Early vote counts show close races in the two San Luis Obispo County supervisor races, with Michael Erin Woody leading in the 2nd District and incumbent Jimmy Pauling leading in the 4th District.
Those outcomes could potentially change, as the SLO County Elections Office still has thousands of ballots left to count in both districts. On June 3, 386 votes separated Paulding, who had approximately 52 percent of the votes, from his 4th District challenger, Adam Verdin.
“So we’re all going to have to wait,” Paulding said. “Hold tight.”
In the 2nd District, Woody also held about 52 percent—or 240 more votes than Jim Dantona, according to preliminary results from the county Clerk-Recorder’s Office.
County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano told New Times on June 3 that an estimated 30,000 ballots countywide remain to be processed, not including ballots that arrived June 2 by mail. She estimates that voter turnout will land around 50 percent, with approximately 3,600 voters casting ballots in person and more than 80 percent of voters returning mail-in ballots.
Because of the close races in county supervisor elections, Cano said the county may prioritize processing ballots from those districts separately in order to provide candidates with earlier updates.
In the 2nd District, voters had to choose a successor to longtime Supervisor Bruce Gibson, who is stepping down after nearly two decades of representing the North Coast.
Despite trailing in the initial count, Dantona said he remains optimistic.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed at where we’re at at the moment,” Dantona told New Times. “But knowing that there’s a lot of ballots still to be counted, we’re actually optimistic about where the numbers are and where they will likely end.”
Dantona, the former CEO of the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce and Gibson’s current chief of staff, said he believes late-counted ballots could ultimately benefit his campaign.
“A lot of folks were holding their ballots because the Democratic governor’s race, … waiting to see who was going to be top two candidates and who they should vote for,” he said. “These were a lot of people who were like, ‘We’re with you, we’re supporting you.’”
Woody, meanwhile, described the preliminary results as validation of his grassroots campaign strategy.
“Considering 12 months ago when we started this, nobody gave this campaign a chance whatsoever,” Woody said. “To be at this point, almost 4 points up on election night, is really a testament to the fundamental idea of campaigning on local issues.”
Campaign finance filings show a fundraising gap between the two. Dantona reported raising approximately $158,630 in 2025-26, while Woody reported roughly $91,106 in the same period.
A civil engineer and former Fresno City Council member, Woody ran a largely self-managed campaign centered on local water concerns, development issues, opposition to offshore wind projects, and preserving the character of North Coast communities. He repeatedly emphasized that his campaign relied on direct voter outreach rather than consultants or political organizations.
Without existing voting records for either candidate, Dantona said voters were largely making decisions based on messaging and values.
“You have two people who don’t have a voting record to look at. If one of us had already been in office in the area, you could point directly to their votes,” Dantona said. “People are kind of just having to do the math on, ‘Will this person vote with me or against me?’”
Woody argued that the close race in a traditionally liberal district reflects growing voter engagement around local issues rather than traditional political branding.
“People want ideas. They want solutions to our problems,” Woody said. “They’re looking for an honest discussion over community issues and a real direction for where we should go as a region and as a district.”
In the 4th District, the race for supervisor has been close for the last few election cycles, including when Paulding first ran for the position in 2018 against then incumbent Lynn Compton.
“In 2018, I lost by 60 votes, and it was a bit of a horse race watching it go back and forth as they counted all the ballots. And in 2022, it was similar,” he said.
He won the second bout with Compton to represent the South County district by 639 votes. Similar to those two prior races, the 2026 campaign between Paulding and Verdin was acrimonious and included accusations that both candidates alleged were untrue.
This includes Paulding’s eventually dismissed complaint with the Fair Political Practices Commission over donations received by Verdin’s campaign and the way Verdin’s campaign characterized Paulding as anti-Proposition 13. The proposition, which Paulding said he supports, requires a two-thirds vote for any special tax increases and freezes property taxes at a certain rate.
“I would say that the aggression level of my opponent was significant, and he ran a very negative campaign, and I think that the District 4 voters saw that and voted, hopefully, in a way to reject that,” Paulding said. “I’m confident that the votes will continue in my direction. Of course, I want to see that every single vote is counted. It’s going to take some time.”
Verdin said when he decided to run for supervisor, he understood the history of the races in the district and that things might get heated.
“I knew going into this that elections can be rough and tumble and they also take time,” he said. “Right now, I’m focused on thanking my supporters and letting every valid vote be counted.”
Verdin said he is cautiously optimistic and grateful for those who supported him.
“The outcome already exists, we just happen to not know what it is,” he said. ∆
This article appears in Pride 2026.
