Yepez now in control as he fends off upset bid in Lodi Council race

Nov. 13—Lodi City Councilman Ramon Yepez has opened up his lead over Lyndsy Davis in his bid for re-election this week.

The San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters released its latest round of election updates Monday night, and Yepez, who represents District 4 on the council, has garnered 622 votes compared to Davis' 488, a week after the latter took an early lead as polls closed on Nov. 5.

Yepez has received 43.53% of the vote, while Davis has 34.15%. Alex Aliferis has collected 319 votes in the race.

Victoria Lenderman, challenger for the Lodi Unified School District Board of Education's Area 2 seat, has also put some distance between herself and incumbent Gary Knackstedt. Lenderman tallied 2,991 votes on Monday night to garner 43.13% of ballots cast, while Knackstedt, seeking a third term on the board, has collected 2,022 votes at 29.13%. Maia Aguirre is not far behind the incumbent with 1,922 votes.

Knackstedt said Lenderman's lead was surprising, as he didn't see any campaigning efforts from her. But Knackstedt said he did not expect the lead to change as more ballots are counted in the coming weeks.

"I spent my entire career in the district and I think I did a pretty good job," he said. "I would have been happy to continue on the board, but there are other things I can do. I would like to have gone out on my own and I was asked by many people to stay a little longer, and that made me feel good. I would like to have continued."

In the Area 6 seat race, incumbent Joe Nava looks headed for re-election, receiving 2,833 votes to challenger Joseph Gardea's 1,699.

The race for two seats on the Oak View Union School District Governing Board remain close among the three candidates, with Tammi Van Houton and Ann Ullrich holding on to the top spots.

Van Houton has collected 386 votes for 34.62% of ballots cast, while Ullrich has received 371 votes for 33.27%. Daniel Rice is still in contention with 358 votes and 32.11% of ballots cast.

Rep. Josh Harder, D-Tracy, issued a statement seemingly declaring victory over Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln Tuesday morning, although there are still thousands of ballots to count. Harder had garnered 100,646 votes as of Tuesday morning for 52.7% of ballots cast, while Lincoln had received 93,522 for 47.3%.

In the race for the State Senate's District 5 seat, Jerry McNerney has maintained his lead over Clements resident Jim Shoemaker, tallying 144,213 votes to the latter's 129,233. McNerney has 52.7% of the vote to Shoemkaer's 47.3%.

Assemblyman Heath Flora is cruising to re-election to the 9th District seat, collecting 97,610 votes to challenger Tami Nobriga's 41,624.

The ROV reported that 209,456 ballots had been counted as of Monday night for a 54.3% voter turnout. There were 41,410 vote-by-mail ballots left to county that were received before Nov. 5, and another 1,530 that were received after Election Day.

In addition, there were 9,981 conditional voter registration ballots left to count, including 1,400 that were damaged, needed to be remade or required further review.

Another 5,948 ballots were left to cure, either with non-comparable signatures or without any signatures at all.

In Sacramento County, Rep. Doris Matsui maintains her lead over former Galt Joint Unified Elementary School District Board of Education member Tom Silva for the Congressional 7th District seat. Matsui now has 118,725 votes to Silva's 62,814.

Tim Reed and Mathew Pratton are still in the lead for the two seats on the Galt City Council, with Reed now with 4,039 votes and Pratton with 2,764. Bonnie Rodriguez has 2,67 votes, according to the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters.

Aleida Suarez and Dean Dockery still have a hold on the two vacant seats for Isleton City Council, with the former collecting 72 votes and the latter garnering 67.

In the race for the Area 3 seat on the GJUESD board, Challenger Karol Messersmith holds a small lead over incumbent Pat Maple, 1,157 to 1,140.