Races for three of the five San Jose City Council seats up for election Tuesday appeared headed for runoffs based on initial voting results, including Councilwoman Maya Esparza’s bid for re-election.
Esparza, one of two incumbents running for re-election, garnered some 43.8 percent of the vote in her East San Jose district, according to unofficial vote totals from the Santa Clara County Registrar of Voters.
Should Esparza, or any other candidate in the other council races, receive less than a majority of the final vote, the top two candidates will go to a runoff in the Nov. 8 general election.
San Jose Fire Chief Bien Doan and East Side Union High School District Board President Van Le were separated by less than 100 votes for the second runoff spot behind Esparza, receiving 28.8 and 27.4 percent of the vote, respectively.
Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Rosemary Kamei led the race to succeed Vice Mayor Chappie Jones, who is termed out this year, with 64.7 percent of the vote in District 1, which includes parts of west San Jose.
In District 3, which includes downtown San Jose, San Jose-Evergreen Community College Board Member Omar Torres and business owner Irene Smith led the field of five candidates with roughly 41 percent and 21 percent of the vote, respectively.
In the race for District 5, another east San Jose district, former Assemblywoman Nora Campos led with 31.7 percent of the vote in a five-candidate field, with Santa Clara County Board of Education Trustee Peter Ortiz trailing behind in second with 21.6 percent of the vote.
The race’s other three candidates had all garnered between 10 and 20 percent of the vote, as of Wednesday.
City Councilwoman Pam Foley, the other incumbent running for re-election, ran unopposed for her 9th district in southwest San Jose.
