Most candidates keep eyes on the tally as some declare wins Wednesday

Ishani Desai And Perry Smith ; Psmith@bakersfield.Com, The Bakersfield Californian
·4 min read

Jun. 9—Several candidates in the June primary will advance to the Nov. 8 general election regardless of the final outcome of the ballots cast Tuesday, because they are the only two candidates in the state's top-two system.

In Kern County elections, a few of the races had candidates with more than 50 percent of the vote necessary to claim the office as of Wednesday morning, but there are tens of thousands of ballots still to be counted, according to Kern election officials.

Here are the totals so far. Mary Bedard, Kern County's registrar of voters, said another significant update is expected Thursday.

20th Congressional District

Kevin McCarthy and Marisa Wood will vie for the 20th district in the November general election. The GOP House minority leader garnered 59.36 percent of the votes counted, or 11,391 votes. Wood, a teacher in the Fairfax School District, got 26.04 percent of votes, or 4,996 votes.

While the results include tallies from 100 percent of all precincts reporting, on Wednesday, Bedard estimated about 40 percent of the ballots remain outstanding for Kern County alone, meaning there could be some shifting of the percentages as the results continue to be tallied.

Wood, a Democrat, declared at 1:29 a.m. Wednesday she will advance to the general election. She said she ran after witnessing McCarthy neglecting the community.

"Tonight our campaign proved that the people of the district are tired of McCarthy's lies and inaction," Wood wrote in a statement.

McCarthy also declared victory Tuesday night in a statement, saying it is his "greatest honor to represent you in Congress."

"I want to thank the voters of the new 20th District for their support in our shared vision to make the Central Valley more prosperous, safer and affordable for our families and communities," his statement said.

22nd Congressional District

In the 22nd District, Assemblyman Rudy Salas, D-Bakersfield, saw his early election night lead grow by about 4 percent as of Wednesday morning to 47.1 percent of the votes tallied, while incumbent Rep. David Valadao saw his total reduced by about 1.2 percent over the same time period to 25.7 percent as of Wednesday.

Both had a significant advantage over two other Republicans who joined in the fray: Chris Mathys, a business owner and former Fresno City Council member, garnered 19.4 percent of the vote; Adam Medeiros, a salon owner from Hanford and a member of the Kings County Board of Education, garnered 7.8 percent.

Salas was in a celebratory mood late Tuesday evening based on the results. As of Wednesday evening, Valadao again declined to comment on the results through a representative.

State Senate 16th District

David Shepard, a Porterville grape farmer, held the early lead he took Tuesday night in the state Senate 16th District race, with 42.1 percent of the vote. State Sen. Melissa Hurtado, D-Sanger, who currently represents the 14th District, came in second with 31.2 percent. The top two vote-getters in this race advance to the November election.

There are a number of outstanding ballots in all four counties the district touches, but as of Wednesday, a significant gap remains between the top two and the next three, which include former Assemblywoman Nicole Parra's 14.1 percent, Pastor Greg Tatum's 8.2 percent and Delano Mayor Bryan Osorio's 4.4 percent.

Kern County races

In county elections, a candidate who secures 50 percent plus 1 of the votes wins outright.

Incumbent District 2 Supervisor Zack Scrivner won 70.55 percent of the votes. His opponents trail behind with Kelly Carden, of Rosamond, getting 23.88 percent of votes and Pete Graff, a subcontractor for Southern California Edison, garnering 5.57 percent.

Laura Avila, the No. 2 in the Assessor-Recorder, won 57.19 percent of the votes while her opponent Todd Reeves got 42.81 percent of the votes. Reeves is a chief appraiser in the assessor-recorder office.

Aimee Espinoza, the assistant auditor-controller-county clerk-registrar voters, led with a tighter majority than the other candidates as of Wednesday. She got 56.41 percent of votes, over her opponent Mark McKenzie's 43.59 percent of votes. McKenzie is a local businessman.

Sheriff Donny Youngblood, Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer, incumbent Assemblyman Vince Fong in the 32nd District in the State Assembly, Kern County Superintendent of Schools Mary Barlow and Treasurer-Tax collector Jordan Kaufman ran uncontested and won.