New faces join City Councils after tight races in Concord, Clayton and Pleasant Hill

Correction: The final official vote count for the Clayton City Council election  is:

In the print issue, the mail ballot count was inadvertently picked up. Rich Enea was top vote getter by 156. Holly Tillman was 156 votes behind in second place. We apologize for the error which doesn’t change the standings.

CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CA (Dec. 12, 2024) — As the country prepares for major political changes at the national level, Diablo Valley residents only have to look down the block to see significant transformations at the local level.

In Concord, Clayton and Pleasant Hill, the City Councils will have a brand-new look.

Concord’s District 4 saw one of the tightest races in the county, as voters unseated longtime Councilmember and current Mayor Edi Birsan in favor of Pablo Benavente. The young Hispanic political newcomer snagged backing from the county Democratic party over Birsan.

In Clayton, current Mayor Jim Diaz came in third out of four candidates, barely sneaking back onto the council. Richard Enea bested incumbent Holly Tillman to take the top spot by 156 votes.

Pleasant Hill will have three new members learning the ropes, with Belle La and Amanda Szakats winning seats in the first district elections. The City Council previously appointed Andrei Obolenskiy, who was running unopposed in District 2.

Birsan ‘extremely disappointed’

The tight Birsan-Benavente race in Concord represented the old guard vs. a new face. Although Birsan is very popular in the community, the district obviously wanted change.

Despite Birsan’s record on helping the unhoused and public safety – he was endorsed by law enforcement – some people could not forget his support of the developer Seeno for the Concord Naval Weapons Station, said Pleasant Hill Vice Mayor Sue Noack, taking a bird’s eye view of the local elections.

That same 2022 vote for a partnership that included Seeno unseated longtime Concord volunteer Tim McGallian in 2022. The Seeno deal fell apart, but Concordians may have a long memory. And most were opposed to the developer taking on such a significant project.

Birsan has yet to comment on the final outcome of this race – which he lost by a mere 109 out of 10,768 votes cast. The morning after the election, before all the votes were tallied, he told the Pioneer that he expected a Benavente win and was “extremely disappointed” by the lack of support from local Democratic clubs. He called his Seeno vote “old news.”

Benavente touts ‘collaborative tone’

Benavente is, of course, thrilled at his victory. “The success of my campaign was all about staying connected with people,” he said. “Engaging directly – knocking on doors, listening to concerns and having honest conversations – helped build trust. We stayed focused on clear priorities: improving roads and infrastructure, balancing housing needs and ensuring public safety, which really resonated with voters.”

He said he was fortunate to have an “incredible” team and strong support from voices within the community. That included Supervisor Ken Carlson and the might of local Democratic party boards.

Benavente said he is looking forward to “diving in” and connecting with the ­community.

“I want to spend time meeting with city staff, community leaders and residents to better understand the issues we’re facing and how we can tackle them together,” he said. “I’ll also be digging into the city’s budget and ongoing projects to see where we can make immediate progress, especially on things like improving our roads and addressing housing concerns.

“I’m excited to set a positive and collaborative tone with my colleagues on the council so we can work as a team to make Concord better for everyone.”

Benavente said his election team “stayed positive and determined, inspiring confidence in what we could accomplish together.”

Birsan disagreed, specifically pointing to removing election signs. Besides that, there was no nasty back-and-forth between any of the candidates, including Myles Burks and Matthew Dashner, who came in third and fourth, respectively.

Meanwhile, Concord Councilmember Carlyn Obringer easily defeated Erik Antonick in a relatively quiet District 2 election.

Clayton ready for a change?

As far as drama goes, Clayton brought the most to the area campaigns – with the website Clayton Watch forming a political action committee to attack Tillman with negative mailers and other publicity. Tillman seemed unfazed by the negative campaign tactics by what she called an “independent expenditure group.”

“I am proud of the clean campaign my team and I ran,” she said. “We stayed positive and focused on the issues important to Clayton residents: public safety, wildfire prevention, pedestrian accessibility and roadway safety, and addressing our trails and landscaping maintenance needs.

“It’s unfortunate that some have attempted to bring big city politics to our small town,” she added.

Recently, the council has been split 3-2 on most decisions, with Jeff Wan, Kim Trupiano and Diaz voting in lockstep and Tillman and Peter Cloven allied. Cloven decided not to run this year.

While Tillman said it wasn’t her role to speculate on “horse race politics” in regard to where the candidates fell in the final vote tally, she said she thinks Clayton residents want to see the city move in a new direction.
Diaz said he isn’t involved with Clayton Watch and its hit pieces on Tillman.

“I don’t do social media,” he said. “YouTube, Clayton Watch, all those are quagmires.”

He also said he hasn’t spoken with Enea since the election and has no idea how his arrival will affect the council.

For his part, Enea sees his victory as a signal that people desire a change from the divisiveness of the past four years. The longtime Clayton resident said he financed his campaign himself, taking no money from special interest donors, adding that he will remain staunchly independent.

“I think it’s from my law enforcement past,” he said. “People see me as a peacemaker, and I am going to try and be that on the council.”

Enea served two terms on the Crescent City council before moving back to Clayton and serving on the Planning Commission.

Hard-fought races in Pleasant Hill

There was also drama in the usually quiet Pleasant Hill.

In another razor-thin margin, La beat Marshall Lewis by 33 votes out of 2,467 in District 1, which has the highest number of non-white voters, according to Noack. La aligned herself with many of the Asian-American civic leaders, which may have pushed her over the top.

“I believe what set me apart from my opponent is my unwavering connection to the community,” La said. “I’ve been consistently present at local events, actively engaging with residents.”

But from her vantage point, Noack said both La and Lewis ran hard, door-to-door campaigns and it was just the way the votes fell that gave La the victory.

In District 5, Szakats defeated Oliver Greenwood in what she called a “clean” campaign.

“Both Oliver and I campaigned hard,” Szakats said. “I think my platform of safety, especially bike and pedestrian safety, smart growth and revitalizing underdeveloped areas, resonated with voters. I also worked hard to connect with our commissions and community groups and win the endorsements of local leaders.”

She says her top priorities will be making sure the pedestrian and bike safety plan is implemented, maintaining the fiscal health of the city and filling empty retail space downtown.

Noack says the new members on all the councils will have a surprise coming, as it will be hard to focus on local issues from the start.

“First, new councilmembers have to learn to govern,” she noted. “They have to learn how the budget works, the rules of meetings and get committee and commission assignments. It’s a steep learning curve.”

Noack says she will be doing “a lot of mentoring” with her three new colleagues.

“Being a city councilmember is not all handshakes and community events,” said the veteran politician. “It’s a hard job wherever you are.”