Filner Edging Out Fletcher in Early Returns; DeMaio in First

Republican City Councilman Carl DeMaio and Democratic Congressman Bob Filner are leading in the San Diego mayoral primary with the first results coming in at 8 p.m. Tuesday night. DeMaio has 32.8 percent of the vote to Filner’s 28.3 percent.

Independent Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher remains in striking distance of second place with 23.2 percent. Republican District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis is fourth with 14.9 percent.

Propositions A and B

The death of pensions for new city workers looks to have scored approval from San Diego voters Tuesday while the banning of mandated union-friendly contracting agreements is much closer after the registrar reported initial returns.

Proposition B, an initiative that gives all new city workers except police officers 401(k)-style retirements instead of pensions, leads 69.2 percent to 30.8 percent. The initiative also attempts to freeze current employees’ pensionable pay until 2019.

Proposition A, which calls for the banning of what are known as project labor agreements, also leads big. Initial returns showed it leading 59.8 percent to 40.2 percent.

City Council

The biggest storyline among the three City Council elections: Republican Scott Sherman grabbed more than 50 percent of the votes in the early results. If that holds, he would advance over Democrat Mat Kostrinsky in one of the closest-watched council races, District 7.

Sherman has 51.11 percent to Kostrinsky’s 39.18 percent.

In District 1, challenger Ray Ellis leads incumbent Sherri Lightner 45.59 percent to 41.72 percent in District 1. Neither of the other challengers, Bryan Pease and Dennis Ridz, has more than 7 percent of the vote so if results hold, it will be Ellis, a Republican, versus Lightner, a Democrat, in the runoff.

If Republicans were able to grab both those seats, they would seize control of the City Council.

In District 9, the only other contested race, Marti Emerald was cruising over Mateo Camarillo, 73.07 percent to 26.93.

School Board

There were two things to watch for in the school board races: who emerged to challenge John Lee Evans in November and how Evans did in general.

As of now, Evans, the current school board president, is getting heavy competition from challenger Mark Powell. Neither can win in this election, but the top two finishers between those two and Jared B. Hamilton.

Evans has 45.27 percent of the vote, while Powell has 41.31 percent and Hamilton has 13.42 percent.

Meanwhile, in the other open seat, Marne Foster leads William Ponder 62.34 percent to 37.66 percent.

We’ll know more throughout the evening, including a detailed look at the results later on. For now, stay up to date with the returns as they come in through the San Diego County Registrar of Voters by clicking this link.

Liam Dillon is a news reporter for Voice of San Diego. Andrew Donohue is the editor.