Quick Take
Incumbent Manu Koenig has secured a second term, defeating challenger Lani Faulkner's well-funded and organized campaign to unseat him. Koenig, with just one term under his belt, will start 2025 as the longest-tenured supervisor on the board.
Tuesday, March 19, 4:30 p.m. — Incumbent Manu Koenig has secured his path to a second term as District 1 county supervisor, defeating challenger Lani Faulkner, whose campaign attempted to paint Koenig as an out-of-touch and absent supervisor who failed to properly represent the district.
Of the 18,634 votes cast, Koenig’s 9,217 votes (52.4%) leads Faulkner’s 8,278 votes (47%) through Friday’s count. As is the case with a two-person local primary race, the winner earns the seat outright — no need for a runoff contest in the November general election. Write-in candidates received 104 votes.
Turnout in District 1 was at 49.6% through Tuesday’s tally, and countywide turnout sat at 45.6%.
County Clerk Tricia Webber still has an estimated 600 same-day registrations and 50 provisional ballots left to count. The next update is slated for Tuesday.
Previous updates
Friday, March 15, 4:45 p.m. — Of the 17,509 votes cast, Koenig’s 9,193 votes (52.5%) leads Faulkner’s 8,215 votes (46.9%) through Friday’s count. As is the case with a two-person local primary race, the winner earns the seat outright — no need for a runoff contest in the November general election. Write-in candidates received 101 votes.
Monday, March 11, 4:30 p.m. — Incumbent Manu Koenig has secured his path to a second term as District 1 county supervisor, defeating challenger Lani Faulkner, whose campaign attempted to paint Koenig as an out-of-touch and absent supervisor who failed to properly represent the district.
The 2,220 votes added Monday to the District 1 contest showed Koenig maintaining a 987-vote lead with only 853 known votes left to count and another 1,265 ballots outstanding countywide. Lookout has called the race in favor of Koenig winning a second term.
Of the 16,514 votes cast, Koenig’s 8,704 votes (52.7%) leads Faulkner’s 7,717 votes (46.7%). As is the case with a two-person local primary race, the winner earns the seat outright — no need for a runoff contest in the November general election. Write-in candidates received 93 votes.
This puts turnout in the race at 47%, well over Santa Cruz County Clerk Tricia Webber’s earlier prediction for a countywide turnout of 41%. Webber will add another batch of ballots to the tally Tuesday. Countywide, uncounted ballots included 2,200 vote-by-mail ballots, 700 same-day-registration ballots, 50 provisional ballots, 350 damaged ballots, and however many ballots arrive in the mail by Tuesday’s mail drop.
Friday, March 8, 6:30 p.m. — After Friday’s update in which another 2,885 votes were tallied in the District 1 county supervisor race, incumbent Manu Koenig still leads challenger Lani Faulkner, though the gap between the candidates slightly narrowed.
Of the 14,216 votes cast, Koenig’s 7,526 votes (52.9%) leads Faulkner’s 6,612 votes (46.5%). This a two-person race, so the winner takes the seat, without a fall runoff in the November general election. Write-in candidates received 78 votes.
Koenig, who told Lookout on Wednesday that he thought he’d be able to announce victory after updated results Friday, said via text only that he was “still feeling very good about these numbers.” Faulkner did not return Lookout’s request for comment.
This puts turnout in the race at 40.4% — Santa Cruz County Clerk Tricia Webber estimated Wednesday that turnout countywide would hover around 41%. Webber will add more ballots to the tally on Monday. Webber announced that countywide, uncounted ballots included 11,950 vote-by-mail ballots, 700 same-day registration ballots, 50 provisional ballots, 450 damaged ballots and however many ballots arrive in the mail between Friday and Tuesday.
Wednesday, March 6, 2 a.m. – In the lone Santa Cruz County supervisor race certain to be decided in this primary, incumbent Manu Koenig ended Tuesday night with a 9.5-percentage-point lead over Lani Faulkner, 54.5% to 45%, in the 1:48 a.m. final vote count of the evening, a margin of 1,203 votes.
Koenig, speaking from his election night party at Chaminade Hotel and Spa earlier in the evening, said he was feeling confident after the first tallied batch of ballots.
“Obviously, a lot of tension still needs to unwind in my brain, but ultimately I feel like this is a pretty good lead,” Koenig said. “The only time I’ve ever seen [an early lead] like this unravel was with the Third District [supervisor race in 2022]. I’m going to sleep well tonight.”
Standing outside her own party at East Side Eatery in Pleasure Point, Faulkner said she was letting go of any reaction to the first batch of ballots.
“There’s a lot of votes still out there,” Faulkner said. “We’ve run a really strong campaign.”
Of the 11,331 votes counted by 1:48 a.m., Koenig had 5,860 and Lani Faulkner had 4,837. This a two-person race, so the winner takes the seat, without a fall runoff in the November general election.
County Clerk Tricia Webber told Lookout on Tuesday evening her office expects to release its next update on Friday, with another 10,000-15,000 votes tallied.
The vote total so far could account for more than 50% of the total vote in that race. That estimation is based on the percentage of registered voters – 47% – who voted in the 2022 primary. District 1 shows 37,063 registered voters. Of course, that percentage could vary in this election.
The District 1 county supervisor race has been highlighted by tension surrounding both the candidates’ platforms and the seemingly never-ending arguments around how to proceed with the potential for passenger rail in Santa Cruz County.
Both incumbent Koenig and challenger Faulkner have accused each other of being single-issue candidates on the Coastal Rail Trail project. Koenig served as executive director of Santa Cruz Greenway, the organization that worked to get Measure D on the June 2022 ballot. Faulkner, a rail proponent who founded Equity Transit, helped lead a successful opposition campaign to Measure D – which was ultimately rejected by more than 70% of voters.
But there is more tension between the two candidates than just their involvement in one of the county’s biggest issues over the past few years. Faulkner has said that she has been asked to run for Koenig’s seat by “local schools, school board members and union members” whom she said feel that Koenig has not met their needs. Koenig countered that he holds regular town halls and office hours to hear from local residents and has worked to improve transit in the county.
This year’s race was in some ways a repeat of the previous election in the district. Some high-profile local politicos have backed Faulkner, including John Leopold — the three-time District 1 supervisor whom Koenig defeated in 2020 — along with former Assemblymember Mark Stone. District 1 has also seen the most money raised of any race, with the two candidates bringing in more than $150,000 combined.
Koenig and Faulkner also have different ideas on how to use the county’s $1.2 billion budget. Faulkner said she would prioritize bringing in more funding from the state and other agencies, citing her work as a Democratic Party state delegate. Koenig isn’t convinced that persistence will get the county more money, and instead said he’s working to build a statewide coalition to push for changes to how property taxes are collected and allocated.
On housing, Faulkner has advocated for rent stabilization and more Section 8 vouchers to get people housed securely before they fall into homelessness. Koenig said he’d like to expand safe parking capacity and create temporary and transitional housing and mental health care facilities. Although he doesn’t think the county can afford to pay people’s rent, he did say he thinks the county should have a fund dedicated to emergency rental assistance when needed.
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