Hollister businessman Ignacio Velazquez is headed toward victory in the city’s first mayor’s race.
With about 4,500 ballots left to count among around 18,000 total in the county, Velazquez had posted a more than 10-point lead in the race among four candidates. As of Wednesday morning, most mail-in ballots were counted and nine of 15 polling precinct ballots were reported, according to preliminary results.
Velazquez faced off against Councilman Doug Emerson, retired military professional and engineering manager Marty Richman, and retired construction foreman Keith Snow.
As of 12:20 a.m. Wednesday when the elections office posted its final results of the Election Night, Velazquez had gained 38.9 percent of the vote with 2,584 ballots in his favor. Emerson had 28.4 percent with 1,889 votes. Richman gained 16.6 percent with 1,106 votes. And Snow had 15.8 percent with 1,047 votes, according to the preliminary results.
The city’s first at-large mayor chosen by the entire electorate is set to serve a two-year term. Voters in June OK’d the idea of an at-large mayor, along with the position’s two-year term.
With a loss, Emerson would depart his role as a city official after eight years on the council. He chose not to coincidingly run for reelection to the council.
Velazquez, who has no prior elected experience but previously ran unsuccessfully for Assembly and Congress, was the biggest spender in the Hollister mayoral campaign. He spent about $10,000 through the latest reporting period. Emerson was next in line with slightly more than $8,000 spent at the time.
Despite the math working in his favor, Velazquez remained cautious about declaring victory Tuesday night but said if elected he would focus on getting city and county officials to work together on solutions.
Velazquez, who owns The Vault restaurant and American Electrical Services in downtown Hollister, would be the first Hollister resident elected as mayor by the entire city. Previously, the five council members rotated in the role from year to year.
“I think people were just ready for a change,” Velazquez said Tuesday night. “People just wanted to hear some positive things. They wanted to believe in a vision. They wanted to move forward.”
Velazquez had campaigned on commitments to rid the city of wasteful spending and spur economic development efforts. If elected, he said he would stick with a plan to spend a portion of the expected $3.2 million in annual revenue from the Measure E sales tax extension on economic development and reserves.
Unlike the lacking oversight of Measure T, the precursor to Measure E, Velazquez said he would establish an oversight committee for Measure E with a say on how the money gets spent. The Measure T oversight committee met just twice in more than four years after voters approved the tax.
“I’m going to make sure that happens so people know what we’re doing,” he said.
He said he would stay with a plan of looking for ways to cut spending for a city counting on that Measure E sales tax to balance its $14 million general fund budget.
“We need to be more realistic in the way we’re spending money,” he said.
One of his competitors, Richman, showed up to The Vault shortly after initial results were posted to congratulate Velazquez on the victory. Richman went on hiatus as a Free Lance columnist and editorial board member to run for mayor.
“I told him I hope he has a very successful term as the mayor,” Richman said. “I thought he ran a very good race. I will continue to fight for what I think is right for the City of Hollister.”
