Incumbent Kelly Purvis leads the Coronado City Council race, securing 37.95% of the initial tally.
Following Purvis is Rebecca King at 27.57%, with Ricky Hoyt at a close third with 25.94% of votes. Andrew Gade comes in last with 8.54%.
Since Purvis and Council member Carrie Downey are at the end of their terms, two seats are up for grabs on Coronado’s City Council. Downey has served a total of four nonconsecutive terms since 2004 and decided not to run for reelection this year.
It’s looking good and I’m hopeful that I’ll be serving on the council for four more years.
Incumbent Kelly Purvis
“It’s looking good and I’m hopeful that I’ll be serving on the council for four more years,” Purvis told The Coronado News shortly after the first count.
The current council member said that she liked all three candidates who ran against her and that she could work with any of them.
“I’m glad that we’re through it and we’ve got a lot of work to do,” Purvis said.
Gade, who is in last place, said that he wasn’t surprised by the results.
“That’s actually how I predicted it was going to turn out if you look at the money that came into the race,” Gade said. His campaign finances were the lowest of the four candidates, spending only $2,000 during the entirety of his run. “You know, I ran a really clean campaign. I think I’m going to keep doing the same thing (in the future) because a good amount of people know who I am … this is a long-term goal of mine.”
(The numbers) are encouraging. But I know there’s only 128-something (votes) difference between second and third … I don’t count my chickens before they hatch, so we will see.
City Council candidate Rebecca King
“(The numbers) are encouraging,” King said, who is currently in second place. “But I know there’s only 128-something (vote) difference between second and third … I don’t count my chickens before they hatch, so we will see.”
Hoyt said that this first drop was exciting to see and he’s thankful for all the support he received.
“I had a feeling it was going to be close between (Rebecca and me), so I’m just excited to still be in the mix,” Hoyt said.
Purvis and Hoyt are both registered Republicans while King is a Democrat and Gade is registered with no political party preference.
As of the first unofficial results released on Nov 3, almost 8,000 Coronado residents have voted. There are just over 11,000 registered voters on the island.
Of the 11,000 registered voters on the island, around 4,000 are Republican and just under 3,500 are Democrat. About 2,600 stated no political party and over 630 are registered in the American Independent Party.
Two years ago, the San Diego County Registrar of Voters documented around 400 more registered voters in Coronado. There were about 4,250 registered Republicans and 3,600 Democrats. Although records from 2024 do not show a no political party category, they do show that around 2,700 voters declined to state their party.
However, Coronado’s elections are non-partisan, meaning party preferences are not listed next to candidates. This is common practice among municipal and county offices, according to Ballotpedia.
At the last election, Council members Amy Steward and Mark Fleming won the two vacant positions and Purvis was appointed to City Council after Mayor John Duncan won the mayoral race and left a third council seat open.
The council at the time decided to hold an appointment where only council members could vote on a candidate rather than hold a special election where voting would be open to the public.
Purvis was voted into office to finish out the last two years of Duncan’s term through a unanimous decision in the fourth round of voting. Eight other applicants interviewed for the position including 2024 City Council candidate runner-up Laura Wilkinson Sinton.
