ELECTION RESULTS
Dillingham, Eads, Madrone Win Big, While Arroyo Teeters Toward Runoff By Thadeus Greenson thad@northcoastjournal.com
U.S. Congress, District 2 Humboldt Votes
Humboldt %
Districtwide Votes
Districtwide %
Jared Huffman (D) Beth Hampson (D) Douglas Brower (R) Chris Coulombe (R) Darian Elizondo (R) Archimedes Ramirez (R)
8,713 696 2,301 1,361 417
60.66 4.85 16.02 9.48 2.90
55,670 5,704 7,134 6,823 1,678
68.00 7.00 8.70 8.30 2.00
6.09
ber Natalie Arroyo ended the night clinging to the 50-percent threshold that would allow her to avoid a November runoff election. She currently has 50.21 percent of the 2,354 votes counted thus far, but her lead shrank throughout the night, and she seems likely headed into a November runoff with Mike Newman, who finished the night with 35 percent of the vote. The race to become Humboldt County’s next clerk-recorder and registrar of voters, meanwhile, seems certain to be headed for a November finish. Tiffany Hunt Nielsen closed election night with 46 percent of the vote, trailed by Juan Pablo Cervantes with 41 percent and Benjamin Hershberger with 13 percent. Unless Nielsen sees a surge in the ballots yet to be counted that pushes her past 50 percent, she and Cervantes will square off in a November runoff. Find full election results in the grids below, and check www.northcoastjournal.com for full Election Night coverage. And be sure to check back for post-election updates in the coming weeks until all the ballots are counted. l
Arcata City Council
County Supervisor, District Four
Candidate Chase Marcum Humnath Panta Dana Quillman Edith Rosen Alexandra Stillman Kimberley White
4,905
6.00
California State Senate, District 2 Candidate
Humboldt Votes
Humboldt %
Districtwide Votes
Districtwide %
Mike McGuire (D) Gene Yoon (R)
9,408 4,969
65.44 34.56
74,665 24,173
75.50 24.50
Candidate
Humboldt Votes
Humboldt %
Districtwide Votes
Districtwide %
Jim Wood (D) Charlotte Svolos (R)
9,201 5,000
64.79 35.21
35,769 14,703
70.90 29.10
Votes 59 132 86 118 491 277
% 5.07 11.35 7.39 10.15 42.22 23.82
Absentee/Early
Votes Mychal Evensen 848 Karen Paz Dominguez 2,588 Cheryl Dillingham 7,787
Election Votes % 18 6.95 33 12.74 28 10.81 46 17.76 92 35.52 42 16.22
Total Votes % 77 5.41 165 11.60 114 8.02 164 11.53 583 41.00 319 22.43
% 7.56 23.06 69.38
Election Votes % 206 8.65 455 19.10 1,721 72.25
Total Votes % 1,054 7.75 3,043 22.37 9,508 69.89
Election Votes % 1,374 56.04 757 30.87
Total Votes % 8,116 59.03 4,159 30.25
District Attorney Candidate Stacey Eads Adrian Kamada Michael Philip Acosta, Jr.
Absentee/Early
Votes 6,742 3,402
% 59.68 30.11
1,153
10.21
321
13.09
1,474
10.72
Recorder-County Clerk, Registrar of Voters Candidate
California State Assembly, District 2
Absentee/Early
Auditor-Controller Candidate
Candidate
875
office. Eads has taken 59 percent of the votes counted so far, far outpacing Deputy Public Defender Adrian Kamada, who finished the night with 30 percent of the vote. When Eads takes office, she’ll see a familiar — if new — face on the bench, as Deputy District Attorney Steven Steward took 57 percent of the vote to win the judicial seat being vacated by Judge Christopher Wilson’s retirement. Elsewhere, incumbent Fifth District Supervisor Steve Madrone, who narrowly won election four years ago in a race that wasn’t finally decided until weeks after Election Day, cruised to another term in office, taking 61 percent of the vote to challenger Larry Doss’ 39 percent. A six-way race to finish a term on the Arcata City Council, meanwhile, was won by Alexandra Stillman, who took a landslide 41 percent of the vote to return to the council. While decisive victories largely carried the day, there is a bit of intrigue remaining. Over in the Fourth District supervisors race, which saw three candidates vying to take over for outgoing Supervisor Virginia Bass, Eureka City Councilmem-
Absentee/Early
Votes Juan Pablo Cervantes 4,672 Tiffany Hunt Nielsen 4,914 Benjamin J. 1,376 Hershberger
% 42.62 44.83 12.55
Election Votes % 724 31.36 1,229 53.23 356
15.42
Total Votes % 5,396 40.66 6,143 46.29 1,732
13.05
Candidate Natalie Arroyo Kim Bergel Mike L. Newman
Absentee/Early
Votes 1,032 286 629
% 53.00 14.69 32.31
Election Votes % 140 36.86 69 16.95 188 46.19
Total Votes % 1,182 50.21 355 15.08 817 34.71
County Supervisor, District Five Candidate Steve Madrone Larry Doss
Absentee/Early
Votes 1,665 877
% 65.50 34.50
Election Votes % 305 45.12 371 54.88
Total Votes % 1,970 61.22 1,248 38.78
Superior Court Judge, Department 5 Candidate Steven M. Steward Ben McLaughlin
Absentee/Early
Votes 6,254 4,462
% 58.36 41.64
Election Votes % 1,165 51.85 1,082 48.15
Total Votes % 7,419 57.23 5,544 42.77
Local Ballot Measures
Measure J (Hotel Tax) Would impose an additional 2-percent transient occupancy tax on hotel and RV park guests, pushing the rate from 10 percent to 12 percent, to generate an additional $3 million in annual revenue to fund county services. Measure K (Abandoned Vehicle Abatement) Would continue imposing a $1 per vehicle ($2 for certain commercial vehicles) registration fee for 10 years, which would generate an estimated $160,000 annually to fund the removal of abandoned vehicles in the county. MEASURE
W
hen the dust settled from an Election Night short on drama and long on waits, it left a handful of candidates looking to take office with what can fairly be described as voter mandates. The county’s final election night report posted shortly before 1 a.m. and included 14,844 ballots counted, equaling about 17 percent of registered voters, indicating either a very low turnout or a lot of ballots yet to be counted, or perhaps both. As the Journal went to press, it was unclear exactly how many votes remained to be counted countywide, leaving some races hanging in the balance. Others, however, seem safe to call. On a night of big wins, none was bigger than challenger Cheryl Dillingham’s victory in the highly contentious auditor-controller race. Leading big from the first report on, Dillingham closed the night with 70 percent of the vote to unseat embattled incumbent Karen Paz Dominguez. Dillingham, a former 30-year county employee and the current finance director for the city of Rio Dell who campaigned on a platform of competence and professionalism, will soon take over an office that has been mired in controversy and discord for years, culminating in state and county lawsuits accusing Paz Dominguez of failing in her duties. It certainly appears Dillingham will have her work cut out for her in clearing a backlog of delinquent financial reporting in the office, but Paz Dominguez indicated during the campaign that if she lost the race she would do everything possible to oversee a smooth transition. In other races, Deputy District Attorney Stacey Eads seems poised to become Humboldt County’s second female district attorney, taking over for her mentor Maggie Fleming, who decided not to seek re-election after two terms in
J K
Absentee/Early Votes %
Election Votes %
Total Votes
%
Y N Y N Y N Y N Y N Y N 7,771 4,005 65.99 34.01 1,287 1,251 50.71 49.29 9,058 5,256 63.28 36.72 9,698 2,154 81.83 18.17 1,766 802 68.77 31.23 11,464 2,956 79.50 20.50
Sources: The Humboldt County Elections Office and the California Secretary of State’s Office. All results are preliminary.
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NORTH COAST JOURNAL • Thursday, June 9, 2022 • northcoastjournal.com
