Brown, Cobos-Smith, Rojas, Jr., and Scales-Preston appear to all be headed for victory

No changes in Antioch mayor, city council races

84,200 unprocessed ballots remain, but ballots can still arrive until next Tuesday

“I feel very validated. I’m really excited. The one thing we should all be able to coalesce around is our children. They’re our future.” – Olga Cobos-Smith

By Allen D. Payton

As of Friday, November 8, 2024, at 3:25:03 p.m., with 84,200 unprocessed ballots remaining to be counted in the county the Contra Costa Elections Division released the latest results update. It shows the leaders on Tuesday night in the races for Antioch School Board Areas 3 and 4, City Treasurer and District 5 County Supervisor have expanded their leads over their respective rivals. In addition, the leaders in the races for Mayor of Antioch and City Council Districts 2 and 3 remain comfortably ahead of their opponents.

Antioch School Board

In the Antioch School Board Area 3 race, newcomer Dee Brown expanded her lead over former AUSD district leader and principal Scott Bergerhouse to 415 votes, with 3,869 or 52.83% of the vote to his 3,454 or 47.17%. In the Area 4 race, another newcomer, Olga Cobos-Smith, expanded her lead over incumbent Gary Hack, who didn’t appear to have done any campaigning, to 1,174 votes, with 3,923 or 58.8% to his 2,749 votes or 41.2% of the vote. If the numbers hold, they will join Area 1 Trustee Antonio Hernandez who ran unopposed for his second term on the board.

When reached for comment, Cobos-Smith said about her expected victory, “I feel very validated. I’ve been watching the board for a long time and been very dismayed, since my granddaughter was in second grade. At that time, I was still working full-time and I didn’t have the time to give. She’s in ninth grade, now.”

“I found the residents in Area 4 are equally as frustrated with how things are going and are on board with some of the things I want to remedy,” the first-time candidate shared. “The teachers are also on board. I’m really excited.”

Cobos-Smith said during the campaign she was asked which political side in Antioch she’s on and if she was supported by the mayor.

“I found it very offensive. It didn’t allow me to stand on my own,” she stated. “The one thing we should all be able to coalesce around is our children. They’re our future.”

About hiring a new, permanent district superintendent Cobos-Smith said, “I’m really looking forward to getting started. When working in San Francisco we had a system which gathered input from stakeholders. I am very hopeful that we can create a similar system where we can have the community, teachers and stakeholders give their input in hiring the next superintendent. That includes the voters, but especially, the teachers.”

Cobos-Smith said she grew up all over California and moved to Antioch from San Francisco where her only daughter attended college and is now a pharmacist at Walgreens. Following her daughter and family’s move a few years earlier, she moved to Antioch in 2018.

“Thank you, Area 4. I’m ready for change and I believe you are, too. You voted for me,” Cobos-Smith added.

An effort to reach Brown was unsuccessful prior to publication time.

City Treasurer

In the closest multi-candidate race in Antioch, for City Treasurer, to replace the outgoing incumbent Lauren Posada, newcomer Jorge Rojas, Jr. expanded his lead to 1,736 votes over his closest opponent, District 3 Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock, and to 1,801 votes over former mayor Jim Davis. So far, Rojas has 11,878 votes or 37.01%, Ogorchock has 10,142 or 31.6% and Davis trails slightly behind with 10,077 votes or 31.4% of the vote.

County Supervisor District 5

In what was the closest race affecting Antioch, to replace incumbent District 5 Contra Costa County Supervisor Federal Glover, who chose not to run for a sixth term, Pittsburg Councilwoman Shanelle Scales-Preston expanded her lead over Antioch District 2 Councilman Mike Barbanica to 1,843 votes, after he had closed a 700+ vote gap on Election Night to just 67 votes early Wednesday morning. She now has 33,610 votes or 51.41% to his 31,767 votes or 48.59% of the vote.

Mayor

In the race for Mayor of Antioch, challenger Ron Bernal continues expanding his dominating lead over incumbent Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe to 11,127 votes, with 21,578 or 62.77% to the current mayor’s 10,381 votes or 30.3%. Second-time mayoral candidate Rakesh Christian remains in a distant third place with 2,377 votes or 6.94% of the vote.

The incumbent gave his concession speech on Tuesday night. Bernal announced his victory Thursday afternoon. (See related articles here and here)

City Council

In the race for District 2 City Council, to fill the seat of Barbanica who chose to run for higher office, former Antioch High principal Louie Rocha maintains his strong lead over Parks and Recreation Commission Chair Dominique King to 1,369 votes with 4,472 or 59.04% to her 3,103 votes or 40.96% of the vote. Finally, in the only other multi-candidate race in Antioch, for District 3 City Council, to replace the gerrymandered out Ogorchock, former mayor Don Freitas continues to lead his two opponents with more votes than theirs combined. His closest rival, newcomer Adddison Peterson, is 1,104 votes behind and Board of Administrative Appeals Vice Chair and second time council candidate, Antwon Webster remains in third place 1,791 votes behind the leader. Freitas currently has 4,821 votes or 50.39%, Peterson has 2,717 or 28.4% and Webster has 2,030 votes or 21.22% of the vote.

Estimated Number of Unprocessed Ballots in County

Following are the ballot statistics from the Contra Costa County Elections Division of the Clerk-Recorder’s Office, also as of Friday, November 8, 2024, at 3:25:03 p.m. that are unprocessed and remain to be counted:

Ballots voted at a voting location – 200

Vote-by-mail ballots received on or before Election Day – 60,000

Vote-by-mail ballots received after Election Day – 10,000

Provisional ballots – 5,000

Conditional Voter Registration Provisional ballots – 5,000

Other (In Review, Damaged) – 4,000

Total – 84,200

However, according to Melissa Hickok, Executive Assistant to Registrar of Voters Kristen Connelly, that total will change.

“We’re still receiving ballots that were postmarked by 8:00 p.m. on Election Day through next Tuesday, Nov. 12th,” she shared. Hickok also said the Elections office staff will be taking off for the three-day holiday weekend, due to Veterans Day on Monday. Ballot processing will resume on Tuesday.

The next results update is expected on Wednesday, Nov. 13, 2024, at 4:00 p.m. The Elections office has 28 days to complete the process to certify the election.

the attachments to this post:

Antioch Mayor & Council Results Update 110824

County Supe D5 Results 110824

Antioch City Treasurer Elections Update 110824

AUSD Board Areas 3 & 4 Trustees 110824

Dee Brown & Olga Cobos-Smith 2024

This entry was posted on Friday, November 8th, 2024 at 8:10 pm and is filed under Contra Costa County, Education, Government, News, Politics & Elections. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.