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