Did you vote on Tuesday? If you did, you were in the minority. As of yesterday, voter turnout in SLO County hovered at a dismal 20ish percent. What the hell, people? With all the attempts at disenfranchisement, it seems deeply weird to self-disenfranchise. Of course, midterm turnout is always lower than in presidential election years, and this being a primary with a governor’s race ballot that looked like a page torn out of phonebook, maybe people were exasperated.
What a shitshow the California system can be!
It will likely be days before we have a semblance of final election results, and official vote counts aren’t due until July 3, a month from now, and the winners won’t be officially certified until July 10. What takes so long? Mail-in ballots and waffling fence-sitters, mostly liberals, who waited until the late minute to vote.
Many Democrats wanted to check the polls to make sure California didn’t end up with two Republicans on the ballot for the governor’s race. According to The Sacramento Bee, early primary voting by Democrats was “sluggish” while Republican voting was “up slightly over 2022.”
What that means is we can expect results to shift, presumably in Democrats’ favor. Let’s take the governor’s race for instance. June 3 state results had Republican Steve Hilton in the lead with 27.8 percent of the vote, Democrat Xavier Becerra with 25.4 percent, progressive Democrat (and billionaire, go figure) Tom Steyer with 19.6 percent, and Republican Chad Bianco with 11.3 percent.
On the surface, that looks bad for Democrats in the November election. After all, a Republican is in the overall lead, but when you add Hilton and Bianco’s percentages, you have 39.1 percent compared to Becerra and Steyer’s 45 percent. But fourth and fifth place are also Democrats, so if you add Katie Porter’s 4.6 percent and Matt Mahan’s 4.1 percent, Dems are leading with 53.7 percent.
California’s reliably blue, and I have a feeling that as all the last-minute ballots are tallied, the Democrats’ leads will grow. There’s even a chance we’ll see Becerra and Steyer on November’s ballot.
Maybe.
I’ve gotta say, I’m a little surprised at how well Republican Stacy Korsgaden was doing in her bid for state insurance commissioner as of June 3. In SLO County, she was leading with 28.57 percent over Democrat Jane Kim with 21.53, but statewide, Kim was leading with 23.7 percent, Democrat Ben Allen was second with 19.2 percent, and Korsgaden was third with 17.5 percent. Apparently, attending the Jan. 6 riot … er, rally—sorry, not sorry—is not the deal-breaker I think it should be.
Predictably, Democratic incumbent Salud Carbajal was in the lead to retain his District 24 House of Representatives seat.
Interestingly, Democrat Dawn Addis had 53.1 percent of the vote to keep her District 30 Assembly seat to Shannon Kessler’s 38.1 percent, but in SLO County, Kessler had 49.69 percent of the vote to Addis’ 43.78 percent. Weird.
Both SLO County Board of Supervisors races were too close to call, but for District 2, Michael Erin Woody led on June 3 with 51.87 percent against exiting supe Bruce Gibson’s handpicked successor Jim Dantona at 48.13 percent. Woody could pull this off. He didn’t have a campaign manager, but his secret weapon was his mommy, who he called “my biggest advisor.”
“True story was my mother, and I’d run ideas past her,” Woody told New Times. “And then we would talk to people in the community and to get ideas over, you know, to understand what’s really going on on a neighborhood level.”
In District 4, incumbent Jimmy Paulding led with 52.28 percent against challenger Adam Verdin with 47.7 percent. Both races were still a bit of a toss-up, but whoever wins, chances are good the board is going to be less progressive and more pro-development next year.
When the results are finalized, we can expect Republican losers to cry foul and make accusations of fraud, as usual, which is why I’m very happy to report it appears that calm, rational, incumbent County Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano (61.08 percent) had a comfortable lead over challengers and election-questioners Vanessa Rozo (27.4 percent) and whack-a-doodle Gaea Powell (11.49 percent), who herself is currently on trial for election fraud! How the hell did she manage to get any votes at all? Whenever I feel like my blood pressure is too low, I visit her Facebook page and look at all the batshit crazy, lie-filled, MAGA memes she likes to post.
When New Times requested an interview on June 3, Powell was unavailable: “I will be at the courthouse at 9 for my hearing … lawsuit against the county and DA for refusing to release public records about me and other candidates. Regarding communications between the county, Cano, and her staff and the DAs office,” she said via email.
M’kay (insert eyeroll).
Rozo thinks she’s still in it to win it: “I am fully optimistic,” she told New Times, “because … things can change [in] a heartbeat. So let’s just hold out.”
Again, you can rest assured that Rozo and Powell will accuse Cano of somehow cheating and say the whole election was rigged. One of the fundamental problems with the far right is they can’t imagine that they’re in the minority. That’s what happens when you believe “alternative facts” and live in an alternative reality. ∆
The Shredder is both entertained and disturbed by politics. Tell it your thoughts at shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Pride 2026.
Ohhh, that percentage of voters who did not vote. Again…
Every elections I just shake my head, and wonder. I wonder why we don’t have mandatory voting like Australia has.
And then think, that’s right, this is ‘Merica!
Well at least we know maybe 11.5% of the county reads cal coast gossip tabloid, or maybe it is even up around 39%. Hopefully it is closer to the first guestimate, 12% ish.
Remember what Carl Sagan said about those like Gaea Powell:
“One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It’s simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we’ve been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back.”
― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark
It is easier to bamboozle someone,
than to convince them that they have been bamboozled.
Hhmmm, who to vote for? The corporate democrat or the corporate republican?
Mickey mouse for president. Term limits age limits. All corporate controlled or owned. Wars continuous or endless
Americacgot a lot of growing up to do. When will all people mattervto our esteemed leaders. The steal the corruption the disregard for public property…ie the Whitehouse. No more roses only concrete and faux gold…..had enough yet America.
Mickey mouse for president. Term limits age limits. All corporate controlled or owned. Wars continuous or endless
America got a lot of growing up to do. When will all people matter to our esteemed leaders. The steal the corruption the disregard for public property…ie the Whitehouse. No more roses only concrete and faux gold…..had enough yet America.
So as the powers at be have expressed a desire to open national parks like Yosemite to lumber oil and mineral interests I find it appalling that politicians and their supportive donors of these industries have stated a clear intention to mine and log these parks. Under Theodore Roosevelt the president under the influence of John Muir established the national park system to protect these beautiful wild places for eternity. Oh hell just another nail in America’s coffin under the trump administration. Stand up people put upns fight . John Edwards.
An after thought yesterday Trump’s negatives are great and yes more people are seeing it …this paper writing space is not large enough to list all his negatives of a fascist cruel hateful regime. Back to the mining…..because of America’s penchant for eternal eR footing important elements are needed such as molybinium…..a rock that when processed becomes the hardest of metals that withstands bombardment and heat …perfect for missile nose cones.. shell or arnane t casings or weapons of mass destruction. Both the pine creek eastern sierra district north of Bishop Calif is home to these mines as is the mountains surrounding crested butte Colorado where I understand the people stopped the mining of old woman. Mountain Because of activism and protest. We must end these wars and weapons Industries
……focusing on peaceful solutions and programs that benefit humanity rather than destroying her . John Edwards
Eternal war footing …to repair above typo .editor needed.
Just in …from the beautiful country of Albania. It seems Jared kushner wants to dvlp an ecological sensitive island on albaniad coast. Home to rare plants and flamingos ….drop dead gorgeous. So many multitudes of citizens have taken to the streets to protest against this brazen violation of nature’s realm…in nature’s realm a tone poem for orchestra by antonin Dvorak..Americans should be out in force now to make big noise in opposition to trumpian policies….John Edwards.
Why does the city of SLO have a love affair with speed bumps ….I don’t like them..and the bike paths with barriers and growing boxes….lot cheaper to paint a white line for bike lanes and cat eyes perhaps. Also why it appears too many accidents vehicular tree or building or parked car collisions. …and pedestrian automobile collisions. Oftentimes drunk drivers ….way out of control here. It’s a ear zone out there.
…..I find it all alarming and sad frankly.
It’s. A war zone out there to edit mistake above….just yesterday can on Johnson did a Uee pulled right in front of me as a beer can flew out open door….had four cars behind me close….had to hit brakes . Should have chased them up turn they did up towards mental health but I’m not a sheriff.
It amazes me that anyone supports this president who boasts lies and attacks constantly. He brags an awful lot too. He had no redeeming qualities whatsoever should be locked up in either an asylum or prison. He hates most Americans and this country. He is not a patriot or protector of democracy. He lies about this pickle if a war he is in…there are no negotiations with Iran. His asshole family and war profiteers and oil execs are getting rich. What do we get out of it. Nada. Every commandment he is guilty. The man has no redeeming qualities and is a s9lutely disturbed and disgusting. What he did to young people is truelley disturbing and these criminals all need to be punished asap. We won’t have an America left after Trump chres us up and spits us out. John Edwards. Revolution time
My apologies for typos ..frantically putting out truth before it’s endangered by this monstrosity