SLO County voters have spoken. Here’s our recap of the good, the bad and the weird

While the final election results are still days — or maybe even weeks — away from being released, we can say this much: There’s the potential for sweeping change in San Luis Obispo County.

With the caveat that nothing is certain yet, here’s our recap of highlights and lowlights of the 2022 mid-term election.

Biggest winner: Students

With the passage of Proposition 28, California students are guaranteed funding for arts and music education courses that have often been the first items cut when budgets are tight.

Locally, students and teachers at San Luis Coastal Unified School District campuses can look forward to updated classrooms and other facilities in elementary and middle schools, thanks to generous voters who appear to be on their way to passing the Measure C-22 bond.

Those upgrades include safety measures, such as fencing and secure doors at every campus, and air conditioning in every classroom. Note to district administrators: Please put those at the top of the priority list.

Ultra-right candidates running for the Paso Robles Unified School District board — including one who wants to ban LGBTQ+ books from the Paso Robles High School library and another who says being transgender is an imaginary condition — were behind in their races.

Instead, three reasonable, kind and tolerant candidates appeared poised to fill seats. It could be a new day for Paso Robles schools.

Biggest losers: GOP candidates

Nationally, it’s a different story, but here in California it’s trending blue-as-usual, including here in SLO County. Democratic congressional candidates Salud Carbajal and Jimmy Panetta have been declared winners, and state Assembly candidates Dawn Addis and Gregg Hart have comfortable leads.

In Grover Beach, it looks like GOP candidate Stacy Korsgaden, who lost a bid for the District 3 supervisor seat in the June primary, will finish behind Karen Bright in the race for mayor.

With the exception of Carla Wixom in Morro Bay, other mayoral candidates endorsed by the GOP also are trailing by considerable margins: Michael Rivera in Paso Robles, Gaea Powell in Arroyo Grande and Jeffrey Specht in San Luis Obispo. Mayoral candidates in Pismo Beach and Atascadero ran unchallenged.

Biggest nail-biter: District 2

So far, incumbent Supervisor Bruce Gibson is ahead in his reelection bid, though he notes that there is “a very, very long way to go.”

In spite of a smear campaign and a gerrymandered map that radically shifted the boundaries of District 2 to give Republicans an edge, he’s outperforming challenger Bruce Jones.

If Gibson’s lead holds up, the far right will lose its majority on the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors and its tight grip on the county.

But that is a big “if.” Thousands of votes remain to be counted, and in the primary, Gibson’s lead narrowed as more came in.

Biggest upset: Morro Bay mayor

As of Wednesday, former Morro Bay City Council member Carla Wixom was comfortably ahead of two-term incumbent John Headding in the race for Morro Bay mayor.

There are some significant differences between the two candidates.

Headding is a huge proponent of offshore wind energy, but Wixom is not. Headding supported a bond measure for harbor improvements while Wixom did not.

Also, Headding favored raising height restrictions to allow for more housing. Wixom was skeptical.

Biggest disappointment: Pete Sysak reelected

Despite being censured by his colleagues and urged to resign for racist, homophobic and misogynistic Facebook posts, Pete Sysak is likely to retain his seat on the Cuesta College board of trustees. What were you thinking, South County voters?

Best campaigner: Bruce Gibson

Sure, Gibson took some potshots at his opponent’s lack of political experience and his rookie mistakes. Remember the debate over paper ballots we supposedly don’t have?

Gibson also pushed back at a last-minute attack funded by San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Dan Dow.

For the most part, however, Gibson kept the snark to a minimum, despite facing an onslaught of misleading ads from two dark money political action committees.

Runner-up: Yes on Measure-C committee

The committee was upbeat and well-organized and did a good job of highlighting the needs of San Luis Coastal schools.

Most congenial: League of Women Voters

As always, the San Luis Obispo County chapter of the League of Women Voters did a stellar job of moderating forums in a professional, unbiased manner. What would we do without them?

Least congenial: Bruce Jones

The man from Missouri ran a down-and-dirty campaign that included disparaging a fellow Republican in the primary.

Plus, he refused to answer even the most innocuous questions from certain members of the media — going so far as to hang up twice on a Tribune reporter.

Runners-up: Any candidate who refused to participate in a forum moderated by the League.

How are voters supposed to know who you are if you refuse to speak off-the-cuff?

Worst endorsement: GOP opposed ban on flavored tobacco

Nearly every health organization in the world — or at least in California — supported banning flavored tobacco products to keep them out of the hands of kids.

For reasons we were never really able to figure out, the contrarian Republican Party, including the SLO County branch, went the other way. What do they have against keeping kids healthy, anyway?

Biggest faux pas: Mistakes in the voter information guide

We won’t get into pointing fingers, but it was extremely embarrassing to have major errors in the official voter guide, including leaving out one candidate’s statement and printing a different candidate’s statement twice.

Runners-up: Republican Party leadership gaffes

Erik Gorham went on talk radio and acknowledged that mudslinging was the only way to beat Gibson in District 2. He later tried to walk it back, but it was too late — the Gibson camp took the quote and ran with it.

Not to be outdone, local Republican Party Chair Randall Jordan went on the same radio show and described Bruce Jones as “Debbie Arnold without the skirt.” Again, there was an attempt to explain that away by claiming that Jordan was “referring to Dr. Jones’ integrity, intelligence, consideration for the needs of the public and congeniality.”

That was before the congenial moment when Jones hung up on a reporter.

Weirdest campaign moment: Candidate shows off a plastic gun

Morro Bay City Council candidate David Duringer, an avid gun rights advocate, put a new spin on show-and-tell when he pulled a plastic replica gun from his waistband during his closing statement at an in-person candidates forum. He proceeded to offer safety training to anyone who needs it.

In fact, Duringer made such training a requirement for voters who wanted a yard sign.

He is headed for a loss.

Best quote of the campaign: SLO City Council candidate James Papp

“In my opinion, the only person who would enjoy running for office is a psychopath.”

He, too, is behind in his race.

This story was originally published November 9, 2022 at 10:38 AM.