Beyond the talking points: The Weekly gets up close and personal with the candidates.

Candidates on the campaign trail are generally trained to stick to their talking points. On Election Day, the Weekly asked some of the candidates to go off script for a minute to reflect on some of the more mundane elements of their day, as well as for their big-picture take on what they learned during the campaign.

Some won, some lost, some will still be watching the votes get counted over the coming days. (As of this writing, the Monterey County Elections Department is still waiting to tabulate how many ballots remain to be counted, but regular ballots—not provisional ballots—cast on Election Day have already been tallied.)

We asked the following questions. Answers, by candidate, follow below.

1. What did you eat for breakfast this morning?

2. What superstition or good-luck rituals did you rely on for Election Day?

3. If you could be bestowed with any superpower, what would you choose?

4. What book are you reading right now?

5. What was your highlight/lowlight of the campaign?

6. What's a lesson you learned from a voter on the campaign trail?

U.S. CONGRESSMAN JIMMY PANETTA, D-CARMEL VALLEY, WHO LEADS STRONGLY OVER TWO CHALLENGERS IN HIS RE-ELECTION BID

1. Breakfast: After taking the redeye flight back to Washington, D.C. and arriving at 7am, he started the day off with "a very large cup of coffee."

2. Lucky charm: "Before I left for D.C., I rubbed my MTAL All League Wrestling medal I won back in 1987. A reminder that hard work pays off."

3. Superpower: "Teleportation so I wouldn’t have to fly back and forth to D.C. and could spend more time at home in district."

4. Book: The Class of '74: Congress after Watergate and the Roots of Partisanship."I'm reading about how the new members bucked the old guard to get stuff done in D.C."

5. Highlight/lowlight: Hearing about the results of the personal service I provided to constituents.

6. Lessons learned: "That this position really can impact people and the opportunities they have for the future."

MONTEREY COUNTY SHERIFF STEVE BERNAL, WHO WON HIS RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN

1. Breakfast: “I don’t think I had breakfast. I’m not a big breakfast eater, really. I should be, that’s the most important meal of the day. I was so busy, did I eat today? I had a tamale for lunch.”

2. Lucky charm: “Nothing, really. I just had so much work to do today because of the [Monterey County] budget, I was just busy doing that.”

3. Superpower: Strength.

4. Book: From Colored Town to Pebble Beach: The Story of the Singing Sheriff by Pat DuVal. (Duval was Monterey County’s first black sheriff’s deputy; he appeared alongside Bernal in a campaign commercial.)

5. Highlight/lowlight: High: “Tonight, definitely.”

Low: “Having to put my wife through a lot of the negatives that were out of social media, having to watch my wife put up with that.”

6. Lessons learned: “A lot of the feedback I got was they liked my campaign ads, just staying on point. The other side was accusing me of so much. People told me, I’m just glad you stayed on point. I just focused on doing my job.”

DEPUTY SCOTT DAVIS, WHO RAN UNSUCCESSFULLY FOR SHERIFF

1. Breakfast: Normally Davis’ day begins at noon based on his work schedule, but he started early on Election Day because of City Hall business. His routine: Call in an order to the Starbucks near his house, then pick it up on his way out. June 5 is was a tall Americano with almond milk and a reduced-fat slice of coffee cake.

2. Lucky charm: "I’m not a superstitious person."

3. Superpower: “I don’t think I really wish for any type of superpower. I’m very content with where I’m at in life, and I'm content with what I’ve accomplished. In my daily life as a deputy sheriff, being able to help people is something pretty special. Maybe in a way I consider that a superpower.”

4. Book: “The budget for the city of Salinas.” (Davis is a Salinas city councilman.)

5. Highlight/lowlight: High: “Going out and meeting people. I love hearing from people in the community and building friendships.”

Low: “The dirty politics and negative campaigning from the other side.”

6. Lessons learned: He says he heard stories from voters about desperate times, including facing homelessness, helps him put things in perspective: “You see other people in the worst parts of their life and become more grateful for what you have.”

NEWLY ELECTED COUNTY SUPERVISOR CHRIS LOPEZ, WHO WON OUTRIGHT IN A THREE-WAY RACE TO REPRESENT DISTRICT 3

1. Breakfast: "I had four eggs from the chickens on our ranch. I just collected them, cleaned them and cooked them—started the day right."

2. Superstition: "No, none."

3. Superpower: "Maybe reading people’s minds so I would know if they were lying to me. That would serve me best in this job."

4. Book: "It’s a good book about the failures of government, the unintended consequences—an old textbook from college. I love that stuff."

5. Highlight/Lowlight: High: "The whole thing was a highlight. But the biggest, I’d say, was the kick-off party. We were expecting maybe 30 people, but we got 100. It showed that the energy was there."

6. Lessons learned: "From my conversations with people it was just to keep an open mind. I remember one woman—an old Republican—who told me that our cannabis policies have always been too strict."

ALEJANDRO CHAVEZ, WHO RAN FOR COUNTY SUPERVISOR FOR DISTRICT 3 AND LOST; HE IS ALSO A SOLEDAD CITY COUNCILMAN

1. Breakfast: Toast and coffee.

2. Lucky charm: "Not at all, nothing like that."

3. Superpower: He shrugs, and says, “I’m not interested in that stuff.”

5. Highlight/lowlight: “All the people we’ve met in the course of the campaign and seeing tons of volunteers, from high schoolers to college kids, committing their time. There’s been no lowlight.”

6. Lessons learned: "I’ve learned from voters all the variety of issues impacting South County. From water quality to access to housing there’s a lot of quality-of-life issues not given enough attention."

EDGAR ALCANTARA, WHO RAN FOR COUNTY SUPERVISOR FOR DISTRICT 3 AND LOST

1. Breakfast: "Three eggs, quinoa with cucumber and tomato and coffee with lots of milk. It was a healthy breakfast, mostly."

2. Lucky charm: "Just my faith, the usual, to prepare me for the day."

3. Superpower: "To heal, whether physically or emotionally; I want to the power to end suffering."

5. Highlight/lowlight: High: "Meeting people and relating to them one-on-one. I’ve only spent $2,000 in this campaign, so to even get the opportunity to reach out is a blessing."

Low: "The lowlight was seeing a disabled homeless man in King City. He looked in bad shape and his wheelchair was filthy, I knew he needed help. But seeing him in such need made me realize that South County has no homeless services, and this is the consequences."

6. Lessons learned: "One voter from Soledad told me try to be as non-judgmental as I can in this campaign. He was interesting, had the signs for all three candidates [Alcantara, Lopez and Chavez] on his lawn. I learned that regardless of the challenges in this, it’s about always pushing forward. I’ll campaign again in a heartbeat."

COUNTY SUPERVISOR JOHN PHILLIPS, WHO REPRESENTS DISTRICT 2 AND WON IN HIS CAMPAIGN FOR RE-ELECTION

1. Breakfast: "I don’t eat breakfast, I don’t eat lunch."

2. Lucky charm: "None. I was so busy getting ready for the continuation of the [Monterey County] budget hearings, it was good I was so busy because I wasn’t focused on the election. We got out at 6:20pm tonight."

3. Superpower: "The power to try to make sure that all the kids in the community were growing up strong and healthy, and were enthused about life and lead productive lives."

4. Book: "I’m not [currently reading a book], I just finished all the budget stuff. My wife picks all my books for me, and I just started [The President is Missing] by [Bill] Clinton and [James] Patterson that Clinton just got interviewed on. I just started reading it, but it started off pretty interesting. She always finds me a book to read, I need something to put me to sleep at night."

5. Highlight/lowlight: High: "The number of people that rallied behind me and with me that some I hadn’t talked to in a long time."

Low: "Negative things that were said about me after all the years I worked in this community. I was a judge so 50 percent of the people walking out of the courtroom don’t like you, and I was used to that. But saying some things, especially the anti-women thing, after all I did for domestic violence council, after all the other things I did, and seeing my family have to endure that, it bothered me."

6. Lessons learned: "The biggest thing I saw was the concern of people for animals, and the welfare of animals and what we can do for them was one of key things I heard from so many of the people I was meeting, and they wanted me to do more. They heard about what I was trying to do at the animal shelter, and combining the Salinas animal shelter and the county animal shelter, and their desire to see some progress on that."

CANDIDATE FOR COUNTY SUPERVISOR REGINA GAGE, WHO RAN FOR THE DISTRICT 2 SEAT AND LOST

1. Breakfast: "A banana protein shake. Is that really what the Weekly wants to know? Ask me something because I’ve got a lot of people I’ve got to talk to."

2. Lucky charm: Declined to answer.

3. Superpower: Declined to answer.

4. Book: Declined to answer.

5. Highlight/lowlight: "There have been so many highlights, it’s really hard to say. Just the wonderful people we’ve met in North County, and the great support we’ve received, learning more about our community, all the encouragement.

"Some of the lows? There have been some lows certainly, just the amount of stress when, for me, I continued working, and the fundraising that’s necessary to run a campaign."

6. Lessons learned: "Don’t make any assumptions about people. There are lots of different types of people, and you can’t assume that if it’s a woman they’re going to support you, and if it’s a man they’re not going to support you."

STATE ASSEMBLY DISTRICT 30 CANDIDATE NEIL KITCHENS, WHO CAME IN SECOND PLACE AND WILL HEAD TO A NOVEMBER RUNOFF AGAINST LEADING CANDIDATE ROBERT RIVAS

1. Breakfast: "I’ve had butterflies on steroids. I had two Ningxia drinks [by essential oil company Young Living]. And coffee. I didn’t have time to eat today because I was planning the [election night] party and voting at the polls. It would have been good to have grits and hominy. I’m from the South."

2. Lucky charm: "I relied on my grandmother: never count your chickens before they’re hatched."

3. Superpower: "I’d like to be able to fly."

4. Book: "I hate to say I’m not reading a book right now, but I don’t have the time."

5. Highlight/lowlight: “My highlight and lowlight are kind of the same thing. My low point was when I thought another Republican would join the race. My highlight was when I found out that was not the case."

6. Lessons learned: "I was surprised to learn so many people were concerned about the number of people registered…more than there are residents in a county."

(This claim was made last summer by the Washington, D.C., conservative group Judicial Watch that said 11 California counties had more registered voter than residents. The claim was echoed in a tweet by conservative Republican gubernatorial candidate Travis Allen, who Kitchens supported. California Secretary of State Alex Padilla called the allegations “baseless.” The claims were also deconstructed by media outlets including the Sacramento Bee, San Diego Union Tribune and other news organizations. The charge comes from combining “active voter” and “inactive voter” lists.)

LARRY TACK, A CANDIDATE FOR MONTEREY COUNTY ASSESSOR WHO LOST IN HIS BID TO UNSEAT THE INCUMBENT

1. Breakfast: A banana and a cup of coffee.

2. Lucky charm: "I don’t have any."

3. Superpower: "I’m unsure. A good answer doesn’t come to mind."

4. Book: A biography of Thomas Jefferson.

5. Highlight/lowlight: "No low points. My high points were that I was humbled by the caring and the values and the sharing everybody had for what I was trying to do. I’m just very humbled by the strength other people gave me, the support, the friendship and the values that they shared.”

6. Lessons learned: "I learned people don’t know what we do [in the Assessor’s Office] and there are so many benefits we offer taxpayers that they’re not getting, such as homeowners and veterans exemptions."

MONTEREY COUNTY ASSESSOR STEVE VAGNINI, WHO WON HIS BID FOR RE-ELECTION

1. Breakfast: Toast and chai tea.

2. Lucky charm: "I spent a lot of time with our cat, Charlie."

3. Superpower: "The ability to make people feel better."