Early returns appeared to show Benicia City Council incumbents Terry Scott and Kari Birdseye leading in the race for their own seats Tuesday night.
Scott received around 40% of the vote, while 37% of voters favored Birdseye. Their only challenger, Justin Zollars, a software engineer with no prior political experience, had received 22.8% of the vote, according to the initial unofficial results.
Birdseye, a journalist and media director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, has lived in Benicia since 2000. Her work in the city has included health and environmental advocacy for residents, and her campaign vows to bring a “diversified tax base” to the city after its loss of the Valero Benicia Refinery, which partially closed this year.
Birdseye was endorsed by the Progressive Democrats of Benicia, the Solano County Democratic Party, and Solano Orderly Growth, a land conservation group.
Scott, a retired executive for the billion-dollar Hasbro gaming company, has lived in Benicia for 14 years. A businessman and self-described “futurist,” Scott’s campaign describes a practical approach to governing, including a balanced budget and generating revenue from new businesses to fill the void left by Valero.
Scott is endorsed by Black Women Organized for Political Action, the North Coast States Carpenters Union, Solano Orderly Growth, the Napa-Solano Central Labor Council and the Solano County Democratic Party.
Zollars, a longtime tech worker, seeks to bring Benicia into the 21st century. “Post-World War II suburban development is a financial failure,” states his campaign website — though he also pledges to maintain Benicia’s small-town charm. Zollars also claims that the current City Council is to blame for the looming deficit.
Zollars has taken strong stances against billionaire-backed development project California Forever, which acquired 70,000 acres of unincorporated land in Solano County in the last decade to build a utopian “walkable” city.
In recent years, according to Zollars’ campaign, he has advocated against Flock Safety automatic license plate readers, arguing that the technology is an invasion of privacy. Zollars is endorsed by the Solano County Republican Central Committee.