Mayor Heidi Harmon was reelected and received 60.65 percent of votes according to the County of San Luis Obispo. Carlyn Christianson was also reelected for San Luis Obispo City Council and received 27.19 percent of votes, followed by Stewart who received 20.93 percent of votes.
Stewart said she was both excited and shocked when she heard the tentative election results. She said she remembers feeling particularly inspired to run for city council when she heard former United States President Barack Obama’s farewell speech, in which he said “be the change”. Despite this not being a new sentiment, Stewart said it was especially resonant.
Before running for city council, she trained with Emerge California, a program with a mission ‘to increase the number of Democratic women leaders from diverse backgrounds in public office through recruitment, training and providing a powerful network,” according to their website.
Erica Stewart — Emerge California Class of 2018
Heidi Harmon — Emerge California Class of 2015