In the latest update from the San Benito County Registrar of Voters, Kollin Kosmicki has increased his lead in the District 2 Supervisor Race.
The San Juan Bautista resident who built his campaign on “smart growth” and successfully opposed the Measure N Strada Verde project has accumulated 2,509 votes to Wayne Norton’s 2,406, or a 103-vote advantage (51 percent to 49 percent). That’s a slight uptick from the previous round of results that had Kosmicki ahead by 96 votes.
On Election Night, the race was too close to call, with neither candidate willing to declare victory or concede defeat. However, the latest vote totals seem to be trending toward Kosmicki’s favor.
“I’m happy with the latest numbers and vote trend and I’m optimistic we’re headed toward victory,” Kosmicki said.
Along with the defeat of Measure N, despite heavy spending by the developer of the proposed Strada Verde Innovation Park, Kosmicki’s probable election would indicate voter rejection of plans to commercially develop the 101 corridor south of the county’s border with Santa Clara County.
Kosmicki has called for “smart growth” and opposed both Measure N and plans to develop commercial nodes at Betabel and three other freeway exits. The Anzar High football coach and owner of a news and video production website, Kosmicki worked for 10 years as editor of the Free Lance, departing in 2017.
The County’s latest update—titled “semi-offical results update number 1”—came at 4:23pm Friday. The Registrar of Voters is expected to produce its final round of results by Monday evening. Should Kosmicki hold onto his lead, he will have repeated his performance in the March primaries, when he garnered 35 percent of the votes to easily outdistance four other candidates to win the primary. However, since no candidate won at least 50 percent of the vote, the top two vote getters—Kosmicki and Norton—went into a runoff in the general election to decide the outcome.
Note: This story will be updated as the final results are posted.
