There were no surprises in Steel Town this electoral season, as Acquanetta Warren and the two incumbent members of her political machine cruised to easy victories in the 2022 Fontana Municipal Election.
Warren, who was appointed to the city council in 2002, elected in her own right and reelected in 2004 and 2008 and elected mayor in 2010 and reelected in 2014 and 2018, bested her two opponents in this year’s race, Shannon O’Brien and Councilman Jesse Sandoval.
Warren, as of the results available from the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters office at 4 p.m. on November 10, held 8,418 or 47.75 percent of the 17,628 votes counted to that point. O’Brien had received 4,071 or 23.09 percent and Sandoval 5,117 or 29.03 percent.
In the city’s District 1 council contest, Councilman Phillip Cothran Jr, with 3,579 or 63.55 percent of the 5,632 total votes cast, trounced his competitors, Ricardo Quintana, who registered 646 votes or 11.47 percent, and Alfred Gonzales, who came in second with 1,399 votes or 24.84 percent. Another of Warren’s allies on the council, John Roberts, who has been a councilman for 30 years and is one of the longest serving local officeholders in San Bernardino County, convincingly vanquished his opponent Brian Kolde, with 2,371 votes or 73.09 percent to 866 votes or 26.7 percent in the Fontana District 4 council race.
In the election for city clerk, Warren’s handpicked selection for that post, Germaine Key, who ran with the advantage of being an appointed incumbent, came out on top with 8,235 votes or 50.13 percent, besting Alexandra Rivera, with 1,984 votes or 12.08 percent; Alyssa Flores, with 3,183 votes or 19.38 percent, and Elizabeth Sena, who had actively opposed Warren’s aggressive program of allowing warehouses to be built in the city. Sena pulled in 2,995 votes or 18.23 percent.
In the race for city treasurer, incumbent Janet Koehler-Brooks, the daughter of former Fontana City Councilman and Treasurer Charles Koehler, retained her elected position with 11,388 votes or 68.51 percent to Gabriel Sanchez’s 5,212 votes or 31.35 percent.
–M.G.