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Preliminary results point to a face-off between East Palo Alto council member Lisa Gauthier and East Palo Alto Mayor Antonio López in the race for San Mateo County’s District 4 supervisor, as Gauthier has yet to clinch the majority needed to steer clear of a November 2024 runoff.
Gauthier took an early lead Tuesday night but never reached the 50% threshold needed to secure the victory outright.
As of March 7, the San Mateo County Elections Office shows Gauthier at the forefront with 47.91% of the vote (5,966 votes), closely followed by López, who garnered 23.34% (2,906 votes). The other candidates, Maggie Cornejo, Paul Bocanegra, and Celeste Brevard, trailed behind with 14.26% (1,776 votes), 8.29% (1,032 votes), and 6.21% (773 votes), respectively.
Gauthier’s lead over López is substantial, reflecting a significant gap in voter support. With Gauthier receiving 5,966 votes, she holds a notable advantage of 3,060 votes over López, who has secured 2,906 votes.
Gauthier felt confident about her chances to capture the district seat.
“I’m not going to say I’m shocked,” she said of her early, comfortable lead Tuesday night. “But I’m grateful for the votes, and I’m grateful for the support.”
She still needed more than 50% of the votes to win outright and not go to a November run-off against the second-place vote-getter in this primary. But she liked her position in the polls.
Gauthier, an East Palo native, began her career in politics in 2012 and has served as mayor and vice mayor three times each. She led the city during the COVID-19 pandemic and last year’s storms when the town dealt with power outages.
“It is very early,” she said from her home, monitoring the election outcome with her daughter and grandson. “We’re continuing to watch the results, but we’re excited for where we are right now.”
The low voter turnout, however, disappointed candidates.
“I thought there would be more because voting has been made easier,” Gauthier said. “I don’t know how we can re-engage voters in the primaries. We know in November it’ll be different. Everyone has to realize their vote matters.”
Lopez described the District 4 race as being close and eyes a possible showdown with his fellow East Palo Alto council colleague in November.
“We’re poised to make the top two,” he said, “and I look forward to spreading our campaign’s message of results for San Mateo County. Voters want a supervisor who improves public safety, builds affordable housing and funds education. I’m looking forward to watching the results play out.”
López, 29, who grew up in East Palo Alto and is a first-generation college student, became the city’s mayor in December after serving as a council member for some time. He attended Duke University, Rutgers-Newark and later received his master’s at Oxford before spending some time as a district representative for State Sen. Josh Becker.
A key objective in Brevard’s campaign for District 4 was to encourage people to vote. But the voting numbers early on showed “a lack of faith in democracy,” Brevard said.
However, she hoped that those numbers would rise.
By Wednesday morning, a total of 92,359 votes had been counted, representing about 21.2% of total registered voters, according to the county.
“There are still many votes that haven’t been counted,” she said. “So I will say I am hopeful for a much more robust turnout, and I am excited to see the shift in results as more are counted.”
But she wasn’t expecting any shift would help her contend. “This was my first campaign,” she said. “It was a long shot to win.”
However, she enjoyed the experience of running for local office and could do so again. “We’ll see,” Brevard said.
Bocanegra also believes the election outcome remains far from decided. “It’s still a tight race,” he said.
The winner of District 4 will oversee much of the mid-Peninsula and concerns particular to the area such as sea-level rise, housing, public safety, the ongoing gap between the affluent and poor, and the expanding technology sector as the county has become an extension of Silicon Valley.
The district covers an area of approximately 33 square miles and encompasses Redwood City, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto and the unincorporated community of North Fair Oaks. More than 142,000 residents live in the district.
The San Mateo County Elections office reported that as of Monday’s close of business day, it had received roughly 90,000 mail-in ballots and 1,333 votes cast at vote centers, so with San Mateo County’s 435,482 registered voters, this represents a current turnout rate of 20.87%, said Jim Irizarry, San Mateo County Assistant Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder & Assistant Chief Elections Officer.
As of March 6, the Elections Office has received approximately 150,000 ballots. Of these, 92,359 ballots have been cast and counted, with approximately 57,641 ballots in various stages of processing, said Irizarry.
The next semi-official election results reports will be posted on the county website starting Thursday, March 7, no later than 4:30 p.m. Additional semi-official results reports will then be released on the following dates:
• Monday, March 11
• Wednesday, March 13
• Friday, March 15
• Monday, March 18
• Wednesday, March 20
• Friday, March 22
This story will updated as more results come in.
Pulse Editor Michelle Iracheta contributed to this report.
