Jimmy Paulding extends his lead in District 4 SLO County supervisor race
Jimmy Paulding widened his lead in the race for District 4 San Luis Obispo County supervisor after the latest release of primary election vote totals Monday evening, nearly tripling his advantage from Election Night.
As of 4:30 p.m., with 13,192 ballots counted, Paulding led the race with 54.4% of the vote over Adam Verdin, who trailed by more than 8 points with 45.6%.
Paulding initially surged ahead with 505 more votes than Verdin after the first report at 8:30 p.m. Tuesday. After all poll ballots were counted early Wednesday morning, the race had narrowed slightly, with Paulding leading by 386 votes.
But by Thursday afternoon, Paulding’s lead grew to 818 votes.
Following Monday’s results update, the two candidates were separated by 1,115 votes.
More than 95% of the votes counted so far were mail-in ballots. The candidate who gets more than 50% of the vote wins the seat.
The race is between Democrat Paulding, the one-term incumbent who is trying to keep his spot on the board, and Republican Verdin, a political newcomer and longtime local business owner, who is aiming to replace him as the District 4 supervisor.
The SLO County elections office will continue to report results at least twice a week, Erin Clausen, the public information officer for the county Clerk-Recorder’s office, told The Tribune.
As of Monday, Clausen said there were 48,606 unprocessed ballots still to be counted. The next count is expected Tuesday and will include around 7,500 ballots. Clausen said the bulk of unprocessed ballots will need to be counted by next week, per state law.
According to a new state law, counties are required to have the bulk of all tabulation done by June 15, though provisional ballots and those needing signature cures will continue to be counted past that date, Clausen said.
The deadline for county elections officials to certify election results is July 2.
This story was originally published June 8, 2026 at 4:32 PM.
