Helms Lewis ousts longtime Merced DA Morse in landslide victory

In a stunning landslide, a political newcomer cruised to an easy win Tuesday night over longtime Merced County District Attorney Larry Morse II, an incumbent whose political strength had never before been challenged.

Kimberly Helms Lewis, a 47-year-old veteran government attorney and prosecutor, surged ahead early when the polls closed in Merced and never looked back. Morse, who first was elected in 2006, failed to make up any ground as more precincts reported.

As of 11:30 p.m., Helms Lewis had a lead of more than 5,000 votes, holding about 66 percent of the vote to Morse's nearly 34 percent with nearly half of all precincts reporting, according to the Merced County Election’s Office unofficial results.

"We've campaigned based on bringing change to Merced County and (voters) let us know tonight they agree that change is what they're looking for too," Helms Lewis said late Tuesday.

Helms Lewis, who came onto the political scene in Merced County just three months ago, ran a campaign that touted "change," saying Merced County voters were ready for new leadership in the prosecutor's office.

Her candidacy was announced just weeks after the Sun-Star reported allegations from three former prosecutors who said Morse inappropriately kissed a married subordinate employee and made sexual comments to women in the office. Morse denied any wrongdoing and said the allegations were incidents taken out of context.

Bolstered by the momentum of the #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, Helms Lewis kept the issue of workplace sexual harassment at the forefront of her campaign. She said while Morse never made any inappropriate comments to her when she worked in Merced, the allegations raised by the former prosecutors were "not surprising."

The race grew increasingly combative with both sides jabbing and counter-punching criticisms. Morse focused on his depth of experience as a prosecutor and supervisor, noting Helms Lewis never held a top leadership position. His campaign questioned her decision to accept a large campaign donation from a company that had once been sued on behalf of Merced County for environmental violations. Morse also said Helms Lewis botched three sexual assault cases by failing to file them before the statute of limitations ran out.

But the challenger brushed off the criticisms, saying Morse's office had several more years to file those cases when she left the office and the large campaign donation came with no strings attached.

Throughout Tuesday night, Helms Lewis' camp, which gathered at Cova's restaurant in Merced, remained cautiously upbeat, but refused to declare victory even as vote totals showed her running up the score. Helms Lewis' camp declared victory after 11:30 p.m., but acknowledged Morse had not formally conceded the race.

Morse supporters gathered across town at 510 Bistro on Main Street where a smaller crowd was more subdued as precinct numbers poured in. Morse made a brief appearance, telling reporters the early numbers were "disappointing" but that it was too early call around 10 p.m. About 30 minutes later, Morse quietly left without commenting further.

In other Merced County election news, Steve Tietjen held about a 1,000-vote lead over challenger Richard Lopez in the race for County Superintendent of Schools. Tietjan held nearly 53 percent of the vote to Lopez's nearly 47 percent, as of 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.

In the five-way race to fill the westside seat for the Merced County Board of Supervisors, Scott Silveira held a strong lead over his four opponents. Silveira carried nearly 61 percent of the vote, a lead that, if held, would propel him to the office while avoiding the predicted runoff in November.

Silveira's next closet challenger, Patricia Ramos Anderson held about 20 percent of the vote, Richard de la Paz Jr. was third with about 14 percent and Lea Hernandez Holguin had about 4 percent, according to the Merced County Election's Office.

This story was originally published June 6, 2018 at 12:01 AM with the headline "Helms Lewis ousts longtime Merced DA Morse in landslide victory."