Councilwoman Pauline Valdivia won her race for a fourth term on
the Hollister City Council in convincing fashion, according to
unofficial election results.
Councilwoman Pauline Valdivia won her race for a fourth term on the Hollister City Council in convincing fashion, according to unofficial election results.
Valdivia defeated Scott McPhail, director of the Purple Cross Rx marijuana dispensary, by gaining 67.4 percent in the race for District 3 to represent the south-central side of the city. Valdivia, executive director of Jovenes de Antano, received 749 votes to 357 for McPhail, who came in with 32.1 percent of the vote.
The elections office still had to count an additional 2,800 vote-by-mail ballots and another 400 to 500 provisional ballots as of early Wednesday, according to head elections official Joe Paul Gonzalez.
With the victory, Valdivia has earned a fourth term on the council and has sustained her seat through the six-year building moratorium, lagging economic development and Hollister’s growing financial troubles.
“My community still wants me to be there,” she said. “I’m going to do the best I can. They know where my heart is.”
Valdivia said she worked hard in the campaign “behind the scenes” and talked quite a bit to constituents. Her opponent, McPhail, who could not be reached before publication, did little campaigning or fundraising in the race.
Valdivia acknowledged problems with city reserves that are bottoming out and said council members will have to work with the funds they have for the next couple years, because she doesn’t envision the economy will turn around before then.
She talked in general about the need to attract new businesses to the area, particularly the downtown, and noted how she “leans a little more” toward advocating for affordable housing when it comes to the building market.
