Measure Q, the Santa Cruz County Water and Wildfire Protection Initiative, has passed, with 60% of the vote.
Election 2024: Nov. 5 results
School district ballot measures: Most districts secure victories, Live Oak falls short
The majority of Santa Cruz County school district bond and parcel tax measures secured victories after a 4 p.m. Tuesday voting update. Live Oak School District’s Measure N was the only bond measure to fail.
Watsonville residents pass Measure V, Measure W
Watsonville residents look to be passing Measures V and W after Tuesday’s updated vote count, with Measure V receiving 7,434 votes (57.9%) and Measure W receiving 7,485 votes (58.6%) in support. Each needs a majority vote to pass.
Jimmy Dutra secures another term in Watsonville City Council, defeating Coffman-Gomez
Incumbent Jimmy Dutra was ahead by more than 10% and 200-plus votes after a Tuesday update from the Santa Cruz County Elections Department and looks set to keep his District 6 seat on the Watsonville City Council, beating out real estate broker and former councilmember Trina Coffman-Gomez.
Scotts Valley City Council: Lind, Clark and Jett win
With Tuesday afternoon’s round of vote tallies, Donna Lind, Steve Clark and Krista Jett won three seats on the Scotts Valley City Council. Corky Roberson, Mercedes Molloy, John Lewis and Dustin Lopez were unsuccessful.
Scotts Valley Unified School District: Newcomers Espinola, Redenbacher and Turzak win
After a 4 p.m. Tuesday vote drop, Stephanie Espinola, Gary Redenbacher and Erica Turzak won seats on the Scotts Valley Unified School District governing board. Michael Schulman, Mitali Weiglein and Tuka Gafari were unsuccessful.
Passage of Measure Z, Santa Cruz’s soda tax, nears certainty but not yet definite after Friday’s count
Measure Z, the 2-cent sugary drink tax proposed in the city of Santa Cruz, now has an almost-certain path to victory after it widened its lead to 1,129 votes on Friday; however, more than 1,800 ballots remain to be counted in the districts that touch the city of Santa Cruz. The county clerk’s office expects “nearly all” the ballots to be tallied by Tuesday at 4 p.m.
Thousands of uncounted ballots are holding up county races. We still know little about them.
In Santa Cruz County, most election results are in, but two critical races — Measure Z’s soda tax and the District 2 supervisor seat — remain unresolved. Thousands of same-day registration ballots hold the key, but resource constraints and certification priorities have slowed their processing at the county clerk’s office.
Initial tallies bring some surprises across Santa Cruz County’s elections
A rundown of what we know so far about how races across the county are shaping up. Tens of thousands of ballots remain to be counted, but drama has begun for incumbent city councilmembers in Watsonville and Capitola, while Santa Cruz’s soda tax holds narrow support and the race for District 2 county supervisor remains a toss-up.
Adam Schiff easily wins U.S. Senate seat in deep-blue California
The Burbank Democrat will take the U.S. Senate seat held by Dianne Feinstein for 30 years. No Republican has won statewide in California since 2006, and Steve Garvey didn’t break that losing streak.

