Santa Cruz Supervisor race heats up in District 3

It’s election season again and the race in district 3 of the Santa Cruz Board of Supervisor is heating up. June primary election results showed candidate Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson leading with 6,308 votes, candidate Justin Cummings in second with 5,823 votes, and candidate Ami Chen Mills trailing by far with 2,436 votes.

What does this mean? Because no candidate in the District 3 race received over 50% of the vote, the two candidates that received the most votes will compete in a runoff election in November. The District 3 race in November will be a showdown between Candidate Kalantari-Johnson and Candidate Cummings.

In the June primary, Shebreh Kalantari Johnson collected the most votes with 6,308 votes and Justin Cummings came in with 5,823 votes, a margin of 485 votes. The third candidate who had the least amount of votes, came in at 2,436 votes. Because this candidate did not meet the threshold of being top two candidates voted for, she will not be on the ballot this year. That means that 2,436 voters will be looking for a new candidate this november.

Ami Chen Mills, the candidate who received those 2,436 votes, campaigned on a progressive platform that aligns closer with the platform of Justin Cummings versus that of Shebreh Kalantari Johnson. One possible outcome is that the voting group of 2,436 members could vote for Justin Cummings in large groups and close the 485 vote margin. Another thing to keep in mind is that primary elections historically see less voter turnout than that of November elections. If more voters head to the polls this November, it could dilute the gains Cummings might make with voters who voted for Ami Chen Mills.

As the November elections get closer, the election in District 3 will be one to watch.