Padilla, Cardenas lead in City Council races
Incumbent City Councilman Mike Diaz faces an uphill battle to keep his job as early election results show his opponent, Andrea Cardenas, with a slight lead in the District 4 race.
“We are cautiously optimistic that we will hold the lead,” said Cardenas, who was waiting for updated election results in her home with her family.
As of 9 p.m. Tuesday, Cardenas and Diaz were separated by fewer than 600 votes, or less than 5 percentage points of the vote, according to early results from the county reg istrar of voters.
In the District 3 contest, incumbent councilman and COVID-19 sur vivor Steve Padilla had a comfor table early lead against retired Navy veteran Henry Mar tinez.
“I am ver y g rateful to my constituents and to the folks in my district to have an oppor tunity to keep ser ving the town where I grew up,” Padilla said Tuesday evening.
Cardenas was born and raised in Chula Vista. She’s volunteered for Democratic campaigns, including for Mayor Mary Casillas Salas, since she was a teenager and worked for San Diego Mayor Kevin Falconer before joining her brother ’s political consulting f irm.
During the campaign, Cardenas arg ued that Diaz and his conservative viewpoints were out of touch with the district. Diaz spoke out against illegal marijuana dispensaries and pushed for infrastructure projects in his own district during his f irst term.
Diaz is a retired Escondido f iref ighter who has strong suppor t from the local f iref ighters union.
During the campaign, Diaz called Cardenas and her family “corrupt” and accused her of being funded by “drug money” because people in the legal marijuana industry donated to her campaign.
In the District 3 race, Mar tinez said Padilla was not fully invested in the local election because he formed an explorator y committee to run for the state Senate in 2022 — which would be halfway into his term as city councilman if he wins.
However, early election results show that voters may not mind. Padilla had a wide lead over Mar tinez.