The Encinitas mayoral race and the Cardiff seat on the Encinitas City Council remain some of the tightest races in San Diego County, but the Democratic candidates widened their lead when updated vote tallies were released Thursday night.
With 69,000 more votes counted countywide Tuesday night, Democratic mayoral challenger Rimga Viskanta expanded her lead over independent incumbent Mayor Bruce Ehlers to 123 votes after being up 19 votes on Wednesday. The split is 50.21% to 49.79%.
Almost 30,000 ballots have been counted in the Encinitas mayor’s race.
In Cardiff’s District 3, Democrat Arielle Golden saw her lead grow over Republican Ed Sprague. She is now up 82 votes after having a 56-vote lead Tuesday. Seven thousand ballots have been counted in that race. The split is 50.59% to 49.41%.
Brad Lefkowits declared victory Thursday morning in the District 4 race, though his opponent, incumbent Republican Marco San Antonio, has yet to concede. Lefkowits has maintained a significant lead since the first results were released on Election Day, and is now up 1,065 votes with more than 7,500 ballots counted. The split is 56.88%-43.12%.
We caught up with Lefkowits Thursday morning. You can read what he said here.
The races are technically nonpartisan, but party affiliation can affect fundraising and get-out-the-vote campaigns as well as any number of positions affecting city government.
Check back Monday evening for the next batch of updates. Voting officials still have 51,000 votes to count countywide. They don’t say how many are left to count in each jurisdiction.