Early ranked-choice tabulations released in Oakland, San Leandro mayoral races
Mei’s lead over Wahab narrows; Kumagai concedes
ELECTION 2022
Here’s the storylines emerging after Election Night in the East Bay.
—Alameda County’s registrar released the first ranked-choice voting tabulations late last night. Here’s the early breakdown:
OAKLAND
—Early indications show Loren Taylor is currently in the driver’s seat. After nine rounds of tabulations, Taylor topped the 50 percent threshold for victory with 53.28 percent. Sheng Thao survived to the final round with 46.72 percent.
—As of now, Taylor has garnered 34.19 percent of first-place votes, followed by Thao at 28.73 percent. Ignacio De La Fuente is third at 12.89 percent.
—How were the ranked-choice votes distributed? At the penultimate round, most of De La Fuente’s votes went to Taylor (2,214), and Thao (1,539). The distribution allowed Taylor to gain the majority.
—Further down the list, Allyssa Victory greatly boosted Thao’s column. Meanwhile, Treva Reid, who officially partnered with Taylor, sent most her votes to him.
—With 70,000 uncounted ballots in Oakland, Thao said on Wednesday, “We remain optimistic about the final outcome. Every vote deserves to be counted.”
—While a large tranche of votes remain, Thao needs to not only increase her first-place votes, but also hope for a boost from Victory’s column, while hoping more De La Fuente votes start flowing her way.
SAN LEANDRO
—The situation inn San Leandro’s mayoral race is much simpler. Councilmember San Leandro Bryan Azevedo is forging a path to victory after ranked-choice voting tabulations gave him a majority of support after three rounds.
—As of Wednesday, Azevedo has received 40.62 percent of first-place votes, followed by Juan Gonzalez at 34.65 percent, and Lee Thomas at 21.63 percent.
—Somewhat surprisingly, Thomas’s votes transferred nearly evenly to Azevedo and Gonzalez. Gonzalez garnered 650 votes from Thomas, while Azevedo received 568 votes.
—After early tabulations, the distribution puts Azevedo over the threshold with 53.92 percent, as of Wednesday.
—In this race, there isn’t much Gonzalez can do but to whittled away at Azevedo’s first-place spread and hope Thomas’s supporters begin to back him at a higher rate.
ALAMEDA COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
—The early four-point lead Terry Wiley jumped out to over Pamela Price is beginning to slowly erode, as of Wednesday. Wiley (51.68 percent) leads Price (48.32 percent), or a difference of 5,043 votes.
—This race is one to watch because of the nature of each candidate’s unique support in certain parts of Alameda County. Price’s clear stronghold is Oakland and Berkeley, which is a large swath of the county. The suburbs is where Wiley is likely to limit Price’s advantage. We could see some notable fluctuations in this race’s numbers.
10TH STATE SENATE DISTRICT
—The closest high-profile race in Alameda County may be heading to a long wait before a clear winner is declared. Lily Mei’s small lead over Aisha Wahab is showing signs of narrowing.
—Across Alameda and Santa Clara Counties, Mei (50.70 percent) leads Wahab (49.30 percent), or about 1,300 votes.
—Here’s the breakdown across the counties:
—Alameda County
MEI 20,393 (50.08 percent)
WAHAB 20,330 (49.92 percent)
—Santa Clara County
MEI 28,581 (51.20 percent)
WAHAB 27,212 (48.80 percent)
—Unlike Alameda County, which is not scheduled to post an update until Thursday evening, Santa Clara County is expected to post an update tonight.
—During the June primary, Mei jumped out to an early nine-point advantage. But it quickly decreased during the vote-counting process until settling at a three-point spread.
—Last night’s advantage for Mei is far smaller and Wahab already appears to be slowly whittling away at her lead. If Mei’s numbers in Santa Clara County numbers start falling, it’s a very bad sign for her chances.
20TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT
—Shawn Kumagai conceded the election in the 20th Assembly District on Wednesday afternoon to Liz Ortega-Toro.
—“I want to thank all those who supported and worked so hard on behalf of our campaign for Assembly. While we did not win last night, I remain as committed as ever to continue fighting for results on the issues that matter to everyday Alameda county residents,” he said in a statement.
—“I’m proud of the campaign we ran and the critical issues we brought to the center of the conversation — the importance of public safety, fiscal responsibility with hard-earned taxpayer dollars, and making housing more affordable and attainable. I want to congratulate Liz Ortega on her victory and I look forward to helping her address these issues that impact our community and state.”