Isabella Chu widens her lead over Redwood City Vice Mayor Lissette Espinoza-Garnica to nine votes, up from just four votes earlier this week, as the race for district 3 nears its final count.
“I have already made my peace with either outcome,” said Espinoza-Garnica. “So personally, I’m just waiting for it to be over, this whole thing has been so close to watch.”
The latest semi-official results released by the San Mateo County Elections office at 4:20 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 22, show Espinoza-Garnica with 49.84% of the vote to Chu’s 50.16%. The county elections office still has 500 unprocessed ballots, and the votes will be certified on Dec. 13.
Chu, who is also a Redwood City Planning Commissioner, started out with a bigger lead of 59 votes when the first results came out at 8 pm on Nov. 5. The difference has narrowed with every update since then except on Wednesday when Espinoza-Garnica was lagging behind with 4 votes.
“I honestly expected this trend,” said Chu. “It’s pretty consistent with previous elections and voting patterns in California.”
According to Chu, older, more conservative voters often vote early, while younger, left-leaning voters tend to cast their ballots later. She added that “younger people just don’t sign things we used to and so quite often, their signatures are more inconsistent, and so those ballots require more manual verification.”
Chu described both herself and Espinoza-Garnica as progressive but characterized herself as less leftist than her opponent.
“I’m more inclined to work within systems as they exist, and have a broader coalition, because I think you need that to accomplish progressive goals like safe streets,” Chu added.
Espinoza-Garnica pointed out that late voters often include the working class who do not have the time to vote early or conduct thorough research.
“I find that the later voters are much more progressive, they identify with my message versus the earlier voters, who tend to be more conservative,” she said.
This is the second time both candidates are running against each other to represent the city’s district 3. Espinoza-Garnica won the previous election in 2020 against Chu and Janet Borgins.
But this year’s results carry high stakes for the city’s leadership. A victory for the incumbent, Espinoza-Garnica, would secure her appointment as the city’s next mayor. Conversely, if Chu prevails, the dynamics shift dramatically—Espinoza-Garnica would be ousted from the mayoral rotation, paving the way for Elmer Martinez Saballos to assume the mayor’s seat.
Both candidates believe their chances of winning are evenly split at 50-50.
