Bruce Gibson widens lead in District 2 race as SLO County releases new vote counts
Incumbent Bruce Gibson has expanded his lead over challenger Bruce Jones in the critical District 2 supervisor race, newly released ballot totals show.
Three days after Election Day, the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office released its first ballot count update since the end of Tuesday night’s count.
Elections workers added 13,600 ballots to the total and now have tallied 71,696 ballots, pushing voter participation up to about 39.3%.
That leaves about 47,320 ballots remaining to be counted — enough to flip close races like Board of Supervisors seat, and seats on city councils and school boards.
County staff already tallied ballots cast at the polls on Election Day and received in the mail before Tuesday. For the next few weeks, they will continue counting mail-in ballots received within seven days of Election Day, provisional ballots and ballots with missing or mismatched signatures that must be verified.
SLO County will finalize its official results by Dec. 8, the deadline for certifying the election.
Here are the unofficial results of the election so far:
Bruce Gibson leads District 2 supervisor race
Gibson has widened his Election Night lead by 356 votes, the latest count showed.
Gibson now has 7,629 votes, or 53.5% of the vote, while Jones has 6,620 votes, or 46.5%.
The incumbent’s lead of 653 votes grew to 1,009 with the latest release.
Erica Stewart poised to win SLO City Council mayor race
As of Friday, Mayor Erica A. Stewart remains positioned to handily win a new term with 71% of the vote.
Her three challengers trail far behind, with Richard Orcutt at 14.4%, Jeffrey Specht at 12.8% and Donald Hedrick at 1.6%.
Two seats are open on the San Luis Obispo City Council, and the results are becoming clearer. Michelle Shoresman and Emily Francis lead the race with 36% and 32% of the vote, respectively.
Joe Benson followed with 19% and James Papp with 12.8%.
Measure C-22 on track to pass
San Luis Coastal Unified School District voters had the opportunity to weigh in on Measure C-22, a bond measure that would tack on $49 in property taxes per $100,000 of the assessed value of residents’ homes. The funding would be used to update school infrastructure, such as leaky roofs and outdated athletic facilities.
As of Friday, 61.6% of voters had cast their ballots in favor of the measure, with 38.4% voting against it. The measure needs 55% approval to pass.
Carla Wixom leads Morro Bay mayor race
The Morro Bay City Council may soon look very different.
Business owner Carla Wixom has maintainted her Election Night lead with 59.1% of the vote. She is poised to defeat incumbent Mayor John Headding, who now has 40.9%.
Meanwhile, five candidates are competing for two open seats on the Morro Bay City Council. Zara Landrum led the race with 25.2% of the vote, followed by Cyndee Edwards with 22%, Sarah Smith Robinson with 20.9%, Casey Cordes with 17.7% and Dave Duringer with 14.2%.
About 64.4% of voters cast their ballots against Measure B-22, which would create a tax to fund harbor infrastructure improvements, while 35.6% of voters supported the measure.
Paso Robles Mayor Steve Martin up by 14 points
As of Friday, Mayor Steve Martin was on track to keep his seat with 56.9% of the vote. His challenger, Michael Rivera, followed with 43.1% of the vote.
So far, 60.7% of voters have said “yes” to to Measure F-22, which would raise the city’s transient occupancy tax in Paso Robles from 10% to 11%, and 39.3% voted “no.”
Incumbents cruising to reelection in Atascadero
Two four-year seats are up for election on the Atascadero City Council.
As of Friday at 5 p.m., Susan Funk and Heather Newsom maintained their leads with 43.6% and 43.3% of the vote, respectively.
Bret Heinemann trailed with 13.2%.
Arroyo Grande Mayor Caren Ray Russom leads race
Arroyo Grande Mayor Caren Ray Russom continues to hold a commanding lead over challengers Gaea Powell and Dale T. Hanson as of Friday at 5 p.m.
Russom had secured 65.2% of the vote, while Powell trailed 40 points back at 24.9% and Hanson was at 9.9%.
James Robert Guthrie led the race for the District 4 City Council seat with 64.2% of the vote. Ben Franco followed with 35.8%.
Kathleen Secrest ran unchallenged for the District 1 seat.
Arroyo Grande voters looked likely to reject Measure D-22, which would raise the city’s sales tax by 1 percentage point. As of Friday, 51.9% of voters opposed the measure, while 48.1% supported it. The measure needs a simple majority to pass.
Karen Bright on track to win Grover Beach mayor
On Friday, Karen Bright held a 12-point advantage in the race for Grover Beach mayor with 55.8% of the vote to 44.2% for Stacy Korsgaden.
For the District 2 City Council seat, Daniel Rushing led with 58.9% of the vote to Ron Arnoldsen’s 41.1%.
Reiss and Inman leading Pismo Beach City Council
Two seats are open on the Pismo Beach City Council.
As of Friday afternoon, Mary Ann Reiss and Stacy Inman were leading the race with 27.8% and 24.4% of the vote respectively.
Kevin Carl Kreowski trailed in third with 20.9%, Erik Howell followed with 18.8% and Debora Ann Lossing brought up the rear with 8%.
Updates for key Cambria races
Debra Scott led the Cambria Community Services District director race with almost 40% of the vote, and Michael Thomas followed with 37.2%. Jim Bahringer trailed in third place with 22.8%.
As of Friday at 5 p.m., Measure G-22, which would raise $8.5 million from added property taxes to replace the aging headquarters of the Cambria Community Healthcare District, was going down to defeat. It needs a two-thirds vote to pass and currently has 61.3% in favor and 38.7% opposed it.
District 30 and 37 State Assembly Results
As of Friday afternoon, Dawn Addis held onto her election night lead in the District 30 State Assembly race with 60.2% of the vote. Vicki Norhden followed with 39.8%.
Addis also led in SLO County, where she picked up 54.5% to Norhden’s 45.5% of the vote.
Gregg Hart stayed ahead in the District 37 race with 57.9% of the vote. Mike Stoker garnered 42.1% of the vote.
Hart actually trailed in SLO County, however, with 48.1% of the vote to Stoker’s 51.9%.
District 19 and 24 congressional results
Two congressional seats representing the Central Coast were up for grabs, and the two Democratic incumbents have won reelection, according to the Associated Press.
In the latest vote total, Congressman Jimmy Panetta led in District 19 seat with 66.8% of the votes, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office. Jeff Gorman followed with 33.2%.
In District 24, Congressman Salud Carbajal has 60.9% of the vote, while Brad Allen trailed with 39.1%.
School board results
In San Luis Obispo County, 47 candidates are running for 19 seats across eight districts.
For updates on the those races, check out our story here.
This story was originally published November 11, 2022 at 5:49 PM.
