Sacramento City Council District 7 candidates Darrell Fong and Ryan Chin were leading their campaigns’ election day efforts Tuesday to get voters to the polls.

Fong voted at Greenhaven Neighborhood Church Tuesday morning. Exiting the polling place, he vowed not to take a salary if elected until the city budget improves.

The retired Sacramento police captain said his top priorities are public safety, building and figuring out how to provide city services when revenue is down.

"The only agenda I have is seeing the city move forward," he said. "We will come out of this. We'll just have to be more efficient with how we deliver services."

Fong then headed to his campaign headquarters in a strip mall on Florin Road. Several volunteers sat at tables making phone calls to remind supporters to vote.

Resident Gilbert Garza stopped in to wish Fong good luck before he dropped off an absentee ballot at a polling place.

"I'm very confident he's going to win," said Garza, 57.

Fong gathered several volunteers and then headed out into the district, where he has lived for nearly 30 years.

Fong paired up with Scott Whyte, a volunteer sent by one of Fong's endorsers, the Sacramento Regional Builder's Exchange. They hung fliers on doorknobs of people who hadn't cast ballots in the first wave of voting Tuesday morning.

Fong appeared a bit tense but said he wasn't nervous running in his first election.

"It's politics. If it wasn't meant to be, it wasn't meant to be," he said. "I think we've run a good campaign and I hope that carries through to tonight." 

4 p.m. update

Meanwhile, his opponent, Chin, and at least 20 volunteers reached out to supporters as well.

At campaign headquarters in another strip mall just across Florin Road, Chin, his wife, Alice, and their oldest son, Kyle, made phone calls urging people to the polls Tuesday afternoon.

"I'm calling for my husband, Ryan Chin," Alice Chin said. "I'm just giving you a quick call to thank you for your support and let you know where your polling location is if you don't already know it. Are you going out today?"

Chin, who works as staff director of strategic communications for Sacramento State, said his business and education background set him apart from Fong. His primary goals if elected are to create jobs, bring more businesses to Sacramento and invest in local youth by supporting a strong partnership between the city and schools.

Chin later knocked on doors in his district. Connie Koppes answered at a home on Trudy Way.

"I voted for you this morning," she told Chin as they shook hands.

Chin said he was "nervously optimistic" about how his first political race would turn out.

"From all our walking and all our talking, I'm looking forward to the results," he said. "Our level of support is strong."