San Luis Obispo County primary election night coverage 2026

June 2, 2026

By KAREN VELIE

An unusually contentious election cycle for San Luis Obispo County is drawing to a close. Who will have a reason to celebrate tonight and who will be drinking away their sorrows?

CalCoastNews will have live updates on the results of local races, starting after the polls close at 8 p.m.

While the top two candidates in most races will head to a runoff in the November election, the SLO County Board of Supervisor board majority is hanging in the balance of today’s election.

Results

2:57

With all the local precincts votes tallied along with mail-in ballots received by Monday, most of the winners remain unchanged.

The latest tally includes 19.80% of registered voters or 36,087 ballots. In an odd twist, California Ballot Return Statistics reports that 50,631 vote by mail ballots were received by Monday in SLO County, which would leave 14,544 ballots the county partially processed before Tuesday uncounted

In the California Governor race, Steve Hilton widened his lead.

Steve Hilton (R) 27.7% – 1,351,414 votes
Xavier Becerra (D) 25.4% – 1,240,330 votes
Tom Steyer (D) 19.6% – 954,539 votes
Chad Bianco (R) 11.3% – 552,814 votes

In the California Insurance Commissioner race, Grover Beach resident Stacy Korsgaden moved close to second place.

Jane Kim (D) 23.7% – 1,078,448 votes
Ben Allen (D) 19.3% – 879,285 votes
Stacy Korsgaden (R) 17.5 – 552,814 votes

In the SLO County Supervisor, District 2 race, Michael Woody widened his lead against Jim Dantona.

Michael Erin Woody (NPP) 51.87% – 3,333 votes
Jim Dantona (D) 48.13% – 3,093 votes

In the SLO County Supervisor, District 4 race, Supervisor Jimmy Paulding leads Adam Verdin by 386 votes.

Jimmy Paulding (D) 52.28% – 4,408 votes
Adam Verdin (R) –47.70% – 4,022

SLO County Clerk Recorder Elaina Cano leads with over 50% of the votes.

Elaina Cano (D) 61.68% – 18,626 votes
Vanessa Rozo (R) 27.40% – 8,356 votes
Gaea Powell (R) 11.49% – 3,503 votes

In Los Osos, Measure B proposed a tax of $185 per parcel to pay for a community park and sports fields.

No, 52.8% – 1,197 votes
Yes, 47.82% – 1,097 votes

The Los Angeles mayor’s race, while not local, is one of the most talked about contests in California. With 47% of the votes counted, it appears L.A. Mayor Karen Bass is headed to a runoff with Spencer Pratt.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass,  37% – 133,964 votes
Spencer Pratt,  30% – 109,847 votes
Nithya Raman, 20% – 74,400 votes

9:30 p.m.

In the two local races for the California State Assembly, incumbents are winning in both districts.

In District 30 – SLO to Monterey

Dawn Addis (D) 54.0% – 33,224 votes
Shannon Kessler (R) 37.6% – 23,130 votes
Susannah Brown (D) 8.5% – 5,203 votes

In District 37: portions of Nipomo to Lompoc

Gregg Hart (D) 60.1% – 34,099 votes
Sari Domingues (R) 39.9% – 22,621 votes

9:11 p.m.

In the California Insurance Commissioner race, with 33% of the votes in, Grover Beach resident Stacy Korsgaden is in third place out of 11 candidates.

Jane Kim (D) 24.4% – 752,729
Ben Allen (D) 20.4% – 630,899
Stacy Korsgaden (R) 16.3 – 502,460

9:01 p.m.

In the California governor’s race, with 25% of the votes in, a Republican leads the race.

Steve Hilton (R) 26.2% – 781,760 votes
Xavier Becerra (D) 26.1% – 757,235 votes
Tom Steyer (D) 19.6% – 569,433 votes
Chad Bianco (R) 11.8% – 341,992 votes

8:31 p.m.

Initial election night results of mail in ballots that arrived by election day show a possible change of the Board of Supervisors majority.

In the SLO County Supervisor, District 2 race, with 20% of the votes in, Michael Erin Woody with 3,001 votes is ahead of Jim Dantona, with 2,899 votes.

In the SLO County Supervisor, District 4 race, Supervisor Jimmy Paulding leads with 4,153 votes, followed by Adam Verdin with 3,648 votes.

SLO County Clerk Recorder Elaina Cano leads with 17,484 votes, followed by Vanessa Rozo with 7,032 votes and Gaea Powell 2,972 votes. If Cano 50% of the votes plus one, she wins in the primary. However, there are only 17% of the votes counted.