Two new city council members will be seated in Morgan Hill before the end of the year, while Mayor Mark Turner is cruising toward reelection in the Nov. 5 balloting, according to the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters office.
As of 12:15am Nov. 6, Miriam T. Vega leads David Dindak in the election for District A on the city council. Vega has about 54% or 1,606 votes, while Dindak has about 46% or 1,353, says the registrar’s website.
Vega is a former business owner of a downtown Morgan Hill resident, as well as a former high school teacher.
In the race for the District C seat, Soraida Iwanaga leads Michael Orosco by just over 200 votes. Iwanaga has received 1,434 votes to Orosco’s 1,230 ballots.
Iwanaga, who works as a nurse at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz, said on Nov. 6 that her presumptive election to the city council “hasn’t fully sunk in.”
“I’m very humbled by this whole process, and super grateful for people putting their trust in me,” Iwanaga said. “My desire is to do a good job.”
Orosco, a local business owner and former Morgan Hill planning commissioner, said late Nov. 5 that the early results were “a little disappointing,” but it’s the voters’ decision.
“Either way I ran a good campaign on the issues, and on my experience, and I hold my head up high. The voters are going to decide who they want,” Orosco said.
District A in Morgan Hill includes the southwestern portion of the city. District C encompasses the city’s northwest.
In the election for mayor of Morgan Hill, incumbent Mark Turner is on his way to his second term in the office. The registrar’s most recent results show him leading Yvonne Martinez Beltran by more than 2,800 votes.
Turner has received 8,136 votes for mayor, or about 61% of the ballots counted as of early Wednesday morning. Martinez Beltran, who is serving her second term as the city council District B representative, has received about 39% of the votes counted.
“I want to thank the residents of Morgan Hill for their votes. I’m honored to be their mayor and to continue serving this community,” Turner said late Tuesday night. “I’m grateful to all those who supported me, walked precincts, knocked on doors, coordinated neighborhood gatherings and talked to others on my behalf.
“With the election over and the results clear, I’m looking forward to continuing work on youth sports and recreation, funding public art, job creation, rolling out the Healthy Morgan Hill initiative, and supporting local businesses.”
Local elections officials are expected to finish counting all outstanding Nov. 5 ballots in the coming weeks, and certify the results by Dec. 5. Turner, Iwanaga and Vega are scheduled to be sworn in at the Dec. 11 council meeting at the Morgan Hill Community and Cultural Center.
