This is a bit lengthy, but worth it…
Let’s start with the biggest, and perhaps least exciting, races for the county (state races to follow tomorrow). In the 50th Dem Primary Francine Busby was selected as the Democrat nominee to lose to Brian Bilbray once more. I don’t think Busby was celebrating her victory, I searched for police reports and couldn’t find any so I guess she called it an early night.
In the 53rd GOP Primary Michael Crimmins will be — sigh — our nominee again. I will be very interested to see the precinct breakdown of this and where Crimmins’ support comes from. Is it really just that people vote for the name they know over and over again? Is there a giant mental hospital filled with racists somewhere in the district that keeps putting him over the top? Friedman was on the ground hard, spending little money; Fink, with her terrible ballot title, was in the mail and on the phone (with Robo-calls) a lot; and Weaver was on the radio and reflecting large beams of sunlight with his giant name badge. If one of the last two had dropped out perhaps Friedman could have overtaken Crimmins. On a side note, somewhat related, I heard that Crimmins’ campaign manager Kevin Davis was caught assaulting some volunteers last night and had to be removed from the hotel by security, any more info on that?
Moving down the list, Joel Anderson delivered a crushing defeat to Jeff Stone. Anderson deserves the credit for the win, but the ineptitude of the Stone campaign was probably the biggest factor in the size of this defeat. For the Democrats, Salas is some 800 votes ahead of Vargas and unless an overwhelming amount of the remaining absentee/provisional ballots are in their district, and for Vargas, this one goes to Salas. Exactly nobody cares.
Brian Jones proved it’s good to be from Santee if you’re running as a Rep in the 77th, and Ben Hueso proved it’s good to be a scumbag if you’re running as a Dem in the 79th. Ralph Denny will face Tony Atkins in the 76th. I wonder if Kim Tran can control her serial need to run for office, this time as a write-in, and be embarrassed with yet another loss. Rick Powell will take on Marty Block, and I guess I wouldn’t put that one outside the realm of possibility, sort of, maybe, perhaps, we’ll see.
Countywide we only saw 1 of 3 major contested incumbents win outright, Sheriff Bill Gore. Supervisor Bill Horn and [future former] Supervisor Roberts will face runoffs in November. It will be interesting to see how the money for and against these races breaks down; will they drain union money, will they drain business money, or will they drain both? I also can’t wait to start getting the anti-Bill Horn autodials, they are always the best! The other contested race, assessor/recorder/clerk, will be an exciting runoff with appointed incumbent David Butler taking on Ernest Dronenburg. Most are calling this the race of the century, despite the fact the people’s champion Jeff Olson didn’t make the runoff.
In what might be the only sort of victory for the unions Prop B (term limits for county supervisors) passed. This really was less of an ideological fight and more of a personal fight between the GOP and the unions, most of the time we’re on the other side as are they. I’ll be a good overall winner and say congratulations…(we’ve had an all GOP county sup board for almost 20 years and now just as you have the chance to pick up seats you put term limits on. good job.)
For the countywide school board races we will see Kevin Beiser faceoff against (most likely) Steve Rosen. As of now incumbent Katherine Nakamura is trailing Rosen for the runoff. For the sake of full disclosure I am a big Steve Rosen fan, and you should be too! John DeBeck will be facing Scott Barnett in their runoff, between Barnett and Rosen we have a good chance at solid pickups on the School Board.
On to the cities! I really hope Lorena Gonzalez keeps some of the “Yes on G” signs she stole as a memento for her crushing defeat in Chula Vista. Starting with the smallest surprise, Cheryl Cox is the outright mayor. Cox might be a liberal, but she is OUR liberal, dammit! Glen Googins beat Robert Faigin, although Faigin was leading early on. Googins is new to Chula Vista, so here is a tip, keep your hands out of your pants during work and keep your computer PG-13 and you’ll do just fine. Larry Breitfelder was the top vote getter (who saw that coming?!) and will most likely face Jill Galvez is the runoff. Russ Hall really, really hopes that Galvez wins the minimize the egg on his face, and in an ironic twist of fate Jill is making the runoff by approximately the same number of votes Hall lost by. Last, but not least, Proposition G. It passed. Big. Unions cried. Taxpayers rejoiced. The End. Thank God.
The results in Oceanside were split. While the charter (Prop K) passed, Lloyd Prosser came up about 135 votes short of Chuck “The Muffin Man” Lowery. The only reason I sort of like this is it means Lowery has a future in Oceanside and we can continue to see poorly photoshopped pictures of him hilariously grinding on a giant picture of his sign (made by his campaign).
Betty Rexford is done, finished, gone. 125 votes is all that separates Steve Vaus from John Mullin, the current leader, and it will probably stay that way. Either one works in my book, better than Rexford.
For the small city local props the taxpayers won. Pretty simple.
On to the main attraction, the City of San Diego. Prop C passed, but what is funny is that 25% of people don’t think that recent veterans should get the civil service credit. I chalk that one up to the “I always vote No on Props” mentality. I mean, really, who in their right mind would read Prop C and say “Nope, F*%k veterans”. Prop D passed, the era of Donna Frye being relevant officially came to an end, and San Diego is set up for what will be the most important battle that no one of really thinking about now, the creation of the 9th seat and the redistricting of all 9. I’ll let that be for now, but over the coming months and past November that will be the biggest issue in the city, mark my words.
In Districts 2 and 4 Kevin Faulconer and Tony Young won with just over 60% of the vote each. This is an especially large victory for Faulconer who faced two opponents in a district where he is at a decent registration disadvantage. Granted Faulconer raised (a whole lot) more, but didn’t really have to spend very much. I think it says a lot about his authentic popularity in the district.
In District 6 Lorie Zapf made the runoff! Also, she came in first! Also, by almost 12 points! Also winning in both the mail and on Election Day! Lorie “Herb Brooks” Zapf still has an uphill battle for November, but as long as she can do it while putting her signs in Howard Wayne’s face (…literally) she should pull through. I vaguely remember a highly criticized poll that came out a few weeks ago predicting almost exactly the numbers of last night, with the exception of Hadley grabbing a last minute chunk from Howard Wayne, probably due to the Donna Frye endorsement. Ironically with all the “hype” (see: 3 family members posting) about Kim Tran she struggled to even finish 4th and struggled to finish 6th for Central Committee. Fail.
In District 8 David Alvarez and Felipe Hueso will face off in what is sure to be a clean race by good men about the future and financial stability of the City of San Diego.
For the Central Committee races we saw some interesting stuff. In the 66th there was 84% turnover with Keith Simpson being the only incumbent to win. The 73rd remains exactly the same, which is a good thing. The 74th saw only 6 applicants so it wasn’t even featured. The 75th looks like a bit of a battle ground this time around. Chairman Tony Krvaric, TJ Zane, and Julio DeGuzman all made it back on. Michael Rosen and Anthony Porrello placed 10th and 11th, respectively, with Andrew Skale in a close 8th. If Skale picks up 67 votes in the remaining provisional ballots he could squeak in, if not Skale and Rosen should really be appointed on somehow, in my opinion they are both crucial to the continued success of the county party. Like the 66th, the 76th saw an almost complete turnover. Incumbents Matthew Donnellan and Kim Tran placed 1st and 6th, respectively, joined by newcomers Sandy Arellano and Harrison Bartlett . Ralph Denny placed 5th but will leave a vacancy as the Assembly ex-officio. Michael Crimmins placed 3rd and will vacate as the Congressional ex-officio; whether Crimmins can hold the ex-officio seat after being removed remains to be seen, and should results in tons of fun! What is most interesting about the 76th is that Mason Weaver placed last not only for Central Committee, but also for the 53rd nomination. Did is run for Congress actually cost him Central Committee votes? The 77th is much like the 75th, half incumbents winning (Baber, Nehring, Kelly) and half new comers. In the 79th incumbent Richard Preuss placed 7th to newcomer Tiffany Leal and current alternate Brian Pepin (who placed first), with Michael German not on the ballot. The 79th saw losses by Doug Metz, Sheryl Rosander, and Misty Tienke; with wins by Bilbray (1st), Hall, and Roesch. This is a caucus that will play some musical chairs as Roach moves to the ex-officio and more unfolds about Russ Hall and his Dem endorsement. That’s it folks. Look for some movement in the 75th and 79th, and some drama (surprise) out of the 76th and Crimmins.