Tag Archives: Benicia mayor

2020 elections, Benicia City Council, Benicia Mayor, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Cannabis, Solano County Registrar of Voters, Terry Scott, Trevor Macenski

Nov. 6 Benicia election UPDATE: Macenski maintains Council lead

By Roger Straw, November 6, 2020, 7:00pm

Trevor Macenski maintains lead for second seat on Benicia City Council – leads Terry Scott by 95 votes

Solano County updated its election results at 5:51pm tonight, with no changes in yesterday’s rankings.  Unofficial results yesterday gave Trevor Macenski a lead of 60 votes over Terry Scott, taking second place and strengthening his hopes for gaining the second seat on Council.  Tonight that lead increased to 95 votes.  Note that the counting isn’t over yet in this close race.

Outstanding votes as of Friday Nov. 6, 7pm

Solano County’s election result is still unofficial.  As of 5pm on Fri. Nov. 6, the County reports an estimate of 500-1,000 additional County-wide vote-by-mail ballots to be processed, and 3,000-5,000 additional provisional ballots to be processed.  Benicia’s share of those 3,500-6,000 ballots has not been reported and remains unknown.  However, Benicia’s population is 7% of Solano population, and our voter turnout percentage of 85% is higher than countywide 76% – so we might count for 8% of the remaining ballots, or 280-480 votes, enough to alter the vote for second seat on Council.  The County will update its results at close of business on Monday Nov. 9, and I will report here on any significant changes in outcome.

Benicia races for Mayor and City Council – winners and losers…
Details and analysis…
  • UPDATE: 17,239 Benicia ballots were received, 84.5% of 20,393 registered voters.  Wow!
  • MAYOR results as of Fri. Nov 6, 5pm:
    Candidate Name Total Votes Percentage
    		8,417 50.95%
    		5,121 31.00%
    		2,982 18.05%
  • Steve Young continues with an insurmountable lead, winning vote-by-mail by a huge margin of 53% to Christina Strawbridge’s 31% and Jason Diavatis’ 16%.
  • Jason Diavatis won election-day voting with 36%, then Young at 34% and Strawbridge at 30%.
  • There were relatively few election-day votes, 1,746, compared to a whopping 14,771 vote-by-mail ballots as of tonight’s report.  Thus Steve Young’s substantial overall margin of 20 points.
  • CITY COUNCIL results as of Fri. Nov. 6, 5pm:
    CANDIDATE NAME TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE
    		8,470 36.55%
    		7,399 31.93%
    		7,304 31.52%
  • Tom Campbell won re-election to City Council with the highest vote total among candidates and a margin now in excess of 1,000 votes.  By tradition, as top vote-getter, Campbell will be named Benicia’s Vice Mayor, replacing Christina Strawbridge in that role.
  • In an extremely tight race, Trevor Macenski leads Terry Scott for second place, which, if held, would gain him the second seat on City Council.  Scott led by 135 votes in election-day voting, but trails Macenski by 229 votes in vote-by-mail.  Macenski’s narrow overall margin of 95 votes tonight is subject to counting of more mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.  Stay tuned!
Cannabis results:

YES/NO TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE
8,478 51.57%
7,961 48.43%

Those voting YES gained a bit, winning vote-by-mail ballots by a margin of 639 votes.  Those voting NO took the election-day voting by a margin of 123 votes.  Mail-in voting far outnumbered election-day voting.  Voters cast 17,239 mail-in ballots and only 1,765 election-day ballots.  I expect that today’s (unofficial) margin of 517 votes (27 more than yesterday), is likely to hold as the County counts additional mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.

2020 elections, Benicia City Council, Benicia Mayor, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Cannabis, Solano County Registrar of Voters, Terry Scott, Tom Campbell, Trevor Macenski

UPDATED Benicia election results – Macenski overtakes Scott (Late on Nov. 5)

By Roger Straw, November 5, 2020, 7:00pm

Trevor Macenski now leading for second seat on Benicia City Council – leads Terry Scott by 60 votes – it’s not over yet!

Solano County updated its election results at 5:08pm tonight, reshuffling the candidates for Benicia City Council.  Unofficial results yesterday had Tom Campbell first with 7,245 votes and Terry Scott second with 6,269 votes, leading Trevor Macenski by 92 votes.  Tonight’s report gives Macenski a lead of 60 votes over Scott, taking second place and strengthening his hopes for gaining the second seat on Council.  But… the counting isn’t over yet.  Read on!

Outstanding votes as of Thurs. Nov. 5, 5pm

Solano County’s election result is still unofficial.  As of 5pm on Thurs. Nov. 5, the County reports an estimate of 6,000-10,000 additional County-wide vote-by-mail ballots to be received and processed, and 4,000-6,000 additional provisional ballots to be processed.  (In an email, Assistant Registrar of Voters John Gardner wrote that there are over 6,500 mail-in ballots yet to be counted.)  Benicia’s share of those 10,000-16,000 ballots has not been reported and remains unknown.  However, Benicia’s population is 7% of Solano population, and our voter turnout percentage of 88% is higher than countywide 74% – so we might count for 8% of the remaining ballots, or 800-1,280 votes.  The County will update its results at close of business tomorrow and I will report here on any significant changes in outcome.

Benicia races for Mayor and City Council – winners and losers…
Details and analysis…
  • UPDATE: 16,835 Benicia ballots were received, 82.6% of 20,393 registered voters.  Wow!
  • MAYOR results as of Thurs. Nov 5, 5pm:
    Candidate Name Total Votes Percentage
    		8,245 50.95%
    		5,001 30.90%
    		2,896 17.90%
  • Steve Young continues with an insurmountable lead, winning vote-by-mail by a huge margin with 53% to Christina Strawbridge’s 31% and Jason Diavatis’ 16%.
  • Jason Diavatis (surprise!) won election-day voting with 36% (then Young at 34% and Strawbridge at 30%).  Close!
  • There were relatively few election-day votes, 1,746, compared to a whopping 14,396 vote-by-mail ballots.  Thus Steve Young’s incredible overall margin of 22 points.
  • CITY COUNCIL results as of Thurs. Nov. 5, 5pm:
    CANDIDATE NAME TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE
    		8,293 36.30%
    		7,220 31.60%
    		7,160 31.34%
  • Tom Campbell won re-election to City Council with the highest vote total among candidates and a margin now in excess of 1,000 votes.  By tradition, as top vote-getter, Campbell will be named Benicia’s Vice Mayor, replacing Christina Strawbridge in that role.
  • In an extremely tight race, Trevor Macenski overtook Terry Scott for second place, which, if held, would gain him the second seat on City Council.  Scott led by 135 votes in election-day voting, but now trails Macenski by 195 votes in vote-by-mail.  Macenski’s narrow final (unofficial) margin of 60 votes is subject to counting of more mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.  Stay tuned!
Cannabis results:

YES/NO TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE
8,269 51.53%
7,779 48.47%

Those voting YES gained a bit, winning vote-by-mail ballots by a margin of 613 votes.  Those voting NO took the election-day voting by a margin of 123 votes.  Mail-in voting far outnumbered election-day voting.  Voters cast 14,283 mail-in ballots and only 1,765 election-day ballots.  I expect that the final (unofficial) margin of 490 votes (87 more than yesterday), is likely to hold as the County counts additional mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.

2020 elections, Benicia City Council, Benicia elections, Benicia Mayor, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Cannabis, Solano County Registrar of Voters, Terry Scott, Tom Campbell

Benicia election results – UPDATED details and analysis (Nov. 5)

By Roger Straw, November 5, 2020
Outstanding votes as of Thurs. Nov. 5, 9am

The Solano County Registrar of Voters have completed the count of Election Day ballots, and added those results to previously received mail-in ballots.  However, the result is still unofficial.  As of 9am on Thurs. Nov. 5, The County reports an estimate of 18,000-25,000 additional County-wide vote-by-mail ballots to be received and processed, and 4,000-6,000 additional provisional ballots to be processed.  Benicia’s share of those 22,000-31,000 ballots has not been reported and remains unknown.  However, Benicia’s population is 7% of Solano population, and our voter turnout percentage of 71% is slightly higher than countywide 68% – so we might count for 8% of the 22,000-31,000, or 1,760-2,800 votes.  The County will update its results at close of business and I will report here on any significant changes in outcome.

Benicia races for Mayor and City Council – winners and losers…
Details and analysis…
  • 14,528 Benicia ballots were received, 71% of 20,393 registered voters.  Wow!
  • MAYOR results as of Thurs. Nov 5, 9am:
    CANDIDATE NAME TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE
    		7,266 51.93%
    		4,287 30.64%
    		2,409 17.22%
  • Steve Young won vote-by-mail by a huge margin with 55% to Christina Strawbridge’s 31% and Jason Diavatis’ 15%.
  • Jason Diavatis (surprise!) won election-day voting with 36% (then Young at 34% and Strawbridge at 30%).  Close!
  • There were relatively few election-day votes, 1,746, compared to a whopping 12,216 vote-by-mail ballots.  Thus Steve Young’s incredible overall margin of 21 points.
  • CITY COUNCIL results as of Thurs. Nov. 5, 9am:
    CANDIDATE NAME TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE
    		7,245 36.56%
    		6,269 31.63%
    		6,177 31.17%
  • Tom Campbell won re-election to City Council with the highest vote total among candidates and a margin of just under 1,000 votes.  By tradition, as top vote-getter, Campbell will be named Benicia’s Vice Mayor, replacing Christina Strawbridge in that role.
  • Terry Scott won the second seat on City Council by 135 votes in election-day voting, but lost to Trevor Macenski by 43 votes in vote-by-mail.  Scott’s narrow final (unofficial) margin of 92 votes is subject to counting of more mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.  Keep your fingers crossed!
Cannabis results:

CANDIDATE NAME TOTAL VOTES PERCENTAGE
7,175 51.44%
6,772 48.56%

Those voting YES won in vote-by-mail ballots by a margin of 526 votes.  Those voting NO won in election-day voting by a margin of 123 votes.  Again, mail-in voting far outnumbered election-day voters.  Voters cast 12,182 mail-in ballots and only 1,765 election-day ballots.  I expect that the final (unofficial) margin of 403 votes, or 2.88% is likely to hold as the County counts additional mail-in ballots and provisional ballots.

2020 elections, Benicia elections, Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Christina Strawbridge, Climate science, Kari Birdseye, Lionel Largaespada, Valero Benicia Refinery, Valero PAC

KQED: Candidate Targeted by Valero Wins Benicia Mayoral Race

[Significant quote: “The fact that Young withstood the Valero PAC’s campaign is hugely significant, according to Matto Mildenberger, an assistant professor of political science at UC Santa Barbara, who focuses on oil politics.  ‘It means that Benicia voters are willing to take their climate future into their own hands and are going to resist efforts by oil companies to control local politics.'”] [See also KQED’s Oct 28 report on Valero PAC spending.]

Benicia Election Update with candidate quotes

KQED Election Updates, By Ted Goldberg, November 4, 2020

Benicia Councilman Steve Young, a candidate attacked by a political action committee funded mainly by the Valero Energy company, will be the city’s new mayor.

The Working Families for a Strong Benicia PAC raised more than $250,000 to defeat Young and support Councilwoman Christina Strawbridge. The committee said Young would put blue collar jobs, like those at Valero’s Benicia refinery, at risk.

But city’s voters were not swayed.

With Young leading the race with close to 52% of the vote, Strawbridge, who garnered about 31%, conceded the election Wednesday morning.

“I believe the voters reacted strongly against the negative ads and mailers that the Valero-funded PAC tried to use against me,” Young said.

“Hopefully, Valero will learn the obvious lesson from this result: Interference in Benicia elections will be rejected in the future as well,” Young said.


Strawbridge called Young’s election a “decisive victory.”

“Congratulations to him,” Strawbridge said, adding that the two lawmakers exchanged text messages Wednesday morning. “Even though it was a tough election, we have and will work together for Benicia.”

Since 2019, Valero has donated $240,000 to the political action committee targeting Young. The International Brotherhood of Boilermakers Local 549 donated some $50,000 as well.

The same PAC spent thousands to help Strawbridge and Lionel Largaespada win seats on the Benicia City Council, and to defeat Kari Birdseye, a former chair of the city’s Planning Commission that denied Valero’s crude-by-rail expansion project.

Young will take over from Mayor Elizabeth Patterson, a critic of Valero who has served in Benicia city government for two decades.

Patterson had become increasingly outspoken about efforts to place more regulations on the Valero plant, scene of the two worst refinery accidents in the Bay Area in the last three years.

The fact that Young withstood the Valero PAC’s campaign is hugely significant, according to Matto Mildenberger, an assistant professor of political science at UC Santa Barbara, who focuses on oil politics.

“It means that Benicia voters are willing to take their climate future into their own hands and are going to resist efforts by oil companies to control local politics,” Mildenberger said.