Stockton's incumbent mayor faces a tough challenge in a city beset with bankruptcy and violent crime

Johnston: "Mayor Ann Johnston is running for a second term. The campaign has not been easy with the city going through bankruptcy and logging a record number of homicides for a second year in a row."

But Johnston says the city has a plan to dig out from its problems and she says she is the one to get it done.

JOHNSTON: "Right now Stockton needs experience, dedicated knowledgeable elected officials who understand where we've been and where we are right now and where we are going, I mean we need consistency, we need a steady hand."

UOP political science professor Keith Smith says Johnston may be more vulnerable this election, but how vulnerable is not clear.

SMITH: "Most voters don't hold the Mayor personally responsible for the current state of the city's finances."

Challenger Anthony Silva is the former president of the Stockton Unified School Board, he has the backing of the city police and fire unions.

A week before the election he has proposed a half cent sales tax  that would pay to put 200 more cops on the street.

SILVA: "If the community says as whole they are not going to stand for any crime, there's going to be less violent crimes. The only option is to put more police officers on the street. People have to be willing to pay for safety and what price tag do you put on human life."

UOP political science professor Bob Benedetti says it's not clear whether Silva's proposal would help or hurt.

BENEDETTI "In general, people in Stockton don't like tax increases, so I think it would have been more helpful had he proposed it and explained it earlier in the campaign."

In the June primary when six candidates were running, Johnston received 42 percent of the vote to Silva's 21 percent, but that was before the bankruptcy and a record number of murders.