As last night showed, big money in elections doesn’t always translate to wins.

Aric Sleeper here, coming down from the buzz of election night and ruminating on the wins and losses in the cities of Seaside and Monterey, which I cover.

One thing that surprised me was that the campaigns in those races with the most cash in their coffers have tentatively lost—as was the case with Alex Miller in Seaside, Vicki Nohrden and Vince Malfitano in Monterey, and Measure H in Salinas—a trend that seemed to be reflected nationally. 

As a longtime journalist, I have covered more elections than I can recall, and my cynical belief was that the candidates with the most yard signs always win. This time around, that certainly was not the case, and was, in fact, the opposite. I was happy to be proven wrong. 

On election night, each of the Weekly’s reporters chose to attend one or more watch parties, and for me, heading to Oscar’s Playground on Cannery Row was a no-brainer, with Monterey Mayor Tyler Williamson, Councilmember Kim Barber and newcomer to politics, Alec Manas all waiting for the results in one place. The fact that other candidates wouldn’t disclose the location of their parties to me also made the decision easier.

At the party, before the results were published, Williamson told me he was anxious to see the results but that he felt good, and it showed as he took photos and danced with supporters. He also said he recognized that residents are concerned about the city’s ongoing budget deficit, which his opponents highlighted, and that righting the city’s fiscal ship will be his ongoing priority. 

“The Council and (city) staff have taken this (deficit) seriously, and we’re committed to addressing this in the long term,” Williamson says. “We just have to remember at the end of the day, we’re all in this together, and we’re all committed and dedicated toward setting the city up for success in the future.”

After the results dropped around 8:30pm and all the candidates at Oscar’s showed promising numbers, with Williamson taking a substantial lead over Malfitano and Barber and Manas leading by small margins, Manas seemed the most surprised, shocked even. And with my hypothesis about the yard signs, I was too, with Nohrden signs plastered all over Monterey and Seaside and outgoing Councilmember Ed Smith endorsing her. 

I was also surprised that voters so strongly supported the City of Monterey’s Measure S after the failure of the sales tax increase, Measure D, in June. Measure S, the 1-percent sales tax to fund street, sidewalk, storm drain and ADA repairs and improvements in the City of Monterey, slated to expire March 31, 2027, was renewed another eight years, which I’m sure comes as a relief to Monterey Public Works and the City Manager’s Office dealing with an already tight budget. 

The end of the election season also comes as a relief to reporters everywhere. Now we can go back to covering the countless other stories in Monterey County and beyond.