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Three candidates are vying for the District 4 seat on the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors. From left to right, Elias Gonzales, Felipe Hernandez and Tony Nuñez. (Contributed)

Last county update: 6/18/2026 5:00:00 PM

Santa Cruz County Supervisor, District 4 (vote for 1)

Candidate		Total
Felipe Hernandez		2,423 (30.81%)
Tony Nuñez		3,939 (50.09%)
Elias Gonzales		1,447 (18.40%)
Write In		55 (0.70%)

Note: This story has been updated as of 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 5 as vote counts are released. See all results.

WATSONVILLE>> Tony Nuñez has a narrow majority in the race for Santa Cruz County Supervisor District 4 in the latest election results released Friday. If his majority holds after the remaining ballots are processed, Nuñez will win the seat outright. If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, the top two will face off in the November general election.

In the first vote count announced Tuesday night, Nuñez sat well ahead of incumbent Supervisor Felipe Hernandez. “Really encouraging first results, that’s obvious,” Nuñez told Santa Cruz Local on Tuesday. “Pajaro Valley deserves leadership that’s going to show up, that’s going to work hard, that’s going to deliver.”

As of 4 p.m. on Friday, June 5, Nuñez has 50.49% of the vote in preliminary results. Hernandez has 33.06%.

“These results are still very early results. We’re pleased with the initial results,” Hernandez said on Tuesday night. “There are more than 50% of the ballots still to be counted, so we’re taking nothing for granted and look forward to every vote being counted. I’m optimistic moving forward.”

The third candidate in the race, Elias Gonzales, trailed with 15.75%.

District 4 of Santa Cruz County includes most of Watsonville and surrounding areas of South County. Results will be updated multiple times in the coming weeks, and must be finalized by July 2. Follow our election results page for the latest news.

In pre-election conversations with Santa Cruz Local, the three candidates for the seat offer competing views on economic development, and other local issues:

How would you...	Gonzales	Hernandez	Nuñez
Improve economic development and expand public assistance?	Allocate more money for rental and utility assistance. Make applying for public assistance easier. Provide outreach in Spanish and Indigenous languages. Audit county contracts with local nonprofits.	Share South County sales taxes with Watsonville for downtown development. Create areas for business tax breaks in Watsonville. Continue to support tenant legal assistance.	Allow people to get help from nonprofit and county programs simultaneously. Offer loans to local small businesses to open shops. Try to site a future UC Santa Cruz medical school in Pajaro Valley.
Address wage theft from farmworkers?	Fund nonprofits for outreach and legal assistance Build relationships with growers and state regulators.	Encourage the county’s agricultural commissioner to work more closely with state regulators. Ban contracts with companies with a history of wage theft.	Expand support for legal aid. Uplift employers who follow regulations. Consider a pilot program to help train more legal aid providers.
Increase affordable housing?	Build affordable housing on county land. Find ways to reduce construction costs and give incentives to affordable housing developers.	Prioritize locals for affordable housing. Streamline affordable and workforce housing. Encourage for-sale homes and condos.	Build affordable housing on county land. Encourage medium-density and farmworker housing. Find partners to jointly fund affordable housing.
Address high rents and prevent displacement?	Prevent investors from buying up houses. Strengthen rent stabilization and eviction protections. Give tenants the right to legal counsel.	Give more funding for rental assistance using money from a proposed sales tax hike.	Help families free up money for rent by expanding access to free or low-cost child care.
Expand health care access?	Expand clinic capacity and reduce costs. Focus on access to preventative care to prevent more costly care.	Use a proposed sales tax hike to fund more county health care. Partner with clinics and hospitals to encourage sign ups for MediCruz.	Use a proposed sales tax hike to fund more county health care. Ensure those eligible keep Medi-Cal. Partner with private health care providers.
Increase youth recreation options?	Fund programs like apprenticeships and art classes. Pay schools for public access to fields. Improve beach access.	Plan a new community center and pool. Share sales tax money with Watsonville to bring new youth-serving businesses.	Incentivize schools to open fields to the public. Give youth-serving small startup loans.
Cut the county budget, if needed?	Audit city spending. Reallocate some Sheriff money. Put off non-essential construction projects.	Require department heads to identify cuts. Raise money with economic development and a higher hotel tax.	Put off deep cuts, even if it requires drawing down reserves. Create a multi-year plan to fill budget gaps.

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