Vote Count Update: Zorn Surges into First Place in Mayor's Race, DeLaney Falls to Third
As county continues to count ballots, mayor's contest remains three-way race between Brianne Zorn, Sean Trambley and Lara DeLaney; Ben Therriault closes on Debbie McKillop in City Council race
The Contra Costa County Elections Office updated its ballot count totals on Thursday afternoon, and they showed a big shift in the mayor’s race. Brianne Zorn is now leading with 23.97% of the vote, followed closely behind by Sean Trambley (22.97%) and Lara DeLaney (22.82%). With only 141 votes separating the three, this race will go down to the wire, and we probably won’t know the winner until the election is certified in a few weeks. DeLaney was in the lead after Election Night, but mail-in ballots that arrive on or after Election Day (they must be postmarked by Nov. 8) are still being counted, along with provisional ballots.
The race for the District 4 City Council seat is also far from being decided, with challenger Ben Therriault now only 36 votes behind two-term incumbent Debbie McKillop. McKillop won re-election by only 23 votes four years ago.
The other council race, for District 1, will be won by Jay Howard, who has an insurmountable lead of 16 percentage points over Nakenya Allen.
The Martinez Unified School District Trustee Area 3 seat will go to Yazmin Llamas, who leads Marcia LeBoeuf by 16 points.
Meanwhile, the Measure K bond measure in the Martinez Unified School District is getting more interesting. As predicted, late-counted ballots are going in its favor and it now is up to 51.5% of the “Yes” vote; it requires 55% for passage.
There remain over 100,000 ballots left to be counted throughout Contra Costa County (not sure how many for these specific Martinez races). Stay tuned for another update next week!
For context, DeLaney had a 194-vote lead after Election Night but now trails by 141 votes. Her vote count REALLY fell off in this batch of ballots, indicating most of her supporters may have voted early and/or in person. Meanwhile, Zorn led Trambley by 79 votes after Election Night and is now ahead of him by 122 votes. Not a huge difference, but if they continue that rough split in the remaining votes, she should be in strong position. No way to know, however, how the remaining votes will break.
Thanks Craig! And this is why a recent article in The Patch is misleading in its title (can’t find it now - something like Martinez chooses a new mayor and names Laura DeLaney).