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Eddie Neal leads pack, Holly Blair, Dave Brown all win seats on Lemoore City Council
But that was far from the case.
It wasn’t until 4:35 a.m. – eight hours later – that Blair, incumbent Eddie Neal, and a former planning commissioner Dave Brown, emerged as the top vote-getters. They will be sworn in to their council seats presumably in December after the Kings County Board of Supervisors certifies the results.
Instead of a victory celebration, Blair, a teacher at Mary Immaculate Queen School and an adjunct professor at West Hills College, spent election night bagging school lunches and preparing her kids for bed. After all, she remains a mother and teacher, who despite attending to her motherly duties, bagged 19.07 percent of the vote in a seven-person race, along with 1,946 votes, to finished second and earn a spot on the Lemoore City Council.
In fact, all three newly elected councilmembers spent relatively quiet evenings at home.
The top prize went to the soft-spoken Eddie Neal, who easily won a second term on the council Tuesday night, easily outdistancing his six other rivals. Neal, who did a lot of walking himself and talking to voters, finished with a election-high 2,229 votes, or about 21.85 percent of the vote.
“I think (my victory) had a lot to do with the great people of Lemoore,” he said. “It also had to do with the grace of God. I knocked on a lot of doors and put up a lot of signs. I’m happy that everything worked out.”
He also is looking forward to a second term and serving on what he considers will be a very good city council. “Now we have a great council and we hope to do some great things,” said Neal. “You know, some of the people I talked to said that (in the first term) I made the right decisions. People told me I was the voice of the people. I think my focus was always on the community of Lemoore.”
The third and final spot went to another newcomer, David Brown, the former planning commissioner who finished with 1,568 votes. Brown, along with Neal and Blair, also spent a quiet evening at home. He was pleased with the outcome. "I want to thank the people of Lemoore for this opportunity to serve as a council member," he said. "I will never forget who I work for and to whom I am responsible to."
He went on to say that he thinks the people of Lemoore want more transparency and integrity from their councilmembers. "They want to be listened to and be taken seriously. They want someone who will work hard to mend the broken fences of the past and to create a true way forward, a plan for success of our city..."
Blair credited her work ethic as well. She was often on the campaign trail knocking on doors and meeting Lemoore residents. “I went out and spoke to people door by door in the community,” she said, crediting a contingent of volunteers that helped her canvass the city.
“We walked and knocked on doors, one by one by one,” said Blair. We talked to people, and I asked them what do you want to see in your community? And I listened to what they wanted and listened to the suggestions people made, and that was really, I think, a big shift I made from the last time I ran. I spent a lot more time listening to what it was that people in our community were asking for.”
Ray Etchegoin narrowly missed capturing a seat, finished fourth in the seven-person field with 1,441 votes, 14.12 percent of the vote.
