Stewart cruising to reelection as SLO mayor; Shoresman and Francis ahead for City Council
San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart took a commanding lead in ballot returns Tuesday night, while Shoresman and Francis led the race for two open seats on the City Council.
With all of precincts reporting as of 1 a.m., the tally of ballots showed Stewart ahead with 70% of the vote.
She was trailed by retired firefighter Richard Orcutt with 15.2%, entrepreneur Jeffrey Specht with 12.9% and welder Donald Hedrick with 1.8%.
Stewart, who was elected to the council in 2018, was appointed mayor after former Mayor Heidi Harmon resigned to take on a new environmental advocacy role in October 2021.
“I feel fantastic,” Stewart told The Tribune Tuesday evening. “I am really honored that the voters came out and showed their support and trust in me again.”
Meanwhile, in the race for council, four candidates are competing to fill the two empty seats: attorney Joe Benson, teacher Emily Francis, historian and architectural historian James Papp and incumbent Michelle Shoresman.
With the final update, Shoresman maintained her lead with 35.8% of the vote, followed by Francis with 31.8%, Benson with 19.3% and Papp with 13%.
“I am really, really excited that a lot of hard work from a lot of people seems to have paid off,” Francis said late Tuesday evening.
Shoresman added that she is “cautiously optimistic” about the early results tallied Tuesday evening.
“If things continue the way they are, I will be honored to continue serving the community,” she said.
Shoresman was appointed to the City Council at the same time as Stewart, to fill her place on the council.
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 8:12 PM.
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