Fresno County releases new vote tally from Nov. 8. See which races remain very close
Fresno County has no ballots remaining to count from the Nov. 8 general election. But while the results will remain unofficial until the canvass is complete, the wrap-up of the counting on Friday finally puts a pin in a number of contests decided by voters.
A total of 220,874 ballots were cast by voters across Fresno County, both by mail or turned in at vote centers, adding up to a voter turnout of 44.2%, according to the update released Friday afternoon by County Clerk/Registrar of Voters James Kus.
The latest update did little to change the previous results trend for local races, serving merely to solidify and confirm what was already becoming clear two weeks ago. A trio of major sales tax measures in Fresno and Fresno County went down to defeat, while a tax in Clovis to be paid by visitors staying in hotels and other lodging passed by a wide margin.
But the latest figures appear to have tipped one very close state Senate race in favor of a Democratic incumbent over her Republican opponent, providing a margin of merely 12 votes from more than 136,000 cast across Fresno, Kings, Kern and Tulare counties.
In the Fresno Unified School District, voters brought to an end a controversial incumbent’s time on the board of trustees, while three other incumbents survived challenges in their re-election bids. And an incumbent council member won re-election to the Clovis City Council, joined by two newcomers after outpolling the rest of a crowded field of 10 candidates.
Local ballot measures
With no more votes left to count in Fresno County, four significant local ballot measures that were before Fresno County voters have now been decided.
Fresno County Measure C: A proposal to extend Fresno County’s half-cent sales tax for another 30 years to help pay for road and transportation improvements has failed. Measure C garnered 124,811 “yes” votes, or 58.2%. But almost 90,000 voters said “no” to the extension, leaving the measure well short of the two-thirds majority or 66.67% required to pass.
Fresno County Measure E: The countywide measure to create a new sales tax of 0.2% to support improvements to academic programs and facilities at Fresno State required a simple majority of 50% plus one vote to pass. But voters soundly defeated the measure that was backed by Fresno contractor and developer Richard Spencer. Measure E received 100,841 “yes” votes, or 47.1%, while 113,148 voters said “no,” accounting for 52.9% of the tally.
Fresno City Measure M: A 0.125% sales tax proposed by the Fresno City Council to provide money for veterans programs and facilities came up well short of the two-thirds majority needed to pass. Of more than 102,000 votes cast within the city, Measure M received “yes” votes from 59.3% of voters, compared to “no” votes at 40.7%.
Clovis City Measure B: Measure B before voters in the city of Clovis proposed to raise the bed tax on hotels and lodging from the current rate of 10% to 12%. With almost 37,000 votes cast and counted, it won an easy victory with 69.5%, outpacing “no” votes at 30.5%. Measure B required a simple majority of 50% plus one vote to pass.
Fresno, Clovis school boards
Four seats were up for election on the Fresno Unified School District board of trustees, and sitting incumbents won three of the seats with relatively comfortable margins. A fourth incumbent who stirred controversy through confrontations with school officials, students and fellow trustees was soundly toppled by a challenger in a four-person race.
Fresno Unified Seat 7: In the Bullard High School area of northwest Fresno, challenger Susan Wittrup, a retired FUSD school psychologist, defeated incumbent Terry Slatic, a retired United States Marine Corps major. Wittrup built up a margin of more than 5,900 votes over Slatic, 10,774 to 4,852, or an advantage of 57.8% to 26.1%. Two other challengers trailed in the final, unofficial count, with James Richard Barr garnering 11.8% of the votes and Michael B. Haynes pulling in 4.4%.
Fresno Unified Seat 1: Keshia Thomas, the incumbent in the district’s Edison High area in southwest Fresno, built a commanding win over her sole challenger, Wayne Horton. Thomas piled up more than 76% of the votes cast in the trustee area, to Horton’s 23.8%.
Fresno Unified Seat 3: Valerie F. Davis, the incumbent in Fresno Unified’s Sunnyside High area of southeast Fresno, won re-election from a field of four candidates by pulling in 47.3% of the votes. Alternative educator Karl C. Diaz came in second with 23.3%, while educator Tammy McMahon-Gorans was third with 20.9%. Marketer Michael Osmer rounded out the field with 8.6%.
Fresno Unified Seat 4: What had been something of a squeaky-tight race on Election Night for Fresno Unified’s McLane High area of east-central Fresno eased into a more comfortable win for incumbent Veva Islas in a field of three candidates. Islas led by as few as 25 votes at one point on Election Night, but ultimately ended the race with a 350-vote advantage, pulling in 45.1%. Retired Fresno Unified teacher Karen Steed was second with 39.6% of the votes, while chemist Michelle Scire trailed with 15.4%.
Clovis Unified Seat 1: Nonprofit executive and former Fresno City Council Member Clint Olivier defeated three other candidates to win the Area 1 seat on the Clovis Unified School District board of trustees. Olivier finished with a lead of more than 4,400 votes over second-place finisher Samantha Bauer, racking up 39.4% of the vote to Bauer’s 32.5%. Businessman Chuck Der Manouel and Realtor Joanne Burton rounded out the race with 23.5% and 4.6% of the vote, respectively.
Clovis Unified Seat 6: Parent and teacher Deena Combs-Flores handily won the Area 6 seat on the Clovis Unified board, pulling in 62.1% of the votes compared to her lone opponent, retired business owner Bill Whitmore. Whitmore garnered 37.9% of the votes.
Clovis City Council
Three seats on the Clovis City Council were up for election, and the departure of two incumbents means two newcomers will join incumbent Drew M. Bessinger when the new terms start. Bessinger was the leading vote-getter in his re-election bid from a field of 10 candidates. Clovis voters could vote for up to three candidates.
Bessinger pulled in 21.54% of the votes cast in the election, while local Republican party activist Diane Pearce finished second with 20.9%. Matt Basgall at 20.1% will fill the third seat.
Their nearest rival, Joshua Phanco, captured 8.2% of the vote. None of the other six candidates on the ballot broke 7% in the final unofficial tally.
Legislative offices
13th Congressional District: In one of the closest undecided Congressional races in the nation, Fresno County’s Friday update appears to have secured a narrow win for Republican farmer and businessman John Duarte of Hughson in the hard-fought 13th Congressional District encompassing Merced County and parts of Fresno, Madera, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties.
Across the entire district, with all counties reporting final tallies, Duarte holds a lead of 565 votes out of more than 133,500 cast over longtime Democratic state Assembly Member Adam Gray of Merced. Duarte has 67,041 votes to Gray’s 66,476 – a margin of about four-tenths of 1%.
Gray outpolled Duarte in Merced, San Joaquin and Stanislaus counties, but Duarte more than made up that advantage by beating Gray in Fresno and Madera counties. Duarte’s largest advantage, more than 3,600 votes, came in Madera County.
27th Assembly District: Fresno City Council Member Esmeralda Soria, running as a Democrat, sealed a relatively close win to represent the 27th Assembly District in the state Legislature, covering parts of Fresno, Madera and Merced counties. Soria, who was barred by term limits from seeking a third term on the Fresno council, faced off against Republican Mark Pazin, the former sheriff of Merced County. Out of almost 89,000 votes cast throughout the district, Soria won 45,670 votes or 51.3% to Pazin’s 43,304, or 48.7%.
16th Senate District: First-term state Sen. Melissa Hurtado, a Democrat from Sanger, trailed her Republican opponent David Shepard on Election Night and in each subsequent report of votes from across Fresno, Kings, Tulare and Kern counties. But as of Friday afternoon, Hurtado held a razor-thin advantage of just 12 votes, leading Shepard by a count of 68,302 to 68,290
Other congressional races: Several other races to represent parts of the Valley in the U.S. House of Representatives saw larger margins with outcomes that were not affected by the latest figures from Fresno County, among the last Valley counties to complete its tally and report final unofficial results. Those include:
5th Congress: Rep. Tom McClintock, a Republican from the Sierra foothills east of Sacramento, easily won in the far-ranging district that skirts the Valley’s eastern flank all the way into Fresno County. McClintock finished with 61.3% of the vote, defeating Democratic challenger Michael Barkley at 38.7%.
20th Congress: Longtime Rep. Kevin McCarthy, a Bakersfield Republican who has his eye on becoming speaker as the Republicans seize control of the House of Representatives, won an overwhelming victory over Democratic challenger Marisa Wood, 67.3% to 32.7%.
21st Congress: Rep. Jim Costa, D-Fresno, secured a win over Republican challenger Michael Maher in his bid to return for another term in the House. Costa pulled in 54% of the votes throughout the district, while Maher garnered 46%.
22nd Congress: In the South Valley, Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford, has apparently defeated longtime Democratic Assembly Member Rudy Salas of Bakersfield in another contest that featured vitriolic campaigns from both sides. With almost 102,000 votes tallied across Kings, Tulare and Kern counties, Valadao – who has a history of close elections in recent years – edged Salas by fewer than 3,300 votes, or a margin of 51.6% to 48.4%.
Other Assembly, Senate races:
8th Assembly: Longtime Assembly Member Jim Patterson, R-Fresno, easily won election to a newly redrawn 8th District that includes all or parts of Fresno, Madera, Mariposa, Calaveras, Inyo, Mono and Tuolumne counties. Patterson received 74.3% of the vote to defeat Libertarian Party candidate Thomas Edward Nichols, who captured 25.7%.
31st Assembly: Incumbent Assembly Member Joaquin Arambula, D-Fresno, captured 60.8% of the votes, ahead of Republican challenger Dolce Misol Calandra at 39.2%, in the district that is located entirely within Fresno County.
33rd Assembly: Republican incumbent Devon Mathis of Visalia pulled in 63.1% of the votes over Democratic challenger Jose Sigala’s 36.9% in the district that includes parts of Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties.
About all that’s left in Fresno County is accepting any cure letters from voters who had signature issues on their ballots before those votes can be counted.
