Early returns in Berkeley’s special election for a City Council seat in District 4 show Igor Tregub in the lead after ranked-choice voting totals were tallied.
Four progressive candidates, all with between a few years to two decades of experience in public service, were vying for the seat after councilmember Kate Harrison announced her resignation during a Jan. 30 City Council meeting, citing dysfunction in the city’s bureaucracy, among other local issues.
“Berkeley’s processes are broken, and I cannot in good conscience continue to serve on this body,” Harrison said during her resignation speech.
District 4 includes Berkeley’s Downtown district and several blocks of residential streets between Oxford Way and Sacramento Street. The L-shaped district has a population of about 15,700 residents, as of the 2020 U.S. Census.
According to the latest numbers from the Alameda County Registrar of Voters on Tuesday night, Tregub — a former member of various city panels, including Berkeley’s rent board — had more than 56% of the vote compared to more than 43% for Elana Auerbach.
The other two candidates who didn’t make the final round of ranked-choice voting as of Tuesday night were Ruben Hernandez Story — who currently works as Berkeley District 2 councilmember Terry Taplin’s chief of staff — and Soli Alpert, who served as Harrison’s campaign manager for the Berkeley mayoral race.