The early results for the Alameda County Board of Supervisors showed one tight race, and several that were not competitive.
In the most high-profile contest, early returns showed Oakland City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas with a lead over former Emeryville mayor John Bauters in the race to fill Keith Carson’s recently vacated seat. They were followed by Berkeley city council member Ben Bartlett.
The nine-candidate field consisted of mayors, city council members, political organizers, lawyers, and executives.
If no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote, the top two vote-getters will move to a November runoff election. Bauters racked up a series of endorsements and impressive fundraising numbers in the weeks leading up to the election, but as of 9:30 p.m., he was only narrowly ahead of Barlett for the second spot, with Bas comfortably in the lead.
In other results, board members David Haubert and Elisa Marquez, both of whom were running unopposed, retained their seats. The long shot bid to unseat board president Nate Miley seems to have come up short, as Nurse Jennifer Esteen, Miley’s challenger, was far behind in early returns.
Board President Miley was running for his seventh term, and had the advantage in experience and name recognition. Still, Esteen had spent recent weeks trying to convince voters of the need for change, highlighting issues such as evictions and conditions at the Santa Rita Jail that have gone unaddressed before the County Board of Supervisors. That argument appears to have fallen flat.
Three out of five seats on board have changed hands in the past few years. Supervisors Richard Valle and Wilma Chan, who both served for 10 years, died in 2023 and 2021 respectively. Supervisor Scott Haggerty, who sat on the board for 24 years, retired in 2021.