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SAN DIEGO (CNS) - Encinitas Mayor Kristin Gaspar emerged Wednesday as the general election challenger to incumbent Supervisor Dave Roberts, defeating Escondido Mayor Sam Abed for a place on the November ballot.
Roberts led the field in Tuesday's election, but fell short of the amount needed to avoid a November runoff. Gaspar topped Escondido Mayor Sam Abed to claim the other spot on the general election ballot.
Gaspar is hoping to unseat Roberts, who found himself in hot water last year when several members of his staff resigned.
Roberts became vulnerable to a serious challenge after his colleagues on the board agreed to pay $310,000 to settle claims brought by three former staffers that he misused his powers.
The District Attorney's Office declined to pursue criminal charges against Roberts, saying that while he may have violated county workplace policies, his actions did not meet the threshold for pursuing a criminal case.
District 3 consists of almost 630,000 residents and takes in coastal communities including Torrey Pines State Beach, Del Mar, Solana Beach and Encinitas. Other communities in the district are Mira Mesa, Escondido, the San Pasqual Valley, Lake Hodges, Rancho Bernardo, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Scripps Ranch, Tierrasanta and Sabre Springs.
In the other supervisors races, Greg Cox, who represents the South Bay, was reelected without opposition.
East County Supervisor Dianne Jacob easily defeated challenger Rudy Reyes.
Cox and Jacob, who have served on the panel for more than two decades, will enter their final four years in office before they're kicked out by the county's relatively new term limits law.