Renison and Escobar pull ahead
IMPERIAL COUNTY — Although Tuesday’s preliminary election results for the county Supervisor District 1 race did not preclude the chance of a November runoff, incumbent John Renison said he nonetheless found the results encouraging.
And regardless of the election’s ultimate outcome, which is not likely to be known for days, Renison said he plans to continue to work on behalf of his constituents no differently than before.
“I’ll be the same person tomorrow that I am today,” he said. “I’ll prove to the voters that I’m the best man, like I’ve done for the past 18 years.”
Should Renison fail to tally more than 50 percent of the vote, preliminary results suggest he will meet Calexico Councilman Jesus Eduardo Escobar in the November run-off.
As of 8:12 p.m. Tuesday, Renison had obtaining just 358, or 36.4 percent, of the total 981 votes counted. His tally was about 10 percent more than that of Escobar, who netted 263, or 26.8 percent, of the 981 votes counted as of 9:59 p.m.
Preliminary numbers also shown that Escobar’s lead over the third-place vote-getter, former Calexico councilman Joong Kim, stood at 49 votes, or about five percentage points, of the 981 votes counted.
The difference in votes between Escobar and Kim was slightly less than the 68-vote lead that Kim held over the race’s fourth candidate, Carlos “Jesse” Contreras.
Preliminary results from the county Registrar’s Office had shown that Contreras obtained 146, or 14.8 percent, of the votes cast.
The county supervisor’s race had pitted incumbent Renison, a former Calexico councilman, against one former and current Calexico councilman, Kim and Escobar, respectively, as well as against Contreras, a program manager for the GEO Group, which offers educational and rehabilitative programs to inmates and probationers at the county’s Day Reporting Center.
The supervisor’s race had publicly prompted candidates to tout their respective visions for improving and safeguarding the county’s revenue streams, as well as improving its aging infrastructure.