Hey Focus fans!
Sandy Lucas, a poll watcher and longtime local politics observer, said this about the national blue wave when we spoke the morning after Election Night: “The big thing isn’t prices. It’s that people are sick and tired of the anger and the chaos.”
And David Colnic, a Stanislaus State poly sci professor, told me this: “It was a really tough election for Republicans in any federal office, but as you got down to the local level, more traditional patterns held.”
Both are smart, and right.
Sure, Adam Gray rode that bluenami. But he probably would have won here even if people weren’t ticked off at President Donald Trump all across the United States.
And all five other offices repping Stanislaus County on the state and national levels remain firmly in the hands of Republicans. If that upsets you, see my post-election analysis – for reasons, and also for what might be done to help Stanislaus regain its own voice.
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Also, be sure to check our site periodically for ballot count updates, especially on Thursday. And then again on Monday (Nov. 9), and the following Thursday (Nov. 12). The local elections office will provide new counts those days, Stanislaus Clerk-Recorder Donna Linder told me.
She wouldn’t estimate how many ballots remain to be counted, because she would rather be right than first. Experience tells us it’s in the tens of thousands.
So yes, leads could change hands in coming days and weeks. But they usually don’t, unless it’s a really close race.
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No student among 30,000 on Modesto City Schools’ 34 campuses has been served by a trustee board that did not include Cindy Marks.
First elected in 1997, Marks did it again Tuesday, leading challenger Nefi Lopez with more than 55% of the vote in their district, according to early returns. (He did a fine job, in my opinion, in a recent recorded debate moderated by myself and others at The Modesto Focus.)
That should bring Marks, and maybe the district, some pride. But curiously, it’s not a record.
Marks’ 29 years of service puts her in the top 3% for longevity on school boards throughout the state, the California School Boards Association told me. Meaning there are more than 100 trustees out there who have served even longer.
If you’re wondering, she’s 64. And some electeds cling to their offices well into their 80s, some longer. So who knows if someday Marks will break a record?
Feel free to share notes, tips and insights for Stanislaus-centric campaign coverage at garth@themodestofocus.org.