Former NBA star Kevin Johnson takes slight lead in Sacramento mayoral race

Sacramento's mayoral race was the most bitter in decades, pitting two-term incumbent Heather Fargo against the former Phoenix Suns All Star. Both are Democrats.

The election debate revolved around Johnson's character and qualifications.

Johnson had earned a golden reputation by helping revitalize his old Oak Park neighborhood over the last decade, but his standing plummeted in recent weeks amid allegations that he molested a teenage girl in Phoenix 13 years ago and another last year in Sacramento. No charges were brought in either case.

In San Diego, one-term Mayor Jerry Sanders was facing a strong challenge from business owner Steve Francis and three other candidates.

Sanders, elected in the middle of a financial mess brought on by a growing pension deficit and years of questionable financial management, has attempted to decrease the city's payroll and push city labor unions to accept cutbacks. Francis, a fellow Republican, says Sanders has been too unfocused and tentative.

Both the Sacramento and San Diego mayoral contests will go to a November runoff between the top two finishers if no candidate captures more than 50% of the vote.

In Mendocino County, voters were being asked to repeal an 8-year-old law that has made the region an epicenter of the marijuana movement.

Measure B, which was winning in early returns, seeks to reverse a 2000 law that decriminalized 25-plant cannabis gardens, allowing cultivation even for recreational use.

Backers of the revolt say the county is in the grips of a marijuana economy that has brought unwanted crime, environmental trouble and cultural change.

But foes of Measure B say it aims at the wrong target. Instead of focusing on busting large backwoods commercial growers, they say, police will take the easy route and start arresting small-scale growers, many of them card-carrying medical marijuana patients.

eric.bailey@latimes.com

Times staff writer Tony Perry contributed to this report.