Kern, Secretary of State update voter counts in primary
The Kern County Elections Division and the Secretary of State’s website released updates Monday for the results of the June 7 primary.
Mary Bedard, Kern County registrar of voters, said the next update for Kern County totals is likely to come Wednesday.
20TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
Rep. Kevin McCarthy saw his lead increase by 0.2 percent to 57.9 percent, the same increase as the candidate in second-place, Marisa Wood, whose total now stands at 25.3 percent. Ben Dewell’s total dipped by the same margin, to 7.1 percent of the vote. James Davis and James Macauley remained in similar positions with 4.9 percent and 4 percent, respectively.
22ND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
Assemblyman Rudy Salas continues to lead the race, while the margin between second and third place continues to shrink between second-place (Rep. David Valadao at 26.1 percent) and third place (Chris Mathys at 21.9 percent). Adam Medeiros remained in fourth place at 7.3 percent, which was 0.8 percent less than his previously reported total.
35TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT
Fifth District Supervisor Leticia Perez saw her lead slip by about 3 points in Monday’s update. Perez led Jasmeet Bain 54.1 percent to 42.8 percent. Perez previously had 57.2 percent of the vote.
16TH DISTRICT STATE SENATE
Republican David Shepard, the Porterville grape farmer, saw his lead slip slightly for the first time, going from 45.4 percent to 44.5 percent as of Monday’s update. The updated totals benefitted state Sen. Melissa Hurtado, who gained 0.4 percent to move to 30.3 percent, and former Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, who also gained 0.4 percent to move to 12.6 percent. Pastor Greg Tatum remained at 8 percent and Delano Mayor Bryan Osorio improved his tally to 4.7 percent.
12TH DISTRICT STATE SENATE
The lead for state Sen. Shannon Grove, R-Bakersfield, continued to grow Monday. The Secretary of State reported that Grove now claims 66.2 percent of the vote for the 12th District, up from 65.8 percent, against her opponent Suzanne Gundy.
3RD DISTRICT SUPERVISOR
Jeff Flores, a Kern High School District trustee and chief of staff to current 3rd District Supervisor Mike Maggard, continues to lead with 40 percent of the vote, or 4,440 votes. Brian Smith, a retired assistant chief with the California Highway Patrol, has 33.6 percent of votes and Louis Gill, the former executive of the Bakersfield Homeless Center, fell behind with 26.4 percent of votes.
2ND DISTRICT SUPERVISOR
Incumbent Supervisor Zack Scrivner continues to hold a big lead over his opponents with 72.12 percent, or 7,454 votes. Kelly Carden still held second place Monday with 22.79 percent of votes and Pete Graff had 5.1 percent of votes.
ASSESSOR-RECORDER
Laura Avila remained ahead with 55.75 percent of votes as of Monday, while Todd Reeves has 44.25 percent of votes. With the latest updated, Avila, assistant assessor-recorder, saw her lead reduced by a percentage point over Reeves, who is a chief appraiser in the office.
AUDITOR-CONTROLLERCOUNTY CLERK
Aimee Espinoza, assistant auditor-controller-county clerk, has 55.1 percent of votes, while Mark McKenzie has 44.9 percent of votes. McKenzie, a local businessman, gained a percentage point with the latest update.
Assemblyman Vince Fong, Kern County Sheriff Donny Youngblood, Kern County District Attorney Cynthia Zimmer, Kern County Superintendent of Schools Mary Barlow and Treasurer-Tax Collector Jordan Kaufman ran unopposed.