Walker, Oliva leading El Centro Council race

EL CENTRO — The only thing that could be said with absolute certainty about the City Council race here Tuesday night was that voters did not wish to do more the Les.

Smith, a two-time city Chamber of Commerce president and chairman of the Imperial Valley Continuum of Care Council, was a distant fifth in the five-person race as of press time.

The other four competitors, of whom two will be elected, were closely bunched with 25.2 percent of the ballots counted and 22 out of 24 precincts reporting as of 10 p.m.

Leading the pack were Mayor Cheryl Viegas-Walker with 1,588 votes (22.66 percent) and Tomas Oliva, senior field representative for Congressman Juan Vargas, with 1,569 votes (22.39 percent). Not far behind were restaurateur Jaime Honold, with 1,480 votes (21.12 percent) and Imperial Valley Small Business Development Center manager Sylvia Marroquin with 1,401 votes (19.99 percent). Smith, meanwhile, who adopted a more attack-based campaign style for this election compared to his previous run for council, was sitting at only 969 votes (13.83 percent). “Negative does not work,” said Viegas-Walker, who expects to remain on the council after a previous 21 years of service. She said if the results hold up, they reflect voters’ confidence in the city’s governance.

“This election was all about how we govern El Centro as a team.”

She said she was looking forward to working with potential newcomer to the council, Oliva. For his part, Oliva said he was “excited” about how the balloting was shaping up.

“I want to say thank you to the voters of El Centro,” he said. “Thank you for your trust. I won’t let you down.”