Hume holds onto slim lead over Moreno in battle for Sacramento County supervisor’s seat
Elk Grove Councilman Pat Hume extended his razor-thin lead over Cosumnes Community Services District President Jaclyn Moreno of Elk Grove in the 5th District Board of Supervisor’s race, one of the capital region’s tightest election contests.
Three weeks after Election Day, the race to represent south Sacramento County on county board remains a neck-and-neck battle with the latest tranche of ballots counted Tuesday afternoon.
With 89,660 votes cast, Hume led Moreno by 372 votes — a 50-49% margin — adding 28 votes to his lead with but 12,000 more ballots left to process.
The longtime councilman has amassed 45,016 votes to Moreno’s 44,644 votes, following the 4 p.m. Tuesday update from Sacramento County elections officials.
Moreno, elected in 2018 to the Cosumnes board overseeing parks, recreation and fire protection services for Elk Grove, Galt and unincorporated south Sacramento County, trailed Hume by 9%, at the close of the June primary but qualified for the head-to-head general election match-up.
But the mental health professional closed the gap in the summer months, positioning herself as a new voice for a hidebound county board with her campaign focus on the mental health and homelessness crises facing Sacramento County.
The left-leaning Moreno backed by local labor, educators and Planned Parenthood, also attracted voters in purple south Sacramento County with a plank that encompassed climate change and reproductive rights and that warned against sprawling south county development.
Moreno amplified that message at an October candidates’ forum: “They want a pro-choice supervisor who will address climate change and look at policy through a climate lens,” Moreno said at the forum. “Women are under attack in this country and we need a person to strongly advocate for women’s bodily autonomy. The county is in a unique position to get this work done.”
Hume campaigned as the experienced hand steeped in regional policy, ready to take the mantle left by outgoing Supervisor Don Nottoli, who had sat on the county dais 28 years before announcing his retirement. Hume, who has represented Elk Grove’s east side neighborhoods since 2006, earned broad support from the region’s elected leaders, law enforcement and business groups.
With heavy law enforcement support, Hume positioned himself as the race’s public safety candidate and promised a “tough love” approach to addressing homelessness in the county.
