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With voting in the primary election coming to a close Tuesday evening, the contests for Alameda county sheriff-coroner and district attorney are positioned to head for November runoffs, according to initial returns at the end of Election Night.
For the position of sheriff, challenger Yesenia Sanchez leads at 46.80% ahead of her boss, incumbent Sheriff Greg Ahern at 36.40% in second place, as the results stood at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. San Francisco Police Department Officer JoAnn Walker, who lives in Alameda, finished Election Night in third at 16.80%.
Sanchez and Ahern appear likely to head for a runoff in the general election this fall. A candidate for countywide office needed to garner 50%-plus of overall ballots to win the seat outright in the primary.
The Alameda County Registrar of Voters' Office reports voter turnout so far countywide as 10.94%, indicating some unknown number of ballots still need to be counted. The total number of ballots processed thus far were 102,804.
Sanchez has worked at the Alameda County Sheriff's Office since 1997. She rose to the rank of commander for the Detention and Corrections Division in 2020. Her key campaign visions list out rehabilitation of and job training for the jail population, racial justice in law enforcement, community engagement and accountability.
Ahern, who started as a deputy-sheriff in 1980, has been the county's sheriff since January 2007 after winning the election in 2006. According to his website, his mission is to "protect the public, build strong relationships with the community, and prevent people from turning to crime through prevention, enforcement, programs, and service. (He) knows this strategy reduces crime, provides opportunities, and ultimately keeps our communities safer."
Another county contest poised for a runoff is the district attorney's office, where Pamela Price is leading with 39.81% of votes and Terry Wiley is in second with 30.85%, both of whom did not receive the majority threshold required to win outright.
The other candidates were Jimmie Wilson, a deputy district attorney, at 20.59% and Seth Steward, a former San Francisco prosecutor, at 8.75%.
The race was wide open this year with incumbent District Attorney Nancy O'Malley opting not to seek re-election in favor of retirement.
Price, an Oakland civil rights attorney, is seeking to implement her "10-Point Platform" which includes work to restore public trust in the criminal justice system, reduce gun violence, implement fair justice measures, stop over-criminalizing youth, end the death penalty, protect immigrant communities, hold police accountable for misconduct, establish prosecutorial accountability, effective re-entry strategies, and invest in public health and social services.
Wiley, who is currently chief assistant district attorney, has worked for the county's DA Office since 1990 and has served in many prosecuting units. He is also the director of the office's new Division of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and is focused on tackling crime according to his campaign website.
In other results, Alameda County superintendent of schools, which only had two candidates, sees two-term incumbent L.K. Monroe currently sitting on top with a 51.71% lead over challenger Alysse Castro who is at 48.29% — making the contest too close to call with ballots still left to tabulate.
Monroe has led the county office since winning a runoff election in 2014 and then an uncontested ballot in 2018.
Two other local elections — Zone 7 Board of Directors and Alameda County Board of Education Trustee Area 7 — are showing significant leads.
The four Zone 7 board positions are led by incumbents Dennis Gambs with 26.74%, Sarah Palmer with 22.25% and Olivia Sanwong with 22.08%, and challenger Dawn Benson with 21.90%. Director Palmer is seeking a fifth term while fellow directors Gambs and Sanwong are each pursuing a second term.
Benson, who served on the Dublin San Ramon Services District Board of Directors, will replace current Director Michelle Smith McDonald of Dublin who opted not to run for election.
A fifth candidate, Todd Shinohara, was on the Zone 7 ballot but did not run an active campaign. He received 7.03%.
As for the Tri-Valley's seat on the county education board, former Pleasanton City Council member and retired teacher Cheryl Cook-Kallio controlled with a significant 52.82% lead.
DiemHa "Kate" Dao, a Pleasanton resident and founder of Acton Academy East Bay, is standing at 24.06% while the other candidate, Eric Dillie, formerly principal of the now-closed Livermore Valley Charter Preparatory, got 23.11% of vote.
Unlike countywide elections, which can advance to a runoff, the local Area 7 seat would be determined based on whoever earns the highest percentage of the vote. Cook-Kallio served on the City Council from 2006 to 2014 and later ran for State Assembly as a Democratic challenger but lost to Republican incumbent Catharine Baker in 2016.
Current District 16 Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) was ahead of her lone opponent Joseph Rubay (R-Alamo) at 67.13% to 32.87%. Both candidates, who also faced off in 2020, automatically advanced to a November runoff.
In the Assembly District 20 race, which includes a portion of western Pleasanton and Dublin, Democrat Liz Ortega led the way with 31.05%. Currently in second place and in position for the runoff is Dublin City Councilman Shawn Kumagai, also a Democrat, at 25.02%. Republican Joseph Grcar sat at 23.13% and Democrat Jennifer Esteen was in fourth at 20.80%.
For U.S. House of Representatives, District 14 incumbent Eric Swalwell (D-Livermore) was ahead in preliminary results, with more than 62% of the vote. Republicans Alison Hayden and Tom Wong were neck and neck, at 10.6% and 10.4% respectively, for the other spot on the November ballot. Other results had Republican Sri "Steve" Iyer of Pleasanton at 8.2%, Democrat James Andrew Peters at 5.5%, and Major Singh and Liam Simard, both running with no party preference, at 2.2% and 0.6%, respectively.
Tri-Valley State Senator Steve Glazer (D-Orinda) finished in fourth place in his bid for state controller. Republican Lahnee Chen (35.40%) and Democrat Malia Cohen (21.89%) advanced from the six-candidate field to the runoff.
The unofficial election results include early vote-by-mail tallies and totals reported by the precincts on Election Night. The election figures will likely change in the coming days as final vote-by-mail ballots, provisional ballots and other qualifying ballots are processed, according to the California Secretary of State.
The county expects to release its next results update Thursday. Any ballot postmarked by or before Election Day is eligible as long as it arrives within seven days of Election Day.
The results must be finalized for certification by 30 days after Election Day.
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