Update: Zwahlen, leading in Modesto mayoral race, says ‘There is a message in this vote’
Former Modesto City Schools board member Sue Zwahlen was leading among the eight mayoral candidates in early returns Tuesday, with council members Doug Ridenour and Kristi Ah You in a close race for second.
Second place is important because the race is heading toward a Feb. 2 runoff between the top two vote-getters. That is because no candidate will get a majority of the vote from Tuesday’s election.
Zwahlen had 25.3 percent of the vote as of 10:36 p.m. while Ridenour had 19.3 percent and Ah You had 17.9 percent, with about 800 votes separating the two council members among the more than 58,000 votes counted so far and thousands still to be counted.
The Stanislaus County elections office will release its next update for all of the races countywide Friday.
Zwahlen thanked her supporters and believes her work on the school board from 2009 to 2017 as well as in health care — she is a retired emergency room nurse — resonated with voters.
(See updated Stanislaus County results of all races)
“I think there is a message in this vote that we need a fresh start for Modesto,” Zwahlen said in a phone interview. “... I think we had a dynamic campaign, and I look forward to discussing the issues with whoever the candidate is (in the runoff). I’m ready to put my record and proposals before Modesto’s voters.”
Zwahlen, 66, campaigned on her experience as a consensus builder during her time on the school board and being part of a board that made difficult decisions during the Great Recession. She said if elected mayor, she will work to “restore public confidence in our city government.”
Brandvold at odds with his own city
Mayor Ted Brandvold, who was in fifth place based on the early returns, has presided over a fractured City Council, with bickering, distrust and infighting among council members.
While he worked to bring more accountability and openness to City Hall, he often was at odds with his own government and fellow council members. He has expressed mistrust at times of top city officials and did not believe the city should enforce the new coronavirus restrictions.
But Tuesday’s election in itself could be a reset for the seven-member council. The council will get three or four new members. Ah You and Ridenour as well as Councilman Mani Grewal did not run for re-election, and newcomers will fill their council seats. And if Zwahlen wins the runoff, she will be the fourth new member.
Brandvold did not return text messages seeking comment.
Ridenour family is well-known
Ridenour said he expects his second place finish will hold up as more results come in. The results were updated three times Tuesday night, and he noted with each one, his lead over Ah You grew.
He said his campaign did not have a lot of money for such traditional campaigning as sending mailers to voters but worked hard and focused on getting his message out on social media. Ridenour, 69, said he also relied on the relationships he has made over the decades.
Ridenour has strong name recognition because of his family’s involvement in politics and law enforcement. His brother Jim was mayor from late 2003 to early 2012 and is a retired American Medical Response executive. Jim Ridenour also was on Tuesday’s ballot for state Senate, but was trailing badly behind Susan Talamantes Eggman.
Doug Ridenour also is a retired Modesto police sergeant, and his brother Dick is a retired Modesto homicide detective and brother Ed is a retired Stanislaus County sheriff’s lieutenant.
Ridenour campaigned on being a consensus builder and being part of a City Council that sets policy and doesn’t meddle with city staff but trusts them to carry out the council’s policy.
Ah You, 50, said she is proud of how well she is doing given that she entered the race just a few months ago.
“I’m close to making the runoff,” she said. “To come that close to someone with a lot of name recognition (Ridenour) and has been campaigning for a year is amazing. But it’s up to the voters at this point.”
Co-Senior Pastor Rick Countryman with Big Valley Grace Community Church was in fourth place with 16.1 percent of the vote. Brandvold was in fifth place with 14.1 percent, and community organizer Naramsen Goriel was in sixth place with 5.3 percent of the vote.
Modesto’s first even-year election
Bert Lippert, the city’s building safety program coordinator, was in seventh place with 1.2 percent of the vote, though he dropped out of the race in August, and political newcomer Erin Sommer Tenorio was in eighth place with less than 1 percent of the vote.
The election office reported 114,556 registered voters for the mayor’s election, and the office released early results for 58,194 votes as of 10:36 p.m.
Turnout now is at 50.8 percent. If the final turnout is similar to the 2016 presidential election when it was 72.3 percent in Modesto, then there are about 24,000 votes left to be counted.
This is Modesto’s first even-year election since voters approved in 2018 switching from low-turnout odd-year elections to increase turnout and comply with the California Voter Participation Rights Act.
There were just 23,764 votes cast in the last mayoral election in November 2015 for a turnout of 25.9 percent. (All the current council members, including the mayor, received a fifth, extra year in office as Modesto transitions to even-year elections.) The 2015 turnout was typical for an odd-year election.
This story was originally published November 3, 2020 at 9:03 PM.
