Benicia Election Results: All ballots counted, only the audit remains

By Roger Straw, November 29, 2016
[Editor: The sweep of local elections by three candidates who strongly opposed Valero Crude By Rail is to be celebrated. Our next four years in Benicia will hopefully be witness to a new majority on Council, with a vision for progressive values.  – RS]

Solano County seal (400x400)The Solano County Registrar of Voters issued a day’s end report at 4:53pm Tuesday 11/29. All ballots have been counted. Only an audit remains before the County finalizes the vote. The County’s next update will be Friday, 12/02 at end of day. Mayor Patterson has won re-election. Steve Young has been elected and Tom Campbell has been re-elected to the City Council. Patterson, Young and Campbell will be sworn in at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, December 6. 

Mayor Elizabeth Patterson‘s lead increased by a single vote after today’s counting. Her margin of victory over challenger Mark Hughes has nearly tripled, increasing from 109 votes early on Wednesday morning, to 332 as of today. Hughes phoned Mayor Patterson on the day after the election to concede.

City Councilmember-elect Steve Young‘s lead over Tom Campbell decreased by 1 vote today and his lead over Christina Strawbridge remained the same. Young remains the top vote-getter, now by a margin of 289 votes over Campbell and 808 votes over Strawbridge. Traditionally in Benicia, the Council candidate with the most votes becomes Vice Mayor until the next election cycle. Congratulations, Vice-mayor-elect Young!

Solano County Supervisor-elect Monica Brown also extended her lead over Mike Ioakimedes by 12 votes, increasing her margin of victory to 3790 votes (18784 Brown to 15010 Ioakimedes).

Here is a table showing Benicia details, taken from Steve Young’s website:

City Council (top two are elected)
Candidate Total votes Vote % Election day Vote by mail Pro-visional
Steve Young 6717 26.81 2022 4472 223
Tom Campbell 6428 25.66 1788 4479 161
Christina Strawbridge 5909 23.59 1604 4134 171
Lionel Largaespada 4097 16.35 1233 2718 146
George Oakes 1804 7.20 565 1173 66
Write-in 96 0.38 33 59 4
Over Votes 16 2 14 0
Under Votes 6327 2121 3733 473
Mayor
 Candidate Total votes   Vote % Election day  Vote by mail  Pro-visional
Elizabeth Patterson 7545 50.96 2216 5056 273
Mark Hughes  7213 48.72 2202 4761 250
Write In 47 0.32 15 32 0
Over Votes 1 1 0 0
Under Votes 891 250 542 99

Benicia Election Results: Count near final as of Monday, 11/28

By Roger Straw, November 28, 2016
[Editor: The sweep of local elections by three candidates who strongly opposed Valero Crude By Rail is to be celebrated. Our next four years in Benicia will hopefully be witness to a new majority on Council, with a vision for progressive values.  – RS]

Solano County seal (400x400)The Solano County Registrar of Voters issued a day’s end report at 5:44pm Monday 11/28. All Benicia ballots have been counted. A small number of provisional ballots from other cities remain to be counted. The County’s next update will be Tuesday, 11/29 at end of day. Mayor Patterson has won re-election. Steve Young has been elected and Tom Campbell has been re-elected to the City Council. Patterson, Young and Campbell will be sworn in at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, December 6. 

Mayor Elizabeth Patterson‘s lead increased by 2 votes after today’s counting. Her margin of victory over challenger Mark Hughes has nearly tripled, increasing from 109 votes early on Wednesday morning, to 331 as of today. Hughes phoned Mayor Patterson on the day after the election to concede.

City Councilmember-elect Steve Young‘s lead over Tom Campbell increased by 5 votes today and his lead over Christina Strawbridge remained the same. Young remains the top vote-getter, now by a margin of 290 votes over Campbell and 808 votes over Strawbridge. Traditionally in Benicia, the Council candidate with the most votes becomes Vice Mayor until the next election cycle. Congratulations, Vice-mayor-elect Young!

Solano County Supervisor-elect Monica Brown also extended her lead over Mike Ioakimedes by 81 votes, increasing her margin of victory to 3778 votes (18784 Brown to 15006 Ioakimedes).

Benicia Election Results: Only 34 Benicia ballots left to count, Patterson, Young, Campbell win

By Roger Straw, November 23, 2016
[Editor: The sweep of local elections by three candidates who strongly opposed Valero Crude By Rail is to be celebrated. Our next four years in Benicia will hopefully be witness to a new majority on Council, with a vision for progressive values.  – RS]

Solano County seal (400x400)The Solano County Registrar of Voters issued a day’s end report at 4:45pm Wednesday 11/23. Although 2,584 Provisional ballots remain to be counted, only 34 of those are from Benicia. Mayor Patterson has won re-election. Steve Young has been elected and Tom Campbell has been re-elected to the City Council. Patterson, Young and Campbell will be sworn in at the City Council meeting on Tuesday, December 6. 

Mayor Elizabeth Patterson‘s lead increased by 14 votes after today’s counting. Her margin of victory over challenger Mark Hughes has nearly tripled, increasing from 109 votes early on Wednesday morning, to 329 as of today. Hughes phoned Mayor Patterson on the day after the election to concede.

City Councilmember-elect Steve Young‘s lead over Tom Campbell increased by 2 votes today and his lead over Christina Strawbridge increased by 9. Young remains the top vote-getter, now by a margin of 285 votes over Campbell and 808 votes over Strawbridge. Traditionally in Benicia, the Council candidate with the most votes becomes Vice Mayor until the next election cycle. Congratulations, Vice-mayor-elect Young!

Solano County Supervisor-elect Monica Brown also extended her lead over Mike Ioakimedes by 68 votes, increasing her margin of victory to 3697 votes (18662 Brown to 14965 Ioakimedes).

Here is a table showing Benicia details, taken from Steve Young’s website:

City Council (top two are elected)
Candidate Total votes Vote % Election day Vote by mail Pro-visional
Steve Young 6704 26.81 2022 4472 210
Tom Campbell 6419 25.67 1788 4479 152
Christina Strawbridge 5896 23.60 1604 4134 158
Lionel Largaespada 4086 16.34 1233 2718 135
George Oakes 1800 7.20 565 1173 62
Write-in 96 0.38 33 59 4
Over Votes 16 2 14 0
Under Votes 6281 2121 3733 427
Mayor
 Candidate Total votes   Vote % Election day  Vote by mail  Pro-visional
Elizabeth Patterson 7529 50.95 2216 5056 257
Mark Hughes  7200 48.73 2202 4761 237
Write In 47 0.32 15 32 0
Over Votes 1 1 0 0
Under Votes 872 250 542 80

BENICIA LOOKING TO THE FUTURE: A victory in Philadelphia

By Roger Straw, Thanksgiving, 2016

What’s next now that oil trains have been stopped here in Benicia? Check out the good news from Philadelphia, and dream about Benicia’s port in the future…  Community, environmental, and labor groups working together for green infrastructure improvements and new green union jobs?  Sounds good, yes!  – RS

greenjusticephilly_logoFor Immediate Release: November 22, 2016
CONTACT: Sam Rubin, srubin@fwwatch.org, 401-439-3203
Tracy Carluccio, tracy@delawareriverkeeper.org 215.369.1188 ext. 104 (rings to cell)
Matt Walker, mwalker@cleanair.org, 215-567-4004 ext. 121

Gov. Wolf’s New Port Plan Rejects Fossil Fuels

After Months-long Campaign, Green Justice Philly Celebrates Decision as Protecting Community Health, Growing Family-Supporting Jobs

Philadelphia, PA — The Green Justice Philly coalition applauds the announcement that Governor Tom Wolf and the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority (PRPA) will dedicate $300 million to developing shipping capacity at the Port of Philadelphia and making green improvements to existing infrastructure at Southport, which represents a firm rejection of fossil fuel projects at the site.

Sheree Arnold, a community leader from Southwest Philadelphia said, “Today I told the PRPA about how toxic pollution affects communities of color in Philadelphia. Literally an hour after taking action today, the PRPA rejected fossil fuel expansion at Southport. This proves that when we stand up together and fight, we win.”

“Community, environmental, and labor groups have been urging PRPA to move our city towards a future that is sustainable and stable,” said Sam Rubin, Eastern Pennsylvania Organizer with Food & Water Watch. “This announcement is a clear rejection of fossil fuels, and will embolden groups to continue campaigning against fossil fuel infrastructure and for well-paying, green jobs in Philadelphia. We remain committed to the working families of the port and making sure that any future development of the port emphasizes family supporting, unionized jobs.”

Green Justice Philly–a coalition of over 25 environmental, community, and labor organizations– has been pushing for the rejection of oil and gas development at Southport for over a year now. The coalition effectively advocated for its position by building strong alliances with labor groups, winning the support of nearly two dozen city and state elected officials, and holding rallies at monthly PRPA board meetings. Earlier today, over 75 community members rallied, calling for PRPA to “open the door to a green jobs future.” The groups are cautiously optimistic about the direction that the PRPA is taking, knowing that the devil is in the details of this implementation.

“The people of Philadelphia, led by Green Justice Philly in alliance with labor, spoke loud and clear to the Philadelphia Port Authority and Governor Wolf that we do not want and cannot tolerate fossil fuel expansion at Southport. Our voices were heard and the outcome will benefit the City, its residents and its workforce by providing jobs that support a green economy rather than dirty fossil fuel development and the harm it inflicts on our community’s health and the environment. We will be watching the process closely to assure the public continues to be involved in the port’s future, but one thing is certain – the river and the City are better protected today because there will be no fossil fuel expansion at Southport and the current port facilities will be improved with green infrastructure such as replacing diesel equipment with electric power,” said Tracy Carluccio, Green Justice Philly Steering Committee and Deputy Director of Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

“Governor Wolf and the Philadelphia Regional Port Authority sided with clean air, public health, and jobs today when they decided against proposed permanent fossil fuel projects at the Southport site of the Port of Philadelphia,” said Matt Walker, Community Outreach Director with Clean Air Council. “They also decided in favor of positive environmental improvements and initiatives at the Port as well as long-term jobs. This decision demonstrates that Philadelphia will continue to be a leader in promoting a healthier and more livable future for its residents.”

“Protecting the health of our residents, providing good jobs and working to mitigate climate change are moral issues that transcend politics.  We are grateful that we were able to build a broad multi-racial, multi-faith, coalition that could unite around the values of justice, sustainability and the well being of all people. In doing so we were able to stop the largest private equity firm in the world,”, said Rabbi Mordechai Liebling, steering committee of Green Justice Philly, representing the Philadelphia chapter of Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light.

Green Justice Philly is a diverse and growing coalition committed to building a healthy, sustainable and economically just Philadelphia region. We work together to oppose the dirty fossil fuel industry that puts our neighborhoods at risk and makes our citizens sick, and cannot contribute to our long-term prosperity.

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