In the hotly contested race that could decide which party controls the county Board of Supervisors, Democratic incumbent Terra Lawson-Remer continued leading her challenger, former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer, by double digits Thursday night as more ballots were counted.
In the other supervisor races on the ballot, incumbents Nora Vargas and Joel Anderson were both leading by wide margins.
As of Thursday evening, county election officials had tallied more than 1 million ballots in total — more than 850,000 of them received by mail and 187,000 cast in person.
But many thousands of ballots remained to be counted, and election officials anticipate eventual turnout of between 80% and 84% — in line with past presidential elections.
In 2020, Lawson-Remer defeated Republican incumbent Kristin Gaspar to win her seat — shifting the balance of power on the board, long dominated by Republicans, to the Democrats. Faulconer left city hall that year.
This year, the contentious race in District 3 was one of the highest-profile and most expensive races in San Diego County, as Lawson-Remer fought not only to keep her seat representing the county’s coastline from Carlsbad to Coronado but also to maintain the board’s Democratic majority.
Of the district’s 428,833 ed voters as of the end of last month, Democrats hold a substantial advantage in voter registration with about 41%, while Republicans for nearly 27% of ed voters — slightly more than voters with no party preference, who make up nearly 25%.
Although Lawson-Remer held a double-digit lead, partial results on election night put the Democratic incumbent still locked in a closely watched race with her Republican challenger.
Both candidates have spent a majority of their campaigns attacking one another.
“Right now the race is too close to call,” Lawson-Remer said Tuesday. “Tomorrow we’ll get back to work combating rising housing costs, protecting our beaches and coastlines, and tackling homelessness from Carlsbad to Coronado as we wait for the final results.”
Faulconer did not respond to requests for comment.
In the District 1 race, Democratic incumbent Nora Vargas held a double-digit lead over her Republican challenger Alejandro Galicia and appeared on track to keep her solidly Democratic seat representing South County.
And in District 2, Republican incumbent Joel Anderson also held a double-digit lead over Democrat Gina Jacobs to represent his Republican-leaning East County district.
Vargas, who was at home with her family rather than at a watch party, told The San Diego Union-Tribune Tuesday night that she was excited by the early results.
“I am grateful to the voters of District 1 for having faith in me,” Vargas said. “I’m going to continue to fight for them and make sure that we build stronger and healthier communities together.”
Vargas says she’s looking forward to continuing to work with her colleagues to move the county forward, particularly around economic prosperity for small businesses, environmental and climate justice, especially in the Tijuana River Valley.
“We’re setting the county in the right direction,” she added, noting that the county still has a lot of work to do on homelessness and behavioral health.
At a Republican watch party held at the U.S. Grant hotel Tuesday evening, Anderson attributed his early lead to his efforts to reduce homelessness in his district.
“I think that, ultimately, that’s why people crossed party lines to me — they want solutions,” he said. “I have a track record.”
Anderson said he feels very privileged to represent his district again.
“Everybody that I represent is important to me, whether they voted for me or not,” he added.
Staff writer Caleb Lunetta contributed to this report.
