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By Miriam Raftery
March 5, 2024 (San Diego's East County)--Incumbency counts. That's the takeaway from tonight's early results in the 79th Assembly district race, where two prominent East County elected officials hold the lead over an educator endorsed by the Democratic Party. All three candidates are Democrats.
La Mesa Councilman Colin Parent has a hefty lead, with 41.04% of the votes tallied so far. Lemon Grove Mayor Racquel Vasquez has 31.53%, while educator LaShae Sharp-Collins has 27.43% of the vote. The top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff in the November general election.
Tonight's first returns include mail ballots received before Election Day as well as votes cast at vote centers between Feb. 24 and March 4. Vote counting will continue until all mail-in ballots received within a week after Election Day are tallied.
Slightly over 30,000 ballots in the 79th Assembly District race have been counted as of 8:30 p.m.
LaShae Sharp-Collins, PhD, is the County Office of Education’s community engagement specialist, an adjunct professor at SDSU, and former district director for Assemblymember Shirley Weber, PhD. Racquel Vasquez is Mayor of Lemon Grove and previously served on the city council and planning commission. Colin Parent is a La Mesa Assemblyman and former director of external affairs for the California Department of Housing and Community Development, as well as past director of policy at the San Diego Housing Commission.
Read our interviews with the candidates: https://www.eastcountymagazine.org/ecm-holds-depth-interviews-all-three-...
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