Early returns in race for 5th District supervisor favor incumbent Perez
The race for the 5th District supervisor’s seat has looked from the beginning to be interesting, and maybe more difficult to predict than usual.
Early numbers may be bearing that out.
On Tuesday night, initial poll results are showing that incumbent Leticia Perez and Kimberly R. Salas were the two early leaders in the 5th District race.
With fewer than 2,600 votes counted as of
9:30 p.m.Tuesday, the early vote broke down with Perez having almost 50% of the vote, followed by Salas with almost 21%, Darren Amos with more than 17% and David Abbasi with almost 12%.
Historically, Perez has been impossible to defeat in the 5th. The three-term supervisor has won all three of her elections to the Board of Supervisors with majority votes in the primary cycle. She never had to compete in the general election.
Could that happen again?
“It is encouraging, I’m cautiously optimistic,” Perez said as the IBEW’s banquet room began filling with supporters.
“I believe we’re going to get over the finish line — or there’s a real good chance of it — and if not, we’ve demonstrated tonight we’re in a very strong position to bring it home in November.”
If Perez wins at least 50% of all votes cast plus one in the primary, the incumbent won’t need to go to a runoff in November.
If no one wins 50% plus one in Tuesday’s primary, the top two candidates will advance to the November general election in a runoff.
This time around Perez is facing three challengers. One of them, Salas, has decades of political experience as a staffer for other county supervisors, and since late 2022, for local Assemblywoman Jasmeet Bains, who handily defeated Perez two years ago in a race for the 35th Assembly District.
Salas has never held elected office, but she’s been on the team of several who have. Currently the district director in the office of Assemblywoman Bains, Salas says she wants to hear from community members about the issues and challenges they view as priorities.
She’s identified public safety, infrastructure and health as the areas that most require attention.
Abbasi, who described himself as a businessman, entrepreneur and petition coordinator, and Amos, who has wide-ranging work experience as a business owner, instructor, and paramedic, bring the number of challengers to three.