Bruce Gibson still ahead as District 2 supervisor race tightens, new vote count shows
The San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office released another ballot count update on Wednesday, showing that incumbent Bruce Gibson’s lead has narrowed over Dr. Bruce Jones in the District 2 supervisor race.
Elections workers added 20,000 ballots to the total and now have tallied 91,696 ballots, pushing voter participation up to about 50.3%.
That leaves about 27,320 ballots remaining to be counted. SLO County will finalize its official results by Dec. 8, the deadline for certifying the election.
Here are the latest unofficial totals so far:
Bruce Gibson still leads in District 2 Supervisor race
Gibson remains ahead in his bid for reelection in the redrawn District 2, but he saw his advantage shrink by 228 votes in the latest count.
Gibson now has 9,769 votes, or 52.1%, while Republican challenger Dr. Bruce Jones has 8,988 votes, or 47.9%.
The incumbent’s Friday lead of 1,009 votes shrunk to 781 with the latest release, but that’s still more than he had after Election night, when Gibson’s lead was 653 votes.
Erica Stewart wins SLO City Council mayoral race
As of Wednesday, Mayor Erica A. Stewart remains positioned to handily win a new term with 71.7% of the vote.
Her three challengers trail far behind, with Richard Orcutt at 14.1%, Jeffrey Specht at 12.6% and Donald Hedrick at 1.6%.
Two seats are open on the San Luis Obispo City Council, and Michelle Shoresman and Emily Francis are poised to win them with 35.8% and 32.3% of the vote, respectively.
Joe Benson followed with almost 19% and James Papp with almost 13%.
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 The funding would be used to update school infrastructure, such as leaky roofs and outdated athletic facilities.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 Wednesday, almost 63% of voters had cast their ballots in favor of the measure, with 37% voting against it. The measure needs 55% approval to pass.
Carla Wixom holds lead in Morro Bay mayor race
In Morro Bay, business owner Carla Wixom has maintained her Election Night lead with 58.4% of the vote. She is poised to defeat incumbent Mayor John Headding, who now has 41.6%. Wixom’s lead is 768 votes.
Meanwhile, five candidates are competing for two open seats on the Morro Bay City Council. Zara Landrum led the race with 25% of the vote, followed by Cyndee Edwards with almost 22%, Sarah Smith Robinson with 20.8%, Casey Cordes with 18.4% and Dave Duringer with 13.9%.
Edwards’ lead for the final seat is 97 votes.
Measure B-22, which would create a tax to fund harbor infrastructure improvements, is suffering a resounding defeat, with 64% of voters against and only 36% in favor..
Paso Robles Mayor Steve Martin positioned to win another term
Mayor Steve Martin has locked up a new term with 57.5% of the vote as of Wednesday. His challenger, Michael Rivera, followed with 42.6%, a difference of 1,197 votes.
So far, 61.2% 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 38.8% voted “no.”
Incumbents cruising to reelection in Atascadero
Two four-year seats are up for election on the Atascadero City Council.
As of Wednesday, Heather Newsom and Susan Funk maintained their leads with 43.2% and 43.4% of the vote, respectively. The two have nearly identical vote totals and have taken turns swapping the lead position as more ballots were tallied.
Bret Heinemann trailed with 13.4%.
Arroyo Grande Mayor Caren Ray Russom wins reelection
Arroyo Grande Mayor Caren Ray Russom will retain her seat thanks to a commanding lead over challengers Gaea Powell and Dale T. Hanson as of Wednesday afternoon.
Russom had secured 64.9% of the vote, while Powell trailed almost 40 points back at 25.3% and Hanson was at 9.8%.
James Robert Guthrie led the race for the District 4 City Council seat with 64.8% of the vote. Ben Franco followed with 35.2%.
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 Wednesday, 52.6% of voters opposed the measure, while 47.4% supported it. The measure needs a simple majority to pass.
Karen Bright on track to win Grover Beach mayor
On Wednesday, Karen Bright held a 256-vote advantage in the race for Grover Beach mayor with 54.2% of the vote to 45.8% for Stacy Korsgaden.
For the District 2 City Council seat, Daniel Rushing led with 58.3% of the vote to Ron Arnoldsen’s 41.7%.
Reiss and Inman leading Pismo Beach City Council
Two seats are open on the Pismo Beach City Council.
As of Wednesday 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 18.7% and Debora Ann Lossing brought up the rear with 8.2%.
Updates for key Cambria races
Debra Scott led the Cambria Community Services District director race with 40.1% of the vote, and Michael Thomas followed with 37.2%. Jim Bahringer trailed in third place with 22.7%.
As of Wednesday at 4 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 61.6% in favor and 38.4% opposed it.
District 30 and 27 State Assembly results
As of Wednesday, Democrat Dawn Addis is breezing to vicorty in the District 30 State Assembly race with 62.9% of the vote. Republican Vicki Norhden followed with 37.1%.
Addis also led in SLO County, where she picked up 54.5% to Norhden’s 45.5% of the vote.
Democrat Gregg Hart will win the District 37 race with 58.7% of the vote. Republican Mike Stoker garnered 41.3% of the vote.
Hart actually trailed in SLO County, however, with 48.1% of the vote to Stoker’s 51.9%.
Distirct 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, Democratic Congressman Jimmy Panetta led in District 19 seat with 70.2% of the votes, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office.
Republican Jeff Gorman followed with 29.8%.
In District 24, Democratic Congressman Salud Carbajal has 61.3% of the vote, while Republican Brad Allen trailed with 38.7%.
School Board Results
In San Luis Obispo County, 47 candidates are running for 19 seats across eight districts.
For updates on those races, check out our story here.
