The Santa Clara mayor’s race remained deadlocked Thursday, with incumbent Lisa Gillmor and challenger Anthony Becker every claiming about 50% of the votes tallied to this point.
After three days of poll counting, Gillmor elevated her result in 250 votes as Santa Clara County added simply one other 5% of anticipated returns to the tally. Gillmor had 9,210 votes to Becker’s 8,960. She had a 113-vote lead on Wednesday night time. The race was marked by bickering and an enormous infusion of marketing campaign money by the San Francisco 49ers, who play at Levi’s Stadium on town’s north facet.
Town council election was nearer to decision as Councilmembers Raj Chahal and Karen Hardy elevated their snug leads in Districts 2 and three. Their opponents had not but conceded by early Thursday night.
The still-undecided mayoral race will decide whether or not the council stays beneath Gillmor’s management – leaving the make-up of the council unchanged – or shifts to Becker, who says he has plans to tug the council away from its battle with the 49ers and direct its focus to different metropolis points.
If Becker wins, the council can even need to fill his present position as District 6 Councilmember, both appointing a brand new official to the job or holding a particular election for the seat.
Gillmor, who has served as mayor since 2016, represents a faction of the council – and of town – that has vocally opposed the San Francisco 49ers’ involvement in native politics. The group poured over $4.5 million into this 12 months’s races, topping the $3 million they spent throughout the 2020 elections and much exceeding expectations for marketing campaign spending in a metropolis of simply 127,000 residents.
On high of spending $1.4 million to again Becker’s marketing campaign and over $600,000 to help Chahal and Hardy’s campaigns, the group additionally contributed closely to committees opposing Gillmor’s bid for re-election, in addition to ones opposing challenges in Districts 2 and three by political newcomers Larry McColloch and Christian Pellecchia.
On Wednesday, Pellecchia mentioned “the 49ers acquired what they paid for.”
Crew spokesman Rahul Chandok didn't reply to a request for remark.
A couple of month earlier than the election, a civil grand jury launched a report accusing Becker, Chahal, Hardy, Vice Mayor Suds Jain and Councilmember Kevin Park of forming a voting bloc that acted within the 49ers pursuits and of prioritizing the group’s wishes over town’s wants. The accused councilmembers shortly deemed the report unfair and mentioned the jury by no means gave them an opportunity to deal with the findings, however that didn’t maintain Santa Clara Police Chief Pat Nikolai from calling on Santa Clara County District Legal professional Jeff Rosen to research the allegations.
The council additionally voted on Oct. 18 to debate the allegations in a collection of public conferences after which type a public response to the report’s findings, although not one of the conferences have but been scheduled.
McColloch mentioned he wouldn't concede till 90% of the votes had been counted — as of Thursday, 56% of the votes had been counted. The county was anticipated to launch extra outcomes Friday night.
Regardless of the group’s efforts to bolster Chahal and Hardy’s campaigns, the 2 council members mentioned they haven't any management over the 49ers’ contributions and don’t contemplate themselves influenced by the group’s actions.
The voters “know that I’m not concerned with any of those unbiased expenditures,” Chahal mentioned. “Sadly, I don’t management it, and if there was a approach town might management it, I'd be very comfortable to pursue that possibility.”