Prosecutors open up big leads in all three races for Stanislaus County judge seats
Returns on Wednesday had the three prosecutors running for Stanislaus Superior Court judge seats ahead in each of their respective races.
“It was like waiting for a jury to return a verdict,” Jeff Mangar said of waiting for the first returns, which had him well ahead of his opponent Colleen Van Egmond Tuesday evening.
Mangar, a chief deputy district attorney, and Van Egmond, a civil attorney, are vying for the seat vacated by Roger Beauchesne, who retired last year.
With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, Mangar had 57.41 percent of the vote and Van Egmond had 42.59 percent.
Mail in ballots that were received by the Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters after Thursday, as well as conditional and provisional ballots still need to be counted.
Mangar said Tuesday night that his lead was, “a good position to be in.”
Van Egmond did not return a call seeking comment.
The returns for the seat of retiring Judge Scott Steffen had Annette Rees, a chief deputy district attorney, with 74.01 percent of the vote, ahead of defense attorney Sam Getrich, who had 25.99.
“I feel really overwhelmed with all the support and very grateful to all of the voters who turned out and mailed in their ballots and to my son who has been supportive of my campaign from day one,” Rees said Wednesday afternoon. “I am very, very excited in starting this new direction in my career and continuing to serve the people of Stanislaus County.”
Getrich said he called Rees Wednesday morning to congratulate her on her win and wish her luck in her tenure.
Rees has worked for 22 years as a prosecutor and Getrich also worked as a prosecutor, as well as a civil attorney before becoming a defense attorney.
With three candidates in the race to fill the seat of retiring Judge Marie Silveira, one needs to get more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff in November.
Prosecutor John R. Mayne is just shy of doing that with 49.11 percent of the vote.
On Tuesday night Mayne said he was “delighted.”
“We expected to be significantly ahead based on my endorsements and my experience,” he said. “Our best estimate is we will go to a runoff but we think it will come very, very close. We are, however, in a dominating position for the runoff.”
His opponents, Stanislaus Superior Court Commissioner Ken Hara and Jared Carrillo, an attorney at the Family Justice Center, are splitting the remainder of the votes with 25.90 percent and 24.98 percent, respectively.
Carrillo said despite a small lead by Hara he believes he will pull ahead after the remainder of the ballots are counted and enter a runoff with Mayne.
Hara did not return a call requesting comment.
The term for all the seats begin in January 2021 but the governor could appoint the winners before then if the seat is vacant. While Beauchesne has already retired, Silveira and Steffen have not said if they will retire before the end of their terms.
This story was originally published March 3, 2020 at 10:03 PM.
