Mayor holds on to lead in election

Falcone is ahead in Ward 1, Robillard in Ward 3 and Mill leads in Ward 5 over Plascencia; Cervantes may vacate seat

The early frontrunners in Riverside’s elections have kept their leads, an update from the Riverside County Registrar of Voters shows.

Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson and her former adviser Philip Falcone are far ahead in their races: hers for reelection and his for the Ward 1 city council seat. Lock Dawson declared victory this week.

Meanwhile, in Ward 3, Steven Robillard now leads Warren Avery by 512 votes. In Ward 5, Sean Mill is ahead of Councilmember Gaby Plascencia by 175 votes.

If the final results reflect the trends seen in the latest update, Falcone and Robillard would take the open seats in Wards 1 and 3, while Mill would replace Plascencia in Ward 5.

Ward 2 City Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes would vacate her seat if she wins the 58th Assembly District race, and an election would be held to replace her, under Riverside’s city charter.

The most recent results, from Friday afternoon, show Cervantes in second place, pulling ahead of candidate and fellow Councilmember Ronaldo Fierro by 123 votes, according to the Secretary of State. The top two vote-getters will proceed to the November runoff. Republican Leticia Castillo remains in the lead.

Meanwhile, Lock Dawson has earned nearly 78% of votes in the race against challenger Jessica Qattawi.

Riverside County’s next elections update is scheduled for 6 p.m. today.

Here are the unofficial election results as of the Friday afternoon update. Incumbents are noted with an asterisk. Candidates need a simple majority, or more than 50% of the vote, to win.