About 50 people are gathered in the courtyard of the Kimpton Mirador Hotel in downtown Pacific Grove just after 8pm on Tuesday, Nov 3, sipping wine, munching on French fries and charcuterie while waiting for local election results. Although they are there to support Mayor Nick Smith, running for a second term against former councilmember Luke Coletti in a non-partisan race, they are in a good mood as more Democrats nationally were reported to win seats in the House and Senate.
As the minutes wore on with no Monterey County results forthcoming, Smith stood with his family, watching a large monitor and waiting. Councilmember Tina Rau sat at a nearby table with her iPad, constantly hitting the refresh button hoping for the first tallies to appear.
When the first results flashed on the monitor more than 20 minutes later, the crowd erupted in shouts and hollers. Smith had a commanding lead, with 2,827 votes over Coletti’s 2,140, or 57 percent of the vote, compared to 43 percent.
Next came results in District 1 followed by more shouts of approval, where the incumbent, Councilmember Cynthia Garfield, an ally of Smith’s, was ahead of challenger Kevin Hanley, 489 to 416. The crowd was also buoyed by results in District 3, where Tara Leweling was ahead in a three-way race with 293 votes, with 43.3 percent. Andrew Kubica had 256 votes for 37.8 percent, and Susan Goldbeck attracted 127 votes, just under 19 percent.
Incumbent Lori McDonnell, running for a two-year, at-large seat as the P.G. City Council phases in district-based elections, won her race easily against James Ogle, who did not campaign aside from an appearance at a candidate forum. She had 3,942 votes to Ogle’s 616.
“This is a mandate, folks,” Rau told the crowd. “Pacific Grove needs to be progressive. We showed tonight we are progressive and we are going to move forward.” She later pointed out that if the leads hold, the P.G. Council will be majority women, possibly a first in the town’s history.
In the mayor’s race, Coletti outspent Smith by nearly $9,000, with an outlay of $20,406 to Smith’s $11,508. Coletti used the $20,600 he raised, including over $13,000 in loans to his own campaign, to send out several mailers and text messages to voters.
Smith ran a leaner campaign, relying on knocking on doors with help from the Pacific Grove Progressives. He estimates he visited about 1,000 homes during the campaign, joined often by councilmember-elect Chris Thomas, a newcomer who ran unopposed in District 5.
“We had a lot of great results tonight and I’m really excited about the future,” Smith told supporters. “We’re going to do some great things this term.”
The crowd was also excited by the win for Measure R, which will raise the sales tax by 0.375, taking it from 9.25 percent to 9.625 percent. It’s expected to raise $1 million annually.
In the race for Pacific Grove Unified School District’s District 1 seat, former P.G. councilmember Dan Miller was leading with 383 votes, or 37 percent. Chuck Brinker had 341 votes for 33 percent. Stephen Bennett had 306 votes, for just over 29 percent, as of 8:25pm on Tuesday night.