TUESDAY, JUNE 9 UPDATE
Retired CHP officer Luis Lara has declared victory in the District 3 Supervisors race over incumbent Daron McDaniel.
Earlier Tuesday, Lara had said he would wait for official confirmation from the Registar of Voters. But after taking a closer look at the numbers Tuesday evening, Lara said it’s clear he will be the next District 3 Supervisor.
“With the latest election results, I am honored and humbled to declare victory in the race for Merced County Supervisor, District 3,” Lara said in a statement.
“Thank you to the voters of District 3 for your trust and support. I also want to thank Supervisor Daron McDaniel for his service to District 3 and for a hard fought campaign. I look forward to working with Supervisor McDaniel during the transition and to working alongside the Merced County Board of Supervisors, our CEO, Merced County staff, and our community partners.”
“The campaign is over and now it’s time to get to work. I am committed to serving all residents of District 3 and helping build a stronger future for Merced County.”
As of 4 p.m. Tuesday, June 9, the Merced County Registrar of Voters Office reported there are still nearly 3,936 primary election ballots to count.
In the race for Merced County Supervisor District 3, Lara has grown his lead to 60.09% since Friday (up 1.42%) over incumbent McDaniel (39.69%). That means Lara now leads by 1,797 votes.
At this point, Lara has far above the 50% plus one of the vote in order to win District 3 outright.
Over the weekend, McDaniel posted on social media, saying it has become clear the numbers are not in his favor.
In the race for second place for Merced County Superintendent of Schools, Ana Boyenga now leads over Paula Heupel by 575 votes –an increase of 312 votes since Friday.
Boyenga, who has 29.35% of the vote, is assistant superintendent at Atwater Elementary School District. Heupel, who has 27.83% of the vote, is superintendent of El Nido Elementary School District.
Merced River superintendent Richard Lopez continues to lead in first place with 31.46% of the vote. Lopez is expected to face either Boyenga or Heupel in the November runoff.
In terms of other Merced County races on the ballot:
- Congressional District 13 – Incumbent Democrat Adam Gray will face former Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln, a Republican, in November.
- State Senate District 14 – Democrat Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria will face Republican Darin DuPont, who sits on Merced City Council, in November.
- Assembly District 27 – Democrat Brian Pacheco, a Fresno County Supervisor, will face Republican Mike Murphy, a former Merced Mayor, in November.
- Senate District 4 – Democrat Jaron Brandon, a Tuolumne County Supervisor, will face Republican Alexandra Duarte in November.
- Merced County Supervisor District 5 – Scott Silveira will serve another term after defeating Miguel Alejandre outright in the primary.
Timeline for remaining votes
Levey expects to have nearly all votes counted and tabulated by June 15 in accordance with state law. He expects to confirm the vote results at the end of the month.
So far, about 31.55% of Merced County’s 136,490 registered voters cast ballots in the 2026 primary. Levey said those numbers (43,064 ballots cast) are relatively encouraging, considering the county’s on track to surpass recent prior primaries.
He said the March 2024 primary ended with just under 38,000 ballots cast, while the June 2022 primary ended with just over 31,000 ballots cast.
“Consequently, the turnout figure (for the 2026 primary) is going to end up being much more substantial than those two elections,” Levey said.
“While turnout for a primary isn’t generally as high as a general election in November, this primary actually is shaping up to be one of the better turnouts that we’ve had here, certainly in recent years.”
The Registrar of Voters Office had 14 vote centers countywide for the primary along with 19 drop boxes, plus a voting site at the county’s main office.
“We had, including poll workers, as well as my staff, almost 300 individuals working this election,” Levey said.
“That’s locals here in Merced County administering that election. I like to remind folks all the time that elections aren’t run from Sacramento, they’re not run from Washington D.C., it’s locals here in Merced County who are administering this election.”