With 100 percent of the precincts reporting, former Mayor Roy Byrnes is back on the City Council, and incumbent Sam Allevato will retain his seat in unofficial results released around midnight.
"Naturally, I'm grateful for the support of so many," Byrnes said early Wednesday morning. "I'm gratified for the confidence. I just hope I don't disappoint."
Byrnes and Kim McCarthy had captured the lead in mail-in and early voting and with two precints reporting, but the next wave of precincts reporting drew in the majority of the votes.
For a moment, only 166 votes separated Allevato and McCarthy, but the incumbent pulled away some more for a total of a 273-vote difference.
Five candidates, including one incumbent, were vying for two seats on the council. (Candidate Melissa Abbott-Kaffen dropped out earlier in the race, but her name remained on the ballot.)
With all 24 precints reporting, here's how the race shaped up:
ROY L. BYRNES 4,962 25.7% SAM ALLEVATO 4,283 22.2% KIM MCCARTHY 4,010 20.8% GINNY KERR 3,594 18.6% TOM MARANTZ 1,245 6.5% MELISSA ABBOTT-KAFFEN 1,206 6.2%
The voters appear to have split the vote between two factions.
Since the election of Derek Reeve to the City Council in 2010, many votes have gone 4-1, but the election of two compatriots in McCarthy and Byrnes could have changed all that. The two have been running as a slate. But only Byrnes will join Reeve.
Incumbent Allevato and Planning Commissioner Ginny Kerr ran as something as a slate as well, and have spent tens of thousands to win.
Meanwhile, Tom Marantz ran as an outsider and garnered 6.5 percent of the vote. He told Patch he was moved by how his fellow candidates and the community received him. He vowed to serve the city in some other capacity.
