San Diego City Councilwoman Monica Montgomery Steppe led Tuesday in the special election to fill the vacant seat in San Diego County’s 4th Supervisor District, but did not appear to have enough votes to avoid a runoff.
With approximately 80% of votes counted, Montgomery Steppe, a Democrat, attorney and San Diego City Council president pro tem, held 40.9%. She was heavily backed by labor organizations in the campaign for the officially nonpartisan position.
Republican Amy Reichert, founder of Reopen San Diego, was in second place with 29.0% of the vote.
If no candidate receives a majority vote in this special election, there will be a special general election on Nov. 7 to fill the seat vacated by former Supervisor Nathan Fletcher, who stepped down following what he describes as an “inappropriate relationship” with a subordinate. The woman has alleged sexual assault and harassment, but Fletcher has denied those claims.
The successful candidate will fill the seat for the remainder of the current term, which ends in January 2027.
Democrat Janessa Goldbeck, a Marine veteran and nonprofit organizer, followed Reichert with 25.3% of the vote, while Republican, Marine veteran and U.S. Census Bureau employee Paul McQuigg had slightly more than 5.1%.
The final election night results included 76,851 mail ballots and 2,438 vote center ballots. Approximately 20,000 ballots remain to be counted, according to the San Diego County Registrar of Voters. The next update in the count is expected by 5 p.m. on Thursday
If the results hold, it presents an interesting scenario for the November election. While both Montgomery Steppe and Goldbeck are Democrats, they represent different ends of the party, with the former considered more progressive and the latter more moderate.
Voters who might otherwise go for a moderate Democrat could teeter into the Republican camp to turn the tide for Reichert, or Dem voters — who represented more than 66% of the vote Tuesday night — could toe the party line for a convincing victory.
Currently on the county Board of Supervisors, Democrats Nora Vargas and Terra Lawson-Remer and Republicans Joel Anderson and Jim Desmond often deadlock on politicized issues. The new supervisor could tip the board either more progressive or more conservative, depending on the results.
Mail ballots were still coming in. Those sent right before or on Aug. 15 have seven days to arrive if postmarked by Election Day. Additionally, there are provisional ballots. People who missed the July 31 registration deadline could have conditionally registered and voted provisionally in person up to and on Election Day.
Fletcher, who sought treatment out of state for alcohol abuse and post- traumatic stress disorder, resigned from his seat on the board effective May 15.
He announced his resignation March 29 after admitting to what he called affair with former Metropolitan Transit System employee Grecia Figueroa, who is suing him.
District 4 is the smallest geographically of the county’s five districts, consisting of central San Diego, La Mesa, Lemon Grove, as far north as Clairemont Mesa and portions of Kearny Mesa, as far south as Paradise Valley, as far east as south El Cajon and west as far as Mission Hills.
Updated at 7:40 a.m., Wednesday, Aug. 16, 2023
City News Service contributed to this article.