Democrat Francine Busby swept away the lead for the 50th Congressional District with 43.92 percent of the vote, followed by Republican Brian Bilbray with 15.15 percent of the vote, according to unofficial election results on Wednesday, April 12.
Bilbray hasn’t cinched the Republican victory yet, however. Republican Eric Roach trails closely behind with 14.46 percent of the vote. Approximately 10,000 absentee/provisional votes remain to be counted.
As Busby failed to capture 50 percent of the vote, she and the top Republican candidate, plus Independent William Griffith and Libertarian Paul King, will compete in a run-off election on June 6.
The city clerk expects all ballots will be counted after 5 p.m. on Friday, April 14. To view the final count, visit www.sandiego.gov/city-clerk and click on “election results.” The official results will not be released until April 28 after the votes are manually tallied.
Trailing the forerunners, as of Wednesday, April 12, Republican Howard Kaloogian received 7.45 percent of the vote; Republican Bill Morrow received 5.39 percent; and Richard Earnest received 2.15 percent. Independent Griffith received 0.82 percent of the vote, and Libertarian King received 0.60 percent. The April 11 special election was to replace disgraced Republican Congressman Randy “Duke” Cunningham, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for taking more than $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractors.
The winner of the June 6 special election will fill out the rest of Cunningham’s term.
Complicating the process is the fact that the June 6 election is also the primary for the 50th Congressional District seat’s next full term. Many of the 18 candidates on the April 11 ballot are expected to try their luck again in the primary race.