As of late Wednesday, June 8, mayoral candidate Helen Tran, the city's former human resources director, was leading former City Attorney Jim Penman by nearly a 2-to-1 margin. With 18 percent of the vote, incumbent Mayor John Valdivia came in third among the contenders. On Thursday, June 9, updated election results are expected. The two City Hall veterans are destined for a November runoff, as neither Tran nor Penman has received the required majority vote to win the seat outright.
The Results
Tran, who earned 40.8 percent of the early vote, termed the results "wonderful" in a phone interview Wednesday morning. "It was a lot of labor that paid off, and the figures reflected it," she explained. "We spent a lot of time reaching out to voters, highlighting the importance of this election and how I was the best candidate to lead San Bernardino into the future." "I'm simply very proud of the team and myself for pulling it off."
Second Place
San Bernardino hasn't had a female mayor since Judith Valles left office in 2006. Tran, the city of West Covina's human resources director, has a chance to become the city's first Asian American mayor. Penman ascribed his early success to "being the only candidate who has a strategy to combat homelessness" and increase public safety, with 20.8 percent of the vote leading the field. "My aim was to get into a runoff, which we did," he stated over the phone on Wednesday. "I'm excited about the runoff." I'm a veteran campaigner. To paraphrase Franklin Roosevelt, I enjoy a good battle. This is something I've done for most of my life.
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