Watsonville District 5 Lead Flips: Angel Zuniga Ahead of Casey Clark by 14 Votes

UPDATED NOVEMBER 4, 2026 — WATSONVILLE, Santa Cruz County. The lead has switched in City Council District 5: in the county’s 1:53 a.m. November 4 unofficial report, Angel Zuniga leads Casey Clark 396 to 382 votes — by 14 votes (50.45% to 48.66%, with seven write-ins). The figures below refer to the earlier 8 p.m. November 3 report and are preserved to show how the tally changed. Two district City Council contests were close in the county’s first unofficial election-night report. In District 5, Casey Clark held a 26-vote lead over Angel Zuniga; in District 7, Ed Acosta led Nancy A. Bilicich by 70 votes. Both races remain subject to further counting.

District 5: Clark’s initial 26-vote lead has been overtaken

The 8 p.m. county tally recorded 337 votes (51.45%) for Casey Clark and 311 (47.48%) for Angel Zuniga, plus seven write-in votes. The narrow difference warrants attention when officials publish additional ballots in the days ahead.

District 7: Acosta remains ahead in the November 4 report

Updated tally: Ed Acosta 783 (52.30%), Nancy A. Bilicich 708 (47.29%), six write-ins. Acosta’s lead is now 75 votes. The older election-night snapshot is retained below for comparison.

Ed Acosta received 709 votes (52.44%), and Nancy A. Bilicich had 639 (47.26%), with four write-ins. District 7 is a different electorate from District 5: the two contests cannot be combined into one citywide vote total.

Two other district races

In District 3, Maria Orozco, the sole candidate listed apart from write-ins, had 732 votes (97.47% of recorded candidate selections). In District 4, Kristal Salcido had 619 votes (97.63%) against 15 write-ins. Those percentages in effectively unopposed elections do not represent the proportion of all registered voters.

Watsonville council members make decisions on streets, housing, neighborhood services, local spending and public facilities. Results for every district are preliminary and are not certified until the county completes its canvass.

Update source: Santa Cruz County Registrar of Voters, unofficial report, November 4 at 1:53 a.m. Results are not certified.

Source: Santa Cruz County official election-night report, first posting at 8 p.m., November 3.

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