Hollywood news and gossip site founder Jason Lee appears to have won one of the three Stockton City Council seats being contested in Tuesday’s election, according to the latest results Friday from San Joaquin County election officials.
Lee, founder of the site Hollywood Unlocked and a Stockton native, had 4,129 votes or about 56% of the total vote for the council’s District 6 seat in the south Stockton area compared to 3,250 or 44% for Vice Mayor Kimberly Warmsley.
Lee, who has about 1.2 million followers on Instagram and about 3.6 million followers there for his Hollywood news outlet, has declared victory in a statement on social media.
“Deeply honored to have earned the support and trust of my neighbors, the voters of my hometown, and you,” he wrote. “Now I begin the work of creating safer and stronger communities, improving our quality of life and charting our next chapter.”
In the two other Stockton City Council races, Mariela Ponce, a political newcomer who kept a low profile and didn’t attend any candidate forums during the primary election process this spring, nevertheless was popular enough in District 2 to receive 4,046 votes or nearly 60% of the vote compared to 2,737 or 40% for Stockton planning commissioner Waqar Rizvi.
In District 4, Mario Enriquez was narrowly ahead of Gina Valadez-Bracamonte, 5,425 votes to 5,133 (51.4% to 48.6%), according to the latest results from the county Friday.
Enriquez is a professor at University of the Pacific and director of its Center for Identity & Inclusion, which says on its website “strives to provide enriching educational opportunities toward understanding and integrating intercultural dialogue, conflict management, and identity development that advances student success and community engagement.”
Valadez-Bracamonte founded Bread of Life, a nonprofit aiding struggling working families in Stockton that provides more than $3 million in grocery assistance each year, according to the nonprofit’s website.
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