Ayala leads Abele in tooclose to-call council race

Joseph Ayala Joseph Ayala has taken the lead over Jill Abele in Simi Valley City Council District 1, turning one of the election’s closest races into an even tighter contest as Ventura County continues counting ballots two weeks after the election. Abele held a narrow lead on Election Day, but in the latest results released Nov. 9 by the Ventura County Elections Division, Ayala showed 3,545 votes, or nearly 38%, compared with Abele’s 3,481 votes, or 37%. The margin is just 64 votes. The District 1 race is for the final two years of the council term formerly held by Dee Dee Cavanaugh, who was appointed mayor following the death of Fred Thomas. The 52-year-old Ayala, the director of a multibillion-dollar data analytics company and a university communications professor, was appointed to the council 2025 for the first two years. The District 1 seat will be restored to its regular four-year cycle in 2028.

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