Early Butte County supervisor race numbers show incumbents marching ahead

OROVILLE — The early results for the Butte County Board of Supervisors election are in and trending in favor of incumbents over challengers.

This year’s primary saw sitting supervisor Tod Kimmelshue of District 4 aiming for his second term, this time against challenger Joanna Warrens. Longtime District 5 Supervisor Doug Teeter is defending his seat against Julie Threet and District 1 Supervisor Bill Connelly is running unopposed.

As of 8:15 p.m. Tuesday, Kimmelshue was leading 3,468-1,788 against Warrens. In District 5, Teeter got an early but considerable lead against Threet at 5,322-2,047.

Naturally, Connelly received 100% of his votes thus far at 4,321.

Kimmelshue led in the fundraising for his campaign by a significant margin compared to the other candidates with $75,028 raised as of Feb. 17 followed by Warrens with $32,080. Teeter followed with $22,299, most of which was listed as loans rather than individual donors, and then Threet with $8,399, which was mostly self-funded.

Both Threet and Warrens are first-time runners with Kimmelshue vying for his second term and Teeter for his fourth. This election also marks the second in which the new district map, drawn in 2022, has been used. The map drew some controversy throughout its creation with opponents claiming that it showed bias.

The map also saw a dramatic change thanks to displaced residents after the Camp Fire which expanded District 5 into parts of Concow, Chico and Forest Ranch to make up for the loss of voters.

Based on the early results, total voter turnout for Butte County was at 25.43%. The numbers showed 30,547 votes out of 120,112 registered voters.

Preliminary results for each candidate are as follows:

District 4

Results as of 8:15 p.m. showed Kimmelshue leading with 65.98% of the vote over Warrens with 34.02% and 5,256 votes counted.

Kimmelshue: 3,468

Warrens: 1,788

District 5

For the District 5 race, Teeter is ahead with 72.22% of the vote followed by Threet with 27.78%. So far, 7,369 votes have been reported.

Teeter: 5,322

Threet: 2,047

District 1

Sole candidate and incumbent Connelly has garnered 100% of his district with 4,321 counted so far.

Connelly: 4,321

These numbers are not final and will be updated as more ballots are counted.