Why This Matters
The winner will represent District 4’s 700,000 residents living in two cities and several San Diego communities and help oversee the county’s $8 billion budget.
Polls are closed in the race for the San Diego County Board of Supervisors District 4 seat, and the latest returns show Democrat Monica Montgomery Steppe and Republican Amy Reichert will head to a November runoff election.
Democrat Janessa Goldbeck conceded on Thursday, saying that “it appears that our campaign does not have a path to victory.”
The winner of the election will fill a vacancy created when former Supervisor Nathan Fletcher resigned in May. The district has about 700,000 residents and includes the cities of La Mesa and Lemon Grove and several central and southeastern San Diego neighborhoods.
The results could tilt the political power on the county’s nonpartisan governing board, currently split with two Democrats and two Republicans. Four candidates ran for the seat: Montgomery Steppe, Goldbeck, Reichert and Republican Paul McQuigg.
As of about noon Friday, the county Registrar Of Voters updated returns, tallying more than 94,000 ballots. The early results show:
- Montgomery Steppe leading with nearly 42% of the vote;
- Reichert with 29%;
- Goldbeck with 25%;
- and McQuigg with 5%.
Montgomery Steppe, who had an early lead after polls closed Tuesday, thanked supporters and said “our work is not done yet.”
“Our future still hangs in the balance, and we have less than 3 months to choose how we move forward,” she said in a statement.
Reichert’s campaign team said she was “thrilled” to secure a spot in the runoff.
“This is a momentous step forward, and I want to express my immense gratitude to every person who supported our campaign,” she said in her announcement.
The winner will take over Fletcher’s unexpired term, which ends in January 2027. Fletcher stepped down after facing sexual assault allegations. If elected, each candidate says they want to address the county’s housing and homelessness challenges.
Montgomery Steppe, serving on the San Diego City Council since 2018, is the only candidate who has been elected to public office; Reichert, who ran for the District 4 seat in 2022, is a leader of an organization that sued the city of San Diego for COVID-19 mask mandates; Goldbeck, who ran for Congress in 2020, is a former U.S. Marine Corps officer and serves as a veterans’ nonprofit executive; and Republican McQuigg, a Marine veteran who works for the U.S. Census Bureau.
The county will post additional vote counts Monday, Aug. 21, as additional outstanding ballots are counted. Mail-in ballots postmarked on or before Election Day are valid if received up to seven days after the election.
The Registrar’s Office mailed nearly 400,000 ballots for this election.
Follow inewsource for updates on the election results.
Editor’s note: This story is being updated as the county releases new vote totals.
Type of Content
News: Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.
