Over 9300 Benicians voted, 70.3% in favor of Prop 50.
By Roger Straw, November 08, 2025
The Solano County Registrar of Voters posted new vote totals at 5:00 PM on November 7, giving details for UNOFFICIAL results on our November 4 election.
Here are results from Benicia’s 8 precincts. Why unofficial? – note that Countywide as of 5PM on 11/07, about 4,250 ballots were still to be processed.)
The Solano County Registrar of Voters released Unofficial Results as of 10:43 PM on election day. As of that time, estimated unprocessed ballots still to count: Est. 76,500. Note that the ROV can still receive valid ballots by mail until November 12th, if postmarked by Election Day. Following are Benicia results:
Janny Manasse 62.9%, Kashanna Harmon-Lee 37.1%Steve Young 65.7%, Kevin Kirby 34.3%
Measure F: 61.8% yes, 38.2% no. Measure G: 53.6% no, 46.4% yes. Measure H: 58.2% no, 41.8% yes.
Benicia Mayor Steve Young, Vice Mayor Terry Scott, and City Council Members Tom Campbell, Trevor Macenski, and Kari Birdseye have endorsed YES votes on Measures F, G and H for Benicia’s future. They are joined by the Napa-Solano Central Labor Council, Solano County Democratic Party, Benicia Police Officers’ Association, Benicia Dispatchers’ Association, the Fire people, and the Solano Association of Relators. | Images from City of Benicia and organizations’ sites.
November 3, 2024
Dear Benicia Voters,
As your City Council, we are unified in supporting Measures F, G, and H, which represent a lasting investment in Benicia’s future—strengthening our roads, enhancing infrastructure, and preserving essential services that safeguard our quality of life.
These measures weren’t proposed lightly. They reflect thoughtful planning and a vision to secure a stable, vibrant Benicia for generations to come.
While new taxes can be challenging, they’re a pathway to achieving a resilient city that thrives.
The strength of this vision is reflected in the broad support we’ve received from the Benicia Police Officers Association, Benicia Dispatchers Association, Benicia Fire Association, Solano County Association of Realtors, Napa-Solano Labor Council, California Democratic Party, and many other organizations. With these measures, we’re building a legacy of excellence and reliability that our city deserves.
Let’s come together and Believe in Benicia’s bright future.
Here’s what each measure will accomplish:
Measure F – Street Repair Sales Tax
A citizen-initiative 0.5% (half-cent) sales tax
Dedicated exclusively to street repair
Includes oversight by an independent citizens committee
Revenue cannot be used for any other purpose
Measure G – Limited Charter City Status
Establishes Benicia as a Limited Charter City
Limited and Sole purpose is to enable implementation of the Real Property Transfer Tax (Measure H).
Measure H – Real Property Transfer Tax (RPTT)
Applies to residential and commercial property sales
Includes important exemptions:
Family transfers (spouse, children, parents, grandparents)
Property transfers into trusts
Mortgage refinancing
Creates a sustainable revenue source as Benicia grows with new housing development.
RPTT is a one-time tax (closing cost) only affecting sale of residential and commercial property and can be paid by either party or negotiated.
We strongly believe these Measures will significantly improve Benicia’s future.
While we encourage your support, we most appreciate your thoughtful consideration of both supporting and opposing arguments. Your engagement in this process ensures that the outcome truly reflects our community’s will.
Thank you for your participation in this crucial decision-making process.
Sincerely,
The Benicia City Council
Mayor Steve Young
Vice Mayor Terry Scott
Council Member Trevor Macenski
Council Member Kari Birdseye
Council Member Tom Campbell
Author Stephen Golub: Christina Gilpin-Hayes and Kamala Harris are remarkable candidates representing real change and progress at both the national and local levels. (Names and images are for identification only and do not imply mutual endorsement or the support of other organizations.) | Images sourced from campaign websites.Benicia resident and author Stephen Golub, A Promised Land
By Stephen Golub, November 2, 2024
Many Benicians haven’t yet voted. So some final thoughts on two impressive candidates:
Christina Gilpin-Hayes for City Council
Democrat Gilpin-Hayes is a breath of fresh air and ideas. This includes extensive community engagement, innovative outreach to Benicians, responsibly backing revenue-enhancing ballot measures so our town won’t topple off the fiscal cliff and supporting a strong industrial safety ordinance (ISO). The ISO becomes all the more vital in view of the Valero refinery’s ongoing issues, as reflected by the $82 million fine just imposed for its sixteen years of egregious toxic emissions.
Gilpin-Hayes’s long list of endorsers includes Mayor Young, Vice Mayor Scott, Council Members Birdseye and Campbell, former Mayors Hayes and Patterson, the Solano County Democratic Party and numerous County Democratic officials and candidates.
Her main competition for the slot, Republican Lionel Largaespada, shares his opponent’s community engagement. But he has tight associations with Texas-based Valero, including backing its dangerous plan to bring potentially explosive “bomb trains” through town and its political action committees’ massive backing for him in previous races. He may well oppose an ISO and otherwise accommodate the oil giant.
He was the Council Member most resistant to the potentially life-saving mask mandate back when Covid raged. His opposition to the ballot’s revenue measures and his current dubious budget math, which could cut City services, have been rightly criticized by Council Member Campbell and other fiscally responsible Benicians.
So what can you do? Reach out to the Gilpin-Hayes campaign at its website (https://www.christinaforbenicia.com/) in case it needs last-minute help. Spread the word to neighbors and friends who may be undecided or lacking information.
Kamala Harris for President
You’ve doubtless been bombarded with presidential election information, so I’ll keep this selective. Over 800 Republicans, conservatives, retired generals and admirals and former national security officials and top Trump aides have endorsed Harris and denounced Trump. The nonpartisan CATO Institute just released a report revealing that supposedly “tough on immigration” Trump was far softer than Obama and Biden on thousands of violent criminals who’d illegally entered the country.
Here’s why Harris will win:
Women far outnumber men in early voting, by a 10 percent margin, unnerving even leading Trump supporters. This could prove crucial, given the gender gap in candidate support, with females tending to back Harris and males favoring Trump.
A recent Gallup poll found that more Democrats (77 percent) are enthusiastic about voting than Republicans (67 percent) are.
Harris may benefit from an independent political action committee pouring up to $700 million into ads and messages in these closing weeks, based on its unprecedented (but admittedly unproven) rigorous testing process.
A comedian slamming Puerto Rico as a “floating island of garbage” at Trump’s recent New York rally is infuriating Puerto Rican voters in Pennsylvania (which has almost 300,000) and elsewhere.
On the other hand, Trump’s own tactics could prove effective. His anger-inducing blame game could outweigh Harris’s GOTV ground game. But I’m betting on Kamala.
So what can you do? These final days are vital. Go to the Harris campaign’s volunteer site, https://go.kamalaharris.com/, particularly to sign up to call swing state voters. I just made such calls; it’s far easier than the site makes it look. Even one persuaded or mobilized pro-Harris voter per two-hour shift can prove crucial when multiplied by volunteers’ millions of calls.
Finally: Please also vote for Mayor Young, Council Member Macenski and revenue Measures F, G and H. And let’s hope that Election Day and the following days prove peaceful.
The Solano County Registrar of Voters posted new vote totals at 5:00 PM on November 7, giving details for UNOFFICIAL results on our November 4 election.
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