Democrats take early lead in SLO County’s Congress, state races on election night

Stephanie Zappelli, Kaytlyn Leslie
·3 min read

This is a developing election story. Check back for updates on the latest San Luis Obispo County election results as more local ballots are counted. sanluisobispo.com for updates.
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Democrats led the races to represent San Luis Obispo County in the U.S. House of Representatives, California State Assembly and State Senate, the most recent ballot count in Tuesday’s primary elections showed.

The top two vote-getters for each race will progress to the general election, when voters will select their official representative.

Here are the latest unofficial results so far:

At top, Dawn Addis, left, is challenged by Dalila Epperson in the race for the District 30 state Assembly seat. At bottom, Gregg Hart, right, is challenged by Sari Domingues in the District 37 race.
At top, Dawn Addis, left, is challenged by Dalila Epperson in the race for the District 30 state Assembly seat. At bottom, Gregg Hart, right, is challenged by Sari Domingues in the District 37 race.

Addis, Hart lead California State Assembly races

San Luis Obispo County is split into two California State Assembly Districts.

Nipomo shares District 37 with Santa Barbara County, while the rest of San Luis Obispo County falls into District 30 with parts of Monterey and Santa Cruz counties.

Early returns show incumbent Dawn Addis ahead in her bid to keep the District 30 seat, with 21,796 more votes than Republican challenger Dalila Epperson.

Addis had 64.8% of the vote, while Epperson had 35.2%, as of 12:08 a.m. on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, incumbent Gregg Hart led the District 37 race, according to the first ballot count report.

Hart won 62.3% of the vote, while challenger Sari Domingues had 37.7% as of 12:08 a.m.

John Laird, top left, Tony Virrueta, top right, and Eric Tao, bottom left, are running for State Senate District 17, along with Micheal Oxford, not picured. Monica Limon, bottom right, is running for District 21 state senator against Elijah Mack, not pictured.
John Laird, top left, Tony Virrueta, top right, and Eric Tao, bottom left, are running for State Senate District 17, along with Micheal Oxford, not picured. Monica Limon, bottom right, is running for District 21 state senator against Elijah Mack, not pictured.

State Senate races lead by Limón and Laird

San Luis Obispo County is also divided into two State Senate Districts.

The southern and eastern portion of the county, including the Grover Beach, Oceano, Nipomo, the Carrizo Plain and Cuyama, is now part of District 21 — which extends into Ventura County.

There, incumbent Monique Limón leads the race against college student Elijah Mack.

Limón had garnered 64% of the vote, while Mack had 36%, as of 12:08 a.m.

The rest of the county remains in District 17, which also includes a portion of Monterey County along with San Benito and Santa Cruz counties.

Incumbent State Senator John Laird led the District 17 race with 66.2% of the vote, as of 12:08 a.m.

Tony Virrueta took second place with 20.5%, trailed by Eric Tao with 11.4% and Michael Oxford with 1.8% votes.

Six candidates are running for Congress to represent San Luis Obispo County. At top, competing for the District 19 seat are, from left, Rep. Jimmy Panetta, Santa Cruz software engineer Sean Dougherty and Atascadero business owner Jason Anderson. At bottom, running for the District 24 seat are, from left, Rep. Salud Carbajal, Montecito campaign data analyst Thomas Cole, and Ojai public school teacher Helena Pasquarella.

Incumbents lead races for U.S. House of Representatives

Incumbent Rep. Jimmy Panetta led the race for District 19, which includes the northern portion of San Luis Obispo County along with parts of Santa Cruz, Monterey and Santa Clara counties.

According to early returns, Panetta had 67.2% of the vote, followed by Jason Michael Anderson with 27.9% and Sean Dougherty with 4.9%, as of 12:08 a.m.

Meanwhile, incumbent Rep. Salud Carbajal led the District 24 race. District 24 includes the southern part of San Luis Obispo County with Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

Carbajal had 56.9% of the vote, while Thomas Cole followed in second place with 35.1%, according to the first ballot drop. Helena Pasquarella trailed in third place with 7.9%, as of 12:08 a.m.

How did SLO County vote in Republican, Democrat presidential primaries?

San Luis Obispo County voters also weighed in Tuesday on who they think should be the next president of the United States.

President Joe Biden easily secured the most votes for the Democratic nomination, with 20,126 local votes as of 12:15 a.m. That was 94.1% of the 22,569 ballots counted as of early Wednesday morning, according to the San Luis Obispo County Elections Office.

Trailing far behind were Marianne Williamson and Dean Phillips with 2.4% and 2.1% of the vote, respectively.

Meanwhile on the more competitive Republican ticket, former President Donald Trump had 13,578 votes as of 12:15 a.m. — or roughly 74.5% of the 18,682 ballots counted so far by early Wednesday morning.

Nikki Haley followed behind with 22%, while Ron DeSantis brought in 1.6% and Chris Christie had 1%.