Rob AriasOakland City Councilmember Nikki Fortunato Bas appears to be a lock to be one of the two candidates to advance to the fall general election for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors D5 seat.
With votes from the primary still trickling in, Emeryville City Councilmember John Bauters is maintaining a slim lead over Berkeley City Councilmember Ben Bartlett.
As of this afternoon’s tally, Bauters is leading Bartlett by a mere 206 votes.
3/8 UPDATE: With over 10% turnout reported, Bauters furthered his lead to 399 votes.
3/10 UPDATE: With over 20% turnout reported, Bauters furthered his lead to 1,809 votes.
Chris Moore, running as an independent and championing a public safety message, is a distant fourth. Behind Moore is former Alameda County Board of Education representative Ken Berrick and political newcomer Lorrel Plimier.
Former OUSD boardmember Gregory Hodge is a distant seventh. Gerald Pechenuk, a vocal Trump supporter, has gained fewer votes than Omar Farmer who ceased his campaign early in the race.
Bas is the City of Oakland’s Council President and District 2 councilmember which includes the Eastlake, Grand Lake, San Antonio, Chinatown and Jack London neighborhoods.
Bartlett is Berkeley’s D3 Councilmember which represents South Berkeley.
1.2 square mile Emeryville is not subdivided into districts and has a rotating mayorship.
Not surprisingly, A precinct map showed that Emeryville voters heavily favored Bauters (shown in burgundy). Bauters is also carrying part of Albany but only a single district in neighboring Oakland.
Voters across the district are showing broad support for Bas including large swaths of Berkeley. Bartlett is holding down several Berkeley precincts and Moore’s support is mostly centered around the more affluent Piedmont and Oakland Hills precincts.
If Bauters ends of advancing and going head-to-head with Bas, these results might spell trouble for him if she is able to carry the more populace cities of Oakland and Berkeley.
Where supporters of the other candidates line up when this is a two person race is anyone’s guess but it seems more likely for Moore and Berrick voters to throw their support behind the more “pragmatic” Bauters.
Will Homelessness and Public Safety Guide November Choice?
Whomever advances between Bauters and Bartlett, Public Safety and Homelessness will likely continue to be a topic of conversation until the November general election. As we detailed in Monday’s story, Bauters has recently leaned into a public safety message which might favor him over Bas as she is on the record of supporting police defunding and “reimagine” policies. Like embattled Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, Bas is the clear pick of labor where Bauters has faced their wrath.
Bas is persistently the target of Twitter mobs that might give the impression that she is unpopular with her voters. Bauters on the other hand is wildly popular on the platform where he frequently posts videos of him cycling and trail running and mocking those that rely on their vehicle for transportation.
Wether or not Bauters advances will have long-ranging impacts on his political career as his council term expires this year and he will not be able to run for Supervisor and Council simultaneously. Should he fall short in the primary, he’d be able run for a third term on Emeryville city council and bide his time until the next political vacancy. Unfortunately, these vacancies are in short supply as elects tend to stay in power for decades in positions that are not bound by term limits.
AD18 Alameda County Democratic Central Committee Slates
Another race that will impact Emeryville is the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee election.
Voters and politicians are beginning to pay closer attention to the composition of the committee that makes important endorsement picks and directs resources for supporting them. It is felt by some that the committee has gotten too progressive and their priorities have gotten too idealogical.
Voters were tasked with picking 10 candidates among the crowded field of 28. With so many candidates on the ballot, likeminded candidates typically form slates of candidates. These slates allow them to pool their resources and push voter guides asking for voter support of all candidates on these slates.
A large distinguisher of these slates for this election has been differing public safety philosophy, support or opposition for embattled D. A. Pamela Price as well as attitudes on housing and growth.
Former Oakland Mayoral candidate and frequent Thao critique Loren Taylor’s “Empower Oakland” slate (color-coded above in green) includes Pamela Ferran, Warren Logan, Arielle Fleisher, Amber Childress, Laura Geist and Harold Lowe.
Price is heading the “People Powered Progressives” slate (color-coded above in yellow) that includes Austin Tam, Chaney Turner, Yoana Tchoukleva, Desmond Jeffries, Andrea Luna Bocanegra, Howard Egerman, Royl Roberts, Iris Merriouns, and Emeryville City Councilmember Kalimah Priforce. Priforce, who incidentally has repeatedly butted heads with Bauters, is running near the bottom of the results.
Emery Unified School Board member Regina Chagolla also appears to be coming up short and is running 14th. Chagolla is running with the Unified Voices for Democracy slate (labeled in blue) that includes Adrien Abuyen, Mayra Alvarado, Sean Sugar, Hannah Groce, Rowena Brown, Zac Bowling and Nicole Grashton.
Taylor and Price both appear likely to win a seat but neither of their slates is dominating. The candidates labeled in grey are not running as part of a slate.
The count for these races could go for days as mail-in voting have become the preferred method for most voters. It’s important to note that these tallies show participation by just over 8% of registered voters thus far.
3/8 UPDATE: Latest results showing 10.49% voter turnout.
Results for other races and initiatives can be viewed on the county website. We will updates results on the page as mail-in ballots continue to trickle in and the County updates their totals.
