Hollister
– Local businessman Ignacio Velazquez lost his bid yesterday to
defeat Salinas Mayor Anna Caballero for the 28th District State
Assembly seat.
Hollister – Local businessman Ignacio Velazquez lost his bid yesterday to defeat Salinas Mayor Anna Caballero for the 28th District State Assembly seat.
“This is exactly what we expected,” Caballero’s Campaign Manager Rick Rivas said. “This is a great victory not just for Anna, but for the voters of the 28th district. They stood up and said their votes are not for sale.”
Velazquez, a Republican, attributed his defeat to national anti-Republican fervor.
“Anna didn’t beat me, the Republican party beat me,” Velazquez said.
According to the Secretary of State’s Web site, 58 percent of voters supported Caballero, and 42 percent supported Velazquez. Early election results in San Benito County showed a similar breakdown among local voters – 57 percent for Caballero, 43 percent for Velazquez.
Caballero said that her work in Sacramento starts today, as she begins training for the office.
“I was hoping for a vacation,” she said.
Caballero will be sworn in on Dec. 4 and take office on Jan. 3; she said she still has to hire her staff.
“I’m going to be extremely busy,” she said.
Despite his defeat, Velazquez said he did not regret hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on his largely self-financed campaign.
“The campaign was great; we just could not stop that wave,” he said.
Caballero beat Watsonville Councilwoman Ana Ventura Phares in the Democratic primary in June. Velazquez ran unopposed for the Republican nomination. He also ran a campaign – to little effect – as a write-in candidate for the Democratic nomination.
Velazquez went into the race with less name recognition than his opponent. The organizer of a candidates’ forum in Salinas told the Free Lance in September that few Salinas voters knew anything about him.
Both campaigns have focused on Caballero’s record as mayor. Caballero, a Democrat, touted her experience and accomplishments in office, while Velazquez criticized her as a career politician and said she failed to keep Salinas safe.
Velazquez’s recent ads attacked Caballero for serving as the defense attorney for Gustavo Marlow, who was convicted for the 1988 rape and murder of two Hollister women.
“Negative campaigning does work,” Rivas said. “But in the end, I think voters saw through the lies and fear that Ignacio was trying to instill.”
Last week, Velazquez accused the Caballero campaign of vandalizing and stealing his signs; Rivas denied the claims of theft and said that pro-Caballero signs had been stolen from her office.
Velazquez owns The Vault restaurant in downtown Hollister and also founded the company American Electrical Services; he ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2002. In the 2002 primary, Velazquez received 39 percent of the vote.
Now that the election is over, Velazquez said he wants to spend more time with his family and his businesses.
When asked if he plans to run again, Velazquez said, “Who knows?”
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
