Merced County Election: Pedrozo leads supervisors race, Los Banos mayor’s race close
Editor’s Note: For updated election results, click here
The battle for Merced County’s District 2 Board of Supervisors seat pits a familiar name in local politics against an incumbent hoping to continue representing Merced area residents, north of Highway 99.
Former Merced City Councilmember Josh Pedrozo led current Supervisor Lee Lor with 7,969 votes as of Wednesday afternoon, which accounts for 51.55%, according to the Merced County Registrar of Voters Office. Lor has received 7,489 votes (48.45%) thus far.
“I’m happy with the early results that have come out,” Pedrozo said. “I understand there are still a lot of ballots to count, but I’m happy with the position that I am in. In no way am I conceding anything because there are a lot of ballots left to count, but I think (the campaign) is headed in the right direction.”
Pedrozo is a social studies teacher at Merced High, a former Merced City Council member and the son of former Merced County Supervisor John Pedrozo. He ran for Mayor of Merced in 2016, but lost to Mike Murphy.
Lor is the first Hmong American woman to hold an elected position in the Central Valley and the second in California.
Los Banos Mayor
The Los Banos Mayor race is tight between Paul Llanez and Tom Faria with just 13 votes separating the two candidates as of Wednesday afternoon.
Faria, 59, holds a narrow lead after early results with 4,474 (49.88%) votes to Llanez’s 4,461 (49.74%) votes. He has lived in Los Banos since 1985 and taught music there for 35 years.
Faria has been a member of the Los Banos City Council for 14 years. He has been re-elected to the council three times, and has previously served as mayor pro tem. He says Los Banos has been the foundation for his family for the more than a century. His grandmother was born in Los Banos in 1901 and his father was born there in 1921.
Llanez, 41, grew up in the Central Valley and moved to Los Banos in 2003. He worked as a full-time police officer from 2003 until he retired in 2015.
He stayed on the police department as an unpaid reserve officer and was also elected as president of the Police Officers Association. He has been re-elected by the POA members four terms in a row.
Llanez owns a small business called, Knowledge Saves Lives Inc., which is an emergency preparedness consulting and training firm.
In the City of Los Banos Councilmember District 1 race Kenneth W. Lambert leads with 1,147 (57.64%) votes over Dave Newman 832 (41.81%). In District 4, Deborah Lewis is running unopposed and has received 1,795 (96.66%) votes.
Other local races
LIVINGSTON
Juan Aguilar Jr. leads in the race for Livingston Mayor over incumbent Gurpal S. Samra with 1,769 votes (62.31%) of the votes to Samra’s 1,065 (37.51%) votes.
In the race for two seats on the Livingston City Council, Jose A. Moran and Adanan Bath lead. Moran has received 1,541 (35.03%) votes and Bath has 1,001 (22.76%) votes.
Maria Baptista-Soto (932 votes), Arturo Sicairos (644) and Melissa Nova (263) all trail Moran and Bath.
Katherine Schell Rodriguez leads the City of Livingston City Treasurer race with 1,732 (64.97%) votes over Jimi Mejia 925 (34.70%).
Leticia Vasquez-Zurita ran unopposed for City of Livingston City Clerk and received 2,483 (99.00%) votes.
DOS PALOS
April Smith-Hogue ran unopposed for Dos Palos Mayor and received 802 (94.02%) votes.
Armando Bravo and and Marcus Porter have the early lead for the two Dos Palos City Council seats. Bravo has received 560 (35.20%) and Porter has tallied 465 (29.23%).
Jessica Michele Soares has received 367 votes and trails Porter by 98 votes. Michael McGlynn has 194 votes.
ATWATER
In the race for Atwater’s City Council District 1 seat John G. Gale leads over Michael Noguera. Gale has received 1,103 (56.36%) votes to Noguera’s 833 (42.57%) votes.
Lucy Armstrong ran unopposed for Atwater city clerk and received 5,927 (98.02%) votes.
Mark Borba also ran unopposed for Atwater treasurer and received 5,966 (98.03%) votes.
STATE ASSEMBLY, 21st District
Assembly member Adam Gray, D-Merced, had a strong lead over challenger Joel Gutierrez Campos, getting 62.7% of votes compared to 37.3%.
U.S. House of Representatives, District 16
Jim Costa leads Kevin Cookingham in the U.S. House of Representatives District 16 race. Costa has received 60.5% of votes. Cookingham trails with 39.5%.
School Board Races
Kory A. Nieuwkoop leads in the race for Merced Community College District Area 6 with 60.55%. Jean Upton has received 38.80%.
Bryan Rogers has a narrow lead in the Yosemite Community College District Area 3 race with 67 votes (45.89%). Milton Richards trails by six votes with 61 (41.78%). Sharokina Shams has received 17 votes (11.64%).
The top three in the Delhi Unified School District race earn spots. The top three in the early vote count are Cynthia Caldera with 1,011 (22%), Ariel Gonzalez 862 (18.76%) and Juan J. Pena 828 (18.02%) votes.
Ramon Prado (527), Carolyn Ridge (477), Marcus Barreto (450) and Felipe Espino (427) all trail.
The four early leaders in the Dos Palos Oro-Loma Joint Unified School District race are Katina Austin 1,010 (24.20%), Maria Lorenzetti Davis 844 (20.23%), Lisa Areias 836 (20.03%) and Bill Van Worth 833 (19.96%) votes.
Jeffrey Chase trails with 590 votes.
Zachery Ramos leads in the Gustine Unified School District Area 3 race with 280 (63.78%) votes. Dennis J. Brazil trails with 158 votes (35.99%).
In the Gustine Unified School District Area 4 race Loretta Rose leads with 204 votes (52.99%) over Andrew Bloom 177 (45.97%).
The Los Banos Unified School District had races for Area 2 and Area 6. Jessica Moran is leading in the Area 2 race with 791 (66.30%) votes over Luis Castro 397 (33.28%). In Area 6, Margaret Benton is leading a three-way race with 762 (45.79%) votes. Mark Duffy (693) and Alex Y. Dvorkin (206) are trailing.
In the Merced Union High School District Area 3 race Julio Valdez is out in front with 3,574 (61.74%) votes. Wapinder Singh Kang has 2,201 (38.02%) votes.
In the Livingston Union Elementary School District 5 race Martha Sylvia Nateras leads with 317 (51.88%) over Monica Cuevas-Avila and her 293 (47.95%) votes.
The leaders for the two McSwain Union Elementary School District seats are Joe Scoto 1,181 (36.83%) and Chad Englert 804 (25.07%). Luis Lara has received 713 votes and Jerry L. Sanchez Jr. has 478 votes.
The Merced City School District has two races in Area 2 and Area 4. In Area 2 Jessee Espinosa leads with 3,013 (63.03%) votes. Tsia Xiong trails with 1,751 (36.63%) votes.
The district 4 race is tight with Birdi Olivarez-Kidwell leading by just four votes over Emily Langdon. Olivarez-Kidwell has received 2,145 (49.90%) votes to Langdon’s 2,141 (49.80%) votes.
The Merced River Union Elementary School District will fill two seats and leading in votes are Denzell McDowell (98 votes) and John Sexauer (97). Abraham Aguilar trails with 81 votes.
The Planada Elementary School District also had two seats up for grabs with Stephanie Leyva (311) and Ignacio Yanez (293) out to the early lead. Adrian Sanchez is close behind with 285 votes.
The Winton Elementary School District will fill three seats with Bob Boesch (708), Susan Ochoa (670) and Kelly Thomas (535) in the early lead. Trailing are Joella Zappia-Williamson with 483 votes and Jose A. Martinez with 471 votes.
In another Winton Elementary School District race Diane Dixon (760 votes) leads Sam Spangler (749) in the early results.
Water and Irrigation District Races
The Winton Water and Sanitary District race will fill two seats with William Glaser (775) and George Starling Jr. (430) leading. Jose Martinez has received 360 votes and Fernando Hurtado has received 235 votes.
The leaders for the three seats available for the Santa Nella County Water District are Wayne Tallman (139), Stephen Landry (137) and Debra Sedillo (121). Trailing are Michael W. Fairbanks with 116 votes and Susan Walker with 98 votes.
The leader in the Central California Irrigation District Division 3 race is Chris Medeiros with 306 votes. Chris Fagundes trails with 86 votes.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 8:47 PM.