Tuesday's election left the Sacramento area with some familiar faces in office, gave us some new political blood, and it sent mixed messaged to education officials. Here are some of the major takeaways:
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is celebrating his re-election. Steinberg received nearly 74 percent of the vote Tuesday night. He beat out two other candidates, avoiding a runoff election in November. Steinberg has been mayor of Sacramento since 2016.
Katie Valenzuela is poised to unseat Sacramento City Councilman Steve Hansen. The latest results show Valenzuela in the lead with 53 percent of the vote, but Hansen is only six percentage points behind. County election officials say they won't likely update the count in that race until Friday. This is Valenzuela's first time running for office, and she says she'd like to "push the council a little bit farther left." Hansen was first elected to the council in 2012, and refers to himself as a progressive. He's also the council's first openly gay member.
The Sacramento City Council District 2 race belongs to incumbent Allen Warren. Another incumbent, Eric Guerra, ran away with the District 6 race. Another political newcomer, Mai Vang, is the winner in District 8.
Sue Frost won re-election to her District 4 Sacramento County Board of Supervisors seat with almost 75 percent of the vote. Meanwhile, the District 3 seat leader is newcomer Rich Desmond with just under 46 percent. The second place finisher, Gregg Fishman, trailed by more than 7,000 votes on Wednesday. The winner will replace the outgoing Susan Peters on the board.
Proposition 13, a 15-billion dollar bond to repair and modernize California's aging schools, is still too close to call. The only statewide measure to appear on the ballot needs a simple majority to pass, but the count as of Wednesday morning showed the "yes" votes trailing the "no" votes almost 13 percentage points. According to the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst's Office, if approved voters would owe an estimated eleven-billion in interest over the next 35 years.
Measure G in the City of Sacramento doesn't appear have the votes needed for passage. The Sacramento Children's Fund Act would have set aside 2.5 percent of the city's annual general fund revenue for children's programs and services. However, it was opposed by both Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Councilmember Angelique Ashby. The latest vote count had it failing nearly 54 percent to 46 percent.
On the other hand, the proposal to raise additional money for the Sacramento City Unified School District-- Measure H-- received enough votes to pass.
The Sacramento County Voter Registration and Elections Office would like to know what kind of voting experience you had on Tuesday. They are accepting comments at this link: https://bit.ly/2TqBScZ