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Politics

Mapping The Vote In San Diego’s Key 2018 Primary Races

A poll worker at the North Park Library is shown handing out stickers to voters on June 5, 2018.
Megan Wood
A poll worker at the North Park Library is shown handing out stickers to voters on June 5, 2018.
Mapping The Vote In San Diego’s Key 2018 Primary Races
GUESTS: Jill Castellano, inewsource investigative reporter

>>Many of us are breathing a sigh of relief now that the primary elections are over and we know who will be fighting it out for elected office in November. Behind the scenes millions of dollars are being spent on those primary campaigns and always useful to look at where the money went and how it affected winners and losers and what that means for November. Joining us is Jill Castellano reported with KPBS partner I new source. Thank you for being with us. >> Thanks. >> One of the most contentious races the race for California 49th Congressional District one of the most competitive, 16 candidates. How might money have influenced the results? >> Right, this is a really interesting race and part of what is interesting is that the two early favorites in this race another of them made it through to the general election and Rocky Chavez Republican and Doug Applegate, Democrat kind of consider the early leads but the money shows us how much this race has evolved. Rocky Chavez only managed to raise about $230,000 for his campaign. And overtime outside groups spent $1.80 million opposing him. The vast majority of the message that people were getting about Rocky Chavez were negative ads. And that allowed another republic, Diane Harkey and, to swoop in and capture the Republican votes in this race. She had the highest vote total with about 25 percent of the vote. Like leaven, environmental attorney managed to get second place on the ticket. He raise $1.7 million which is the top fundraiser, if you do not count personal donations. What might happen in the fall is that the different democratic groups, they might kind of coalesce around Mike leaven and all these groups that have been fundraising to support the various democratic candidates on the ticket might all come out and support Mike leaven which means it could be an uphill battle for Diane Harkey. >> Looking at the 50th Congressional race where Democratic challenger in our company Jarl -- where Ammar Campa-Najjar raise the most money but Hunter finished first by are wide margin what happened there? >> I think the take away there is the money just did not pull it off for Ammar Campa-Najjar but still the ticket has a chance but only got about 60 percent of the vote compared to Hunter. But that will be discouraging to national groups who might fund his campaign and might think he doesn't really have a much or as much of a shot as they originally thought even though Duncan Hunter has been admired by this assessment has been marred by this FBI investigation and the results indicate there was still 42 percent Republicans in this district compared to 20 percent of Democrats and maybe doesn't matter that much. >> Big one big race between Republican money to Moniz and Democrat Nathan Fletcher, millions of dollars spent in that race to replace Ron Roberts what can we expect to see in the fall? >> Right, Nathan Fletcher and Bonnie diminish, close and the vote totals and makes you think this could be really close race for the fall but if you think about it there were three other Democrats running in this race as well and if you kind of capture all of that together, Democrats got 73 percent of the vote so money to menace will have to go out and convince people and she is the Republican in the race and have to go out and convince people you should keep fundraising me and it because will have a shot which will be a little difficult for her and me well we know that Nathan Fletcher will get more and more support from the Democratic Party and he raise $500,000 for his campaign and got an additional 800 $70,000 from the Democratic party hoping to flip this seat and his wife is Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, popular Democrat in the California State assembly so a lot of that money will continue to fund him. >> Jill Castellano, thank you so much for all that information. >> Thank you.

You’ve cast your primary ballot and seen the overall election results. Now you can dig deeper into the numbers by using six searchable maps created by inewsource.

Our maps allow you to explore voting results by precinct or by address in six of this year’s most high-profile races: the 49th and 50th congressional districts; the 4th and 5th county Board of Supervisors districts; district attorney; and sheriff.

In the district attorney’s race, interim District Attorney Summer Stephan beat Deputy Public Defender Geneviéve Jones-Wright with almost 64 percent of the vote. Sheriff Bill Gore won re-election over sheriff’s Cmdr. Dave Myers by capturing 56 percent of the vote.

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While those two races were settled Tuesday, the top two vote-getters in the congressional and county supervisor contests will face off in November.

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, the race for the North County congressional seat being vacated by Republican Rep. Darrell Issa had Diane Harkey, a Republican, finishing first with almost 25.5 percent of the vote.

Coming in second was Mike Levin, a Democrat, with about 17 percent of the vote. Sixteen candidates competed for the seat.

Republican Rep. Duncan Hunter of Alpine, who is under investigation by the FBI for possibly misusing campaign funds, finished first in a seven-candidate field with almost 49 percent of the vote. Coming in second for the East County seat was Ammar Campa-Najjar, a Democrat, with about 16 percent of the vote.

The numbers in inewsource’s maps are as of Wednesday morning and may change as mail-in and provisional ballots are counted. The 49th and 50th congressional district maps include portions of Orange and Riverside counties, respectively. The Riverside County Registrar of Voters Office did not provide precinct-level voting data.

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Click here to explore voting results by precinct in six of this year’s most high-profile races in San Diego County.
inewsource
Click here to explore voting results by precinct in six of this year’s most high-profile races in San Diego County.

What To Look For In The Maps

Precincts are the most granular voting divisions available. They determine polling locations and can include several hundred voters or just a handful. The inewsource maps show the top vote-getters in each precinct and how many votes were cast. You can also see the share of the vote among top candidates.

To search the maps, select a race using the filters on the left. You can then use your address search to find your precinct or click-and-drag to explore each of the six maps. By clicking on a precinct, you can see a breakdown of voting by candidate.

For candidates going to a runoff in November, the maps show their geographic base of support and where they might struggle to win votes.

San Diego County has more than 1.69 million registered voters, with 36.4 percent Democrats, 29 percent Republicans, and 28.9 percent decline to state.

The Registrar of Voters Office expected a turnout of 40 to 45 percent, according to KPBS. With the votes counted so far, the turnout is at 24 percent. Turnout in June 2014, the most recent midterm primary, was 27 percent.

The 2024 primary election is March 5. Find in-depth reporting on each race to help you understand what's on your ballot.