The new 30th Assembly District is about to receive its first representative. The district—now covering the counties of Santa Cruz, Monterey, and parts of San Luis Obispo—will see leadership from either Democrat Dawn Addis or Republican Vicki Nohrden.
Updated vote counts from all three counties showed Addis in the lead. With almost 150,000 votes counted so far in the 30th District, current Morro Bay City Councilmember Addis holds the lion’s share at roughly 63 percent. Nohrden stood at 37 percent. County elections offices are still in the process of counting votes.
Addis received 54.2 percent, 67.7 percent, and 74.7 percent of tallied votes from SLO, Monterey, and Santa Cruz counties, respectively. The front-runner also soared in terms of campaign funding compared to her opponent.
Campaign finance data indicated that Addis raked in a little more than $1 million district-wide from the beginning of the year until Oct. 22. Nohrden brought in roughly $96,004 over the same time period.
“I ran for state Assembly because I believe that every child deserves a bright future, every person should have housing security and high quality health care, all people have a right to reproductive freedom, and our communities have a right to clean air and water,” Addis said in a statement announcing that she won the race.
On Nov. 9, the day after the general election, Nohrden’s office emailed a campaign newsletter titled “The race isn’t over yet … ,” asking for more donations.
“In one county, vote tallies do not even include ballots submitted Monday night, let alone in-person votes cast on Tuesday,” it read. “I need your help—we need funds to keep on top of county election reporting! There are so many moving pieces to protecting election integrity and EVERY VOTE COUNTS!”
An ordained minister and founder of a religious group called Wind and Fire Ministries, Nohrden wrote a book called Breaking the Shield of Minerva in 2008, where she called California’s natural disasters God’s punishment for progressive policies surrounding same-sex marriage and reproductive rights.
Nohrden told New Times via email that she’s waiting for the final count of votes from all counties in the district. She did not comment on her book.
“Win or lose I believe every candidate who ran a campaign has the right to a fair and honest count of the election,” Nohrden wrote. “Maybe it’s time for the media to respect the vote as every vote counts, and discounting those who voted or mailed in their ballot is dishonoring.”
The 30th District race isn’t her first political campaign. Nohrden ran for the 29th Assembly District and 17th state Senate District in 2018 and 2020, respectively. She lost both times. Addis ran in 2020 for the previous iteration of the 30th District—then the 35th—but lost to Republican Jordan Cunningham.
She celebrated her early lead on the night of Nov. 8 at SLO’s Big Sky Café soon after the first set of counted votes were released.
Santa Barbara County 2nd District Supervisor Gregg Hart will have one last meeting as a county official on Nov. 29, and then he may be taking a seat up in Sacramento as the state’s 37th District Assembly member.
The district—made up of Santa Barbara and southern SLO counties—changed after the required redistricting process, pushing both candidates to run for office. Preliminary results show Hart in the lead with 58.5 percent of the district’s votes and his opponent, Mike Stoker, with 41.5 percent.
Hart celebrated election night with his 92-year-old mother and his son at a victory party with 300 people in attendance, he said.
“I was overwhelmed with the enthusiastic support of the people in the room,” Hart said. “I think it reflects the hard work I’ve been doing in local government, and reflects the respectful, civil way that I do my job.”
Hart pulled ahead in Santa Barbara with 59.3 percent of the votes (72,357 votes) and Stoker earned 40.7 percent (49,687 votes), according to preliminary election results data. However, in SLO County, Stoker took the lead with 52.7 percent (4,322 votes) with Hart right behind at 47.3 percent (3,873 votes).
“It’s very important to count every vote, and I look forward to getting the final results, but my lead is significant. I’m not slowing down, I’m going straight to work, and I’m excited to represent the residents,” Hart said.
According to the Santa Barbara County Clerk-Recorder’s Office on Nov. 15, there’s still an estimated 12,330 unprocessed ballots. Δ
This article appears in Holiday Guide 2022.