3 new Modesto council members to take office as mayor’s race heads to a runoff
The Modesto City Council will welcome three new members at its Tuesday meeting as the winners from the Nov. 3 election take their oaths of office.
Rosa Escutia-Braaton, Chris Ricci and David Wright were elected to serve on the seven-member council. They are replacing council members who did not run for re-election.
Still outstanding is who will be the city’s next mayor.
Former Modesto City Schools board member Sue Zwahlen and outgoing Councilman Doug Ridenour will face each other in a Feb. 2 mayoral runoff election. Zwahlen received 23.8 percent of the 83,733 votes cast for mayor, and Ridenour received 19.4 percent.
They finished first and second among eight mayoral candidates. Mayor Ted Brandvold finished fifth. There is a runoff because no candidate received a majority of the vote.
These are the final results for the council and mayoral races as the Stanislaus County election office has certified the results from the Nov. 3 election.
Modesto has been holding council meetings over Zoom, the videoconferencing platform, during the pandemic. Most council members have attended via Zoom and public participation has been limited to Zoom and email. City spokesman Thomas Reeves said the new council members have the option of taking the oath of office in person or via Zoom.
Escutia-Braaton was elected to represent Council District 1 in northwest Modesto. She replaces Councilman Mani Grewal, who did not seek a second term. Gov. Gavin Newsom recently appointed Grewal to fill a vacancy on the Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors created by the August death of Supervisor Tom Berryhill.
Escutia-Braaton, who serves on the city’s Planning Commission, was the top vote-getter among four District 1 candidates, receiving 42.4 percent of the 12,930 votes cast, which was about 1,000 more votes than second-place finisher.
MAMAs co-founder elected
Ricci — an events promoter who co-founded the Modesto Area Music Association Awards and founded the now-defunct Xclamation Festival — was elected to Council District 3 in central Modesto.
He received 35 percent of the 14,780 votes casts in the election, besting second-place finisher, former Councilwoman Janice Keating, by 175 votes. She received 33.9 percent of the vote, and Redeemer Modesto pastor Jim Applegate came in third, with 31.1 percent.
Ricci is replacing Councilwoman Kristi Ah You, who did not run for re-election. She ran for mayor, finishing fourth among the eight candidates.
Wright — the owner of Wright Insurance Agency — was elected to Council District 6 in northeast Modesto. He received 42 percent of the 15,320 votes cast among four candidates. Wright is replacing Ridenour.
The three will join council members Jenny Kenoyer, Tony Madrigal and Bill Zoslocki, who all have two years left in office.
The election could be a reset for the City Council, which has been fractured, with bickering, distrust and infighting among its members.
‘We will work great together’
Escutia-Braaton, Ricci and Wright all said they look forward to serving and working with each other and the current council members on such issues as the city’s urban forest, housing, job creation and promoting Modesto.
“I’m excited about being a new council member,” Wright said. “I’ve met with Rosa and Chris. We all bring different abilities to the council. I think we will have a great council. ... I think there are a lot of common goals we have. I think we will work great together.”
This was Modesto’s first even-year election after city voters in 2018 approved moving from odd to even years to increase turnout. Turnout was 77.1 percent to 81.5 percent in the four races. That is roughly three to four times the turnout during odd-year council and mayoral elections.
The City Council meets Tuesday at 5:30 p.m. More information, including how to watch and participate, is available at www.modestogov.com/749/City-Council-Agendas-Minutes and then by clicking on the link for the meeting.
