Morning Lookout: Where local vote counts stand; next steps for South of Laurel development

Rise and shine, Lookout friends. It’s Wednesday, June 3, and it’s looking like another pleasant day around Santa Cruz County, with mostly sunny skies after the fog mixes out and high temperatures from the mid-70s to the mid-80s.

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Lookout’s election team was crunching numbers into the wee hours this morning on races around Santa Cruz County, and you’ll find not only the latest tallies in chart form but also stories from our correspondents. Ryan Coonerty was comfortably ahead in Santa Cruz’s crowded mayor contest; city council incumbents Scott Newsome and Renee Golder were in front in District 4 and District 6, respectively; Tony Nuñez had a double-digit lead over District 4 Santa Cruz County Supervisor Felipe Hernandez; and in the race for Santa Cruz County Superior Court, immigration attorney Alisa Thomas had opened up an 8% margin over criminal defense attorney Bryan Hackett. The next update from the county clerk’s office is due at 4 p.m. Thursday.

It being Wednesday, Jessica M. Pasko has this week’s look around Santa Cruz County business, leading with a hearing before the Santa Cruz city planning commission for the proposed mixed-use development at Laurel and Front streets downtown, on the site of the current Ace Hardware.

Before we dig into the hump-day headlines, though, some upcoming Lookout happenings you might want to get into your calendar:

• Saturday, June 6: Go behind the scenes of Santa Cruz VegFest, a vegan food and cultural festival that promotes a plant-based lifestyle, at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds, with Lookout food & drink correspondent Lily Belli in a members-only event. More info here.
• Wednesday, June 10: Lookout Trivia Night returns to downtown Santa Cruz, with the retired-ish Wallace Baine as emcee. It’s free at Abbott Square, but please do RSVP here.
• Thursday, June 11: The Santa Cruz Area Chamber of Commerce will host a business after-hours event at Lookout’s office above Pacific Avenue. Attendees will get to tour the newsroom, meet staff members and learn more about Lookout. Details and registration here.

Let’s hit those headlines.

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Santa Cruz County 2026 primary election results in charts: Coonerty, Newsome, Golder lead in SC city races; Nuñez and Thomas lead for supervisor, judge

Find the results for all local races in Santa Cruz County’s 2026 primary election after the final overnight update from the county clerk’s office, and with the next round of numbers set for Thursday afternoon. Max Chun runs the numbers.

This week in Santa Cruz County business: Planning commission weighs next steps for Front & Laurel project; apple farmers face shift as Martinelli’s cancels contracts

This week in local business, Jessica M. Pasko has the latest on a proposed mixed-use development in downtown Santa Cruz, a seismic development for South County apple growers and names, numbers and dates to know. Read it all here.

DAILY DIGEST

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Thanks for reading, and may your Wednesday be a good one.

Will McCahill