. “From the bottom of my heart, thank you. I won’t let you down.”

“The voters showed they want me to complete my term as supervisors, and I look forward to the next two years working on our local issues as I have successfully done these past six years,” Patti said in a Nov. 22 concession statement. “Unfortunately, the voters were exposed to a Bay Area-funded campaign filled with 100% lies and misinformation instead of addressing the real issues and selecting local leadership we deserve.”

Two new faces at the county dais

Patti will be joined by two new county supervisors and local businessmen in January: Paul Canepa and Steve Ding.

Canepa of Stockton’s Canepa Carwash is wrapping up his second term at Stockton City Council and will replace outgoing District 2 Supervisor Kathy Miller after earning 16,856 votes, 56.97%. He beat out his former colleague Elbert Holman, retired San Joaquin County law enforcement and former city councilmember who, with Canepa, helped the city traverse through bankruptcy.

Ding, owner of Woodbridge Crossing Restaurant, will replace outgoing Chuck Winn to represent District 4 after earning 19,895 votes, 52.97% over opponent Steve Colangelo.

Before opening his restaurant, Ding served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Representative Richard Pombo, where he served on the U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee.

Jobrack out, Padilla in

School teacher Michelle Padilla has successfully challenged incumbent Sol Jobrack for the Stockton City Council district 1 seat. Padilla earned 7,150 north Stockton votes, 59.06%. She’ll join city council newcomers Michael Blower, representing District 3, and Brando Villapudua, representing District 5, on the dais at city hall come January.

Padilla, 55, holds libertarian political values; she told the Record she’s not big on government restrictions and that the government shouldn’t “be the cure for all the world’s woes” when describing her “fiscally conservative” stance.

In the last year, Padilla spent at least $8,000 with 209 Times founder Motecuzoma Sanchez's Tecuani Consulting, LLC. Jobrack was targeted by 209 Times multiple times over the course of campaign season while Padilla received an endorsement.

Leadership change at Stockton Unified

Stockton Unified School District will see three newcomer trustees and one returning after four of seven board seats were up for election in November.

Area 2 Trustee AngelAnn Flores has been reelected with 1,128 votes, more than double of any of the other four candidates at 37.92%, to serve another four-year term.

Flores, often the lone opposition to the current board supermajority, told the Record she’s the one who sounded the alarm resulting in two scathing San Joaquin County Grand Jury reports showing financial mismanagement and dysfunction at Stockton Unified and the state audit looking for fraud and illegal fiscal practices that’s currently underway.

Kennetha Stevens, a three-time SUSD parent-volunteer of the year, unseated Area 7 trustee Zachary Avelar with 2,405 votes, about 1,000 votes more than Avelar at just under 50%. Avelar was appointed on a 5-1 board vote shortly after Candelaria Vargas resigned in July 2021.

More education news:San Joaquin school test scores down as educators focus on learning loss

Franklin High School alum Sofia Colón soundly defeated Area 6 incumbent Scot McBrian with 2,156 votes, 52.93%. She ran on financial accountability and raising third grade literacy rates. McBrian brought Alliance Building Solutions, Inc. to the table at Stockton Unified, a subject of scrutiny over a $7.3 million contract and potential conflict of interest in the June grand jury report.

Donald Donaire earned 2,231 votes, 57.13%, to replace outgoing Area 5 Trustee Maria Mendez. Donaire is co-director at Empowering Marginalized Asian Communities and has been an after-school program coordinator and nonprofit youth development leader.

All four winning candidates were represented by the same political consulting firm, Tabletop Strategies, and received tens of thousands of dollars each from the Central Valley Leadership Fund. The PAC doled out big checks to local candidates with leftovers from large 2020 donations from Michael Bloomberg and charter school-linked nonprofit Campaign for Great Public Schools.

This article originally appeared on The Record: San Joaquin County reveals official election results