The outcome of Tuesday’s only Manteca City Council election is highly unlikely to change the city’s course for at least 2 years.

And you can credit that partially to the switch to area council elections that the state has made it clear they want to see in local elections to help assure that local governing bodies are more representative.

In theory, the move was supposed to prompt more candidates to run.

The opposite has happened in the first two election cycles following the decision to go from citywide elections to area elections.

Only one of the two available seats had challengers.

Incumbent Dave Breitenbucher secured the Area 3 seat for four years without opposition in 2022.

Then  this year, incumbent Charlie Halford was not challenged for the Area 1 seat.

There had not been a city council seat unchallenged at election time in Manteca going back at least 50 years prior to 2022.

Had there been citywide elections, the three candidates on the ballot for Area 2 — Regina Lackey, Gabe Galletta, and Judy Blumhorst — would have competed against Halford for two open seats.

Instead the three are vying for the Area 2 seat and Halford will be returned to the council unchallenged for a second four-year term.

 Area 2 includes Woodward Park that is part of Manteca south and east of the 120 Bypass and Union Road as well as the city east of Highway 99 except for The Collective neighborhood.

Candidates, as well as registered voters that cast votes for them, must reside in Area 2.

Area 2 has 12,888 registered voters.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com