Santa Cruz mayor: Ryan Coonerty secures early lead

Tuesday, 11:30 p.m. – Longtime Santa Cruz politico and UC Santa Cruz politics lecturer Ryan Coonerty has taken a comfortable early lead in the crowded, five-person Santa Cruz mayoral race. After the third vote update, Coonerty had 52.5% of ballots counted, or 3,910 of 7,965 votes. 

After Coonerty, Ami Chen Mills has 17.4% of the votes cast (1,296 ballots), Gillian Greensite has 11.9% (888 ballots), Joy Schendledecker has 9.1% (680 ballots) and Chris Krohn has 8.4% (629 ballots).

Watching the results from home with his family, Coonerty said he was feeling good, and tired from campaigning on the UC Santa Cruz campus from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

“I’m grateful to have strong support,” he said. “But I still think there’s lots of votes to count.” 

A candidate needs a simple majority (50% of the total votes cast plus 1) in order to win the election. If no candidate reaches that threshold, the top two vote-getters head to a run-off election in November.

Meanwhile, a mix of more than 40 supporters for the four other progressive candidates gathered at Rosie McCann’s Irish Pub in downtown Santa Cruz. The group crowded into the bar’s back room watching national and state election results and eating small plates of appetizers and sliders. The space had two televisions broadcasting live election results, and the candidates each donned their campaign merchandise as they spoke about their days full of phone calls and door knocks.

Sean Dougherty, running against incumbent U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta in California’s 19th District, organized the watch party which, in addition to mayoral candidates Chen Mills, Krohn and Schendledecker, also attracted city council candidates Hector Marin and Gabriella Noack. Greensite held a private watch party, and at 10 p.m. told Lookout it was too early to comment on the results. Chen Mills said she was exhausted from knocking on doors all day and wasn’t sure she would be able to stay up to see the final vote update. 

At the watch party, each of the candidates took a turn at a microphone and spoke about their campaigns and the early results. During her speech, Schendledecker thanked Krohn, Chen Mills and Greensite for all the ways they helped each other during the season and said she appreciated the collaborative spirit that marked their race. She did not say anything about Coonerty. 

She – along with the four other candidates – worked throughout the election season to present themselves as anti-establishment alternatives to Coonerty.  

“I really, really appreciate Chris and Ami and Gillian,” said Schendledecker. “We were in it together.”

Krohn told Lookout he was happy with his campaign, and that he felt it provided voters with another perspective other than Coonerty’s.  

“I think that the campaign was successful, just in itself,” he said. “Because we went up against the contender, the main candidate.”

The next to lead the city will have their hands full as Santa Cruz grapples with a range of challenges from affordability, a declining population and shrinking budgets.

Incumbent Fred Keeley chose not to seek reelection after serving one four-year term.

Over the past two decades, Coonerty served as a Santa Cruz city councilmember, mayor and county supervisor. Recently, he’s worked as an advisor to San Jose mayor and California gubernatorial candidate Matt Mahan. 

Greensite worked as head of rape prevention education at UC Santa Cruz for 30 years, and is a longtime environmentalist who has pushed back against the city on numerous occasions. For example, she was involved in a lawsuit against the city when it tried to change its heritage tree ordinance. 

Krohn has served two separate terms on the Santa Cruz City Council, with his first stint running from 1998 to 2002. During his second term, Krohn was recalled along with fellow councilmember Drew Glover in March 2020. He was also an educator in UCSC’s environmental studies program. 

Chen Mills is a community advocate and writer and ran for District 3 county supervisor in 2022. She’s also been a leader in the anti-Flock Safety camera movement. 

Schendledecker is an operations manager for local homeless shelter programs and has also had several unsuccessful campaigns for local offices. In 2022, she ran for mayor, losing to Keeley. In 2024, she ran for the District 3 seat on the Santa Cruz City Council, losing to incumbent Shebreh Kalantari-Johnson. 

Caly Plowman contributed to this story.

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