Manteca voters could be casting ballots for mayor within nine months.

That’s because City Council Tuesday directed staff to work on establishing a primary election for mayor.

And if it can be put in place soon enough and the council officially votes to support the move, Manteca will switch to a mayoral primary in the 2020 election cycle. That means unless Manteca wants to foot the bill for a free-standing election instead of piggybacking on the statewide direct primary date and paying a pro-rated cost to the county, the primary election date would be June 7 based on the Secretary of State’s website.

The council by consensus embraced Councilman Charlie Halford’s request to have staff explore the cost as well as steps associated with launching a primary election for mayor.

Halford noted Manteca in 2010 elected a mayor, Willie Weatherford, who only had 43 percent of the vote meaning “57 percent of the voters wanted someone else.”  He pointed out last fall Tracy elected a mayor who had only received 35 percent of the vote.

“I think we need a mayor who the majority of voters elect and not 35 percent,” Halford said.

Halford also noted twice since 2008 Manteca council members have been elected who did not have a majority of voters but instead by a plurality as three or more candidates were running for the same seat.

So far four people — all current council members — have indicated they are pondering a run for mayor in 2022. Besides incumbent Mayor Ben Cantu who has indicated he plans to make an official announcement soon, those mulling a run are Dave Breitenbucher, Gary Singh, and Halford.

Jose Nuño — the only council member entertaining thoughts about running for mayor and has yet to decide whether he will seek re-election next fall to his council seat —  said he was supportive of the move.

The city is already moving toward district elections for the council members. Only voters in specific areas could vote for candidates that reside in the area.

That would mean the only citywide election starting next year would be the mayor’s post.

If someone wins 50 percent plus one vote in a primary they would be elected outright. They wouldn’t, however, be seated until December. It is similar to how primaries work for San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors elections.

Mayor sets tone for

the City of Manteca

Manteca is a general law city. That means the mayor has no more power to make decisions than each council member. It’s because the only direction anyone who is elected can give when it comes to the people’s business at city hall is when they are part a council majority that casts a vote for a specific course of action.

The mayor’s John Hancock goes on official actions but then again those are actions the majority of the council agrees to and are not unilaterally made by the mayor.

The real power is the soap box Manteca gave the position when the city went with the direct election of mayors in the early 1980s. Prior to that, the council rotated the position among its members on an annual basis as Ripon currently does.

Mayors by how they conduct meetings set the tone. It also means they usually do most of the talking.

In 2018 voters citywide made a clear choice. They elected Cantu with 52.29 percent of the vote as opposed to 47.71 percent for Steve DeBrum.

Two years ago Nancy Young was elected as Tracy’s mayor with 34.85 percent of the vote due to four other candidates running. That means nearly 7 out of 10 Tracy voters opted for someone else besides Young when they were presented with four other options.

The question that wasn’t answered is whether Young would have emerged as that city’s mayor if voters were given a choice in a runoff between her and the second highest vote getter.

Manteca has also seated a mayor who failed to secure a majority of the votes. It was in 2010. Willie Weatherford was elected to a third term with 42.78 percent of the vote. Next was Cantu at 21.28 percent, Carlon Perry at 18.24 percent, and Debby Moorhead at 17.32 percent.

It is plausible Cantu could have been elected mayor 11 years sooner if there had been a runoff between him and Weatherford.