Final vote results are in as SLO County certifies primary election
San Luis Obispo County certified the June 2 Primary Election on Thursday, locking in final vote results days ahead of the July 2 deadline.
Candidates officially clinched contests for SLO County supervisor in Districts 2 and 4, and a tax to buy an old Los Osos elementary school was approved.
Other races like the clerk-recorder’s contest and who will appear on the General Election ballot in November for Congress and state Assembly seats remained largely unchanged from Election Night, with winners previously decided.
The San Luis Obispo County elections office processed a total of 100,751 ballots.
Approximately 55.3% of registered voters in SLO County voted in the June 2 election, an uptick from 48.6% in the last gubernatorial primary in 2022, according to the elections office.
“SLO County continues to rank among the highest in overall turnout, which I think speaks to the engagement of our voters as well as the faith they have in our local elections processes,” SLO County clerk-recorder Elaina Cano said in a Thursday news release. “I’m proud of our voters, our staff, and all of the community members who stepped up and came together to ensure a successful election.”
Here’s a roundup of the final vote totals for local races.
Jim Dantona wins SLO County District 2 supervisor race
Dantona officially won the seat for District 2 San Luis Obispo County supervisor on Thursday.
With 17,546 votes cast in the race and all ballots counted as of 8:50 a.m., Dantona won the race with 53.4% of the vote over Michael Erin Woody, who trailed behind with 46.6% of the vote.
Woody had first surged ahead on Election Night, taking a 240-vote lead, but the ensuing releases turned the tide in Dantona’s favor, who ended up winning by 1,204 votes.
“I’m very thankful and honored by the voters of the Second Sistrict to be their representative,” Dantona told The Tribune on Friday. “I’m getting ready to roll my sleeves and start the work for all the people of the Second District. There’s a lot of infrastructure services and budget challenges coming up that going to take a lot of work.”
“I do want to give credit and thanks to Michael Woody, for running a very strong campaign and putting himself out there,” Dantona added. “This is a really hard task and takes courage, and he did that, and I’m thankful for him, because it led to a great conversation for the voters.”
Dantona will replace Supervisor Bruce Gibson, who announced last May that he would not seek reelection in 2026.
Jimmy Paulding reelected to District 4 supervisor seat
Paulding was officially elected to a second term on the SLO County Board of Supervisors.
The incumbent Democrat beat Republican challenger Adam Verdin for the District 4 seat, winning reelection by a margin of nearly 1,500 votes in the race for District 4 SLO County supervisor.
As of 8:50 a.m. Thursday, with all 21,309 votes counted in the race, Paulding won with 53.5% of the vote over Verdin, who captured 46.5%.
Paulding initially jumped ahead with 505 more votes than Verdin after the first report on Election Night. Thursday’s final vote total showed him with a winning margin of 1,487 votes.
“I am deeply grateful to everyone who supported this campaign and to the voters who entrusted me with the opportunity to continue serving District 4,” Paulding previously told The Tribune in a statement. “It is a responsibility I do not take lightly.”
“With the campaign behind us, my focus is on the work ahead — working alongside residents, businesses, community organizations, and local leaders to build a stronger future for South County and all of San Luis Obispo County,” he said.
Clerk-recorder Elaina Cano reelected county’s top elections official
Elaina Cano kept her substantial lead in the race for San Luis Obispo County clerk-recorder to officially win the seat outright Thursday.
Cano received 63.5% of the vote, followed by Vanessa Rozo with 26.7% and finally Gaea Powell with 9.8%.
Cano needed to top 50% of the vote to prevent a runoff in November.
The clerk-recorder is the top elections official in SLO County, in charge of voter registration, coordinating poll workers, overseeing ballot tabulation and reporting race results.
The nonpartisan office is also in charge of county records and documents, including marriage licenses, birth and death certificates and property recordings.
Cano, the incumbent, has held the seat since 2021. She was opposed by Rozo, a local business owner and paralegal from Grover Beach, and Powell, a former Arroyo Grande mayoral candidate who currently faces a trial for eight felony charges of election and voter fraud.
Los Osos ballot measure to purchase elementary school passes
A Los Osos ballot measure to create a tax to buy an old elementary school and transform it into a public park passed by over 500 votes after the final release of vote totals Thursday.
As of 8:50 a.m., “yes” votes for Measure B-26 officially won with 54% of the vote, while “no” votes secured 46% of the total 6,408 votes that were counted.
The measure had trailed at first, before the “yes” votes moved ahead in the count update released on June 8.
After the final Thursday release, the measure passed by 522 votes.
The initiative will create a $15-per-month parcel tax to fund the purchase of the property of the former Sunnyside Elementary School site and turn it into a community park.
Salud Carbajal, Jimmy Panetta advance in races for SLO County Congress seats
Two incumbent members of Congress representing San Luis Obispo County advanced as the frontrunners in the November General Election.
As of Thursday, the latest round of results from the Secretary of State’s Office continued to show Democrat Rep. Jimmy Panetta with an extensive lead in the race for the 19th Congressional District seat with 58.4% of the vote overall and 42.9% of the vote in SLO County.
He was trailed by Republican Peter Coe Verbica with 20.5% of the overall vote and 32.5% in SLO County.
The two will face off in November to represent the L-shaped district that runs from southern San Jose to northern SLO County.
Democrat Sean Dougherty placed third with 11.5% (5% in SLO County), followed by Republican Tuka Gafari at 6.3% (16% of the vote in SLO County), Ana Luz Acevedo-Cabrera (no party preference) at 1.6% (1.3% in SLO County), Libertarian Lars Mapstead at 1.2% (1.2% in SLO County) and Thomas Coxe (no party preference) with 0.5% (1% in SLO County).
In the race for the 24th Congressional District, incumbent Democrat Salud Carbajal remained the top vote-getter with 54.4% of the vote (53.6% in SLO County), trailed by Republican Bob Smith with 35.9 (38.2% in SLO County), Democrat Sarah Bacon at 7.5% (6.1% in SLO County) and Peace and Freedom candidate Helena Pasquarella at 2.3% (2.1% in SLO County).
Smith will face Carbajal in the General Election, attempting to beat an incumbent who’s held his seat for the past decade in a House district that spans from Cayucos south through Santa Barbara County and part of Ventura County.
Official election results for congressional races will be certified by July 10.
Dawn Addis, Shannon Kessler advance in race for SLO County’s main Assembly District
Dawn Addis was the top vote-getter in the race for San Luis Obispo County’s main State Assembly District. Addis had 54.8% of the vote in District 30 and 49.1% in SLO County, according to the California Secretary of State’s office.
She will compete against second-place candidate Republican Shannon Kessler, who had 35.9% of the overall vote and 43.3% in SLO County.
Trailing in third was Democrat Susannah Brown at 9.3% and 7.6% in SLO County.
Kessler is the founder of the local Save Girls Sports campaign, and Brown is the former chair of the South County Chambers of Commerce.
The eventual winner in November will represent portions of San Luis Obispo, Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.
In California’s 37th Assembly District, which includes a small piece of southern SLO County along with Santa Barbara County, Gregg Hart maintained his large lead with 62.5% to challenger Sari Domingues’ 37.5%, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
Domingues was outperforming Hart in SLO County, 53% to 47%.
Because there are only two candidates, both will advance to the General Election in November.
Domingues, a Republican and retired business analyst, is attempting to unseat Hart, a Democrat, who’s held the seat since he was first elected in 2022. The duo previously faced off in the 2024 General Election when Hart won with just over 60% of the vote.
Official election results will be certified by July 10, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
How SLO County voted for CA governor in primary
Democrat Xavier Becerra was leading California’s governor race with 28.1 of the vote as of 9 a.m. Thursday, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
Steve Hilton, a conservative former Fox News host, was 4 points behind with 24.7% of the vote, while Democrat billionaire Tom Steyer was sitting in third with 22.9% of the vote.
Becerra and Hilton will both advance to the General Election in November.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, nabbed 10.2% of votes across the state as of Thursday, while Democrats Katie Porter and Matt Mahan were sitting in distant fifth and sixth slots with 4.4% and 3.5% of votes, respectively.
In San Luis Obispo County, Hilton was the top vote-getter with 28.7% of the vote, with all ballots counted as of 8:50 a.m. Thursday.
Locally, Becerra earned 24% of the vote, while Steyer and Bianco collected 21.6% and 13.7% of the vote, respectively. Porter was in fifth with 4%, and Mahan was close behind with 3% of the vote among SLO County voters.
