Eight-year Pomona City Councilmember Victor Preciado is trailing nonprofit director Jacky Elizalde as votes are counted in the city's District 2 race, with early returns showing Elizalde near 54% of the vote to Preciado's just over 46%. The District 2 contest was the only City Council race on Pomona's ballot following Tuesday's election.
A Rematch Four Years in the Making
Elizalde and Preciado advanced to a head-to-head campaign after no candidate cleared the majority threshold in June, according to Daily Bulletin. The vote tally cited by the outlet was attributed to Los Angeles County Registrar of Voters results posted Wednesday morning. Preciado, first elected in 2018, has spent two terms representing the district and entered this race as the incumbent.
This is not the first time the two have squared off for the District 2 seat. In the November 2022 election, Preciado ultimately won by 107 votes, taking 1,216 to Elizalde's 1,109, according to The Pomonan. That outcome followed an early vote count that looked much closer: unofficial returns reported in the predawn hours of Nov. 9, 2022 had Preciado ahead of Elizalde by just three votes, 616 to 613, per the Daily Bulletin. That early count reflected only vote-by-mail ballots and those cast at vote centers before Election Day, the outlet reported at the time.
Why the Count Could Still Shift
Those 2022 figures matter now because they're a reminder that early returns in a close District 2 race have moved before counting finished. Back then, ballots postmarked by Election Day were accepted for up to seven days, and the Daily Bulletin reported the outstanding-ballot total would keep shifting through the following week. The San Gabriel Valley Tribune similarly noted at the time that many ballots remained outstanding and would be processed and counted in the days after Election Day.
Housing and Transparency Take Center Stage
Housing and government transparency were central issues in this year's District 2 campaign, the seed reporting notes. Elizalde, who works as a nonprofit director, said Pomona needs more housing developed thoughtfully and argued city spending should be easier for the public to understand. She also said City Hall should shift its culture toward serving the public.
Preciado said Pomona needs more housing without sacrificing its character, and called for varied housing types including affordable and workforce housing, apartments, accessory dwelling units, condos and starter homes. He said he supported increasing the city's housing supply during his eight years on the council. On transparency, Preciado said accessible government requires meaningful resident participation, including community meetings and engagement at varied times — mornings, evenings and weekends — and pointed to increased city translation services meant to reduce language barriers to local government participation.
Those housing positions echo what Preciado told constituents earlier this year. In a May candidate questionnaire reported by The Pomonan, he called affordability the top issue facing District 2 and said he supported increasing housing supply for both renters and prospective homeowners. The same report noted his campaign has highlighted park improvements and street repairs, with affordable housing, transportation and youth mentorship listed among his next-term priorities. Preciado also said he supported modern logistics projects that meet higher environmental standards while opposing unchecked warehouse expansion, and said he opposed using city resources to assist federal immigration enforcement, according to that report.
The Pomonan's reporting also noted that Athens Services, which holds Pomona's exclusive residential and commercial trash-collection franchise, contributed $499 to Preciado's campaign in late January.
