As of Tuesday morning, challenger Greg Bozzo was ahead of Mayor Marie Blankley in the race to helm Gilroy, leading by a minuscule margin of only 50 votes with about 82,000 still left to be counted in the county.
The vote count represents the latest in a race that has, until Monday evening, been narrowly held by Blankley – at one time by as little as 12 votes – and looks to be decided on the margins.
The Gilroy mayoral race pitted incumbent Blankley, who ran on her six years of experience as a city councilmember and mayor and her know-how as an accountant, against landscape contractor Bozzo. Bozzo leveled criticisms at the current city government, arguing for more collaboration between it and the populace.
Bozzo, who has chipped away at Blankley’s lead over the past week, said he was “happy with the way the counting has gone,” arguing that the narrow race signaled a desire for a shift in leadership.
“I think people want change, right? I think people believe that Gilroy has a lot more potential than it’s living up to right now. That’s why the mayor’s race is very close and that’s why the council race is awfully close,” said Bozzo.
If current city council race results stand, only one of three incumbent councilmembers – Zach Hilton – is slated to keep his seat, with newcomers Kelly Ramirez and Terence Fugazzi expected to join him.
Still, Bozzo emphasized allowing the county to “do their job” and count up the votes before making any claims about results.
“All we can do is wait,” wrote Blankley in a message to this news organization.
In a conversation late last week, Blankley pointed to negative ad campaigns to explain the tight margin. She won her 2018 city council election by thousands of votes, and won her mayoral seat in 2020 with over twice as many votes as her opponent.
This election cycle has seen a flurry of negative ads and mailers, many of which were sponsored by Building Tomorrow, a committee connected to developer Ten South, which is currently suing the city over a Builder’s Remedy project. According to the most recent filings, Building Tomorrow spent $51,750 in opposition to Blankley and $11,500 in support of Bozzo.
With roughly 89% of total votes in the county counted as of Monday night, according to a Mercury News analysis, the election will not officially be certified until early next month.
Regardless of the winner, the new council and mayor must tackle a slew of troubles for the city, which faces the largest per-capita homeless population in the county, understaffed fire and police departments, and ongoing questions on how to balance growth and draw in business.