Preliminary election results show Lowery as Oceanside’s frontrunner

OCEANSIDE — Former Oceanside Councilman and race challenger Chuck started off with an early lead in the City Council race, and kept it. Preliminary results show Lowery as the favorite with 26.99 percent of the votes.

Lowery’s response to his potential win was “wow.”

He said he is humbled by the dozens of volunteers who campaigned for him, daily, for the past three months, and he counts his win as a win for Oceanside residents.

Incumbent Jerry Kern stayed a not too distant second in the two-seat race holding at a steady one percent margin below the frontrunner. He finished with a preliminary 24.99 percent of votes.

Incumbent Gary Felien lagged slightly behind top candidates most of the evening, and then bumped up to less than one percent below Kern a 24.50 percent of votes.

Challenger Dana Corso followed at 20.75 percent of preliminary votes.

Kern and Feline both said they expected to keep their seats, prior to results, and acknowledged Lowery hit the ground running this election season.

Kern also expressed concern that Democrat and unions’ support “bought” Lowery’s seat.

“I’m very concerned about that, union control of council,” Kern said.

Lowery’s reply to Kern’s comment is that Kern is taking the focus off present issues. He said it could be just as easily said that developers bought Kern and Felien’s current seats.

Lowery added opponents’ negative campaign flyers sparked additional support that rose to four times as many campaign volunteers than in previous elections.

Looking forward Lowery said his goals as councilman are to represent all residents, streamline solutions, and reduce the drama on the dais by taking issues to city staff that do not need a City Council vote.

Kern said his potential win is a validation that the current City Council majority is “bringing back the city.”

He said in the upcoming four years he would like to see downtown hotel development and large and small business startups continue.

“I’m excited about the next four years,” Kern said.

Felien also expressed a positive outlook for ongoing development and an increase in businesses.

“I hope we keep moving forward in the right direction, creating more private sector jobs,” Feline said.

Corso said she hopes city growth is balanced, and keeps residents’ quality of life and community character in tact.