Michael Woody widens lead over Jim Dantona in race for District 2 SLO County supervisor
Michael Erin Woody maintained his slim early lead in a tight race for District 2 San Luis Obispo County supervisor after the final release of Eleciton Day vote totals early Wednesday morning.
As of 12:52 a.m., with the initial count of early mail-in ballots and 100% of precincts reporting, Woody led the race with 51.9% of the vote over Jim Dantona, who was trailing with 48.1% of the vote.
The two were separated by 240 votes, with Woody’s lead growing by a few dozen votes in the most recent results, but up from a lead of 102 votes after the initial report at 8:30 p.m.
The candidate who wins more than 50% of the vote captures the seat.
The two-candidate race is between Dantona, a local business leader and Democrat, and Woody, a Morro Bay engineer not affiliated with a political party. The contenders are vying to represent the county’s North Coast, includes communities from Los Osos to the Monterey County line.
At a primary night watch party at Niffy’s Merrimaker in Los Osos, Dantona told The Tribune there were still plenty of ballots to count.
“The first batch basically shows us even, so we’re gonna wait to see,” Dantona said Tuesday night. “Obviously people were holding their ballots for a long time, there’s a lot more to count, so it’ll be a long night.”
He pledged to protect democracy and ensure the county is working for residents if elected the next District 2 supervisor.
“We need to work on our budget here in the county to bring back the services that the community needs,” Dantona said.
Woody, who was hosting a primary night party at The Benedict in Morro Bay, said he was proud to run a clean, competitive campaign without resorting to any negativity or mudslinging.
“If we did nothing else tonight, even if this race doesn’t win, when it’s all said and done, we proved that point first and foremost,” he said Tuesday evening. “Now, if we can win the whole thing, then politics has changed for more than a generation here in San Luis Obispo County.”
If elected to the board, Woody said he would stand up against proposed offshore wind and battery plant projects and work to solve development issues on the North Coast.
“The long-term growth of this entire region is at stake here tonight,” he added.
The winning candidate will replace Supervisor Bruce Gibson, who announced last May that he would not seek reelection in 2026.
The deadline for county elections officials to certify election results is July 2.
This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 8:43 PM.
