BAKERSFIELD, CA - Residents in Bakersfield's Ward One went to the polls Tuesday to elect a new city council member to replace Rudy Salas, who was elected to the Assembly in November.
There were six candidates in the race.
With all 25 precincts reporting, Willie Rivera appears to be the winner with 36 percent of the vote.
Efren Martinez, Marvin Dean, Stephanie Campbell, Tomeka Powell and Donald Vereen were trailing by several hundred votes.
The race is winner-take-all, which means whoever gets the most votes will represent Ward One on the Bakersfield City Council.
Ward One serves residents in southeast Bakersfield.
We caught up with Willie Rivera and his supporters at Carpenter's Hall in downtown Bakersfield Tuesday evening.
He was excited with the early results and thankful for his supporters.
So, was Efren Martinez who trailed Rivera, early on.
"Really, really excited. Feeling very, very, very thankful for all of my supporters, my family and friends who put in long hours. We'll celebrate and enjoy a victory hopefully, which it looks like we will," said Rivera.
"We haven't got the totals yet, but like I said before, I am very optimistic and hopefully in another 30 minutes or so we will know who," said Martinez early in the evening.
There are still 300 provisional and mail-in ballots left to count, according to the Elections Office.
Right now, Willie Rivera is ahead of Efren Martinez by 327 votes.
Other election results Tuesday night:
Measure "A" in Wasco went down to defeat. It would have merged the Wasco Union Elementary School District and the Wasco Union High School District.
Measure "B" in the community of Stallion Springs near Tehachapi, also failed.
Residents would have been assessed a tax of up to $120 per parcel per year, to fund police protection services.
There were six candidates in the race.
With all 25 precincts reporting, Willie Rivera appears to be the winner with 36 percent of the vote.
Efren Martinez, Marvin Dean, Stephanie Campbell, Tomeka Powell and Donald Vereen were trailing by several hundred votes.
The race is winner-take-all, which means whoever gets the most votes will represent Ward One on the Bakersfield City Council.
Ward One serves residents in southeast Bakersfield.
We caught up with Willie Rivera and his supporters at Carpenter's Hall in downtown Bakersfield Tuesday evening.
He was excited with the early results and thankful for his supporters.
So, was Efren Martinez who trailed Rivera, early on.
"Really, really excited. Feeling very, very, very thankful for all of my supporters, my family and friends who put in long hours. We'll celebrate and enjoy a victory hopefully, which it looks like we will," said Rivera.
"We haven't got the totals yet, but like I said before, I am very optimistic and hopefully in another 30 minutes or so we will know who," said Martinez early in the evening.
There are still 300 provisional and mail-in ballots left to count, according to the Elections Office.
Right now, Willie Rivera is ahead of Efren Martinez by 327 votes.
Other election results Tuesday night:
Measure "A" in Wasco went down to defeat. It would have merged the Wasco Union Elementary School District and the Wasco Union High School District.
Measure "B" in the community of Stallion Springs near Tehachapi, also failed.
Residents would have been assessed a tax of up to $120 per parcel per year, to fund police protection services.