New leadership in Antioch with Bernal elected mayor, Freitas, Rocha elected to council
11/7/24 UPDATE: As of Wednesday County Elections office still counting “upwards of 90,000 ballots”
Newcomers elected city treasurer, clerk, as well
“…support our new mayor. Support Ron Bernal…pray for him. Make sure that we’re uplifting people, not bringing people down.”- Lamar Hernández-Thorpe
Defeated incumbent’s concession speech includes swipe at former police chief
By Allen D. Payton
Antioch will have a new mayor and council majority with the elections of former city manager Ron Bernal, former Antioch High principal Louie Rocha and former mayor Don Freitas. In addition, the voters chose newcomers Jorge Rojas, Jr. as the new city treasurer and Melissa Rhodes as Antioch’s new city clerk. From the initial returns after the polls closed at 8:00 p.m., until the final, unofficial results posted by the County Elections Office at 2:18 a.m., all five of the new City of Antioch officials led in their respective races.
Bernal overwhelmingly defeated Mayor Lamar Hernández-Thorpe by more than a two-to-one margin, garnering 16,765 votes or 63.31% to the incumbent’s 7,903 votes or 29.85%. The third candidate in the race, Rakesh Christian, running for a second time for mayor, received 1,812 votes or 6.84% of the vote.
In the city council District 2 race, Rocha defeated Parks and Recreation Commission Chair Dominique King by a dominant margin of 3,601 votes or 61.13% to her 2,290 votes or 38.87% of the vote. That’s a larger margin of victory than when King lost to Rocha’s mother, Mary in the Antioch School Board Area 5 Trustee race in 2022, 56.58% to 42.42% of the vote.
Freitas defeated both of his opponents in council District 3 with more votes than the other two combined, garnering 3,840 votes or 51.57% to newcomer Addison Peterson’s 2,097 votes or 28.16% and Board of Administrative Appeals Vice Chair Antwon Webster’s 1,509 or 20.27%, in his second run for the seat.
In the other competitive race for Antioch City offices, Rojas defeated current District 3 Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock by 937 votes who is barely leading former mayor, councilman and city treasurer, Jim Davis by just two votes. Rojas currently has 8,912 votes or 35.85%, Ogorchock has 7,975 votes or 32.08% to Davis’ 7,793 votes or 32.06%. Rojas is the only candidate backed by Hernández-Thorpe to be elected to city offices.
Rhodes, an assistant city clerk for Vallejo, had no opponent in the race.
Bernal, Freitas, Rocha and Rhodes, as well as Antioch School Board Area 3 Trustee Scott Bergerhouse, their family members, friends and supporters enjoyed an Election Night party hosted by local businessman Sean and his wife Maria McCauley at the event center on the grounds of their home in Antioch. Ogorchock said she was not feeling well and unable to attend. None of the candidates in attendance offered a speech.
However, on Wednesday, the mayor-elect simply posted a message of “Thank You” on his Facebook page.
Freitas did the same and included a brief message writing, “I sincerely appreciate your trust in me as your newly elected District 3 representative. Thank you to my amazing team, friends, family, and the residents of Antioch.
Your support means everything to me, and I am dedicated to working together to create a better Antioch.”
Rocha posted a photo of his campaign sign with the message, “Thank you for all of your support for Antioch City Council District 2. I’m grateful and appreciative of the volunteers who dedicated their time and energy in support of my campaign.”
Hernández-Thorpe Offers Concession Speech, Takes Swipe at Former Police Chief Brooks, Asks Support, Prayer for Bernal
Hernández-Thorpe, Peterson and Rojas attended an Election Night Democratic Unity Watch Party at Delta Bay Church in Antioch.
In a video posted on his Instagram account, with Rojas standing to his left and his daughter, Kennedy and Peterson standing to his right, the incumbent mayor said, “Many of you may have seen the results. Many of you may have not seen the results so, I’ll spare you, spare you the shock. I’m not winning, and I probably will not win this evening, and I probably will not win as they continue to count the votes.”
Pointing to a supporter standing behind him he said with a smile, “I know I’m still your mayor. I’ll be your mayor for life.”
“You got my vote,” a woman could be heard saying.
“But one thing I can tell you is that we leave Antioch, or I will leave Antioch, as the mayor, a stronger place than what it was four years ago,” he continued.
“That’s right,” his supporters said with applause.
“And I can confidently tell you that because I have all the receipts,” Hernández-Thorpe stated. “It has been a four-year term that started very relatively quiet, like most mayors do and then we fell into the unfortunate situation with the police department and it did put, that situation did put people’s public safety at risk.”
He was referring to the DA’s and FBI’s initial investigations of “crimes of moral turpitude” among several Antioch and Pittsburg Police officers beginning in March 2022, during the mayor’s second year in office. That led to the second, broader investigation of the racist texts scandal, the following year, in which 35 officers being placed on paid leave. Ultimately, the two investigations resulted in 10 Antioch officers being terminated.
“Everybody in this room and everybody in this city lived through, literally was living in a less safe city because we lost so many officers in our community,” he continued.
Antioch would have lost more had the mayor had his way when he called for all of those caught up in the investigations to be fired.
“We were building new strategies related to the Department of Public Safety and Community Resources which weren’t fully built out yet, and yet we lost so many officers,” Hernández-Thorpe stated. “I’m glad that we’re at a point now where we’ve hired 40 new officers that are reflective of this room.”
“Reflective of this room,” he repeated to applause.
He then took swipes at the former police chief, who, along with Bernal, the incumbent has blamed for the police scandals happening on their watch, even though he was a council member and mayor while they occurred.
“I’m proud. I’m absolutely proud that we rooted out officers that should not have been in Antioch to begin with,” the mayor said to more applause. “I’m proud that when I leave office I won’t be running to another state like the former chief of police, Tammany Brooks, because I have nothing to run from.”
He was referring to the City’s first African American police chief who retired from his position in Antioch in 2021 for a new position as deputy police chief in Boise, Idaho.
Hernández-Thorpe then spoke of some of the other accomplishments during his term as mayor.
“And so, with that I think we leave Antioch with a strong foundation, a new Department of Public Safety and Community Resources, a 24/7 community crisis response team that no other city has, a hotel, a hotel that people said we wouldn’t do, we wouldn’t get done, but we did get done. I made sure I worked my butt off to make sure that hotel was opened.”
Pointing to woman off stage he said, “People like you given a second chance at life,” to applause and shared briefly about her. “Opportunity Village, my hotel, my hotel, gave her the opportunity to change her life while she was pregnant. While she was pregnant.
He was referring to the Executive Inn on E. 18th Street which the City is leasing to provide transitional housing for the city’s homeless residents and funded by federal COVID-relief funds.
“And so, as I will leave office there will be no greater satisfaction. No greater satisfaction,” Hernández-Thorpe said. “And to know that the work that we did the last four years was able to change people’s lives like that.”
“Listen, I was born in a prison, I was raised in foster care. By the time I graduated high school I couldn’t read and write,” he then shared about his early life. “The worst thing in my life has already happened to me. I want everyone to be clear and understand that tonight is not the worst day of my life. I was not raised by my Black mama. I met her on my 22nd birthday. The worst day in my life already happened to me. Nobody could ever hurt my feelings. Nobody could ever drag my name through the mud, and nobody could ever bring me down to the point that would replicate the feeling of not being able to be raised by your Black mama.”
“So, today is not the worst day of my life,” the mayor reiterated. “Today is a day of reflection because I get to talk about the good things that we did in this city.”
“So, the last four years was not particularly helpful to have a group of people constantly attacking you, raising doubt,” he continued. “It was not helpful. So, I’m going to ask everybody in here to do. As you go on your daily lives support our new mayor. Support Ron Bernal. You don’t have to agree with everything that he does or everything that he says but pray for him. Make sure that we’re uplifting people, not bringing people down.”
“And so, I’ll end by saying I want to particularly thank my daughter, right here,” he said while giving her a hug, as they both smiled to more applause. “You know I’ve lived here for 12 years and in those 12 years, eight of them have been in elected office. So, that means she really hasn’t gotten to fully experience what a dad is all about. She just hasn’t. Now, there are some nights I didn’t get to come home. I did not get to come home, or I got home and she was already in bed so, I didn’t get to read that book.”
Turning to her he said, “So, I want to thank you for your patience. I want to thank you for putting up with me. But more importantly I want to thank you for having the courage to wake up every single day knowing people who were saying horrible things about your dad and still be able to face the world like it wasn’t nothing. So, thank you.”
“And I would be remiss to not to thank her mom, Patrice Guillory, for always standing in as a good mom even at times when I couldn’t be a good dad,” Hernández-Thorpe stated. “I tried my best. But the reality is she’s been the one who’s been dedicated to her schooling, making sure she’s getting the grades she’s supposed to get. Because as a mayor and as an elected official you don’t always have those opportunities. So, I’d be remiss not to send my gratitude and appreciation to her mom.”
“And lastly I want to thank people who have been around me for the last four years,” the defeated incumbent said. “I want to thank people like Kiara. I call her Kiki. The photographer in the mayor’s office. She’s got to travel with me internationally to see things and experience things and I want to thank you, Kiki for always being there for me.”
“I want to thank Mrs. and Mrs. Jackson, our caterer and our DJ, for always being there to support our events and making sure that we have good, quality everything to serve you, serve the people,” he continued. “I want to thank people like Nichole Gardner. While I’m proud of the hotel and the work that we did, all that started because of her and her advocacy.”
“Since I was on the city council, Vicky (Robinson) has been my treasurer. So, thank you, Vicky for always being there with me,” Hernández-Thorpe stated. “I thank Pastor (Lamont) Francies for being my pastor. I’m not a member of this church so I don’t want to make you believe something that isn’t so. I’m not a member of this church. I was born and raised Catholic and I’m gonna die Catholic. But my blackness can’t help it sometimes. So, I’m attracted to the work, the pastoral work of Dr. Francies and how he ties work that he does, here at this church to social justice and that he is always a soundboard for me, as the mayor. And so, thank you, Pastor Francies for always being there.”
“And lastly I want to thank the people of Antioch,” the mayor said. “Just in case you have amnesia, I’ve served for eight years. And I want to remind people that when I ran for city council I won with the highest margins and when I ran for mayor I won with the highest margins. Having earned the largest number of votes of any mayor in Antioch’s history.”
“Now, that may change this time,” he clarified with a smile.
It did change. Bernal’s margin of victory is greater with 8,862 more votes than Hernández-Thorpe or 23.46% in this election than the mayor’s margin in 2020 of 4,898 votes or the 10.55% vote difference over Sean Wright. However, there were five candidates splitting the votes in that race versus three candidates, this year.
“But I’m still going to claim what I know which is, the people of Antioch entrusted me for eight years to represent them at City Hall,” the incumbent shared. “And you knew I was here to fight and ensure that we were bringing the issues that weren’t being talked about for a long time. And so, I could not have been more honored to having lived here for four years and those first four years, the people of Antioch said we want you to represent us in City Hall. So, thank you, to the people of Antioch.”
“Now, this has not been the first time I put my hand up to take the oath,” Hernández-Thorpe continued. “I’ve been taking the oath since I was 18 years old. I have been a public servant since I was 18 years old. So, when I signed up to enlist in the United States Navy, not just to serve the people of my community but to serve our entire nation. And so, I couldn’t be more honored.”
“Oh, I do want to thank one other person. Two other people. actually” he then said. “I want to thank President Biden and Vice President Harris. I don’t know what mayor of Antioch has ever been asked by the president of the United States to be a surrogate for their campaign, but I was. And I couldn’t have been more honored when Kamala Harris asked me in person. Asked me in person. She said, ‘can you help me win this election?’ and I said, ‘I’m up for election and I need to win,’ and she said, ‘I need you in this campaign,’ and I said, ‘whatever you need me to do, Vice President Harris, I will do.’ And I traveled up and down this country on her behalf and Joe Biden’s behalf and I couldn’t have been more proud, to do so. So, I want to thank them for allowing me to represent them on a national scale. So, I couldn’t be more honored.”
“With that I’m going to stop talking. I want to thank everybody for their support…and onward and upward. Thank you,” the mayor concluded.
Efforts to reach Bernal for further comment were unsuccessful prior to publication time.
The next results update from the County Elections Office is expected on Friday afternoon, Nov. 8. The new council members, clerk and treasurer will take their positions in early December following the certification of the election, which can take up to 28 days.
11/07/24 UPDATE: According to Dawn Kruger, Media Outreach Coordinator for the Elections Division of the Contra Costa County Clerk-Recorder’s Office, as of Wednesday morning there were still as many as 90,000 ballots remaining to be counted in the county.
“We had tallied 291,000 ballots as of Election Day. All the ballots received at the polling places, those were counted on Election Night, except for the Vote By Mail ballots submitted in their sealed envelopes at polling places,” she stated.
Those are part of “the upwards of 90,000 ballots we received included from Drop Boxes which were picked up last on Tuesday afternoon. Those still have to be processed with signature verification, then extraction, then tally,” Kruger explained.
Asked about the additional ballots from the Drop Boxes she said, “The boxes were locked at 8:00 p.m. and the ballots were picked up the following morning.”
“We expect to add all those ballots to the results on Friday’s update,” Kruger stated. “But we continue to receive ballots placed in the mail on Election Day which can be received up to seven days following, which is Tuesday, the 12th.
“We’ll have a better understanding this afternoon.” Kruger added. “By tomorrow afternoon at end of the day, we’ll have more of an exact count up on our website.”
She also shared they do not have a breakdown by city of remaining ballots to be counted.
Please check back later for any updates to this report.
the attachments to this post:
Bernal mayor percentages 110524 & Ron Thank you 110624
Hernandez-Thorpe speaks with Rojas & Peterson 11-05-24
Freitas congrats by Soliz D3 Council results 110524 & Thank you 110624 FB
Rocha D2 Council results 110524 & Thank you 110624 FB
Bernal mayor percentages 110524
Bernal thanks supporters at McCauley’s Antioch Election Night party 11-0524
