San Benito County district attorney candidate John Sarsfield
took the lead and never looked back Tuesday, winning in a landslide
over opponent Arthur Cantu.
San Benito County district attorney candidate John Sarsfield took the lead and never looked back Tuesday, winning in a landslide over opponent Arthur Cantu.
Receiving 67.9 percent of the vote – 6,480 votes – compared to Cantu’s 31.5 percent – 3,010 votes – Sarsfield had the victory sewn up early.
Sarsfield, 40, surged to an early lead with 72 percent of the vote, which he held until Cantu made a small gain later in the evening.
At an intimate gathering at his home with family and a few supporters, Sarsfield thanked the community for its support.
“I’m gratified for the support of the voters, and I’m happy that they were able to see through the deception and mudslinging from my opponent’s campaign,” Sarsfield said. “I made every effort to stay positive and I’m glad I was able to do that.”
Despite repeated calls to his office, home and personal cell phone, Cantu could not be reached for comment on the election results or the tenor of the campaign.
Sarsfield said he wished the campaign could have stuck to the issues rather than degenerating to name calling.
“It’s unfortunate that the campaign even had to be run that way because it wasn’t necessary,” Sarsfield said. “It looks like people rejected that sort of tactic and I was glad to see that.”
Sarsfield said he entered the race for district attorney because he is genuinely concerned by what he sees as the rising rate in violent crime within the community.
He and his wife moved to Hollister in 1992 and their children go to school here, so Sarsfield said he has a vested interest in trying to make the community as safe as possible.
“I’m looking forward to working with the sheriff and the marshal and the police chief and the CHP commander in rebuilding the DA’s office and getting law enforcement back on track,” Sarsfield said.
Sarsfield officially takes over as district attorney on the first Monday in January, but that does not mean he will get to relax anytime soon.
“I’m going to keep working (in Monterey County) pretty much up until the end. I will take some time off to transition, but I will continue to work. In fact, I’ll be at work tomorrow,” he said.
Sarsfield is a senior DDA for Monterey County and has 13 years experience as a criminal prosecutor, including a stint as a federal prosecutor and a former U.S. Army legal officer.
In what turned out to be one of the most hard-fought battles for elected office in recent memory, Cantu and Sarsfield made repeated charges that both candidates were playing dirty politics.
The heavy-handed rhetoric started almost as soon as the March 5 primary was over.
Cantu, who narrowly beat Senior Deputy District Attorney Candice Hooper Mancino to force a runoff with Sarsfield, started attacking his opponent’s credibility with phrases such as “He’s a mean-spirited Republican that has no agenda other than to be mean spirited,” on the night of the primary.
Sarsfield said he did not respond to any of the negative attacks out of the opposition’s camp until Cantu brought his family into the political battle.
Sarsfield said Cantu went over the top with the accusation that he was somehow controlling the newspapers and telling the outlets what to write about his campaign.
“It is frustrating when you hear people speaking out right lies about you,” Sarsfield said.
