Both Celeste Garamendi and Larry Hite, in forms filed at

Tracy City Hall, declared that they will have campaign committees for the

November 2008 election. Garamendi stated that she intends to run for mayor, and

Hite said he will run for the City Council.

Garamendi ran for mayor in 2006 and lost to then-Councilman

Brent Ives. Hite expressed his intention to run for mayor in 2006 but pulled

out of the race before the deadline to file as a candidate.

Tracy’s mayor is elected every two years, and Ives is up for

re-election for a second term in 2008. Council members are elected every four

years, and Hite would run against incumbents Irene Sundberg and Steve

Abercrombie. Sundberg was elected in 2004 and Abercrombie was appointed last

December after Ives vacated his council seat to take the job as mayor.

Hite confirmed on Wednesday that he plans to seek a seat on

the council. He said that he chose not to run last year when Ives announced his

intention to run for the mayor’s job after former Mayor Dan Bilbrey announced

that he would not run for re-election.

“I felt that my ideas were fairly closely aligned with

(Ives’), and much further from Celeste’s,” he said, adding that he preferred to

support Ives rather than run against him.

“That would end up splitting the vote, which would prevent

us both from accomplishing what we wanted to do,” he said. “I felt he was the

best choice.”

Abercrombie said Wednesday that he plans to run for election and intends to file his preliminary paperwork in January. Sundberg

said that with the election nearly a year away, it is too early for her to

comment. Ives couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday afternoon.

• To reach reporter Bob Brownne call 830-4227 or e-mail

brownne@tracypress.com.