By Mike Kinney
As of Wednesday morning, about 64 percent, or roughly 448,000, of the ballots cast in Contra Costa County for the Nov. 3 Presidential Election had been counted. Results released after election night remain preliminary, with thousands upon thousands of ballots left to count. The next count of ballots will happen Friday, officials said.
Still, winners have already been declared in some races. Congressmember Mark DeSaulnier has won reelection after garnering 178,219 votes to Nisha Sharama’s 58,336 in the first count. Same is true for incumbent State Assemlymember Buffy Wicks, who has already amassed 54,525 votes to challenger Sara Brink’s 10,780.
In all three Richmond City Council races, members of the Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA) are in the lead. In District 2, former Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin has a commanding lead with 2,864 votes over Ahmad Anderson (1,654 votes), Mike Vasilas (825) and Najari Smith (226). In District 6, RPA member Claudia Jimenez has the lead with 2,488 votes over Vinay Pimple (1,517) and Ms. Dandie (756). In District 1, incumbent Melvin Willis is leading community advocate Eleanor Thompson in votes, 1,309 to 1,068.
It’s a close race in Area 1 of the Contra Costa County Board of Education Race, with incumbent Dr. Fatima Alleyne leading former WCCUSD board member Consuela Lara, 26,024 votes to 25,586 votes.
Measure U, which would change the city’s Business License Tax to one based on gross receipts from one based on the number of employees, appears destined to win, garnering 18,749 yes votes and 6,923 no votes.
The graphic below, courtesy of Don Gosney at Radio Free Richmond, provides all preliminary results as of Wednesday.
