David Alvarez arrived at a taqueria in Sherman Heights tonight carrying his 8-month-old daughter Izel and striking a triumphant tone.
Surrounded by supporters and red, white and blue balloons at his campaign party, Alvarez, the early leader in the city of San Diego District 8 campaign, said he was guaranteed to finish in the top two of the race and advance to the November general election.
“Oh yeah,” Alvarez said. “I feel very strongly about that. The absentees are going to be a pretty good reflection of the fact that we did so much work throughout this entire weekend to get out that vote. I think that’s going to come through.”
Just 159 votes separated Alvarez (21.64 percent of the vote) from fourth place. But he has separated himself from his three other top competitors, all of whom are stuck with some variation of 18 percent. The race is so close that the first numbers released had B.D. Howard ahead of Felipe Hueso for second place by two votes, 843 to 841. With a few more votes added in, Hueso’s now in second 848-845.
Howard just entered Golden Hall, an interesting choice for a Democrat. Most are staying away because of the labor-backed boycott of the facility due to a workers’ dispute. But he has his own history with organized labor.
Update: This post originally said the taqueria was in Golden Hill.
— LIAM DILLON