Election: Candidates are in tight race for judge

Updated Wednesday

It’s a tight race for the second spot in the runoff for the open judge seat in San Benito County.

With unofficial results reported Tuesday, Omar Rodriguez held a lead of 1,597 to 1,559 with 25.83 percent of the vote versus 25.21 for Henderson.

As of Wednesday morning, the elections office still has up to 6,000 ballots left to count, though, with 6,710 tabulated so far.

Longtime public defender Gregory LaForge was in slight lead for the open superior court judge seat after release of Tuesday’s primary results, meaning he will face off against Rodriguez or Henderson.

LaForge gained 28.06 percent of the vote and 1,735 votes, according to latest results.  He needed more than 50 percent of the vote to win the race outright and skip a runoff.

Omar Rodriguez is an assistant county counsel in Santa Cruz County. Frances Henderson is a family law facilitator for San Benito County.

Robert Michael Foley, who said he does not want the job, had 20.9 percent of the vote with 1,292 votes.

To see the latest results, go to: http://sbcvote.us/registrar-of-voters/results-june-2018/

-By Kollin Kosmicki