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