Popular Categories

No categories found.

A new balance of power for city council seats


Tuesday’s election seems to have shifted the balance of power in the Escondido city council, although given how the earth can shift as the later arriving votes are counted, it’s probably too early to jump to conclusions as to where the power will lie.

Two years ago many races that seemed to have been settled went into overtime due to the mail-in ballots that remained to be counted and the fact that ballots could continue to trickle in, even after the election. So we won’t call the close ones just yet.

One thing is for sure, the new council will be selecting the new city manager, sometime after the first of the year. Who takes what seat will definitely play an important part in that process.

City Council District No. 2

In this seat, vacated by the untimely death of John Masson, Tina Inscoe appears to be leading with 36.88%, with Vanessa Valenzuela not far behind with 34.26% and Rick Paul bringing up the rear with 28.86. The lead is narrow enough that things could change.

City Council District No. 3

Joe Garcia appears to have a commanding lead for first place to succeed Olga Diaz. He has 37.66%. Donald “Don” Greene, Diaz’s anointed successor, is way back in pack with 27.23%, with Dara Czerwonka, the choice of Mayor Paul McNamara, nipping at his heels with 26.41% with Susan Reveles trailing with 8.70%.

If these percentages hold, this, combined with Inscoe’s apparent win, will shift the power to the right, and toward a more police-friendly direction. 

City Council District No. 4

The only incumbent in the city council election, Mike Morasco, has a commanding lead of 48.19%, with Andres Yanez, who had stopped active campaigning at 28.60% and April Austin Pugh at 23.21%. 

San Diego Board of Supervisors

In District 3 of the Board of Supervisors, incumbent Kristin Diane Gaspar is trailing her challenger Terra Lawson-Remer, who currently has 59.51% of the vote, compared to 40.49% for Gaspar. 

Palomar Community College Board

In the college district’s Area No. 2, which includes Escondido, Challenger Christian Garcia was leading by 51.15% over incumbent Nina Deerfield, who had 48.85%.

Escondido Union School District board

In Trustee Area No. 3, Mark D. Olson is leading with 53.02%, with incumbent Joe Muga at 46.98%.

Escondido Union High School District board

In Trustee Area No. 3,  incumbent Christi Knight is leading 62.63% to 37.37% for Michelle Golding.

In Trustee Area No. 4, incumbent Dane M. White is leading with 71.85%, with Eric Rodarte trailing with 18.67% and Ogechi S. Okereke bringing up the rear with 9.47%.

50th Congressional District

This has remained a closely run thing between Republican Darrell Issa and Democrat Ammar Campa-Najjar, who was actually leading for a while in the ballot counting Tuesday night. But it appears that Issa will be returned to the House of Representatives.  The most recent percentages are 52.14% for Issa, 47.86% for Campa-Najjar.

75th Assembly District

Marie Waldron was leading her challenger Karen “Kate” Schwartz, who made a strong showing against the longtime Republican, who is the leader of the Minority Party in the Assembly.  Most recent percentages were 52% for Waldron and 48% for Schwartz.  The showing by the relatively unknown Schwartz was startling given that Waldron has comfortably carried her district every time in the past.

Judge of the Superior Court

Tim Nader was leading Paul Starita by 54.13% to 45.87%.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *