Elections in Berkeley closed with four city council runoffs that, along with the mayoral race, could reshape city government.

Council members Terry Taplin and Ben Bartlett are both being challenged for their seats representing South and Southwest Berkeley (District 2 And District 3), while the other two races are open competitions. Susan Wengraf is not running for re-election after four terms representing District 6. And Sophie Hahn leaves her District 5 seat after two terms as she vies to lead the council as mayor against Kate Harrison and Adena Ishii.

Early results showed Bartlett ahead to retain his seat in District 3, as was Taplin in District 2. Shoshana O’Keefe led the race in District 5 and Brent Blackaby led in District 6.

The council, composed of one member from each of the city’s eight districts and an at-large elected mayor, is the city’s legislative body, appoints municipal boards and commissions, and has final hiring and commissioning authority. dismissal of a number of municipal executives, notably the municipal director.

It may take several days or even weeks to know the winner if the results are close. Elections to the municipal council are carried out by preferential votingwhich could affect the outcome of the Districts 3 and 5 elections if no candidate receives more than 50% of the vote in the first round. Bartlett and O’Keefe had well over 50 percent of the first-round vote in early calculations, although Bartlett’s lead as of Wednesday morning was just over 53 percent.

The regularly scheduled general election comes just months after two special elections – one in Aprilone in Can — brought two new faces to the board after the abrupt and consecutive resignations of Rigel Robinson And Harrison in January.

District 2: Taplin looks likely to defeat challenger

Terry Taplin, first term holder looked likely to be headed for re-election against his challenger Jenny Guarinoa university union leader, in District 2.

The southwest Berkeley neighborhood is home to the 46-acre Bayer campus; Water parks, San Pablo and Strawberry Creek; and a wide range of residential, commercial and industrial neighborhoods.

Taplin, a poet, transportation activist and former teaching assistant, previously held positions on Berkeley’s transportation and civic arts commissions and currently represents Berkeley on the Alameda County Transportation Commission. He chairs the council’s subcommittees on public safety policy and facilities, infrastructure, transportation, environment and stability.

Guarino is a master’s student, specializing in affordable housing and urban policy, at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy and was elected executive director of UAW 4811, which represents college students at the university. She previously worked as a paralegal and researcher.

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District 3: Bartlett leads in re-election race

Realtor Deborah Matthews and Police Accountability Board President John “Chip” Moore III challenged two-term incumbent Ben Bartlett. to represent District 3but Bartlett also seemed likely to keep his seat, although ranked-choice voting could come into play if his vote total fell below 50%.

The South Berkeley neighborhood is on the brink of large-scale redevelopment at and around the Ashby BART station. It is home to Grove Park and Tim Moellering Field as well as the Adeline Street commercial corridor, a major thoroughfare between Berkeley and Oakland to the south.

Bartlett, an attorney, previously served on Berkeley’s transportation and zero waste commissions, advocating for electric vehicle infrastructure and banning plastic bags in the city. He also held positions on the Berkeley Loan Board, Planning Commission and Police Review Commission.

Matthews has previously run twice to represent District 3, co-founded and advocated for low- and middle-income housing through South Berkeley Now! and was part of the development team for Oakland’s Black Panther Housing Development, which provides low-income housing to people who have been previously incarcerated.

Moore is Bartlett’s appointee to the Planning Commission and PAB and has chaired the Mayor’s Community Advisory Group, co-chaired the Berkeley Unified School District Reparations Task Force and chaired the Berkeley Progressive Caucus. He founded 4&20 Blackbirds, a cannabis delivery company, then his own consulting firm and is a master’s candidate in public administration at UC Berkeley’s Goldman School of Public Policy.

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District 5: O’Keefe leads race to succeed Hahn

Berkeley High School teacher Shoshana O’Keefe took a strong lead over Solano Avenue Business Improvement District Advisory Board President Todd Andrew and nonprofit founder Nilang Gor . in the race to succeed Hahn, candidate for mayor.

The North Berkeley district includes a large portion of Hopkins Street Corridor and several neighborhoods in the western sections of the Berkeley Hills, and lies between Albany to the west and the rest of the Berkeley Hills to the east.

Andrew ran for the position once before in 2020 — when Hahn won his second term — and served on the city’s homeless commission. Now retired, he worked for 15 years in employee benefits consulting before devoting himself to residential real estate for more than two decades.

Gor is a scientist and senior executive at biotechnology company Gritstone bio, founder of Cultivate Empathy for All, and board member of the California Plant Based Alliance. He also served on the Berkeley Homeless Commission and volunteered with several organizations providing services to unhoused Bay Area residents.

O’Keefe has been a member of the Zoning Board of Adjustment for 11 years and was recently reappointed by Hahn. She is a math and science teacher at Berkeley High School and previously worked as an immigration attorney. She is a member of the Berkeley High School Site Council and a former parent member of the Malcolm X Elementary School Site Council.

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District 6: Blackaby poised to succeed Wengraf

Online privacy entrepreneur Brent Blackaby edges out attorney Andy Katz in race to succeed Wengraf to the municipal council.

The Northeast Berkeley District extends north and east from UC Berkeley’s main campus through the Berkeley Hills to the city’s borders with Oakland and Charles Lee Tilden Regional Park to the east and Kensington to the north.

Blackaby co-founded Confidently, an online privacy operation that offers to clean up traces of its clients’ data, as well as Trilogy Interactive, a political marketing and advocacy agency. Council member Mark Humbert appointed Blackaby to the Police Accountability Board last year.

Katz is a workers’ rights and environmental attorney and serves on the East Bay Municipal Utility District Board of Directors and the Berkeley Labor, Community Health, Disaster and Fire Safety Commissions and previously served on the Zoning Board of Adjustment and Housing Advisory Commission.

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