Election results: Here’s who leads in Sacramento region’s local races in latest ballot update
On Friday afternoon, election officials in the capital region — including Sacramento, El Dorado and Yolo counties — released update vote totals for Tuesday’s primary. Placer County election officials expected to release updated numbers this afternoon.
Here’s what we know at 5 p.m. Friday:
Sacramento 4th District Board of Supervisors
Folsom City Councilwoman Rosario Rodriguez increased her lead to 50.5% of the vote in the three-way race for the 4th District seat on the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors, the updated returns show, but that’s within the margins to still be a race that winds up on the November ballot.
The outgoing supervisor, Sue Frost, said in July that she would not run for re-election for the district, which includes Citrus Heights, Folsom, Orangevale, Antelope, Rio Linda, Elverta, Gold River, Rancho Murieta, North Highlands, Carmichael, Foothill Farms and Fair Oaks.
Rodriguez, a conservative, was endorsed by Frost. Rodriguez ran against political newcomer and registered Democrat Braden Murphy and the conservative Citrus Heights Mayor Bret Daniels. Daniels had 27.8% of the vote in Friday’s updated results; Murphy had 21.6%.
The Board of Supervisors controls a nearly $9 billion budget and oversees the agencies that provide health and human services for all county residents. The supervisors also preside over the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office and the two county jails. If Rodriguez is elected, it would maintain the conservative trend in the northeast corner of the county.
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Other Sacramento County races
School board races
Vanessa Caigoy maintained a solid lead for the Sacramento County Office of Education seat that covers the northeast part of the county. She had 35% of the vote as of Friday’s updated results, down 1 percentage point from Tuesday night.
Caigoy remains ahead of candidates Linda Christopher-Dewilde (22%), Moe Sarama (18%), Jay Martinez (18%) and Usman Haider (6%).A 4th District winner in November’s election would represent residents within San Juan Unified School District and small portions of the Twin Rivers and Folsom Cordova Unified school districts. The SCOE district spans communities of Orangevale, Citrus Heights, Fair Oaks, Gold River and portions of Carmichael, Folsom and Foothill Farms.
Caigoy works as a managing director at the California Charter Schools Association, leading the development and execution of communications and marketing initiatives. The area is currently represented by Joanne Ahola, whose term expires in June.
The incumbent of a SCOE seat spanning parts of Sacramento, Yolo and Solano counties — making it the largest SCOE district — remains well ahead of her opponent.
Heather Davis, the wife of former Elk Grove mayor Gary Davis, had 80% of the vote in Friday’s ballot updates from Sacramento and Yolo counties, leading opponent Shazleen Khan, who had about 20%. The percentage remained essentially unchanged in Sacramento County; Davis’ lead grew in Yolo County, where she had secured 77% of ballots counted by Tuesday. Davis had 74% of the vote in Solano County as of Friday, down from 77%.
Davis is seeking her third four-year term after she was elected in 2016 to the 6th District seat, which covers major portions of the Elk Grove Unified School District and all of Archoe Union, Galt Joint Union Elementary, Galt Joint Union High and the River Delta Unified school districts.
The two candidates for a Twin Rivers Unified School District seat remain in a close contest.
Former Twin Rivers Unified educator Sascha Vogt as of Friday held about 53% of the vote over Linda Fowler, a former board trustee. That’s up by 1 percentage point from Tuesday.
Sacramento Superior Court
In the race to become a judge for Office 21, Deputy District Attorney Amy Holliday retains a safe cushion in a three-way race with Noel Calvillo, an administrative law judge with the state’s social services department, and Bobby Luna, who runs a family law practice and teaches at McGeorge School of Law.
Holliday as of Friday had 61% of the vote, up by 1 percentage point from Tuesday. Calvillo trailed with 22%, followed by Luna at 17%.
Prop. 1 in Sacramento County
For the statewide ballot measure Prop. 1, $6.4 billion in bonds for mental health services, Sacramento County voters leaned slightly more in favor than California as a whole at 51.5%. Statewide, Prop. 1 had an extremely narrow edge as of Friday’s update: 50.1% in favor to 49.9% opposed.
What’s left to count?
Sacramento County elections officials said more than 182,000 ballots have been counted and that a little more than 142,000 have yet to be processed. There are close to 870,000 registered voters, putting county turnout at about 37%. That’s down from about 43% in the 2020 primary election.
Placer County
Board of Supervisors seats
In Placer County, three county supervisor positions were up for grabs, including an seat opened up by the latest redistricting map.
In the 3rd District, Mike Murray led Friday’s results with 40%, down by a percentage point from Tuesday’s update but well ahead of opponents county planning commissioner Anthony Demattei and former Rocklin City Councilman Dave Butler, each at 30%. The latter had a sizable warchest compared to Murray, according to campaign finance reports.
Murray, a Placer County Republican Party vice chair, also works as political and outreach director at the American Council, a Placer County-based Christian advocacy group.
In the 4th and 5th Districts, incumbents easily sailed into the lead. As of Friday’s update, all candidates in those two races changed by less than a percentage point.
Supervisor Suzanne Jones — who represents Granite Bay, Loomis and Penryn — is the likely winner in her first re-election campaign, garnering nearly 63% of the vote in early returns and outpacing her second-place rival, former planning commissioner and firefighter Jeff Moss, 3-1.
Moss had 24% of the early returns and Karen Henson, a Realtor from Granite Bay, had 13% of ballots counted.
Supervisor Cindy Gustafson was leading in her campaign for re-election in the 5th. The 40-year resident of Tahoe’s north shore garnered 49% of the early returns, well ahead of Wayne Nader (25%) and outgoing Supervisor Jim Holmes (19%), who was drawn out of his seat in the latest redistricting update.
The only other local race for Placer County came for voters in Loomis, who were asked in Measure A whether the town clerk should be appointed instead of elected. The move, which city officials say would save about $600 a year and a little more during each election, was ahead by less than half a percentage point (50.2% to 49.8%) in Friday’s update, tightening slightly from Tuesdays results.
Prop. 1 in Placer County
For the sole statewide ballot initiative, Prop. 1, Placer voters were against the state putting up $6.4 billion in bonds for mental health services. The proposition was failing in the county by roughly 3-2, with 40% voting no.
What’s left to count?
Placer County elections officials did not have an estimate available Friday for how many votes remained to be counted, but reported to state election officials it had 60,300 left to process as of Thursday. Just over 130,000 ballots had been cast, Placer told state officials, for a 46% turnout among the more than 280,000 Placer County registered voters.
El Dorado County
Board of Supervisors seats
Figures also firmed up Friday afternoon in El Dorado County for three supervisor races. And results are nearly complete: Election officials say they have a little more than 1,000 ballots left to count, many of which need to be reviewed.
Small business owner Greg Ferrero is likely to win the 1st District contest outright, holding on to 64% of the vote, a percentage unchanged from Tuesday night’s count. Margaret Fortune, an education nonprofit leader, trailed with 29% of the vote. Linda Campbell had 7%. Supervisor John Hidahl termed out of the seat, which covers the western reaches of the county including El Dorado Hills.
In the 2nd District, incumbent George Turnboo remained headed to another term, though his majority inched down to 54% of the vote. Business consultant Kevin W. McCarty had 27% of the vote. Chris Cockrell, formerly on the county’s Veteran Affairs Commission, had 19% as of Tuesday night. The district includes Cameron Park, Somerset and Grizzly Flats.
Brian Veerkamp saw his lead for the 3rd District grow with Friday’s update — he had a 55% majority en route to a likely victory. The incumbent was well ahead of environmentalist and agriculture advocate Lexi Boeger (31%), Gary Martin (9%) and Brian DeBerry 5%. The district is in the central county and includes Placerville as well as the towns of Diamond Springs, Camino and El Dorado.
Prop. 1 in El Dorado County
For the sole statewide ballot initiative, Prop. 1, El Dorado voters were against the state putting up $6.4 billion in bonds for mental health services. The proposition was failing in El Dorado by roughly 3-1.
What’s left to count?
Election officials said more than 66,000 have been processed since Tuesday’s election, making turnout roughly 50% of registered voters.
Yolo County
Board of Supervisors seats
The updated primary election results showed that not much had changed in the three contested races for seats on the Yolo County Board of Supervisors.
Incumbent Mary Sandy continues to lead over challenger Xóchitl Rodriguez Murillo, 57.19% to 42.81%, in the District 3 race. Sandy’s lead, now separated by slightly less than 1,000 votes, dropped less than a percentage point with the updated results. The district represents the northern area of West Sacramento and large portions of Woodland.
Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Sandy to the position last year; she succeeded her husband, Gary Sandy, who died last August from complications from a treatment for liver cancer. Mary Sandy is Yolo County’s first woman supervisor since 2010.
In the race for Yolo County’s District 4, which includes parts of Davis and nearby unincorporated areas, Sheila Allen, deputy to outgoing 4th District Supervisor Jim Provenza, continues to lead with 60.6% of the vote. Provenza is retiring after four terms on the Board of Supervisors.
Antonio De Loera-Brust, a labor organizer, remained in second place with had 35.86% of the vote in District 4; local climate advocate NJ Mvondo had 3.5%.
Incumbent Angel Barajas maintained a wide lead in District 5 with 71% of the vote. Challenger Paul Bridge had 28% for the district that includes north Woodland and the communities of Knights Landing, Yolo, Madison, Esparto and Capay Valley.
Yolo Superior Court
In an election for seat on the bench as Yolo Superior Court judge, Clara Levers, California deputy attorney general, was in first place with 69.7% of the vote. Chris Dietrich, a civil law attorney in Yolo County, had 30.2% of the vote.
Woodland voters appear on track to soundly reject a flood control measure, while the renewal of a parcel tax to generate funding for Davis Joint Unified School District was sitting very close to the supermajority required to pass.
Ballot measures
Measure M, which would support allowing Woodland to accept federal and state contributions of up to $300 million to fund city flood control projects, stayed well on track to fail as of Friday’s returns with 70% voting to reject it and just 30% voting in favor.
Measure N, which would renew an existing tax of $768 per parcel to generate an estimated $11.7 million to the Davis school district, had 67.3% voting yes, up from 66.9% in the prior update. The measure requires a two-thirds vote to pass.
Recall on Woodland school board
Emily MacDonald, a board trustee for the Woodland Joint Unified High School District, is on track to be recalled during her first term. Ballot returns as of Friday showed 62% of voters supporting the recall of MacDonald, with 38% voting to keep her on the school board. The margin tightened only slightly, from 63-37, in the previous update Tuesday.
Woodland parents organized the recall effort after MacDonald, during a June school board meeting discussing an LGBTQ+ Pride Month resolution, referred to “transgenderism” as a “social contagion.” MacDonald was voted into the four-year term in 2022.
Prop. 1 in Yolo County
Prop. 1 was doing better in Yolo County than the rest of the state, with voters approving Newsom’s bond measure by nearly 53%.
What’s left to count?
Yolo County election officials said Friday afternoon that it had counted more than 31,000 ballots since polls closed on Tuesday, though more than 19,000 ballots still need to be processed. Those figures would put registered voter turnout in the county at 44%.
The Bee’s Ariane Lange, Michael McGough and Daniel Hunt contributed to this story.
