With Campbell leading, the District 2 challenger is too close to call

As polls closed Tuesday night, District 2 incumbent Jen Campbell was in the lead with not quite 31% of the vote. Linda Lukas, the Republican dentist, had over 25% with 5,300 votes against Democratic challenger Lori Saldaña with 18% and 3,780 votes – just 1,520 votes clear.

But with 250,000 ballots yet to be counted throughout the county, the challenger race was too close to be called. The next count will not be announced until Thursday, June 9 at 5 p.m.

Local activist Mandy Havlik came in with 8% and 1,700 votes and Joel Day of Clairemont got 13% and 2,700 votes.

Despite an incredible 70% of D2 voters voting for someone else, Campbell had this to say last night:

“It’s clear from our strong first place that voters want a council member who builds consensus to move all of San Diego forward, just as I did in forging the historic compromise to put common sense regulations in place in short-term vacation rentals,” she said.

Any starter who can’t even get 50% in a race can’t say they got a “good first place.” In contrast, in District 4, incumbent Monica Montgomery Steppe received over 70% of the vote with nearly 7,800 ballots in her favour, and in District 8, incumbent Vivian Moreno received nearly 63% of the vote with 5,600. newsletters. (There was no incumbent in the District 6 race.)

The Voice of San Diego agreed that it was too early to call the race:

That’s good news and bad news for Campbell. She easily took first place, with a gap of almost 10 points on the nearest challenger. But at midnight, the former Council President had just 31% of the vote of the voters she has represented for four years, which could indicate vulnerability in November.

Facing her will likely be Linda Lukacs, a dentist and the only Republican on the ballot, who won 25.06% of the vote as of 10 p.m. Tuesday. Former MP Lori Saldana could still catch her, but she will have to close a gap of 6.8 percentage points as the Registrar continues to tally the votes in the days ahead.

Campbell’s allies had spent supporting Lukacs because they thought she would be easier to beat. (This kind of bank trick doesn’t always work.)

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