Early election results show Ron Bernal in a strong lead for Antioch mayor and Louie Rocha and Donald Freitas likely to secure the two open City Council seats.
With 63.7% of the vote, Bernal pulled ahead of his opponents — incumbent Lamar Hernandez-Thorpe (29.83%) and Rakesh Christian (6.46%) for the mayoral seat — just after the release of early results around 8 p.m. Tuesday. A call to the Contra Costa County Registrar of Voters confirmed that results for the county will be updated at 9:30 p.m. with a final update for the night at 1:30 a.m.
In District 2, Rocha led with 61.62% of the vote as of Tuesday at 8:15 p.m. His opponent Dominique King had 38.38%. For the District 3 council seat, early results showed Freitas (52.84%) ahead of Addison Peterson (27.81%) and Antwon Webster (19.35%).
“I think the residents of Antioch said enough of all the chaos and the division, and they’re ready to support new leadership,” said Freitas. “A lot of people discount the voters, and frankly, I always trust the voters. They’re going to vote for what’s in the best interest of the community that they live, work, play and worship in. So I’m very excited — very, very excited about the future. I am so grateful to all the voters.”