UPDATE: 11:14 a.m., Nov. 9, 2016:
Georgette Gomez's lead over opponent Ricardo Flores has grown. Gomez now has 52.5 percent of votes compared to Ricardo's 47.4 percent.
One hundred percent of precincts are reporting, however, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters website said 620,000 mail and provisional ballots are still left to count.
The race is separated by 969 votes.
UPDATE: 6:28 a.m., Nov. 9, 2016:
Georgette Gomez is now slightly leading in the race for the San Diego City Council District 9 seat.
With 86 percent of precincts reporting, Gomez has 51.8 percent of the vote and Ricardo Flores has 48.2 percent of the vote. A total of 622 votes currently separate the candidates.
UPDATE: 12:52 a.m., Nov. 9, 2016:
With less than half of precincts reporting, about two percentage points separated Ricardo Flores and Georgette Gomez in the race for San Diego City Council District 9. As of 12:41 a.m. Flores had a narrow lead over Gomez with 50.9 percent of the vote. Gomez, who started the evening with 46.6 percent of the vote, had 49.1 percent.
UPDATE: 10:51 p.m., Nov. 8, 2016:
Ricardo Flores' lead over Georgette Gomez in the race for San Diego City Council District 9 narrowed slightly in the 10 o'clock hour. With 20 percent of precincts reporting, Flores had 52.8 percent of the votes and Gomez had 47.2 percent.
“We’re mindful that it will be a long night," Gomez said Tuesday night. "But I’m very proud to have run a strong campaign that changed the conversation about affordable housing, ensuring that our neighborhoods are being prioritized, taking attention away from downtown, and that’s what I’m about.”
UPDATE: 8 p.m., Nov. 8, 2016:
Early results from the San Diego County Registrar of Voters show Ricardo Flores is leading in the race for San Diego City Council District 9 with 53.4 percent of the votes. Competitor Georgette Gomez has about 46.6 percent of the vote.
The 8 p.m. results come from mail-in ballots and represent about a quarter of the San Diego electorate.
The contest to represent San Diego’s ninth council district is the city’s only competitive council race this election.
Original post:
Candidates Ricardo Flores and Georgette Gómez are vying to replace Councilwoman Marti Emerald, who decided not to run for re-election. Flores and Gómez, both Democrats, advanced to the November runoff after beating out two competitors in the primary. Flores edged Gomez out by four percentage points but earned less than 50 percent of the vote.
Flores has helped lead Emerald's office for the last four years as chief of staff and served in the past as aide to Congresswoman Susan Davis.
Gómez is an associate director for the nonprofit Environmental Health Coalition and previously sat on the City Heights Area Planning Committee.
Flores has led Gómez in the money race: financial disclosure records show he has raised nearly $279,000 and has $51,500 of additional support from a committee funded by the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce. Gómez has raised just under $205,000. However, they both have racked up key endorsements from regional and local groups and officials.
Who is supporting whom?
Flores has the support of Davis, Emerald, San Diego City Council President Sherri Lightner, San Diego City Councilwoman Myrtle Cole San Diego, San Diego Congressman Juan Vargas and state Sens. Ben Hueso and Marty Block. He’s also backed by several labor unions that represent city employees, police officers, firefighters, lifeguards and deputy city attorneys.
Gómez, on the other hand, is supported by State Assemblymembers Toni Atkins and Lorena Gonzalez and San Diego City Councilmembers Todd Gloria and David Alvarez. She's also endorsed by the San Diego County Democratic Party, Sierra Club, League of Conservation Voters and labor unions that represent county employees in the construction, food service and hotel industries.
The district includes the northern communities of Kensington-Talmadge, where Flores resides, and the College Area. It stretches south to City Heights, where Gomez lives, and includes some neighborhoods in southeastern San Diego.
