RETURNS SHOW INCUMBENTS POISED TO STAY IN COUNTY ASSEMBLY SEATS

Seven districts represent various areas of S.D. County

Six incumbents seeking re-election in the California Assembly are poised to keep their seats in San Diego County districts, according to early election results released Tuesday night.

There are seven Assembly districts that represent areas of San Diego County.

According to election results from the San Diego County Registrar of Voters, Republican Assemblyman Randy Voepel, 70, leads in early returns over Spring Valley Democrat Elizabeth Lavertu, 40, in the 71st Assembly District.

Lavertu, who goes by Liz, is a small-businesswoman who lives in Spring Valley.

Voepel has represented the district, which represents much of East County and a small part of Riverside County, for two terms. He is the former mayor of Santee and won the 71st District in 2018 by more than 20 percentage points.

The traditionally conservative district includes more than 450,000 residents, many of whom reside in Santee, Alpine, Ramona, La Presa, El Cajon, Spring Valley and Lakeside.

Early voting results show Republican Assemblywoman Marie Waldron, 60, leads in

the 75th Assembly District against Democratic health care worker Kate Schwartz, 64.

The district, which has historically favored conservative candidates, represents the inland parts of North County and a small piece of Riverside County. It has more than 400,000 residents, many of whom reside in Escondido, San Marcos, Temecula and Fallbrook.

Waldron is a four-term incumbent and former deputy mayor of Escondido. She previously served on the Escondido City Council and was first elected to the Legislature in 2012, when she defeated Democrat Matthew Herold with more than 62 percent of the vote.

Schwartz is a director on the Fallbrook Regional Health District board and has been a licensed behavioral health care provider for more than three decades.

In the 76th Assembly District, Democratic Assemblywoman Tasha Boerner Horvath, 47, is leading against Republican Melanie Burkholder, 49, a mental health counselor and former Secret Service agent.

Boerner Horvath won the 2018 race with 55 percent of the vote over another Democrat. The district, which encompasses Encinitas, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Vista and Camp Pendleton, was once a solidly Republican area but now shows Democrats with a 6-point advantage in voter registration.

Democrat Assemblyman Brian Maienschein, 51, leads over his Republican challenger June Yang Cutter, 42, for the 77th Assembly District.

Maienschein, a four-term incumbent, captured nearly 58 percent of the votes in the March primary election, while Cutter received 42 percent. This election cycle is the first in which Maienschein is running as a Democrat, after leaving the Republican Party last year.

Cutter is a small-business owner and attorney. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Irvine, plus her juris doctorate and master’s degree from the University of Southern California. This is her first run for political office.

The 77th Assembly District includes Rancho Bernardo, Poway, 4S Ranch, Del Sur, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Sabre Springs, Rancho Santa Fe, Carmel Valley and other adjacent communities.

In the only race without an incumbent challenger, Democratic San Diego City Councilman Chris Ward, 44, leads over fellow Democrat Sarah Davis, 39.

Ward received more than half the total votes in the district during the March primary. Davis, a midwife with a small business and activist background won nearly 28 percent of the vote.

The district includes the mid-city area of San Diego and coastal communities from the U.S.-Mexico border to Solana Beach.

Democratic Assemblywoman Shirley Weber, 72, is leading in early votes against Republican John Moore in the 79th Assembly race.

The district covers Mission Valley to La Mesa and southeastern San Diego, Bonita and eastern Chula Vista. Registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in the 79th District 2to-1, according to the county Registrar of Voters.

Weber was first elected to her seat in 2012. Moore is an Air Force veteran who worked in technology and real estate, according to his campaign website.

In the 80th District, Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, 49, the Democratic incumbent, is leading over Republican John Vogel, 52.

The 80th District includes central and southeastern San Diego neighborhoods such as City Heights, Barrio Logan, Otay Mesa and San Ysidro, as well as parts of National City and Chula Vista.

Gonzalez Fletcher was first elected in a special election in 2013 and has won with 74 percent or more of the vote in every general election since. She received more than 72 percent of the vote in this year’s March primary.

Vogel works in local government. In 2016 he made an unsuccessful run for a seat on the South Bay Irrigation District.