Helen Tran Becomes San Bernardino's New Mayor

On Tuesday, November 8, voter turnout was low in both Inland Empire counties. Although this is unusual for a midterm election, it is possible that this year's high winds and heavy rain contributed to the low turnout.

Registrar of Voters Offices in Riverside and San Bernardino counties reported voter participation rates of 15.70% and 18.40%, respectively, by midday Wednesday.

San Bernardino County

Helen Tran, the city of San Bernardino's first Asian American mayor, appears destined to make history. She had a 61.79% to 37.91% lead over her opponent, James Penman, on Wednesday afternoon.

As votes continue to be counted, leaders in other mayoral races across the county emerge. Frank J. Navarro leads the field in Colton with 68.48% of the vote; Aquanetta Warren appears certain to retain her position as Mayor of Fontana, with 47.45% of the vote.

With 53.47%, William "Bill" Hussey leads the race in Grand Terrace. Javier John Dutrey leads his opponents in the City of Montclair with 64.57% of the vote, Janet Jernigan leads in the City of Needles with 54.66%, and Paul S. Leon leads in Ontario with 53.99% of the vote.

In the race for San Bernardino County Supervisor District 2, candidate Jesse Armendarez leads his opponent with 54.54% of the vote. Gwen Dowdy Rogers leads opponents with 58.53% in the race to represent Area D on the San Bernardino County Board of Education.

In a crowded field for the three seats on the ballot this year, two of the three incumbent board members of the City of San Bernardino Unified School District are leading other challengers.

Currently, incumbent Danny Tillman leads the field with 14.41% of the vote, followed by incumbent Abigail Medina with 14.11% and Mary Ellen Abilez Grande with 12.35%. In the City of Rialto, Joe Baca leads Ed Scott 31.73% to 29.42% in a pair of closely watched city council races.

District 1 incumbent Denise Davis appears set to retain her seat in the City of Redlands, with 50.90% of the vote. Two board seats in the historically troubled West Valley Water District were on the ballot this year.

Dan Jenkins leads Division 2 with 45.73% of the vote, and Kelvin Moore is well ahead of his opponent with 61.27% of the vote. Measure D in San Bernardino County appears certain to pass with 58.92% of the vote, while Measure EE has 51.30% of the vote.

Riverside County

In Riverside County this Midterm Election year, two key races, County District Attorney (DA) and County Sheriff, were settled in the June primary election when incumbents DA Mike Hestrin and Sheriff Chad Bianco each received more than 50% of the vote, sparing them from the competition of a runoff election November 8.

On Tuesday, however, two closely watched races in Riverside County included the race for 5th District Supervisor, in which Moreno Valley Mayor Yxstian Gutierrez appears to be the victor with 54.23% of the vote.

Meanwhile, in the other closely watched race, the race to replace him as mayor of Moreno Valley, candidate Ulises Cabrera leads his closest competitor Jaime Hurtado with 32.85% to 27.26% of the vote. At least four cities in Riverside County had tax measures on the ballot, and three of them appear to have passed.

Corona voters supported a commercial cannabis tax by voting yes on Measure G (64.65%). Measure H, a continuation of a Transactions and Use tax, was approved by 61.88% of Hemet voters.

Cathedral voters approved Measure K with 55.10% of the vote to fund public services and the development of certain city projects.

The only city tax measure that appears to have been defeated by voters was Measure I in the City of Banning, which sought a User Tax on electric energy use for park maintenance, improvement, and general purposes. This measure was defeated by 66.61% of city voters.