2016 Primary Election Results and Analysis for San Diego

Photo by Barbara Zaragoza

Editor: The following election results and analysis were put together by Doug Porter on Wednesday, June 8th, for his column at San Diego Free Press – and all vote tallies are as of yesterday’s numbers.

By Doug Porter

It ain’t over ‘till it’s over. But it’s mostly over in San Diego. Most of the ballots for the June 2016 primary election have been tallied. The remaining 285,000 ballots uncounted as of Wednesday morning are provisional and late arriving mail-in ballots. A few close races may change, but if history is any guide, what you see in the way of results the day after the election is what you get.

A multi-year campaign for an increase in the local minimum wage came to a close as voters overwhelmingly approved City Proposition I. For me personally, and for tens of thousands of San Diego workers, the last item on the ballot was the most important one.

Kevin Faulconer will be San Diego’s Mayor for the next four years, Barbara Bry did well in City Council District One, Mara Elliot defied conventional wisdom by clinching a runoff spot in the race for City Attorney, and Democrats gave Hillary Clinton a strong show of support, locally and statewide. [Ed.: Our good friend Gregg Robinson lost his seat at the County Board of Education.]

Note: this analysis will be updated as more data becomes available.

National Contests

Donald Trump won statewide in California, with 75.3% of the Republican vote. In San Diego, he won with 78.44%. He handily won primaries in Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. (North Dakota isn’t holding a GOP primary in 2016)

Massive rallies and a social media blitzkrieg didn’t translate into a Golden State victory for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders over former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

With 99.7% of precincts reporting statewide:

Hillary Clinton 55.8%
Bernie Sanders 43.2%

Locally:

Hillary Clinton 55.1%
Bernie Sanders 44.1%

Bernie Sanders won primaries in Montana and North Dakota. Hillary Clinton won in New Jersey, New Mexico, and South Dakota.

In third-party races, Alan Spears won the nod from the American Independent Party, Jill Stein won the Green Party primary, Gary Johnson won with Libertarians, and Gloria Estela La Riva will be the nominee for the Peace and Freedom Party.

California Attorney General

Statewide

Kamala Harris [D] – 40.3%
Loretta Sanchez [D]– 18.5%
Steve Stokes [D]– 2.1% (Bernie supporter)
Total GOP Candidates – 29.3%

San Diego

Kamala Harris [D]- 32.02%
Loretta Sanchez [D]- 21.62%
Steve Stokes [D, Bernie supporter] – 1.97%
Total GOP Candidates – 31.58%

House of Representatives

Democrat Scott Peters (58.6%) will face Republican Denise Gitsham (16.1%) in November in the 52nd congressional district. The only other contest that wasn’t lopsided in favor of the incumbent was District 49, where challenger Doug Applegate (45.4%) came within six points of beating Darrel Issa (51.1%). The San Diego portion of the district gave Issa a one-point victory.

The other winners in lopsided victories:

District 50 – Duncan Hunter [R] 57.2%
District 51 – Juan Vargas [D] 66.6%
District 53 – Susan Davis [D] 64.9%

California Legislature (San Diego seats)

The races were all so lopsided that I’m only listing the winners.

Newly elected State Senator Toni Atkins did a lot of interviews. Photo by Barbara Zaragoza

State Senate, District 39 – Toni Atkins [D] 65.78%
Assembly, District 71 – Randy Voepel [R] 60.94%
Assembly, District 75 – Marie Waldron [R] 60.9%
Assembly, District 76 – Rocky Chavez [R] 100%
Assembly, District 77 – Brian Maienschein [R] 58.44%
Assembly, District 78 – Todd Gloria [D] 71.61%
Assembly, District 79 – Shirley Weber [D] 66.24%
Assembly, District 80 – Lorena Gonzalez [D] 72.63%

Shirley Weber was on fire at the Democratic victory party -photo by Barbara Zaragoza

The quote of the evening, via the Democratic victory gathering at the Westin, goes to Shirley Weber, who referred to Atkins, Gonzalez and herself as the Earth, Wind, and Fire of San Diego politics.

City of San Diego

Mayor
Hey, the challengers did better than the initial polling said they would…

Kevin Faulconer [R] 58.2%
Lori Saldaña [I] 22.46%
Ed Harris [D] 19.34%

City Attorney
The top two candidates will face off in November

Robert Hickey [R] 29.61%
Mara Elliot [D] 24.39%
Rafael Castellanos [D] 18.94%
Gil Cabrera [D] 16.56%
Brian Pease [D, feelin’ the Bern] 10.5%

Termed Out City Attorney Jan Goldsmith at the Golden Hall election returns event. Photo by Barbara Zaragoza

City Council

District 1
Top two will compete in November unless Bry picks up another point in late voting

Barbara Bry [D] 49.05%
Ray Ellis [R] 33.71%
Bruce Lightner [R] 9.49%
Kyle Heiskala [D] 5.85%
Louis Rodolico [I] 1.89%

District 3
Ward wins it outright, despite downtown business interests pouring money into Bernal’s campaign.

Chris Ward [D] 59.23%
Anthony Bernal [D] 27.02%
Scott Sanborn [I] 13.75%

District 5
The incumbent wins handily (no runoff)

Mark Kersey [R] 70.96%
Frank Tsimboukakis [D] 19.76%
Keith Mikas [D] 9.28%

District 7
No runoff in November

Scott Sherman [R] 61.94%
Justin DeCesare [D] 21.94%
Jose Caballero [D, feels the Bern] 16.12%

District 9
The top two will compete in November. Many thought Flores would win outright in the primary.

Ricardo Flores [D] 36.09%
Georgette Gomez [D] 30.23%
Sarah Saez [D] 22.45%
Araceli Martinez [D] 11.23%

Georgette Gomez will take on Ricardo Flores in District 9 in November. Photo by Barbara Zaragoza

San Diego County Board of Supervisors

District 1 – Greg Cox [R] 100%

District 2
No runoff

Dianne Jacob [R] – 74.04%
Rudy Reyes [D] – 25.96%

District 3
The top two will compete in November.

Dave Roberts [D] 39.1%
Kristin Gaspar [R] 33.56%
Sam Abed [R] 27.34%

Incumbent Supe Dave Roberts will face a fall run off. Photo by Barbara Zaragoza

Chula Vista City Council

Seat 4
The top two will compete in November.

Rudy Ramirez [D] 30.27%
Mike Diaz [D] 26.93%
Eduardo Reyes [D] 24.27%
Emmanuel Soto [R] 18.54

Ballot Measures

State Proposition 50: California Suspension of Legislators YES 75.3%

San Diego (Propositions A-H are revisions to the City Charter)

Proposition A: Redistricting Commission Update YES 70.68%
Proposition B: Bond Authorization Process Update YES 78.53%
Proposition C: Property Tax Charter Language Clarification YES 65.86%
A rumor circulated (untrue) that Prop C somehow undid Proposition 13

Proposition D: Amendment on Setting City Titles & Salaries YES 76.03%
Proposition E: Budget Approval Process Update YES 81.95%
Proposition F: Financial Operations Process Update YES 80.11%
Proposition G: City Audit Language Update YES 69.41%
Proposition H: Kersey’s Infrastructure Scheme YES 64.63%

Proposition I: Earned Sick Leave and Minimum Wage YES 63.22%
The Chamber of Commerce and its corporate buddies’ campaign of deception failed, finally

San Diego County Board of Education

A serious amount of cash from Charter School lobbyists* went into this race

District 1
Mark Powell* – 51.92%
Gregg Robinson – 48.08%

District 2
Guadalupe Gonzalez – 55.17%
Jerry Rindone* – 44.83%

District 4
Mark Anderson – 50.30%
Paulette Donnellon*- 49.70%

District 5
Rick Shea – 44.84%
Mark Wyland*- 40.89%
Richard C. Smith – 14.27%

Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College Board

Seat 4
Timothy Caruthers – 59.41%
Elena Adams – 32.85%
Mary Kay Rosinski – 7.73%

San Diego Community College Board

District D
Mary Graham – 70.53%
Alice Pipkin-Allen – 29.47%

San Diego Unified School Board

District A
John Lee Evans – 72.04%
Stephen Groce – 27.96%

District D
Richard Barrera – 100%

District E
Challenger Collins beat out appointed trustee Whitehurst-Payne

LaShea Collins – 58.95%
Sharon Whitehurst-Payne – 41.05%

Judicial Races

The incumbent judges won, facing more than the usual token opposition

Office 25
James Mangione – 62.21%
Paul Ware – 37.97%

Office 38
Keri Katz 64.79%
Carla Keehn 35.21%

Carl DeMaio manning the peanut gallery. Photo by Barbara Zaragoza