The two sheriff candidates advancing to a runoff in the November
general election are looking to continue their momentum and today
expressed optimism about their performances Tuesday.
The two sheriff candidates advancing to a runoff in the November general election are looking to continue their momentum and today expressed optimism about their performances Tuesday.
Those two leading vote-getters were San Benito County Undersheriff Pat Turturici and Watsonville police Lt. Darren Thompson. Turturici finished with 3,414 votes, about 47 percent, and Thompson finished with 1,782 votes, about 25 percent, according to the unofficial results.
Hollister Police Sgt. Ray Wood finished with nearly 18 percent of the vote and Marshal Robert Scattini finished with 10 percent.
Without a majority victor, the two leading candidates will face off in the general election with a different landscape when turnout will be much higher, with the races for governor and U.S. Senate on the ballot.
After being groomed for the position for nearly six years, Turturici said there is still work to be done.
“I worked very hard on my campaign and I was very pleased with the results,” he said. “I’m just happy.”
Turturici wasn’t surprised about the support because of the effort he put in, he said.
“I’m very humbled by it,” he said. “I’m very pleased and it means a lot. It shows if you work hard, people will support you.”
For Thompson, forcing a runoff was exactly what he wanted, he said.
“Coming in, we thought the realistic thing was to force a runoff,” Thompson said. “Back when I got into the race, I anticipated there would be a good amount of support for the undersheriff.”
Thompson said he thought Turturici would get around 40 percent, and he was just hoping for second place to force the runoff.
“We thought we needed to force the runoff so we are celebrating a bit today,” he said.
Look for the full story in the Pinnacle on Friday.
