Bob Harriman’s victory over Lizet Angulo in November 8’s Victorville District 4 race, conducted as part of the first by-district election in the city’s 60-year history, now appears assured.
According to the San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters, as of 4 p.m. today, December 2, Harriman’s lead stands at 2,095 votes or 51.97 percent to Angulo’s 1,936 votes or 48.03 percent of the total 4,031 votes tallied so far. Harriman’s was a come-from-behind victory, as Angulo was ahead in the tallying on election night and on November 9.
Prior to this year’s race, all five of the council’s members were women, four of whom were minorities. Northern California Attorney Scott Rafferty forced the city into district elections, a ploy he said would ensure minority representation on the Victorville City Council.
Rafferty’s ploy appears to have failed, as Harriman, a white man, is to take the place on the council formerly held by Rita Ramirez-Dean, who was one of the three-Latina, one African American woman, single White woman council that was in place in Victorville following the 2020 Victorville Municipal Election.
Rafferty maintained the March 2021 vote by a Black, a Latina and a White member of the council to remove Ramirez-Dean from the council on non-residency grounds was an act of racism.
– Mark Gutglueck