San Marcos Mayor Rebecca Jones will advance to a November runoff to represent District 5 on the County Board of Supervisors.
It’s still not clear who she’ll face.
Jones, one of two leading Republicans in the race, had 40.8% of the vote Wednesday morning, more than double the support of her closest challenger.
“I’m grateful for the support voters have given me in the primary and look forward to uniting voters to win the election in November so we can bring common-sense back to county government and reduce the cost of living in San Diego,” Jones said in a statement.
Kyle Krahel, a staffer for Rep. Mike Levin and former chair of the county’s Democratic Party, had a narrow edge for the second spot in the general election, with 19.8% of the vote.
But Vista Mayor John Franklin trails him by only 315 votes — out of 95,028 votes counted in the district so far. Franklin, another Republican, has 19.5% of the vote so far.
The race will determine who replaces Supervisor Jim Desmond, who is termed out in the inland North County seat — and who has already advanced to the general election in the 48th Congressional District, where he is aiming to replace Rep. Darrell Issa in one of the most-watched races in the country.
The primary race between Jones and Franklin has turned into a bruising proxy battle between competing Republican factions in the county. Assemblyman Carl DeMaio’s group, Reform California, endorsed Jones. Issa — a long-time rival of DeMaio — supported Franklin.
A Republican win in District 5 would maintain the current 3-2 Democratic advantage on the County Board of Supervisors. A Krahel win would push the Democrats’ edge to 4-1, after they had a 5-0 disadvantage as recently as 2018.
