Congressional race repeats result
Wahab easily tops Hernandez
Nationally voters demanded change with a blue tsunami drowning Republicans across the country even in states that the party has dominated for decades.
Who could imagine a Democrat senator from Texas, let alone one with the weird and non-mainstream views as James Talarico. Even more surprising to me was three-term governor Greg Abbott, who I never read or saw anything about him being in a severe challenge, going down by double-digits.
The attitude was much different here in the valley with incumbents easily winning re-election. Pleasanton Mayor Jack Balch cruised by termed-out Councilwoman Julie Testa who got into the race at the last minute. He’d been prepping actively for months and throughout his term and voters rewarded him with nearly a 70-30% victory.
Former Councilwoman and current Zone 7 director Kathy Narum easily won election to another term in her district by a 60-30% margin while former school trustee Jamie Yee, who ran unsuccessfully previously, cruised by a 62-38% margin.
Notably, the phased hotel tax increase won 60-40%. Throw in school trustee Karen Fletcher’s re-election and voters were clearly happy with the city’s direction despite increases in water rates, the pending jump in sewer rates and budget challenges.
Similar stories in Dublin where Mayor Sherry Hu cruised to re-election and San Ramon where voters re-elected Mayor Mark Armstrong and the fellow incumbents.
There was a surprise in the unofficial results. Dublin schools’ parcel tax renewal of $144 annually adjusted for inflation over nine years came close, but didn’t hit the necessary two-thirds for passage. It garnered 64.5%. Presumably, district leaders will circle back and take another shot. If memory serves, it was the first time Dublin voters have rejected either a bond or parcel tax for schools.
Regionally, voters bought the stories of doom and gloom coming from transit agencies and passed the regressive ½-cent sales tax increase. It now will top a staggering 11% with local/county measures in some cities. That will be a day-to-day hit that will tack hundreds onto automotive purchases. Governments like the lower bar of a 50% plurality for sales tax increases.
What’s unfortunate is that we’ve only seen minimal adjustments from the agencies where ridership on BART still lags the 2019 numbers. At what point, do directors demand managers reduce schedules and staffing in line with actual ridership. And, what’s being done about rich compensation and benefits.
BART board member and former Dublin Mayor Melissa Hernandez can now turn her attention to that board. She lost the special election to fill out disgraced former congressman Eric Swalwell’s term to Aisha Wahab and saw the same result this week for the full two-year term starting in January. That came despite law enforcement support and a huge spending advantage as outside groups poured money in to support her candidacy. The preliminary results show Wahab with more than 58% of the vote. Her politics match that of other progressive Bay Area reps such as Ro Khanna and Lateefa Simon.
