Before all the votes were counted Tuesday night, incumbent Laurie Smith and retired Undersheriff John Hirokawa said they were preparing for a runoff battle for Santa Clara County Sheriff.
With 100 percent of the county’s voting precincts reporting results in the June 5 election, neither of the two frontrunners in the five-person sheriff’s race received more than 50 percent of the ballots cast—the threshold that would prevent a Nov. 6 tiebreaker.
Smith leads the unofficial results posted on the county’s registrar’s website, with 44 percent or about 74,500 of the votes cast. Hirokawa received about 31 percent or about 53,400 votes.
The sheriff said about 9pm Tuesday night, with only about 6 percent of polling places reporting results, that the early returns “historically” don’t change as the counting continues through election night. Smith is vying for her sixth term as the county’s sheriff.
“If we don’t win tonight, I’m looking forward to the next five months…I think that people appreciate the work done by the sheriff’s office,” Smith said Tuesday night while watching the election returns at the home of a supporter.
Hirokawa, who hosted an election night watch party at Kyoto Palace in Campbell, was also pleased with the results as of 9pm June 5.
“Looking at the percentages with the incumbent at (45 percent), there’s a clear message the voters want a change in the county in regards to their elected sheriff,” said Hirokawa, who has never run for political office before the June 5 election.
Rounding out the rest of the field in the sheriff’s race are Joe La Jeunesse (12 percent of the votes counted), Jose Salcido (about 9 percent) and Martin J. Monica (about 4 percent).
