2 weeks Ago
Costa Mesa’s mayor and council races remain close, but Mayor John Stephens maintains a slight edge with 52.43% of the vote tallied so far in his favor. About 1,500 votes separate Stephens from his sole opponent, James Peters , a financial planner who challenged Stephens on the strength of the city’s budget among other issues.
Costa Mesa’s mayor is one of the seven members of the City Council. Costa Mesa had three other City Council seats up for election: Districts 1, 2 and 6. District 2 Councilmember Loren Gameros had no challengers in his reelection bid and will return to the council for another four years.
The other districts each had two candidates and the margins remain close. Mike Buley in District 1, which covers the Mesa Verde neighborhood, leads Adam Ereth with 54.93% of the vote to 45.
07%. Jeff Pettis is outperforming current Councilmember Jeffrey Harlan in District 6 with 51.92% of the vote to 48.
08%. About 240 votes separate the two in the district that comprises the Eastside neighborhood. “We are what you consider a purple city,” Stephens said.
“It’s bound to have competitive races, especially in certain parts of the city.” Stephens said the trend has favored him as more ballots are counted and he believes it will stay that way. The mayor is elected to a two-year term.
Stephens said the council will continue its focus on handling homelessness, fully funding public safety and moving to a new phase of addressing housing by looking at Costa Mesa’s zoning. Costa Mesa could play a role in the 2026 Fifa World Cup and 2028 Olympics , Stephens said. His vision is for the city to be a transportation hub that would ferry visitors staying at Costa Mesa hotels to Olympic venues and back, hoping to capitalize on the large parking lots located throughout the city.
Stephens thinks voters were attracted to his positive message about his public service record from his eight years on the council. Buley, who identifies as a conservative, said his message to voters was “let’s not lose the one conservative voice in our city.” Don Harper, the current councilmember for District 1 who did not run for reelection, was a conservative who was often the lone vote on issues at council meetings.
Buley said his message seemed to work in his district and voters don’t want seven people “all singing from the same sheet of music.” “I truly don’t believe any large organization can arrive at the best possible decisions if there is no alternative viewpoint in the decision-making process,” Buley said. Homelessness will be a top issue for Buley, he said, and he hopes to make sure federal, state and local tax dollars are being spent effectively.
For example, turning the Motel 6 on Newport Boulevard into permanent supportive housing was not the best use of money and was too costly, he said. “I want to make sure dollars are being effectively spent to address the problem,” Buley said. Ereth, who trails in the District 1 race, said a question for this election cycle is how much did party politics play a role.
It appears many voters, he said, voted straight-party ticket even if City Council races are ostensibly nonpartisan. Ereth identified as an independent candidate and said some of his message about supporting public safety may have been eclipsed by the Republican party message, he said. “Unfortunately I think the partisanship in this country, it plays out in places like Costa Mesa, where people want to identify with a party rather than whatever is best at the local level,” Ereth said.
“Maybe sometimes people can’t understand solving issues locally has nothing to do with party. It has to do with your know-how, connections, your ability to problem solve.” He said many residents have concerns about the proliferation of cannabis businesses and some people’s patience has worn thin on seeing homelessness addressed even if the city’s efforts are still taking root.
If elected, Ereth said he wants traffic calming to combat speeding on Gisler Avenue in Mesa Verde, lower speed limits on Costa Mesa’s major roads so that mapping services route drivers onto freeways and not roads like Harbor Boulevard or Fairview Road and to get more starter homes built in the city. “People who are forced to rent but have some savings to put down toward a house, there’s no housing stock out there for them to buy,” Ereth said. “So for the middle class of Costa Mesa, many of them are forced into rental housing instead of getting into a starter home, and by that, I mean something under a million dollars.
” The OC Registrar of Voters updates vote tallies on weekdays at 5 p.m. As of Thursday evening more than 364,000 ballots remained to be counted in the county.
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