The swearing-in ceremony for the new SLO County Board of Supervisors will be held tomorrow morning. It marks the return of a progressive majority to the board.
One new board member will be sworn in tomorrow: Jimmy Paulding in District 4. The former Arroyo Grande City Councilmember defeated incumbent supervisor Lynn Compton in last year’s June primary.
Paulding will now represent South SLO County, including Nipomo, Arroyo Grande, Huasna, Edna Valley, Santa Margarita Lake, and the Carrizo Plain.
The board now has a progressive majority formed of Paulding and fellow supervisors Bruce Gibson and Dawn Ortiz-Legg. With Compton out of office, the two remaining conservative supervisors Debbie Arnold and John Peschong are now in a conservative minority.
The previous conservative majority of Compton, Arnold and Peschong faced criticism for their controversial vote to redraw SLO County’s district boundaries in December 2021. The vote redrew the county’s five districts into a map that critics say favors Republican voters.
The new districts did not lead to the conservative majority staying in place on the new Board, but they will be in effect for future elections until after the next census in 2030.
However, there is an ongoing lawsuit against the Board alleging that the new maps violated California election law, which could potentially change SLO County’s districts again.
The swearing-in ceremony is tomorrow at 9a.m.
