Who’s on the 2024 ballot? Meet candidates for the SLO County supervisors election
While San Luis Obispo County residents deck the halls, light the menorah, and scramble through malls for holiday shopping — a handful of candidates are also running for election.
Candidates running for seats on the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors had until Friday at 5 p.m. to apply to run for office during the March 5 primary.
Meet the four candidates running for three seats on the board this spring.
Newcomers battle for District 5 seat
Incumbent Supervisor Debbie Arnold won’t run for re-election in March 2024, leaving room for newcomers to fight for the District 5 seat.
Two well-known Atascadero officials, Mayor Heather Moreno and Mayor Pro Tem Susan Funk, are running to replace Arnold on the board.
Funk, who was elected to the Atascadero City Council in 2018, said she would work to expand affordable housing and support tourism and economic development, sustainable water use and public safety.
Funk also said she would prioritize addressing homelessness, and she’s the chair of the San Luis Obispo County Homeless Services Oversight Council, a group that helped the county develop its five-year plan to reduce homelessness by half.
Moreno, a businesswoman, was appointed to the City Council in 2012, and later elected mayor of Atascadero in 2018 — going on to serve three terms.
According to her website, Moreno would prioritize public safety, addressing homelessness, sustainable groundwater management and building a strong local economy.
As a a certified public accountant, Moreno said she is well positioned to build a “fiscally responsible, transparent government,” according to her website.
Arnold will represent her constituents until her term ends on Jan. 6, 2025.
Incumbents run unchallenged in 2024
In Districts 1 and 3, incumbent Supervisors John Peschong and Dawn Ortiz-Legg are running unchallenged to keep their seats in 2024.
This means that Ortiz-Legg and Peschong are practically guaranteed another term, but it’s possible that write-in candidates could still challenge them.
Write-in candidates must file the appropriate paperwork with the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office between Jan. 8 and Feb. 20, according to agency spokesperson Erin Clausen.
Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Ortiz-Legg to the District 3 seat in 2020 as a replacement for late Supervisor Adam Hill.
She then ran to keep her seat in 2022 — and won.
Ortiz-Legg, a Democrat, is fairly secure in District 3, where 44% of registered voters are Democrats and 28% are Republicans, according to an October county report.
Meanwhile, Peschong was elected to the District 1 seat in 2016. He’s now running for his third term on the board.
He’s also secure in his District 1 seat as a Republican, where 43% of registered voters are Republicans and 30% are Democrats, the county report said.
This story was originally published December 12, 2023 at 8:00 AM.
