Concord and Clayton races decided “semi-officially”

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY—By 1 a.m. election night, all precincts in Clayton and Concord had reported unofficial results. Voter turnout for Contra Costa County was 51.72 percent.

In Clayton, six candidates vied for three open seats on the city council with incumbent Jim Diaz returning for another four years.

After a brutal, high-octane campaign bitterly fought over a high density housing project downtown, just six votes separated Diaz and planning commissioner Peter Cloven. Community leader Holly Tillman will fill the third seat. Current councilmember Tuija Catalano was a close fourth. Frank Gavidia and Glenn Miller trailed far behind each with 14 percent of the vote.

Concord City Council

In Concord’s District 2, incumbent Carlyn Obringer easily won over Hope Johnson and perennial candidate Harmesh Kumar who was making his sixth run for a council seat. Obringer garnered 44 percent of the votes, Johnson 24 percent and Kumar 16 percent. Newcomers to city politics, Tristan Piper and Paul Wood split the remaining 16 percent.

In District 4, incumbent Edi Birsan ran unopposed.

Voters were on board with sales tax increase. Measure V, which will double Concord’s sales tax to  one cent on the dollar and extend it indefinitely, narrowly passed with 51 percent of the votes.

Contra Costa County’s Measure X had an easier time of it, passing with 59 percent. Measure X imposes a countywide sales tax of a half cent on the dollar.

District 1 BART Director Debora Allen sailed to an easy win with 65 percent against challengers Jamie Salcido and Emmy Akin.

Incumbents win

Incumbents in state and national races all breezed to an easy victory State Assembly District 14 incumbent Tim Grayson, State Senate District 7 Steve Glazer and U.S Representative Mark DeSaulnier were all reelected with at least 70 percent of the votes cast in their jurisdiction.