Several Riverside City Council candidates have signaled they are pivoting toward the next step of their campaigns as early election returns show all three races will likely result in runoffs.
To avoid a November runoff, candidates needed to secure more than 50% of the vote. As of Thursday evening, none of the 10 candidates running for Wards 2, 4 or 6 have reached that threshold.
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Ward 4 incumbent Councilmember Chuck Conder was the closest. He received about 48% of the vote, according to the Thursday update, with challenger Rich Vandenberg receiving the second most at about 29%. Jessica Qattawi, who received almost 23% of the vote, conceded the race in a social media post and vowed she would continue to support the community.
Conder thanked his supporters Wednesday afternoon in a social media post, while recognizing there was a possibility his campaign would continue for another five months.
“California has a strange and somewhat concerning ballot counting process that will prevent us from knowing the final result for about a month,” Conder wrote Wednesday afternoon. “I will keep you informed in the coming weeks on updates to the count and whether there will be a runoff election in Ward 4 this November or not.”
Ward 2 candidates Gracie Torres and Aram Ayra, who on Thursday were separated by a mere 155 votes, also posted statements acknowledging their campaigns would most likely continue to the November election.
Torres, who gained 37% of votes, said she was grateful for being in the lead and believed her campaign resonated with the majority of residents.
“We are encouraged by the momentum our campaign has built and excited for the opportunity to continue earning the trust of our community,” Torres said. “We remain committed to listening to residents, working hard every day and delivering results that improve the lives of all Ward 2 families.”
Ayra, who has received about 34% of the vote, also said the latest results showed he was on track to be a contender in November.
Mike Vahl, who is more than 400 votes behind Ayra, said in an interview with The Riverside Record he had faith he could regain ground and slide into the November election once all of the ballots were counted.
“I’d rather be in first or second than in third, but it’s not very far behind,” he said. “It’s not a distant third, so we’ll see what happens when they count the votes.”
In Ward 6, early results show it will likely be Luis Hernandez and Oz Puerta facing off in November.
Puerta, who was just 55 votes ahead of Norma Berrellez on Thursday, said in an interview with The Record he was looking to re-evaluate his campaign strategy and work on getting more residents to the polls if the results held.
“We all knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Puerta said. “It looks like there’s more work to do, and I’ve never been one to be afraid of hard work.”
The Riverside County Registrar of Voters (ROV) said an estimated 270,000 vote-by-mail ballots and 3,200 conditional voter registration ballots from across the county have yet to be counted. Ballots postmarked by Election Day that arrive at the ROV by June 9 also still need to be counted. The next update is expected by 6 p.m. Friday.
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