Modesto mayor’s race heading to runoff

Modesto Mayor Garrad Marsh remains the leading vote-getter among five mayoral candidates in Tuesday’s election but did not garner enough votes to avoid a runoff with an unheralded candidate who entered the race at the last minute.

Marsh received 4,937 votes, or 38.5 percent of the vote; architect and former Planning Commissioner Ted Brandvold received 3,788 votes, or 29.6 percent; Councilman Dave Lopez received 2,653 votes, or 20.7 percent; former Mayor Carmen Sabatino received 1,266 votes, or 9.9 percent; and Armando Arreola received 144 votes or 1.1 percent, according to the Stanislaus County election office.

The office reported Wednesday that it had counted 23,258 ballots cast in the roughly two dozen races held throughout the county and had about 14,500 ballots left to count. There are 175,821 registered voters in the county.

A mayoral candidate needs to receive at least 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff election. As it stood Wednesday, Marsh and Brandvold were heading to a Feb. 2 runoff.

Marsh, who owns McHenry Bowl, said it is too soon to talk about his campaign plans for the runoff but said he expects he will need to raise additional money. He raised more than $127,000 for this election.

Brandvold – who entered the race Aug. 7, the last day a candidate could qualify – has raised $12,415, though the Republican Party of Stanislaus County sent out a mailer in support of Brandvold. His campaign website also lists endorsement from county Supervisors Jim DeMartini and Dick Monteith, and former Mayor Jim Ridenour.

Marsh, 67, said it would be difficult for any candidate to get more than 50 percent of the vote when there are five candidates in the race, though he said he expected to get about 45 percent of the vote. He attributed not meeting that expectation in part to low voter turnout and the local Republican Party’s support of Brandvold. Marsh is a Democrat, though the mayor’s contest is nonpartisan.

Brandvold, 56, has said he entered the race because he did not think the other candidates would fix City Hall. He has said the city needs to become more business friendly, more transparent about its finances and cooperate more with others. Critics claim that city officials, including Marsh, have made decisions without listening to the community.

“It’s easy to throw out spin lines like that,” Marsh said, “but there is no meat to it.”

Marsh said the city has been open about its finances and is working more closely with its neighborhoods, other local governments and the rest of the community.

Brandvold could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

This is not the first runoff election for Marsh. He faced a runoff when he ran for mayor in 2011 after serving on the City Council for eight years. He was the top vote-getter among four candidates, receiving 44.4 percent of the vote. Then-Councilman Brad Hawn came in second with 31.2 percent. Marsh defeated Hawn in the runoff.

This story was originally published November 4, 2015 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Modesto mayor’s race heading to runoff."