Balch Leads In Mayor's Race; Narum, Yee Leading Council Races

PLEASANTON, CA — The polls are closed in Alameda County, and the first countywide results are trickling in.

Preliminary results show incumbent Mayor Jack Balch with a healthy lead over challenging Councilmember Julie Testa. As of 11:11 p.m. Tuesday, Balch leads Testa 69.8% to 30.2%, or 10,767 to 4,662 votes. In District 2, Zone 7 Director Kathy Narum also maintains a healthy 61.2-38.8% lead over tech entrepreneur Vin Kruttiventi. In District 3, former PUSD Board Member Jamie Yee leads business owner and community activist Reena Gupta 63% - 37%.

Measure HH, a bid to raise the city's Transient Occupancy Tax from 8% to 12% over the next two years, also led by a healthy margin as of 11:11 p.m.

Californians cast their ballots for a new governor, and elected former Attorney General and Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra as governor. In Alameda County, Becerra leads Republican challenger Steve Hilton 80.4% to 19.6% as of 9:30 p.m. Statewide, Becerra is winning 61-34%.

The outcome of dozens of down-ballot primary races also hangs in the balance in Alameda County, where voters are waiting to find out who came out ahead in dozens of local races, as well as congressional races for the 10th, 12th, 14th, and 17th Congressional Districts, the California State Assembly races for the 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th, and 24th Assembly Districts, and the 10th California Senate District.

Scroll down for real-time Alameda County election results.

Click here to track your ballot and make sure it is counted.

As of September, the California Secretary of State reported that 23,164,977 Californians were registered to vote, which accounts for more than 85 percent of the state's eligible voting population.

Not surprisingly, there are far more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state, with 45 percent for the former and 25 percent for the latter.

In Alameda County, the rate of voter registration is high. As of September, it was 83.75 percent — with 57.72 percent of voters registered as Democrats, and 12.05 percent registered as Republicans.

Click here for all County election results. Be sure to refresh this page for the latest.

Record Turnout

California was projected to see turnout reach 60 percent of registered voters in Tuesday's midterm election, potentially setting a record for a gubernatorial race, Paul Mitchell of political data analysis firm Political Data told The San Francisco Chronicle ahead of Election Day.

“I think the blue wave is on track,” Mitchell told The Chronicle before the election. “It seems to be on track that we’re going to have a really strong turnout.”

Final statewide turnout figures were not yet available late Tuesday as election officials continued counting ballots.

Pleasanton Mayor & City Council:

Patch reached out to the six candidates running for office in Pleasanton. Two candidates each are running for mayor, District 1, and District 2.

See here for a map of the districts, and to find out which district you’re located in.

For the mayoral race, incumbent Jack Balch led Julie Testa, who currently represents District 3, as of 11:11 p.m. Tuesday.

In District 1, tech entrepreneur Vin Kruttiventi is running against Kathy Narum, the director of Zone 7 Water Agency and a Pleasanton City Councilmember from 2013 to 2022.

In District 3, business owner and community activist Reena Gupta ran against Jamie Yee, who currently works in communications for Alameda County Health and served on the Pleasanton Unified School Board from 2008 to 2020.

We asked each candidate several questions on issues important to Pleasanton, including housing, crime prevention, the structural budget deficit, and why they feel they are the best candidate to address them. Read their answers below.

Mayor:

• Meet The Pleasanton Candidate: Jack Balch
• Meet The Pleasanton Candidate: Julie Testa

District 1:

• Meet The Pleasanton Candidate: Vin Kruttiventi
• Meet The Pleasanton Candidate: Kathy Narum

District 3:

• Meet The Pleasanton Candidate: Reena Gupta
• Meet The Pleasanton Candidate: Jamie Yee

Pleasanton Unified School District

Patch reached out to the three candidates running to represent Area 5 of the Pleasanton Unified School Board of Trustees. Area 5, located in southeastern Pleasanton near Pleasanton Middle School, is represented by Justin Brown, who opted not to seek re-election.

In Area 2, Laurie Walker is running unopposed.

We reprinted their answers to top issues facing the district, including the budget shortfall, declining enrollment, and why they feel they’re the best candidate to tackle these issues. Candidate Brett Martinez did not respond, despite attempts to contact him.

• Meet The Pleasanton School Board Candidate: Thomas Choi
• Meet The Pleasanton School Board Candidate: Karen Fletcher
• Brett Martinez did not respond

State Assembly

Most of Pleasanton will vote in the race for Assembly District 16, a contest between Democratic incumbent Rebecca Bauer-Kahan and Republican challenger Joe Rubay. Residents of parts of eastern Dublin will vote in the race for Assembly District 20, a contest between Democratic incumbent Liz Ortega and Republican challenger Patricia Muga, a Dublin resident and real estate appraiser. As of 11:11 p.m. Tuesday, both incumbents are winning comfortably.

District 16:

Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, an Orinda resident and former environmental lawyer, was first elected to the Assembly in 2018. Her 2026 campaign emphasizes online safety and AI, protecting homeowners insurance, increasing funding for public education, and protecting reproductive rights.

Joe Rubay, a local business owner who has served on the Contra Costa County Fair Board and as chair and vice chair of the Alamo Police Services Advisory Committee, emphasizes parental rights in education, tougher approaches to crime, and opposing state policies that encourage higher-density housing in suburban communities.

District 20:

Liz Ortega, a San Leandro resident, was elected in 2022 after serving as the first Latina to lead the Alameda County Labor Council. Her campaign has emphasized lowering living costs, strengthening worker protections, expanding health care access, and protecting public education.

Patricia Muga is a Dublin resident and real estate broker who serves on the Alameda County Republic Central Committee. Her campaign emphasizes reducing government regulation, improving government transparency, and public safety.

Congress:

Pleasanton weighed in on a congressional race that attracted national attention. CA-14, encompassing much of the East Bay, was left vacant after former Congressman Eric Swalwell resigned amid sexual assault allegations.

Aisha Wahab, a former Hayward City Council member and California state senator, is pulling narrowly ahead of Melissa Hernandez, president of the BART board and former mayor of Dublin, in a special election in August. Wahab already beat Hernandez for a special election to replace Swalwell.

Both candidates are Democrats, though Wahab is generally seen as the more progressive candidate, emphasizing affordable housing, expanded social services, civil rights, and addressing corporate practices that contribute to high costs.

Hernandez emphasizes job creation, small-business growth, housing construction, public safety, and reducing health care costs. While both candidates prioritize affordability, Wahab emphasizes expanding social programs, while Hernandez focuses more on economic development.

Measure HH

Measure HH asked voters to consider raising the city’s Transient Occupancy Tax, levied on hotels, from 8% to 10% effective July 1, 2027, and from 10% to 12% effective July 1, 2028. The measure is projected to generate roughly $1.4 million in the first year and $2.8 million annually once fully implemented.

Gubernatorial Primary

Alameda County voters overwhelmingly chose Democrat Xavier Becerra over Republican challenger Steve Hilton. Becerra, who who won 64.7% statewide, was declared the winner.

The governor’s race was somewhat anticlimactic following a chaotic primary with a crowded field of candidates roiled when the frontrunner was forced to step down amid sexual assault allegations. Since then, Becerra maintained a steady lead over Hilton in the polls.

In the final days of the election, a new SurveyUSA poll showed Becerra with a 22-point lead.

Congressional Races

All 52 of California’s Congressional seats were on the ballot.

Congressional races across California were under intense scrutiny following voter approval of Proposition 50, a partisan redistricting measure expected to reshape the state’s political map. Thanks to the redistricting, only a handful of districts were truly competitive. Democrats hoped to flip as many as five Republican House seats in a bid to overturn the GOP’s slim House majority.

As of 11:11 p.m. Tuesday, Democratic candidates led in all four congressional districts in Alameda County, including Mark DeSaulnier in District 10, Lateefah Simon in District 12, Aisha Wahab in District 14, and Ro Khanna in District 17.

Propositions

There were 14 statewide propositions on the ballot this week. Arguably, the most hot-button ballot initiatives involve taxation. Proposition 40 is the highly discussed billionaire tax, while Propositions 41 and 42 aim to counter the measure. Proposition 3 also addresses taxes on the state's highest earners.

Click here for real-time results for all of California’s ballot measures.