Preliminary results from Tuesday’s election show Lemon Grove City Councilwoman Alysson Snow defeated Mayor Racquel Vasquez and incumbent Councilman George Gastil trailed in a tight race to save his seat.

Lemon Grove residents strongly supported Measure T, a 1-cent increase in the sales tax, which had so far counted about 70 percent of the vote Wednesday. The tax will be in effect for 10 years and is projected to raise about $6 million annually to fund parks, community facilities, fire protection, paramedics, police and emergency services, homelessness, infrastructure and other needs.

Councilwoman Liana LeBaron did not seek reelection to the seat she won four years ago, but instead ran for mayor. Wednesday’s results showed her with about 29% of the vote and in third place behind Snow, who got 40%, and Vásquez, who got 31%.

Lemon Grove does not have district elections and the seats held by LeBaron and Gastil were open this year. Gastil and three rivals ran for the two seats.

On Wednesday, her rival Jessyka Heredia had garnered about 29% of the vote, putting her in the lead for a council seat.

The race for the second seat was too close to call: Sitivi “Steve” Faiai led Gastil by just 23 votes and both candidates received around 25% of the vote.

Challenger Seth Andrew Smith garnered about 21% of the vote and trailed Gastil by 435 votes. The Registrar of Voters said more results would be announced on Thursday and later this week.

Snow, a professor at the University of San Diego School of Law, felt her leadership was the right person to lead Lemon Grove at this time.

“Working families need to hear the message that someone cares about them and that someone will actually do the hard work to make sure they can thrive during these difficult economic times,” she said.

Snow also said voters viewed her as the best choice for the seat because of her background.

“I spent 13 years at the San Diego Legal Aid Society fighting for people with student loan debt, credit card debt, financial debt, elder abuse and solar fraud,” he said.

Snow also worked with coalitions and advocated for new laws to protect consumers, which she said inspired her to run for office.

“After a while, you think I should be the one writing these laws,” he said.

If her lead holds and Snow is elected mayor, her vacant City Council seat will be filled by appointment or a special election.

Vasquez, who lost a bid to represent District 79 in the state Assembly race in last March’s primary, said in an email Wednesday afternoon that he felt immense gratitude and hope about the outcome as more votes will be counted.

“I’ve been here before in my career as mayor and I know it may take a few days, or even weeks, to see the full picture,” she wrote. “For now, I will be closely monitoring voting trends. Thanks to everyone who has shown their support. Let us remain hopeful as we wait for the final results.”

Heredia has been known for the past three years for recording Lemon Grove City Council meetings and posting the videos online, and she said voters showed their appreciation for her work in the election.

“I think people supported me because they see my dedication to recording City Council meetings for the public,” he said, adding that he will continue to record meetings if he is on the council.

Heredia said he is most excited about getting Lemon Grove “on the right path” if his leadership holds up.

“I want to see some changes in opportunities for young people and I want our streets, parks and schools to be addressed first,” he said of the issues he wants to address. “And I look forward to working with the council to put forward some resolutions to resolve these things.”