Berkeley mayoral hopefuls say many votes to be counted in ranked-choice election
Berkeley City Councilmember Sophie Hahn maintained a healthy lead over her four opponents in the mayoral election Wednesday, according to preliminary results released by the Alameda County Registrar of Voters.
With 16,247 votes counted, Hahn was leading with 52.72 percent of the vote over Adena Ishii, who had 47.28 percent after four rounds of ranked-choice voting.
If the results hold, Hahn will replace departing Mayor Jesse Arreguin, who left office to run for a state Senate seat, which he appears to be winning handily.
Hahn thanked her supporters in an email statement Wednesday morning but cautioned there were a lot more votes to still be counted despite the "notoriously confusing" Registrar of Voters webpage that shows 100 percent of precincts reporting but doesn't mention that many votes are still outstanding.
"At this time, slightly less than 1/3 of expected votes in the Mayoral, Council, School Board and other local races have been counted," Hahn said. "After ranked-choice tabulations, our campaign is showing close to 53 percent of the vote. We are very optimistic this margin will hold—and possibly increase."
She also vowed to "stand up and fight back" in the face of Donald Trump's victory in the presidential election.
"On the national horizon, our country has stepped into the abyss once again—this time, with eyes wide open," Hahn said. "I believe there will be an unprecedented, broad and coordinated attack on our democracy and the rule of law, and on all the progress we've worked so hard to achieve. It's sobering."
Ishii said she expects voter turnout in the race to hit about 60,000 so there's still a long way to go before the final results are in.
"I'm cautiously optimistic," she said. "It's not over 'till it's over and we're keeping an eye on those ranked choice votes."
She thanked her campaign team and noted how proud she is of their work, especially over the last two months or so as she built up her name recognition via an energetic outreach strategy.
"We were able to knock on over 20,000 doors and built a whole campaign team from the ground up and I'm really proud of how much we accomplished," Ishii said. "It's been such a joy. It's been so much fun to run this campaign."
Harrison, who garnered 24.08 percent of the vote in the third round of counting before being eliminated, thanked her opponents for well-run campaigns.
"I want to thank the other candidates for running a positive campaign," Harrison said. "It demonstrates what a great community Berkeley is."