Quick Take
Jimmy Dutra won reelection to the Watsonville City Council with 55% of the vote, two months after a jury found him liable for sexually assaulting a minor in a civil lawsuit. Some voters in District 6 cited Dutra’s neighborhood advocacy as the reason behind their support, while others questioned the lawsuit's validity.
Watsonville voters returned Jimmy Dutra to the city council in November despite a sexual assault lawsuit that threatened to overshadow the campaign, with some district residents pointing to the longtime councilmember’s advocacy on neighborhood issues, as well as skepticism about the lawsuit, as the reasons behind their continued support.
Dutra won reelection with 55% of the vote, a 10-point victory over his opponent, real estate broker and former councilmember Trina Coffman-Gomez.
The election came just two months after Dutra was found liable of sexual assault of a minor by a Santa Cruz County jury. He denied the allegations and vowed to appeal, while continuing with his reelection campaign and maintaining a low profile.
District 6 voter Tammy McCroskey said she was aware of the lawsuit against Dutra, but voted for him based on what she believes he’s already done for the community.
McCroskey is a resident of Meadows Manor Mobile Home Park on Blanca Lane, where the property owners had wanted to sell the land to developers to build new housing, displacing the park’s residents.
Dutra has been an advocate for the mobile home park’s residents, McCroskey said, whereas Coffman-Gomez didn’t seem to show the same support. Earlier this year, Dutra organized a community meeting for park residents, discussing issues they were facing under new property management.
“So for our own protection, I voted for Jimmy,” she said. While McCroskey said she was disappointed to hear about the allegations against Dutra, she still felt that he was the right person to represent the district.
“He’s around, he’s out there. He comes to the neighborhood, and he’s been to our door many times,” she said. “I feel like he is engaged as a councilperson to know his constituents and advocate for their needs.”
Another district voter, Rose G., who declined to give her last name, said Dutra demonstrated during his tenure as a city councilmember that he’s been able to help improve the city. She said he needs to finish what he started, and that’s why she voted for him.
Rose added that she didn’t believe Dutra might have committed sexual assault because of her past interactions with him. “I’ve talked to him. He came by and talked to us, [the lawsuit] didn’t really affect it,” she said.
In September, a jury found Dutra liable in a case that alleged he molested now-31-year-old Stephen Siefke during the summer of 2005, when Siefke was 12 and Dutra was 30.
The trial took on a political dimension, with a fellow Watsonville councilmember and the son of the former city manager both testifying against Dutra. The jury also saw a video containing text messages from the daughter of Dutra’s opponent in the District 6 race.
Dutra testified that the lawsuit, which was initially filed in 2022, was a politically motivated attempt to undermine his candidacy for the county board of supervisors at the time, and was actually driven by a dispute over his father’s estate.
Coffman-Gomez said she heard from district residents that not many people took notice of the court case or its outcome before voting. She added that she also avoided talking about it on the campaign trail because she wanted to keep her campaign focused on ongoing issues in the district.
“If I wasn’t going to talk about it, and nobody else knew, then how were they going to find out?” she said.
Coffman-Gomez also said she believes residents might have voted for Dutra due to the familiarity of his name. Dutra is a third-generation Watsonville resident, and his family had a presence in the city as farm owners long before his political career.
“I just think people vote, just thinking, ‘OK, that name is familiar.’ It could have been that his name is on the front page, and the familiarity of it,” Coffman-Gomez said.
Dutra declined Lookout’s request for an interview about his reaction to being reelected and plans for his next term.
However, in an interview with The Pajaronian last month, Dutra attributed his reelection to his constant advocacy for constituents in his district. “I’m really excited,” Dutra told the publication. “The people have spoken, and they spoke really loud.”
In his next term, Dutra said he is looking forward to implementing a $1.9 million plan to renovate the city’s streetlights and hopes to fix the roads in District 6.
Coffman-Gomez said she isn’t “going to lose any sleep” over the election results. She plans to continue her involvement with nonprofits Pajaro Valley Arts and the Salvation Army.
And she’s keeping an open mind when it comes to running for city council in the future. “The door’s open, I suppose,” she said.
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