Mark Turner and dozens of his closest friends and supporters—gathered at Sinaloa Cafe for a traditional election night party—let out a collective applause as they watched the first batch of results of the Nov. 8 balloting come in from the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters Office Tuesday night.
Across the street at Noah’s Bistro, Morgan Hill City Councilmember Yvonne Martinez Beltran celebrated with her family friends as she took and held an early lead against challenger Bryan Sutherland in the Council District B race.
And in the Council District D race, former Councilmember Marilyn Librers is likely to return to the dais for the first time since 2018, according to early, unofficial Nov. 8 results posted by election officials.
In the race for mayor, Turner leads incumbent Rich Constantine and former City Councilmember Larry Carr with 43%, or 3,644 votes counted so far, according to the registrar’s site. Constantine—who has served for 12 years on the city council and the last four years as mayor—has received about 32% of the votes. Carr, who was a Morgan Hill City Councilmember from 2000-2020, has garnered 25% of the count.
In the City Council District B election, Martinez Beltran leads with 61% of the tally, or 1,172 votes. In District D, Librers leads with 1,308 votes (55%) to incumbent John McKay’s 1,072 ballots, as of 10:45pm Nov. 8.
Turner, a 30-year Morgan Hill resident who has worked as the Gilroy Chamber of Commerce’s President for about the last nine years, said a key to his lead in the polls is his effort to announce his candidacy and begin fundraising early. Turner declared his intent to run for mayor of Morgan Hill several months before Carr and Constantine—the latter of whom ran for Santa Clara County District 1 Supervisor in the June 7 primary.
“We had signage out, and met and talked with a lot of people…to help them understand the vision I have for Morgan Hill,” Turner said Nov. 9. “We were very strong on social media. We were willing to do all of that to make sure people had enough knowledge of who I am and what I wanted to do” as mayor.
Martinez Beltran is headed to reelection for her second four-year term on the council. She said she was “excited” at Noah’s Tuesday night after seeing the first Nov. 8 results posted online.
Martinez Beltran attributed her positive results to “the work that I’ve done” on the council in the last four years.
“People appreciate what I’ve done, and my record, and that’s what I came in with—nothing more than a passion to serve and a love for my hometown,” she said.
Librers said Nov. 9 that she is “excited to serve the community of Morgan Hill again,” and praised all the local candidates for running positive campaigns for the general election. She staked her 2022 run for city council, in part, on slower growth, improving infrastructure and “to bring back some civility in the council chambers again, so we can work as a united council.”
is there a typo here? “Turner, a 30 year old Morgan Hill resident”???