With the exception of Turner moving from fourth to second place, the general election results for the top five vote-getters were exactly the same as the primary election. Here are the final results (winners in bold):
| Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gary Sandberg | 13,767 | 18.84% |
| 2 | Eric Turner | 11,912 | 16.30% |
| 3 | Ryan Spain | 11,894 | 16.27% |
| 4 | George Jacob | 9,656 | 13.21% |
| 5 | Jim Montelongo | 7,773 | 10.63% |
| 6 | Dan Irving | 5,136 | 7.03% |
| 7 | Gale Thetford | 4,915 | 6.72% |
| 8 | Patti Sterling-Polk | 4,313 | 5.90% |
| 9 | Gloria Cassell-Fitzgerald | 2,172 | 2.97% |
| 10 | Dan Gillette | 1,552 | 2.12% |
This is not a big surprise. There was some question as to whether Montelongo could hold on to the #5 spot, but the top four winners were solid. I was impressed with Dan Irving’s final showing. He was eighth in the primary and moved up to sixth. Even though the margin between fifth and sixth place was approximately 2,600 votes, that’s still not bad for an at-large election. I’ll bet if he would run again in two or four years, he would win.
Funny thing is this election had more signs than ever but 3 of the winners had the fewest signs.
Sandberg, Turner and Montelongo had no jumbo signs and precious few yard signs. Sandberg’s weren’t even put up until a week ago.
Jacob’s concentration on overdoing it on signs shouting at people to vote for him was taken as outright thuggery by many. I thought he was arrogantly trying to buy the election. For all those signs his 4th place finish isn’t all that impressive. I even got a jumbo postcard from Jacob in the mail on Election Day–received it in the mail as soon as I got home from voting. Hope the city is run more effectively than a campaign like that.
We also now have the youngest council member ever and the first Hispanic ever on our Council.
Sentinel — I don’t think Jacob was trying to “buy” the election, but if you think so, you should look at Ryan Spain’s campaign disclosures. You may be surprised. The incumbents have an advantage in any election, which is why Turner and Sandberg didn’t have do as much to get their names out. Jacob, while he was an incumbent, was nevertheless never elected before, only appointed, so his campaign was run more like the other candidates’. Montelongo didn’t have as many yard signs, but he had pretty big mailings.
Bottom line, I think everyone campaigned to win, and no one was trying to “buy” the election. Everyone just wanted to get their name out and set themselves apart from the other candidates. Jacob was no exception.
CJ, did you marry into the Jacob family or something?
Emtronics — No. Did you marry into the Spain family?
Wasn’t Bruce Brown the same age as Spain when he served?
Don’t know how old Bruce Brown was when he was elected but I do think he was Hispanic.