STOCKTON, Calif. — There are just 40 days until Election Day and the race for Stockton Mayor is hitting its stride.
San Joaquin County Supervisor Tom Patti and former Stockton Councilmember Christina Fugazi are hoping to earn Stockton residents’ vote.
The mayoral candidate forum was held at a San Joaquin Delta College lecture hall as the two candidates spoke about their experience and why they were the right person to lead the city.
While the two agree the issues of homelessness and public safety need to be addressed, each candidates’ priority order differs.
“We in the county are standing up a support network that we need to fulfill into the cities. We need those partnerships. As a county supervisor, when I'm the mayor, those relationships continue,” Patti said.
“We need community policing, we need to have a fully-staffed department. We need to bring back our gang unit,” Fugazi said.
Stockton like Sacramento operates under a council-manager government, which means it is a city manager that runs day-to-day operations.
The forum was hosted by the League of Women Voters of San Joaquin County. Both candidates believe they can be effective at bringing together other councilmembers and offer this stark difference.
“They do not want the bureaucracy, and they do not want the excuses. My results as a county supervisor speak measures on what I can bring to the city and that is different from a person who was a previous councilmember, and for eight years, what changed,” Patti said.
“I have 16 years in city government; county government is very different,” Fugazi said. "They can do things that city government officials cannot do. They can call up the director and we cannot. Our budgets are different."
Fugazi is an educator and has served on the Stockton City Council, including as vice mayor and on the city's Planning Commission.
Patti is a businessman and currently serves on the San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors.
The seat is up for grabs after current Mayor Kevin Lincoln chose not to run and instead seek higher office.
Election day is November 5. Ballots will be mailed out beginning in less than two weeks, on October 7.
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