Scott Sherman Avoids Runoff Election

With all precincts reporting, it looks like San Diego's seventh district has a winner.

Republican Scott Sherman will likely avoid another five months of campaigning against Democrat Mat Kostrinsky, registrar numbers showed Tuesday night.

The former businessman received 50.30 percent of the votes -- just enough to meet the requirement of 50 percent plus 1 votes to avoid a runoff in November.

Sherman can assume a victory now, after over a week of teetering on the edge of an all-out win. The city has yet to officially declare a victory, but it's safe to say now that Sherman will hold the victory.

Kostrinsky received 40.17 percent of the votes for District 7, which is currently occupied by Marti Emerald.

Due to redistricting, Emerald ran for and won a seat in District 9, leaving District 7 up for grabs.

Sherman recently endorsed Carl DeMaio for mayor at a press conference in front of City Hall, where he and others referred to him as a councilmember-elect.

Sherman's election splits the Democrat to Republican ratio in the council in half, with four Democrats and four Republicans.

The race that will determine a majority will be fought in November in District 1 between Democrat incumbent Sherri Lightner and Republican Ray Ellis. In last week's primary election, Ellis took a lead with 46 percent of the votes -- still not enough to win outright, like Sherman did. Lightner received about 42 percent of the district's votes.