SANTA CRUZ COUNTY—As votes continue to be added to the county’s election results, the outcomes of local races and measures has remained unchanged: four Supervisor candidates are headed to a November runoff, three measures passed with a wide margin while Measure F—a half-cent sales tax in the City of Santa Cruz—appears to be failing with just over 50% voting no.
The chasm between yes and no votes for Measure D has grown, with 34,756 voting no, and 13,087 voting in favor, according to the latest results released by the Santa Cruz County Clerk.
The measure would have rewritten the county’s general plan with language of developing a trail-only model along the county’s existing rail corridor, a plan that could have included removing the tracks in a process called “rail banking.”
But opponents—who hope someday to see a passenger rail system alongside a trail—garnered more votes. This is despite the fact that Measure D supporters raised nearly $500,000, nearly twice their opposition.
Jimmy Dutra and Felipe Hernandez will battle in November for the Fourth District Supervisor seat, and Justin Cummings and Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson will do the same for the Third District.
A total of 34,440 people—72.36% of Santa Cruz voters—voted for Gov. Gavin Newsom, compared to 4,093 for Republican Brian Dahle. Statewide, Newsom garnered just 56% of the vote from a pool of 27 candidates, while Dahle garnered 17.7%.
In the 30th Assembly race, Democrat Dawn Addis, who garnered 42.7% of the statewide votes, will face Republican Vicki Nohrden, who got 33.7%.
Just 29.2% of the county’s 167,659 registered voters have so far been counted, a far cry from the 35% average that normally turns out for a primary election.
