Kimbley Craig leads for Salinas mayor, with two new councilmembers and one incumbent.

While all eyes are on the two-way U.S. presidential race, in Salinas five candidates are vying to become the next mayor, seeking an open seat that was held for eight years by Joe Gunter, who died in June. In that race, experienced politicians faced off against community activists, and Kimbley Craig, a former council member who previously served alongside Gunter, is in the lead based on early results, with 12,176 votes, or 39 percent of the total, as of 10am Nov. 4.

She is the only woman in the five-way race, and is poised to become the city’s second woman mayor. Anna Caballero, now a state senator, was the first.

“The city is at a crossroads,” Craig says, touting her experience. “I could step in and do the job seamlessly.”

Trailing by 2,343 votes is Chris Barrera, a real estate agent and president of the local chapter of LULAC (League of United Latin American Citizens). He ran, he says, because he was tired of Salinas residents not being heard: “We need to have our priorities in line and be there for our children. It’s better to invest in them when they’re younger than when they’re older.”

In three council races, only one incumbent, Scott Davis, is seeking reelection. In District 1, early returns show him in the lead, with 52 percent of the vote. In District 4, where incumbent Gloria De La Rosa is retiring, businessman Orlando Osornio leads.

In District 6, 21-year-old Anthony Rocha holds a substantial lead in the three-way race, with 48.5 percent of the vote. He was elected in 2018 to the Salinas Union High School District board, where he had to go through a round of budget cuts he says prepared him for the current downturn in Salinas.

The new councilmembers will need to hire a new city manager, and grapple with a health and economic crisis as Salinas has more than half the Covid-19 confirmed in Monterey County.

Craig plans to tackle Covid-19, “so that we can change our status with the state, and therefore, get business back up and running and people back to their jobs.”