El Cerrito is on the cusp of becoming the first Bay Area city with an LGBTQ majority on its City Council. It is one of several cities in the region set to welcome new out councilmembers following Tuesday's election.
The historic outcome in El Cerrito will be due to the elections of out parents Rebecca Saltzman and William Ktsanes to two of the three City Council seats elected citywide that were up for grabs on the November 5 ballot. Saltzman, a lesbian on the board that oversees regional transit agency BART, is currently in second place with 27.71% of the vote, behind incumbent Lisa Motoyama, according to the unofficial returns.
Ktsanes, a gay dad, is in third place with 21.87% of the vote. Should their leads hold over the two other candidates who ran, Ktsanes and Saltzman will join out City Councilmembers Gabe Quinto and Carolyn Wysinger on the five-person council.
In nearby Berkeley, gay District 2 City Councilmember Terry Taplin secured a second four-year term. He took first place in his race with nearly 70% of the vote.
In the contest for the council's open District 6 seat, gay married dad Brent Blackaby took first place with 63% of the vote. The political newcomer is well ahead of bisexual East Bay Municipal Utility District board member Andy Katz, who netted roughly 37% of the vote and will remain in his EBMUD Ward 4 seat through 2026. (Gay former Alameda city councilmember Jim Oddie appears set to join him in the EBMUD Ward 5 seat, as he is in first place in that race with 40% of the vote.)
Blackaby will join Taplin and District 7 City Councilmember Cecilia Lunaparra, the first queer woman of color on the council. She won a special election to fill a vacancy in the spring and will need to seek a full four-year term in 2026.
In Oakland, queer at-large City Council candidate Rowena Brown sits in first place after nine rounds of ranked-choice tabulations with 54.58% of the vote, ahead of former Oakland police chief LeRonne L. Armstrong. She is seeking to succeed lesbian incumbent Rebecca Kaplan, who opted not to seek reelection and endorsed Brown.
In the race for the District 3 seat, gay former City Hall mobility staffer Warren Logan is trailing behind the incumbent Carroll Fife, who is in first place with 56.78% of the vote after five rounds of ranked-choice tallies.
And in the race for the District 5 council seat, transgender parent Erin Armstrong, a senior policy adviser to Alameda County Supervisor Nate Miley, is falling well behind the incumbent, City Councilmember Noel Gallo. He is in first place with 64% of the vote after two rounds of ranked-choice tallies, with Armstrong in second at almost 36%.
Gay Pinole City Councilmember Devin T. Murphy appears headed to winning a second term. With two council seats up for grabs, Murphy placed second in the race with 38.59% of the vote, giving him a sizable lead Wednesday morning over the third-place finisher.
In Concord, gay married Concord Parks and Open Space Commissioner Pablo Benavente is in a razor-sharp race for the District 4 City Council seat. As of Wednesday morning, he was trailing in second place by four votes with 34.91% of the vote. He had come up short when he first ran for a council seat in 2016.
Next door in Walnut Creek, queer transportation commissioner Laura Patch landed in fourth place on election night with 13.87% of the vote in her race for three City Council seats. She had also fallen short when she first ran two years ago.
In the South Bay, gay former Mountain View city councilmember Chris Clark seems set to return to the governing body after having been termed out in 2020. In the race for four council seats Clark is in third place with nearly 13% of the vote.
Bisexual Palo Alto Human Relations Commissioner Katie Causey appears to have fallen short in her bid for one of the four City Council seats up this year. She placed sixth with 11% of the vote.
On trial accused of leaking a confidential 2020 grand jury report about Santa Clara's contentious dealings with the San Francisco 49ers over the football team's stadium built in his city, gay Santa Clara City Councilmember Anthony Becker is headed toward defeat. In his bid for a second, four-year term in his District 6 council seat, Becker is in third place with 23% of the vote.
On the Peninsula, bisexual South San Francisco City Councilmember James Coleman, currently serving as his city's ceremonial mayor, easily won reelection to his District 4 seat. He took first place with 65.58% of the vote.
In Redwood City, queer and nonbinary City Councilmember Lissette Espinoza-Garnica is currently behind in their bid for a second term. They are in second place with 47.95% of the vote in the two-person race for the District 3 council seat.
In the Solano County city of Benicia, Christina Gilpin-Hayes was vying to become its first known LGBTQ city councilmember. One of four candidates running for two council seats on the November 5 ballot, she is currently in third place with 26% of the vote.
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