Paul Llanez elected Mayor of Los Banos

Jones, Mallonee re-elected without opposition

As of the latest update on the Merced County Elections website on Tuesday night, Nov. 8, businessman Paul Llanez won the race for Mayor of Los Banos handily defeating write-in candidate and whale watching boat captain Jim Davis.

With 100% of precincts reporting, Llanez had 3,325 votes in his second bid for the position, to 399 write-in votes which may, or may not all be for Davis, who entered the race in early October. That’s a gap of 89.29% to 10.71% of the vote.

On the council dais beginning in December, Llanez will join District 3 Councilman Brett Jones who faced no opponent in his re-election bid and received 95% of the vote. Lucille Mallonee also ran unopposed for the office of City Clerk, and also received 95% of the vote. The city treasurer’s race had no one on the ballot, but received 420 write-in votes, but those won’t count since no certified write-in candidate entered the race.

Earlier in the day, the mayor-elect said he would be having “a small family gathering” at his home to watch the election returns. On Monday, Llanez posted on his campaign Facebook page the simple comment, “Change starts tomorrow.”

Following the latest election results, he issued a statement Wednesday morning offering appreciation for his election.

“I want to thank the citizens of the great city of Los Banos. I look forward to being your voice and representing you for the next two years. I want to thank my amazing wife Brooke for being by my side every step of the way,” Llanez shared. “I want to congratulate all of the candidates who put in the effort this election to make a difference for our City and County. Special thank you to our campaign volunteers who helped with signs, meetings and calls.”

“And finally, to the city staff, a positive change in work culture begins very soon. Your hard work and dedication does not go unnoticed and I look forward to working alongside each of you very soon,” the mayor-elect added.

When reached for comment about the election results Jones responded, “I can’t wait to show the residents of Los Banos what this new council dynamic will do for this city.”

Please visit www.losbanosenterprise.com for any updates to this report and the latest results in this race.