Santa Cruz's Gail Pellerin leads state Assembly District 28 race
>> Unofficial districtwide election results from the California Secretary of State office shows that Gail Pellerin, a Democrat running for newly drawn Assembly District 28, is hanging onto the lead ahead of Republican candidate Liz Lawler.
As of 6:30 a.m. Wednesday, Pellerin received 18,083 votes or 34.2% and Lawler, a Monte Sereno Council member, received 16,192 votes or 30.6%. Los Gatos Mayor Rob Rennie Rob Rennie received 13,413 votes or 25.4% and Joe Thompson, a union organizer, received 5,156 or 9.8%.
Looking only at Santa Cruz County voters, Pellerin remains in the lead.
After 15,002 votes counted, Pellerin received 7,254 votes and Lawler received 2,793 votes. Rennie received 2,392 and Thompson received 1,281.
On Wednesday afternoon
Pellerin said she was honored and humbled to receive the support she did, but stopped short of saying she's headed to the November ballot.
The former Santa Cruz
County Clerk who was in charge of previous election says the results this week are a “snapshot” that will change and wants to wait until the election results are certified before making plans around the November election.
“I'm grateful to the voters and to my family and friends who've had my back,” she said. … “I've learned a lot during this campaign. There is a lot more that unites this district than divides us.”
The new District 28 stretches from Santa Cruz through the Santa Cruz Mountains to Boulder Creek and east to Los Gatos, southwest San Jose and Morgan Hill. Assemblyman Mark Stone has been representing the area until announcing his decision to retire after serving 10 years in the Legislature.