Kranz, Lyndes and Ehlers maintain early leads in mayor, council races

Tony Kranz maintains a large lead in the four-way race for mayor of Encinitas as of Monday, Nov. 14, according to the Registrar of Voters. For City Council, incumbent Joy Lyndes still holds a slim lead and former Planning Commissioner Bruce Ehlers is on top by a wide margin.

Kranz, who was first elected to the City Council in 2012, has said he wants to build on the city’s recent efforts on issues such as housing, homelessness and crime. The three other candidates in the mayoral race — Cindy Cremona, Jeff Morris and Michael Blobe — have said City Hall needs a change in leadership to better address those issues.

“We’ll certainly watch the vote counts as the days go by, but I’m pretty confident that the voters have selected me to be their next mayor, and I’m humbled by that and look forward to the work ahead,” said Kranz.

Encinitas Mayor Catherine Blakespear, who is running for state Senate District 38, did not seek re-election after serving three two-year terms.

Lyndes was appointed to the council in 2021 to represent District 3, which covers the southern portion of the city along the coast. Jody Hubbard held the seat before resigning in 2021, shortly before she died from lung cancer.

Julie Thunder, the only challenger in District 3, ran on a platform based on fighting for more local control of issues such as housing and development.

District 4 covers Olivenhain and most of the eastern part of the city. Ehlers, who was also running on increased local control, was removed from the Planning Commission last spring in a controversial decision by the City Council. Incumbent Councilmember Joe Mosca, who was appointed to serve the district in 2017 and held onto the seat in the following year’s election, did not seek re-election.

Pam Redela, who teaches in the women’s studies department at CSU San Marcos, was in second in the initial results.

The other two candidates, Olivenhain Town Councilmember Dan Vaughn and small business owner Stacie Davis, trailed Ehlers by large margins.

For all results, go to sandiegouniontribune.com or sdvote.com.