In a major upset in the city elections on Tuesday, Nov. 6, newcomer Rolan Resendiz unseated one-term Councilmember for District 2, Mickie Solorio Luna.
The campaign was contentious, with Resendiz’s past and allegations of domestic violence being brought up by opponents of his campaign. Despite endorsements from prominent political figures in the community, Luna lost to Resendiz’s grassroots campaign.
Resendiz received nearly 66 percent of the vote with 690 votes and Luna received 34 percent of the vote with 362 votes.
“I’ve never done anything like this and I didn’t know what the results would be, but I had a very good feeling,” Resendiz said.
Luna was the only Hollister incumbent running for re-election, despite two other council seats being up for grabs. With the appointment of Carol Lenoir to the vacated District 1 seat, the council will be full of new faces, aside from the mayor who won his re-election campaign.
Mayor Ignacio Velazquez has been a vocal supporter of Resendiz who is also in favor of slowing growth in the city.
He ran on the platform of creating a plan for growth and may be a new vote in favor of the mayor’s views now that he will be on the council.
Resendiz said his overturning of an incumbent makes it clear Hollister residents want a change. “The numbers don’t lie,” said Resendiz. “People made their voices heard.”
In District 3, Honor Spencer won with 702 votes and 45.29 percent of the vote against candidates Elia Salinas with 629 votes and 39.14 percent and Raul Escareno with 336 votes and 21.68 percent.
The new District 4 councilmember will be Marty Richman who received 978 votes and 60.86 percent against candidate Salvador Mora who received 629 votes and 39.14 percent.
Resendiz believes the new council and Board of Supervisors, which elected two new candidates, will be the start of a new era in Hollister politics. He believes the people have spoken and are done with “dirty” politics. He said the last council divided the community and that it is the job of the new members to bring residents back together.
“I’m very optimistic that with the whole new council, people are done with the negative politics,” said Resendiz.
