Winners emerge in local races as counts near final tally

Winners were emerging in close races in the Bay Area, according to updated election results in Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties.

Martinez City Council District 4 incumbent Debbie McKillop squeaked by challenger John Stevens in the final, unofficial tally from the Contra Costa County elections office Friday.

McKillop, who was elected four years ago to her first term, ended up with 50.26 percent of the vote, or 2,327 votes, to Stevens’ 49.74 percent, or 2,303 votes — a difference of 24 votes.

On Wednesday, McKillop had led by only three votes.

“I’d like to say that it’s been a long three weeks for John Stevens and myself,” McKillop said after the results were in. “I’m grateful to be able to serve the city of Martinez for a second term. I want to thank all the voters out there who supported me.”

Other close contests in Contra Costa County included Clayton City Council, Diablo Community Services District director and Byron Bethany Irrigation District Division 1 director.

In Santa Clara County, the elections office provided updated figures Friday, with 99 percent of the count.

The county office said the next update would be at 5 p.m. Friday.

With unofficial results, tight races remained in the Cupertino City Council, Mountain View City Council and Morgan Hill Unified School District, TA 2.

In Cupertino, where voters were selecting three council members, Darcy Paul was the leader with 18.09 percent, or 9,514 votes, followed by LiangFang “Liang” Chao with 16.21 percent, or 8,524 votes. Jon Robert Willey was in third place with 14.06 percent, or 7,397 votes, and Savita Vaidhyanathan was in fourth place with 13.98 percent, or 7,354 votes.

In Mountain View, where three seats were up, Ellen Kamei was the front-runner with 19 percent, or 11,916 votes, followed by Lucas Ramirez with 18.17 percent, or 11,394 votes. Alison Hicks was in third place with 17.74 percent, or 11,127 votes, and Pat Showalter had 17.59 percent, or 11.027 votes.

In Morgan Hill’s school district District 2 race, John Horner leads with 37.95 percent, or 1,285 votes, over Tara Bevington, who has 37.27 percent, or 1,262 votes.

In Richmond, former Mayor Nathaniel “Nat” Bates captured the third seat for the Richmond City Council, narrowly defeating Vinay Pimple.

In that race, Demnlus Johnson III was the leading candidate, with 12.15 percent, or 9,543 votes, followed by Eduardo Martinez with 11.24 percent, or 8,830 votes. Bates ended up with 10.10 percent, or 7,930 votes, and Pimple received 10.09, percent or 7,921 votes — a difference of nine votes.

In Clayton, voters chose two candidates. Jeff Wan led with 27.89 percent, or 2,875 votes, followed by Carl “CW” Wolfe with 27.43 percent, or 2,828 votes, and David “Shoe” Shuey had 26.34 percent, or 2,715 votes.

In the race for three director spots on the Diablo Community Services District, Leonard Becker led the field with 28.94 percent, or 360 votes, followed by Jeffery Eorio with 26.37 percent, or 328 votes. Greg Isom captured the final seat with 22.51 percent, or 280 votes, and Kelly Trevethan received 22.19 percent, or 276 votes.

The race for Byron Bethany Irrigation District Division 1 Director remained tied with 51 votes each for Milan “Pete” Petrovich and Larry Enos, who will now likely face a runoff.

“The district indicated to us before the election that in the event of a tie, that it would want a runoff election,” said Paul Burgarino, community education and engagement specialist with the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder-Elections Department. “The (district) had the option of that or casting lots to break the tie.”

Contra Costa County’s final voter turnout was 68.28 percent, more than 19 percent higher than in the 2014 midterm election, Burgarino said.

He said the Friday count represented 88 percent of the provisional ballots, or a total of 24,695 votes. He said the results will be certified Monday.