.Local Primary Election Night Results

Here are the preliminary results of some the important races in the area. Follow-up stories to come

Santa Cruz City Council District 2

The District 2 Santa Cruz City Council race is being contested between incumbent Sonja Brunner and newcomer Hector Marin. As of Tuesday night, Brunner enjoyed a substantial lead with 60.75% of the vote.

Marin said that despite what he considered a low primary election turnout, he was feeling good about the race and would await the final results.

Santa Cruz City Council District 3

In the District 3 Santa Cruz City Council race, incumbent Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson took an early lead Tuesday night. 

With only the first batch of votes counted, Kalantari-Johnson led 75.12% to Schendledecker’s 23.87%.

Schendledecker was feeling hopeful.

“It will only get better from here,” she said.

Kalantari-Johnson said she was feeling, “Good!”

Santa Cruz City Council District 5

In Santa Cruz’s District 5, which encompasses UCSC and the upper-west side civil-engineer Susie O’Hara took an early lead over UCSC student Joe Thompson.

The all-important student vote could still be outstanding. In recent cycles progressive votes have come in-late. However, as a midterm election, turnout is expected to be low this year.

Thompson came to prominence in 2022 when they led the first unionization of a Starbucks in California. Parlaying this notoriety, Thompson ran for State Assembly, only to lose to Gail Pellegrin. This time around Thompson gained an impressive list of state endorsements, not only progressives, including Rep. Ro Khanna, State Senator Scott Weiner, and former State Senator Bill Monning. Thompson also won the support of local unions and the Santa Cruz Democratic Party.

Susie O’Hara is a civil engineer and former Water Commissioner. Susie O’Hara got the support of Ryan Coonerty and current city council members.

Santa Cruz County Supervisor District 1

Santa Cruz County District 1 Supervisor Manu Koenig led challenger Lani Faulkner as of Tuesday night with 54.61% of the votes counted. Faulkner trailed behind with 44.95%.

The incumbent felt confident about the lead.

“I’m feeling very encouraged by the results so far. Democracy is a team sport and I’m really proud of my team. It’s looking like our hard work paid off,” Koenig said.

Santa Cruz City: Measure M

In the City of Santa Cruz, Measure M, also known as the Housing For People Initiative, will not pass, according to Tuesday night’s preliminary election results. 60.97% of counted votes rejected the measure, while 39.03 % voted in favor. The measure proposed to increase the affordable housing requirement to 25%, as well as the right to vote on building heights that go over existing height limits.

The No on M campaign gained traction in recent months, and called the measure “misguided” and a threat to the development of local affordable housing.

Frank Barron, one of the main organizers behind the measure, said that he feel they ran a good campaign, but hoped it would be a closer race.

“it definitely resonated with many or most, but it’s hard to say if it’s a majority. I’d be surprised if it stayed 60-40,” Barron said

Former Santa Cruz Mayor Don Lane, who was part of the No on M campaign, said he was happy with the preliminary results. 

“I feel pleased and energized to work further on affordable housing issues,”Lane said.