San Luis Obispo County won’t likely know the outcome of its most closely watched local race for a least a week.
Preliminary Nov. 8 election results for the 2nd District county supervisor contest showed incumbent Bruce Gibson ahead of challenger Bruce Jones, 52.8 percent to 47.2 percent, with thousands of ballots left to count.
Gibson jumped out to a 17-percent early lead following the initial tally of mail-in ballots that posted shortly after 8 p.m. But his margin dwindled when the county posted results for in-person voting—which swung for Jones at a nearly 80 percent clip. Gibson’s lead stood at 653 votes as of press time.
According to SLO County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano, the preliminary election night results include all the vote-by-mail ballots the county received before Monday, Nov. 7, as well as all in-person precinct ballots.
What remains to be counted are the “tens of thousands” of vote-by-mail ballots that arrived at the county on Election Day or after. Cano told New Times that she’ll have an estimate on the number of ballots remaining by Nov. 10, and the next round of counting will take place on Friday, Nov. 11.
On the morning of Nov. 9, Gibson told New Times that he was “at peace” with the election. He held an election night party at the Borradori Garage, a local landmark in his hometown of Cayucos, with about 60 supporters. When reached by phone, Gibson said he was in Atascadero cleaning up campaign signs.
“I’m happy to be in the lead, but beyond that, I have nothing really to add,” Gibson said. “We just gotta wait until these ballots are counted. One can speculate a lot, but in fact, we have no idea what group of voters remains to be counted.”
Jones, a retired surgeon from Templeton running for his first elected office, told New Times that he’s feeling optimistic about the early results. He spent his night at the Republican Party of SLO County’s headquarters in Atascadero with other conservative candidates and their supporters.
“Conservatives tend to vote late here. Liberals tend to vote early,” Jones said. “My guess is that we’ll follow the same pattern and I’ll be ahead by a small number [by the end]. I think it’s going to remain interesting for a couple weeks.”
Gibson and Jones’ race drew interest countywide and brought in nearly $1 million in total campaign donations. The battle for a swing seat on the Board of Supervisors split the newly drawn 2nd District along partisan lines, with conservatives fighting to retain a board majority and liberals eyeing a shift in power.
The race also turned nasty by its conclusion. In the late stages, two independent political action committees (PACs) formed to attack Gibson in an onslaught of media ads and mailers that questioned his commitment to public safety. Those committees raised nearly $100,000, including $25,000 from SLO County District Attorney Dan Dow.
“It is a sad reality that that’s how the other side campaigned,” Gibson said. “I’m proud of the way we campaigned. We kept it on the issues and we pushed back on the lies, which is really what we should do.”
Jones did not comment on the PACs, but he noted that he thought the election will ultimately be a referendum on Gibson and his 16 years in the 2nd District office.
“Like any race where you have a relative newcomer and you have someone who’s been in politics in the county for many years, this race was about Bruce Gibson, not me,” Jones said. “Either people liked him and voted for him, or they disliked him and voted for me.” Δ
This article appears in Nov 10-20, 2022.