Harkey, Levin to vie for congressional seat
In a race Democrats are anxious to win to increase their strength in Washington, Republican Diane Harkey is heading for a November runoff in the battle to replace retiring Rep. Darrell Issa, but she’ll face a Democratic challenger.
Issa opted not to run again for his 49th District seat, which includes 4S Ranch, causing a flood of 16 candidates to pursue the job.
Harkey, a state Board of Equalization member, topped all candidates in Tuesday’s primary. She will be challenged in November by environmental attorney and former Orange County Democratic Party official Mike Levin, who finished in second place Tuesday. Sara Jacobs, who conducted foreign affairs work during the Obama Administration, finished in third place, followed by retired Marine Col. Doug Applegate, who nearly defeated Issa in 2016.
In the 52nd District, which includes Poway and Rancho Bernardo, incumbent Scott Peters, D-La Jolla, collected 57 percent of the votes cast Tuesday and will face Republican Omar Qudrant, an attorney, who placed second among the six Republican challengers with 15 percent of the vote.
Other contested local election results:
State Senate, 38th District – Republican Brian Jones led with 59 percent and will face Democrat Jeff Griffith, who finished second with 39 percent. They will run off in November to replace termed-out Sen. Joel Anderson. The district includes Poway. Anderson, meanwhile received 32 percent support in his run to represent the Fourth District on the State Board of Equalization and will face one of three closely-bunched challengers in November, depending on the final vote count.
District attorney – Appointed incumbent Summer Stephan defeated Genevieve Jones-Wright, 64 to 36 percent.
Sheriff – Voters re-elected Bill Gore to the post, giving him 56 percent of the vote to the 43 percent given to challenger Dave Myers.
Assessor/recorder/county clerk – Incumbent Ernie Dronenburg won another term by collecting 64 percent of the vote to challenger Matt Strabone’s 36 percent.
County Board of Education - In District 3, incumbent Alicia Munoz won with 57 percent of the vote. In District 5, incumbent Rick Shea won with 52 percent of the vote. The two districts both include parts of the Poway Unified School District.
Superior Court judges – In the two contested contests, Judge Herbert Exarhos received 65 percent of the vote to defeat Vicki Rothman while Judge Gary Kreep won 32 percent support and will face deputy district attorney Matt Brower, who received 26 percent, in November.
Votes reported were as of Wednesday morning. They do not the anticipated 150,000 to 200,000 ballots that were mailed or dropped off countywide on Tuesday, which may take several days to count.
(City News Service contributed to this story.)
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